Showing posts with label pilot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pilot. Show all posts

Friday, January 10, 2014

'Intelligence' = 'Chuck' + Badassery - Humor [GifTweetCap]

Intelligence is basically the serious version of Chuck. It's about a man named Gabriel (Josh Holloway -- if you watched this episode, it was probably because you know Josh from Lost, am I right?), who works for U.S. Cyber Command. He has an advanced chip installed in his brain, allowing him to do anything that can be done on a powerful computer, but with immediate access.
The "Pilot" episode is action-packed, but leaves a ton of questions dangling. That may be a good thing, however. As a series, sometimes it's best to lure people in with action, and leave the details for later as the characters grow. The acting is also a bit dry, but that is somewhat common with new shows until the actors settle into their roles. All-in-all, it was enjoyable.

The one thing many fans, including me, like the most about the series is the idea of "cyber-rendering." This is where the idea of having a computer chip implanted in one's brain becomes really powerful. Gabriel's brain pulls in data the way a computer would, but processes and extrapolates the data the way a human mind would. This allows him to create a sort of "evidence wall," making it possible to build connections and serve up results in a way that a computer would not be able to.
On with the recap!

The episode begins with Gabriel searching his mind for something while standing beside a large satellite in the Himalayas. We don't yet know what that is.
Soon, he finds what he is looking for: a woman named Amelia. Judging by his other memories, she was his wife. She also appears to be one of the perpetrators of a terrorist act, but we later learn that this may be partly due to the way he extrapolates the information available to him -- his imagination fills in the blanks (he's not necessarily looking at actual photos from the event). We later learn that his job was to plant a worm -- not to go searching for his wife.
Gabriel is captured and questioned, but his captors don't know about what he can do. They wonder how he was able to break into secure files without any equipment. Soon, he appears to unlock a keypad lock with his mind, and quickly takes out a slew of men. He also does this nifty trick (and check out the surprised look on that bad guy's face! I paused it there, just for you).
A small army chases after Gabriel, but he completes his escape by jumping off a cliff.
Meanwhile, Dr. Cassidy (John Billingsley, who played Dr. Phlox on Enterprise), the man who created the tech in Gabriel's brain (part of a project named "Clockwork") is kidnapped. A new female agent known as Agent Riley Neal (Meghan Ory) is brought in to help protect Gabriel and keep him in line (rather than searching for his wife), and the search for Dr. Cassidy is their first assignment together. We also meet Amos (Elden Henson), Gabriel's primary tech guy, and the seemingly ubiquitous cute nerd of the series.
Dr. Cassidy was recording notes at the time of his abduction, and left behind his pocket recorder. From this, the gang knows that Dr. Cassidy was taken by the Chinese (they were speaking Mandarin). They also find that Dr. Cassidy's safe has been opened, and his son confesses that His dad made a second chip, which is missing. Boss lady Dir. Lilian Strand (the always amazing Marg Helgenberger, from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) initially believes the son told the Chinese about the chip because he was jealous of Gabriel getting all of his father's attention. The son seems to be telling the truth, however, when he says he didn't do it. 
Jin Cong (Will Yun Lee), the boss of the Chinese kidnappers, wants Dr. Cassidy to insert the chip into a new subject, a Chinese woman who has the mutation which allows the chip to work. To prove he is serious, Jin forces Dr. Cassidy to choose whether he should kill Dr. Cassidy's son, or his "Pinocchio" (the "son" Dr. Cassidy created by inserting his chip into Gabriel's brain). Gabriel's chip senses the incoming signal from the sniper rifle, and he warns everyone to get down before anyone gets shot. 
Gabriel and Riley find the van that had been used to abduct Dr. Cassidy. It's parked in Chinatown, at a place known as Bullseye Paintball. Gabriel and Riley go to check it out, but they are soon interrupted. Gabriel sees, via his chip, that the men standing before him are criminals, so he pulls his gun. They do so as well, but Riley pushes Gabriel out of the way and takes a bullet.
They run into the paintball arena, and Gabriel asks Amos to load infrared satellite images to his chip. The arena is dark, so Gabriel suddenly has the advantage and takes out the bad guys.
It's all for naught, however, when Gabriel and Riley return home, and Gabriel soon realizes that the only other person who could have known about the second chip was Amos! He comes to the realization too late, and Amos is already outside waiting with a gang of Chinese guys. Amos did it all for a pile of money!
When the second, untested chip seems to fail after the Chinese woman fails to wake up, Jin brings Gabriel in so Cassidy can remove his chip. The failed chip in the Chinese woman's brain will then be replaced by Gabriel's proven chip. Instead, Dr. Cassidy helps Gabriel escape by signaling for him to have a fake seizure. In the ensuing chaos, Dr. Cassidy then cuts Gabriel's restraints using a scalpel. 
Meanwhile, Amos, who suddenly appears to be an evil SOB who needs a good punch in the face, rather than being a cute nerdy guy, enters Riley's cell for a flirting session. For a genius, he's sort of a moron, because Riley quickly chokes him out. Easy peasy.
Unfortunately, Jin comes into the cell right behind Amos, and he's smart enough to have a gun. She quickly becomes a damsel in distress, and Jin lures Gabriel out by threatening to kill her. Gabriel lowers his gun, but directs Dr. Cassidy on where to shoot Jin from across the way using a sniper rifle. Gabriel connects to the rifle using his chip, but I have a feeling that lining up the shot wouldn't be Dr. Cassidy's main problem when it comes to firing a sniper rifle.
Strand hands Jin over to Chinese authorities in exchange for information on Amelia's location. Gabriel wants to go find her, but Strand insists he complete his next assignment in Seattle first.
At the end of the episode, the Chinese girl with the second chip implanted in her brain wakes up. And the second chip is supposed to be better and faster!
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

