Extant - Recap: Futility Treatments

"Wish You Were Here" casts a far more sinister light on the ISCA than in the previous two episodes, as Alan Sparks (Michael O'Neill) comes up with a story to tell Molly (Halle Berry) to explain away her pregnancy and keep her from rocking the boat. It's a lie, but as he explains to one of his cohorts, it's "more plausible than the truth." Thus, he tells Molly that the ISCA performed a covert medical operation on her that implanted her samples from several failed fertility treatments, and set them on a sort of time-released schedule, allowing her to become pregnant while in space. He says that the ISCA kept it a secret from Molly in order to improve the chances that the treatment would be successful. It's a thoroughly, richly absurd story, but Molly believes it largely because Sparks offers his own head on a platter, arguing that the revelation of this secret will kill a lot of careers, including his own. But Sam (Camryn Manheim) is inherently less trusting, believing that Sparks is covering something up. And he is. But the question remains: if this is a more plausible story than the truth, then just what the hell is really going on? We don't get much progress on an answer this week, but "Wish You Were Here" does deepen the mystery and make it a bit more intriguing by taking Molly's compromised mental state a bit farther than before. It's a solid episode, which makes it three in a row for Extant.

Credit: CBS

A fair share of the episode centers on matters related to Ethan (Pierce Gagnon). It's his orientation day for school, and parents are concerned that this "toaster with hair" will be around their real, flesh and blood children. John (Goran Visnjic) defends Ethan by arguing that he isn't dangerous, and even Molly steps in to admit that while she hasn't always been sure about her son in the past, there's no need for them to fear difference. Yet Ethan is gradually continuing his slide into creepy, Uncanny Valley territory, as he disobeys John's orders and goes outside unsupervised, where he captures a bird, places it in a box, and keeps it stored in the garage to play with later. When John discovers the bird later, he grills Ethan about the need to be more careful than other kids, since his inherent differences mean he's not going to get the same chances they get. He'll be misunderstood in a way other kids aren't; basically, there is no "boys will be boys" excuse when you're a robot.

Credit: CBS

And that seems to be part of why he seems to take such a liking to John's colleague, Julie (Grace Gummer). We see her working on the development of another Ethan-like child named Lucy, going as far as to bond with the child/program over a game of memory. Lucy hasn't received a body yet, but she's already showing stunning progress, proving to Julie just what these children are capable of with the right input. Thus, Julie is naturally concerned when John enrolls Ethan in school, since they'll no longer be able to control the input he receives. Essentially, all their progress could be undone simply by virtue of kids being kids. Yet John states he doesn't want to control the input Ethan receives; he wants his son to have a wide range of experiences. And, if worst comes to worst, they'll balance out the bad input with their own good input. Julie may not agree with John's approach, but as he explains, Ethan is no longer his "work", he's his family.

Credit: CBS

This issue of family remains at the heart of the series, even as it largely takes a step out of the spotlight this week. John throws Molly a birthday party, with family and friends in attendance to watch a video diary John and Ethan made during the 13 months in which Molly was gone. As we learn in flashbacks, much of the impetus in Molly signing up for the mission was her repeated failure with fertility treatments. Feeling the attempts were futile and that she and John just weren't destined to have a child together, she signed up for the program, with John trying to convince her to stay by selling her on the idea of adopting Ethan, the robot child he'd been working on. Ultimately, Molly comes to accept Ethan as her son, but he's still not of her body. This conflict is presumably part of why she has such a hard time telling John about her pregnancy -- would she be adding to the family, or replacing Ethan with a flesh-and-blood child of her own? Either way, she inevitably tells John, and it amounts to one of the best scenes of the episode, as Halle Berry deserves some kind of award for convincingly selling the inherent absurdity of Sparks's story. Visnjic is also solid in his role, as John accepts Molly's explanation for her pregnancy immediately, showing something bordering on happiness, since the supposed use of past DNA samples means the child is theirs.

Credit: CBS

Yet there are still several unexplained details about Molly's condition: what is with the symbol that appears on her stomach, as if trying to press itself out of her womb? It's a symbol consisting of a series of concentric circles, and she finds a copy of the image scrawled on the walls in Kryger's trailer, although Kryger himself is nowhere to be found. And to make matters worse, Sparks is now aware of the compromised brain scan readings which suggest that both Molly and Kryger are equally crazy. And hell, Molly just might be even crazier, as she sees Marcus's brother Tim (Arlen Escarpeta) at the party, even having a conversation about what he's been up to in the years since his brother's death. Only later does Molly come to realize, to her horror, that Tim was never at the party. She imagined the entire episode. Terrified by her slip from reality, Molly decides to leave with Sparks to check in for medical treatment. But things take a turn when Sam tries to recover Molly's blood work from her office, only to find government officials clearing it of all files pertaining to Molly. She's cornered by the officials, but not before sending Molly a text to get the hell away from Sparks. Molly forces Sparks to stop the car, she makes a run for it, and she and John escape, presumably with Ethan as well, since Sparks and his men do a full sweep of the Woods household, only to find them gone. Where was Sparks planning on taking Molly? What was he planning to do? And what is Molly and John's next move?

Credit: CBS

These are the questions that have taken center stage, and I don't mind it one bit. At its heart, Extant is a family drama of sorts, but at a practical, serialized capacity, it's a sci-fi mystery drama. And that's okay by me, since the mysteries are compelling enough to keep me coming back. Of course, those mysteries will have to be paid off at some point, but these early episodes are laying a solid foundation for intrigue, and are coating it all in a mythology of which we're only just reaching the tip. "Wish You Were Here" is yet another worthy entry into the Extant canon.