Almost Human - Recap: Pens Still Exist
Almost Human introduced its own version of the Magic Bullet infomercial tonight with an episode that featured a weapon that never misses its target. Plus, Dorian sang Korean pop.
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Episode 8 opened with yet another chase sequence. As the victim hurried through the streets of this 2048 dystopian city in a state of utter panic, it became clear to us that he was being chased by someone… or something. In no time at all, this Anton fellow was lying dead on the floor, yet something was peculiar about the way in which he was shot from afar. While Detective Paul (Michael Irby) and his MX partner attempted to deduce just how a single found bullet could have made three indentations in the surrounding area, John and Dorian went about things their own way. Paul's MX seemed to believe that the .004% chance of one single bullet ricocheting around the area and precisely landing in the man’s chest was the most likely scenario, especially considering the wind and weather. Dorian, on the other hand, quickly scanned the bullet and noticed some strange new technology, not to mention not a single piece of evidence that would back up the high-tech MX’s theory. In the end, the MX seemed frustrated with Kennex’s refusal to side with his superior software and programming over the outdated DRN at his side. John, true to form, silenced the android with a public bullet blast to the face.
This, of course, landed John in hot water with Maldonado, as his reputation for being a hothead and a rogue cop has far surpassed the mere hallways of their headquarters. Richard, furious to have to go choose another partner, threatened Dorian in return for John’s reckless behavior, adequately leading in to what was the best John-Dorian bonding moment this week as John leapt to his partner's defense. From the privacy of their cop car, Dorian simply couldn’t contain his pleasure in knowing that John genuinely likes and cares about him. John, refusing to admit to such ludicrous feelings, promised Dorian an equal fate to the fallen MX android if he continued to run his own mouth.
The process of solving the crime during Episode 8 was fairly simple. The only link to Anton that the two partners could dig up, with some help from Valerie (Minka Kelly), was a co-worker/ girlfriend, Kira. Kira originally seemed absolutely in the dark regarding her boyfriend’s shady ways. To her, he was simply a gamer and fellow software designer. In fact, he was working with a headhunter, Natalie, before his untimely passing in order to drum up some more work. While snooping around the office of Kira and Anton, Dorian managed to discover that Anton had very cleverly come up with the concept of tailor-made advertising campaigns. Meaning, software within the advertisements could use the copious amounts of technology in the subject’s surrounding area to pinpoint that particular person and cater ads to their liking. This discovery, in conjunction with the fact that Rudy (Mackenzie Crook) had adequately analyzed the complex technology from within the single found bullet, lead our team to believe that Anton’s software had been used to create a “magic bullet,” a weapon that could target and kill anyone, anywhere. We're not talking about the Magic Bullet we all know and love. As in, that wacky blender from the informercial.
As the team continued to dig for information, they came up short while researching this alleged headhunter, Natalie, Anton had been working with. There was no record of a Natalie working at the agency given by Kira. Thus, Dorian and John had reason to believe that the woman was either lying or in the dark regarding her deceased lover’s ways. In the park, the two managed to get a hold of Kira yet again, only they were initially unaware as to what was transpiring around them. A group of Russian criminals had been the organization to purchase the advertisement homing technology from Anton, and they’d already begun shopping the bullet around to prospective buyers, clients who wanted to see the weapon in action before investing a huge amount of money. In an attempt to kill two birds with one very intelligent stone, the dealers targeted Kira, who quite obviously had more information that she’d been withholding. Luckily for Kira, Dorian’s scanning technology managed to pick up on the odd frequencies of the cameras and sensors around him, a vast amount of waves that were clearly targeting Kira. Before we knew it, Dorian was taking a bullet for the woman, and, thankfully for the sake of our own entertainment, this shot altered his voice programming and had him hilariously spewing Korean for the next few scenes.
The rest of Episode 8 came to focus on protecting Kira, and in turn her young daughter, while they searched to uncover the true nature of Anton’s dealings with these black market dealers. This is where things got more interesting. Kira admitted to repressing feelings of doubt regarding her relationship with Anton. There had been one too many strange meetings and weird characters popping up for her not to question his integrity. This, needless to say, made her feel entirely guilty, especially considering how fantastic he’d been with her daughter. Perhaps even more intriguing was the fact that Kira suggested “scrubbing” her brain of any memory of Anton at all in an effort to protect her own life. Kennex, reasoning that this would not take the target off of her back, refused to condone her controversial suggestion, but it was made clear that John possibly has his own twisted history with wiping his memory. If you recall, the Pilot episode of Almost Human found John undergoing dangerous procedures that appeared to be a process of recovering bits and pieces of his memory. I’d personally assumed that he simply couldn’t remember the devastating events of the death of his partner clearly enough, but perhaps he had this memory, and the memory of his ex-girlfriend’s heinous betrayal, wiped willingly. Perhaps the decisions ate away at him, and he came to regret this choice.