'Almost Human' in Ani-gifs and Tweets: Pilot Introduces a Beautiful 'Ro-bromance'

ALMOST HUMAN 'Pilot' on FOX, Sunday, Nov. 17
©2013 Fox Broadcasting Co. (photo used with permission)
Photo credit: Liane Hentscher/FOX
Quick note: If you are used to seeing my recaps on Yahoo! TV, there is an explanation of what happened with their tech glitches here. This recap for the second part of the premiere, "Skin," can be found here.

 Almost Human takes place 35 years in the future, where crime has skyrocketed, and the future is bleak. The "Pilot" episode begins with a cop, Det. John Kennex (Karl Urban), taking part in a raid with his human partner. Various cop androids are helping, but when Kennex's partner is injured, the bots refuse to help Kennex pull him to safety because he is too far gone. Kennex goes it alone, but his leg is blown off, followed by some sort of explosion caused by a device known as a parabolic pulse charge.
But that is all a memory. Kennex is actually hooked up to a dangerous regression therapy machine, after 17 months in a coma. He is attempting to remember what took place during the police raid, and how the criminal organization known as the Syndicate knew about it so they could ambush the cops. There's got to be a mole. He also wants to figure out what happened to Anna, his ex-girlfriend, who has been missing ever since he woke from his coma.
Kennex's superior officer, Capt. Maldonado (Lili Taylor), convinces him to come back to work early because the Syndicate may be at it again, and Kennex is the only cop she trusts with the case. Kennex has a shiny new synthetic leg that acts up constantly, and now he's got to have a synthetic by his side as well. In fact, all cops are now required to partner with the same types of droids (known as MX-43 androids) that refused to help Kennex's partner during the ambush months earlier. When his new humorless partner threatens to report him for using dangerous drugs and regression therapy, Kennex tosses him out of the moving car.

Kennex goes to get a new android from Rudy (Mackenzie Crook), the nerdy tech guy of the series. Rudy introduces him to a DRN model named Dorian (Michael Ealy). The DRN models were designed to act more like humans, with the ability to convey emotions and bond with people. The one drawback of this older model is that it has an emotional breaking point, just as humans have. Rudy gives Kennex the honor of waking his new partner with the ritualistic touch on the ear with a metal rod, and thus begins a beautiful "robromance."
Dorian turns out to be quite a character, playing with his lips, feeling intimidated by the MX androids, and expressing data conversationally, such as representing the decimal number 81.439 simply as 80. Oh, and don't ever call him a "synthetic"! That may as well be a racial slur to the hot bot.
They look into a supposed robbery in which Maldonado believes the Syndicate may be involved. During their newest crime spree, the Syndicate kidnaps a cop known as Det. Vogel by popping a giant wad of bubble gum on his face with some sort of special bubble-gun. It looks like it would be fun if it didn't seem to hinder his ability to talk... and breath. Oh, and they also destroy his android.

They bring in a suspect from the robbery, and Kennex beats the snot out of him for information. Taking a more peaceful route, Dorian realizes that the suspect shot himself so the cops would bring him in. He pretends to have done it out of fear of the Syndicate, and tells them the location of where they can find Vogel.
Later, the suspect pukes out a device that he then leaves on a pipe in the bathroom as they escort him out to take him to a new location.
Of course, the whole thing is a setup, and the Syndicate watches as Kennex and Dorian enter the room where Vogel is being held in a small, bullet-proof box. Dorian and Kennex watch in horror as the Syndicate activates a tripwire, and Vogel meets an ugly demise. Poor Vogel sure had some bad luck with face-splats and goo!

Dorian is able to pull a neat trick where he takes some of Vogel's blood and sticks it in his neck for analysis. He's a walking med lab!

Vogel had been sprayed with programmable DNA. The poison basically causes humans to die of a multitude of diseases all at once... and they're targeting cops!
Kennex feels that his only option is to go back for even more strenuous regression therapy in order to jog his memory of who the mole may be and why they are targeting cops. During the regression, he sees that his ex-girlfriend was part of the ambush! Dorian saves his life and pulls him out of regression before he has a literal brain explosion from the revelation. 

Dorian connects with Vogel's android to see if he can find out anything more, and Princess Leia pops up saying, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope!" Actually, it's video of what happened when Vogel was kidnapped, and reveals that the cops have something that the Syndicate wants.
Kennex calls in a lockdown of the station, but he's too late. The Syndicate breaks into the station, shuts down all the androids using the device planted in the bathroom, and begins spraying people with what looks like a silver fire extinguisher filled with their die-from-everything, face-popping poison. Luckily, Dorian is not affected by the MX-android shutdown, and helps stop them before they find what they're looking for. 
The item is revealed to the audience as a female robot head, but the cops are unable to find it as the records involving the item have been destroyed.

At the end of the episode, Kennex has warmed up to his human-like android partner, asking Dorian to call him "John" from now on. Yep; it's the second step in the beginning of a beautiful robromance. 
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