Almost Human - Recap: We're Supposed to Be Loved (and Hot)
Almost Human continued tonight with an episode that focused on plastic surgery gone wrong in a 2048 dystopian society. Think what we know now and imagine just how much worse it could get.
First, let me just say that Dorian and John usually go back and forth with the harmless verbal jabs each week, but during Episode 12 it seemed like Dorian was seriously gunning for John. With Dorian ripping apart everything from John’s droopy eye to his battered nose, there was no escaping the pummeling for Kennex. That is, until he pointed out the fact that Dorian’s looks are completely manufactured, and he’ll most likely never know why he looks the way he looks. Usually, that would have been a low blow, but I think we can give John a pass this week. Dorian was asking for it. Also, nice try, Almost Human, but it’s a little difficult to convince us viewers that Karl Urban is an ugly dude.
The case this week was fairly simple to follow generally speaking, though most of the details got slightly jumbled together in the process. After a very handsome chrome man was discovered dead from within his apartment due to an apparent heart attack, Valerie was able to immediately deduce that a homicide had most likely occurred. Chromes are the image of perfect health. They don’t die young. She should know, of course. Though, I will say that Almost Human needs to get going on revealing more of these characters’ histories, especially hers. We don’t really know why Valerie went into Episode 12 hating the chrome in her, but things somewhat started to change by the close of the show.
Dorian, meanwhile, managed to spot a tiny injection point on the victim’s neck. By analyzing the location, he was subsequently able to figure out that the tool used to kill this man was actually one covered in the DNA of seven other victims. Back at headquarters, the faces of the deceased were pulled up. It seemed that someone was out to kill the beautiful citizens of this city. Of course, we were let in on a little more than that behind the scenes. Inside the laboratory of a crooked license-less doctor, the murderer sat with his scarred face in bandages. After undergoing what looked like a terribly painful procedure in which he was injected with that which he sapped from the dead chrome, we witnessed the man’s face slowly beginning to morph.
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At this point, the team split up to start digging for information regarding the mysterious murderer. First, Valerie headed to the deceased man’s exclusive chrome club, a club she easily made her way into due to the scanned presence of her chrome DNA, though the police officer in her surely was not a welcome sight among the chrome elite. Valerie easily thwarted the attempts of a snooty blonde looking to undermine her, but the male club’s leader took a special liking to her. Valerie showed up at this club looking for surveillance tape footage to aid her in the search for this killer. The owner was happy to hand it over to her if she simply obliged him with some casual conversation. The owner related to Valerie, having a chrome brother who chose a life of wood sculpting over the typical route expected of a chrome. Valerie loves her work, even if it comes with a bit of self-loathing due to her rocky past relationships with her people. In the end, she did manage to get the tape, footage that caught the assailant on camera. The man’s face was clearly a composite of his victims’ seemingly perfect features.
Next, John and Dorian were able to track the microscopic robots used to carve out a person’s DNA, technology discovered by the very helpful Rudy (Mackenzie Crook), back to a surgeon who’d been part of the original tests for a new kind of facelift. Unfortunately, the tests went terribly wrong, leaving some victims dead of heart failure and others horribly disfigured. As all of this transpired, we watched as this week’s murderer, the Beauty Killer, took the life of another young woman with very pretty eyes and continued with his quest for the perfect face. Also, their research with Rudy and trip to the surgeon led them to another very important piece of information, the very particular medical tool required to conduct these surgeries.
Perhaps the most entertaining scene of the week followed. John and Dorian headed out in search of one of John’s connections on the black market. Eventually, Kennex found the man hiding out inside of the robotic “shell” of a much taller, and apparently very comfortable, woman. John’s friend, Decarlo, was very funny, though he did require a little pushing around to get him to help Kennex and Dorian find the man who could supply a criminal with the tool required for injection. Eventually, Decarlo pointed them to a doctor known around this part of town for performing illegal plastic surgeries, the doctor we knew to be helping the Beauty Killer.
A quick physical attack from the doctor, who’d injected himself with a ton of adrenaline in hope of overpowering Kennex and Dorian, ended up killing their lead in the process, leaving his lab open for inspection by the two partners. At this point, Dorian was able to use a mocked up image of the killer’s face to reason that he had but one procedure left to complete his idea of the perfect face. Meaning, Dorian could scan records to locate this future victim, who apparently had the nicest cheekbones the beauty killer had ever come across. The subsequent processes seemed totally easy to carry out. They called up Valerie from afar and relayed the information so that she could lead a team to this man’s apartment for his protection. From the shadows, the murderer watched on and immediately realized what was occurring. It had become increasingly clear that the police were closing in on him, and it seemed there was nothing left to do at this point but settle for second best. Ugh, if you can’t steal the most beautiful cheekbones in all the land, why bother at all?
The most entertaining part of Episode 12 was probably the final few scenes. John has an outdated license photo. Would you have guessed any differently? Cleverly recognizing the connection between the fact that the victims each had the most recent updated version of 3D license photos and their connected city district, the team then figured out that this Beauty Killer was most likely the employee of the DMV, someone who’d have access to countless photos of civilians for inspection. Meanwhile, the killer watched from across the courtyard of his apartment complex as he chatted online with an unsuspecting woman, Judy. It seemed he’d discovered his second choice for the most perfect cheekbones to swipe. He watched her eerily as “Crimson And Clover” acted as the soundtrack to his lust. This woman was led to believe that he was in love with her, making the situation seem all the more terrible.
In a twist of events, Kennex and Dorian headed over to his apartment for the bust but just missed an encounter. Dorian, however, did think to scan his computer chat history and noted that he’d been talking to Judy for several months and pretended to live in Arizona. John, spotting her walking alone in the window across the way, realized exactly to where their suspect was running off.
In truth, the Beauty Killer wasn’t looking to steal Judy’s looks at all. He was perfecting his image for her. Funny enough, in one of the show’s biggest plot twists yet, Judy ended up being a blind woman who couldn’t care less what her lover looked like on the outside. In fact, she was more afraid of being rejected due to her choice to keep her disability a secret. The Beauty Killer got his single kiss before the cops swarmed Judy’s apartment and Kennex chased the man to the rooftop. There, he asked Kennex if he’d ever known love, to which John replied in the affirmative.
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The Beauty Killer leapt to his death below, unwilling to go on living unloved.
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Back at headquarters, John obsessed over what the man had said to him in his parting words. Has Kennex ever actually known love? We know his last relationship was a complete phony sham, or at least, we’ve been led to think that. From across the room, Kennex eyed Valerie and decided that he finally had his now-or-never moment. He began the process of asking his crush out for drinks, only to witness her new romantic interest, the owner of the chrome club, picking her up as they headed out to the same bar John had suggested. Ouch, John! For what it’s worth, we did watch as Valerie looked back with affection before heading out for her date. To end the recap, Episode 12 closed with John Kennex sitting alone on a park bench at night as countless couples walked around him.
What did you think of Almost Human, Season 1 Episode 12, “Beholder”? Do you think it’s time we learn more about Valerie’s story? How about what’s going on with Insyndicate?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Almost Human, Season 1 Episode 12, “Beholder”!