I was ready to head into this recap scolding Almost Human for all but completely straying from that overarching storyline set up by the first episode. We’ve had little pieces of John’s history brought up, but it was definitely time during Episode 8 to start exploring what will surely prove to be the driving drama of the series as it continues forward. Realizing that something of mega importance is buried within the vast warehouse of police evidence, Maldonado attempted to negotiate with a top criminal this week. This representative of Insyndicate, who remained in police custody, was offered a deal in exchange for information regarding exactly what his team had been looking for. Refusing to settle for less than full freedom, the convict neglected to budge. In the end, all this served to do was to anger John, who was disappointed in Maldonado for refusing to consider the respect of the loved ones left behind by those who died alongside his partner. Maldonado, in turn, confided in John that she has a significant hunch that whatever they’re unknowingly housing would prove to be way more dangerous than setting a killer free.
Also, I’m not sure if it was just me, but I do want to point out that I was completely unaware that it was now common knowledge that John’s girlfriend had been the one to betray him by leading the Insyndicate mission that killed his partner and cost him his leg. Previously in Episode 8, we sat alongside John at an anger management meeting. The scene was mostly comic relief, but it still proved very telling. Apparently he’s at least open about casually talking about this.
After Dorian had his language programming repaired by Rudy, he and John had some more information passed to them by Valerie. Has anyone else picked up on just how Almost Human likes to use each of its characters at this point? Rudy is a super smart tech wiz. Whenever they need technology to mean something very specific, he unlocks that piece of the plot each week, and we believe it because of the way he's developed as a character. Valerie works in a similar way. They have her acting as a super sleuth in the background. Each episode, she passes on new locations or connections to John and Dorian as they continue to explore the crime on the streets. Her forte is digging. During Episode 8, she connected them to Anton’s secret bank account and safety deposit box. There, Dorian and Kennex dug up some cryptic notes and a video chip that contained the actual story behind Anton’s dealings with these crooked people. In truth, this was a case of extortion. They were using Kira’s life to force Anton to deliver his advertising technology piece by piece. Thus, once everything was said and done, Kira could let her mind rest at ease.
Unfortunately, Kira got antsy waiting for Kennex and Dorian to possibly save her life and decided to carry on with her own plans for scrubbing by flying the coop aka the police safe house. From afar, Natalie managed to pinpoint the target’s location as soon as she hit the streets. That’s right, the same woman Kira had pegged as a headhunter prior was actually leading the distribution of this deadly weapon. Obviously, the fact that Kira had bumped into Natalie and Anton on the street was enough to warrant her own murder. The rest of Episode 8 played out like a race, as both Dorian and Kennex and the criminals looking for Kira rushed to the underground location of the black market scrubbing scene. Just mere moments before Kira could wipe her memory, John managed to convince her to give them one last chance to catch this week’s baddies. The crime was solved as the episode winded to a close. Dorian and Kennex adequately disarmed Natalie and her partner in one big epic barrage of bullets.
Fox "Almost Human"
To close the recap, Kira thanked John at the precinct for refusing to allow her to wipe Anton from her memory. Now that she had solid proof that he truly loved her, she didn’t need to hold onto the last memento she carried of him. She passed an actual pen, as in the writing utensil, on to John, who learned of Anton’s affinity for old school romance. He’d first approached Kira romantically by simply jotting down his phone number, only to watch her tear it up (brutal). He kept the scraps of paper and promised to eventually win her over, which he obviously did. Episode 8 closed with John appearing to use the same tactics on Valerie, only she certainly didn’t rip up whatever he scribbled down for her. Maybe these two will finally take the flirting to the next level! Now that this might just be the case and the central arc centered on Insyndicate is being fully revisited, I’m very excited for this show to pick back up in several weeks!
What did you think of Almost Human Season 1 Episode 8, “You Are Here”? Did you like exploring the Insyndicate issue more? Are you looking forward to Kennex and Stahl getting steamy? Do you think they’ll ever write in a love interest for Dorian?