Almost Human - Recap: Heartbreaking, Literally
Almost Human continued tonight with an episode that centered on a black market organ trade. With all this drama transpiring surrounding stolen hearts, it was certainly Dorian’s synthetic one that stole the show.
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Episode 6 opened with an absolutely bizarre series of events at a local hospital. What began as a typical day of surgeries and diagnosing unraveled into mayhem as a patient wielding a gun seized control of the staff. Stammering and shouting regarding the need for an immediate heart transplant, the man eventually fell to the ground at the exact time he’d predicted. Someone, it seemed, had killed him from afar, but how could cardiac arrest be so specifically planned?
With a little help from Rudy (Mackenzie Crook), Kennex and his team managed to discover that Leonard’s heart had been tampered with and left bugged with some sort of an unknown mechanism. This tiny chip seemed to be responsible for trigging the stopping of the deceased’s heart in a flash. Cross examination of Leonard’s bank account, along with some information from his distraught mother, led Valerie to the realization that he’d been making large cash transfers on a monthly basis. During a time when high-quality synthetic organs are very costly, his mother admitted to introducing him to a secondhand transplant service out of desperation. It seemed that when her son failed to meet his most recent payment, the organ deactivated like clockwork. As it turned out, Kennex and Dorian would be dealing with an extortion racket during Episode 6.
Fox "Almost Human"
Meanwhile, much of Episode 6 centered on Dorian’s decision to free another DRN from working as a janitor at the hospital. DRNs were made to be police officers. They were created with synthetic souls, thereby instilling a sense of pride and passion in their lives as partners to their assigned officers. The concept of working on basic mechanical malfunctions was no better than total deactivation for Dorian, yet his new pal, a DRN in the exact image of himself, had a bit of catching up to do. The arc was comical and heartfelt, especially when this new DRN accidentally assaulted a reformed criminal based off of super stale police records. Almost Human just loves to kill off those frigid replacement bots, huh? Mainly, this side-plot this week stood as a reflection of Dorian’s budding friendship with John, who’d been the one to reactive Dorian and give him a second chance. This was merely Dorian’s opportunity to return the favor, like good DRN karma!
I’m not going to lie and say that this week’s crime wasn’t a bit confusing to sort out. There were many links in the chain and lots of odd connections, but if you bear with me, I’ll try to sort it all out for us! Kennex and Dorian were instructed to head over to the heart’s manufacturer. There, a Paulina Rivera informed us about the procedures of legally purchasing a synthetic organ and the protocols behind protecting the company’s products. Once the recipient of an organ passes away, the funeral home is instructed to destroy the synthetic part and report said destruction back to the company. Meaning, someone had been falsely reporting the disposal of these organs, and this same someone most likely had something to do with the added chip inside the secondhand parts.
The man behind the high-tech cremation of bodies down at the funeral home seemed to comply very easily, openly admitting to lying to the manufacturer if it meant possibly helping the poor to receive perfectly good hand-me-down hearts. Working with a mystery man known as Oscar, the cremator agreed to help Dorian and Kennex set up a fake trade if it meant catching the criminals. Eventually, the deal worked out like clockwork, and a tracker implanted on the case carrying “the heart” led the police team straight to the operating table of the doctor who’d been working illegally to transplant these organs in desperate patients. The subsequent bust went smoothly enough, but things didn’t turn out so well back at the station. Both the messenger and the surgeon were left almost completely in the dark regarding the nature of the services they’d been providing. For example, the doctor truly thought he was working illegally to do some sort of justice for the lack of available synthetic organs. The messenger, meanwhile, was just making a quick buck as a delivery boy.
Fox "Almost Human"
This is where things got particularly interesting this week. It didn’t take long for Maldonado’s team realize that they’re investigating most likely halted the operation. Meaning, clients of this underground organ trading circuit wouldn’t be able to make their payments because those criminals controlling the clocks refused to give away their whereabouts by sending or receiving signals. At this point, we cut back to the man who’d allegedly been cooperating with the police, the cremator, and witnessed his wall of timers. His clients subsequently began dropping dead in the street. Well, you gotta break a few eggs, right?.. With a little more digging, Valerie managed to piece together the fact that each of the fallen victims was linked to the same list of those denied medical insurance by Paulina Rivera. Paulina, however, insisted that she had no idea how anyone could have hacked into her file system, which was heavily encrypted. The only other person who had access was… her secretary. This mainly served to lead the duo over to another residential location. The house was empty, but served to get the partners thinking. Dorian’s heat sensors detected recent body activity on the ground, yet there was nobody in particular lying on the floor at the moment. Thus, the two reasoned together that someone with the power to dispose of bodies must have been working alongside Paulina’s crooked assistant to make a quick buck.
The bust back at the funeral home was quick and easy. Dorian and Kennex saved the day and took the cremator into custody. Back at headquarters, Valerie informed Kennex that the organ production company had insisted on handing free transplants to those who’d been bamboozled by the underground extortion racket, if only to cover their own asses.
The best part of Episode 6 for me was probably the final moments between Dorian and his DRN companion. Why had he been so hesitant to hop back into action as a gun-wielding police officer? The twin DRN recalled the story of the one instance in which he broke protocol in order to rescue a little boy from his crazy murderous stepfather. Killing the man to protect the child, the DRN’s greatest memory as an officer was the look in the little boys eyes and the long, grateful hug that followed. Dorian, realizing that his buddy couldn’t stay in the force for any longer, drove him back to the hospital with some help from John. Dorian wiped the police records and files from his system, choosing to leave the one memory that kept the DRN so proud as a gift. The pair said goodbye, and John let Dorian drive home. Kidding! John would never let Dorian drive!
What did you think of Almost Human, Season 1 Episode 6, “Arrhythmia”? Do you enjoy learning more about Dorian’s history as a DRN? Are you liking the process of exploring this 2048 dystopian world?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Almost Human, Season 1 Episode 6, “Arrhythmia”!