Extant - Recap: Locked Out Of Ethan

And both "More In Heaven and Earth" and "Incursion" are good. To such an extent that I wondered, briefly, if this cinematic, double-episode approach would be the best possible way to watch the series, moving forward. I don't know if it was planned this way, but the episodes dovetailed into one another better than any other two episodes in the series so far, such that it made sense that these two episodes would be paired into a mini-movie of sorts. And it worked as a cinematic, long-form narrative, as Molly (Halle Berry) sets out in "More In Heaven and Earth" to finally track down her "offspring" and end this war with Sparks (Michael O'Neill), only for her to come face-to-face with occurrences beyond her depth in "Incursion". This almost could have served as a season finale if we weren't only a little more than halfway through the season (and if this double episode approach keeps up, we'll be at the finale inside of three weeks).

Credit: CBS

But the problem arises from the sameness of the episodes. On the one hand, it helps that they're linked so vitally, in a narrative sense. The stories build, conflict rises, and everything feels purposefully connected. However, it gets kind of exhausting after a while, since the episodes themselves seem to think we privilege the journey over the destination when, as a sci-fi puzzler, it's not the action itself that's the most compelling, but the mystery. Granted, there was a time where the family dynamics were my favorite aspect of the show, as I felt Extant offered an interesting take on a modern family in an age where acceptance and understanding aren't easy to come by. But as the narrative got away from those trappings, I became less invested in the internal struggles of the characters themselves. Ethan (Pierce Gagnon) is slowly growing into his own, independent human being, yet he somehow seems less relatable now than he did when he was practically a cipher of what a boy is supposed to be like. It also didn't help that Ethan's story was largely lost in the overarching framework of the episode, as we only got the scarcest beginnings of other storylines.

For example: Odin (Charles Bewley) is every bit as shady as he appeared from the first time we met him, and now we know why. He's part of an anti-machines initiative intent on destroying Humanichs as some sort of revenge against the drones that cost him his arm overseas. And he's pegged Ethan as the first casualty of this war, which is why he's making it his goal to insinuate himself into Julie's (Grace Gummer) life. In doing this, he learns a lot more about what Ethan goes through this week, such as his rapid, surprising changes, both human and inhuman alike. On the inhuman side, he suddenly and inexplicably learns Japanese, and displays the ability to ride a bicycle within seconds of mounting one for the first time. However, those inhuman changes are leavened by human developments that make him seem even more like a real boy. For one, he's now capable of waking up in the middle of the night, no longer beholden to his own sleep cycle. He's also shown a boyish curiosity that, while getting him into trouble with local bullies, illustrates that he's beginning to think (and wonder) for himself. He even goes as far as to question the purpose of his existence, asking Julie if he has a function. It's all remarkable stuff, and far more interesting than I ever expected it to be. But it's mostly shunted off to the side so the Molly story can take center stage in both episodes. Even Ethan's sudden rebellious streak against John (Goran Visnjic) is given short shrift.

Credit: CBS

Another potentially interesting story that misses out on significant screen time is the subplot in which Yasumoto (Hiroyuki Sanada) reveals to Sparks that he's dying, and that this alien project was geared towards helping him recreate the mysterious, life-sustaining substance that's kept him alive far past his expiration date. Of course, Yasumoto has outright mentioned the substance before, and even explained what its intended purpose was, but his reckoning with his own mortality is the first real glimpse into a more human side -- with more human motivations -- for Yasumoto. This subplot even features some intriguing conflicts that may be going on unbeknownst to Yasumoto, as we learn that Yasumoto's lover, Femi Dodd (Annie Wersching), is a member of the anti-machines resistance group led by Odin. In essence, forces are all uniting to limit Ethan in one way or another, as not only does this resistance want him dead, but John is also trying to implant "governors" into his system to limit his inhuman learning capacity, since he feels this will make Ethan even more of a pariah ("Little boys don't learn Japanese in a day!" John declares, although I'm sure there's some little prodigy out there somewhere who's proved that wrong).

However, Ethan's exponential growth means that he's now able to deny his father access to his programming. In a very real sense, Ethan is becoming his own person, incapable of being controlled. For the first time since creating him, John is locked out of Ethan, and it terrifies him. The one area of control he had in his life is slipping away from him, yet Julie astutely points out that this should be exactly what John wants, since he wanted a human boy, and boys rebel against their fathers. It's almost kind of miraculous how quickly Ethan went from being an eye-roller in the story department to becoming one of the show's most fascinating elements, yet -- and maybe this is intentional, but I doubt it is -- Pierce Gagnon's performance just seems more alien than it used to be before this point. It has me wondering if he'll be able to pull off whatever this storyline will call for in the future, since Ethan should really be coming across as more relatable as a boy, not more uncanny.

Credit: CBS

But now I've gone and spent a thousand words without getting to what is ostensibly the meat of these two episodes: Molly's search for the fetus, dubbed "The Offspring" by sudden, brand new ally Kern (Maury Sterling), who decides to join Molly's cause after deciding that Sparks's handling of the alien fetus is going to get a lot of people killed. However, he's shown to have deeper motivations than simply wanting to save lives: turns out his father was a pilot who lost his mind, claiming to have spoken to God before landing in a cornfield hundreds of miles off-course. This has led to Kern having a vested interest in the supernatural, searching for meaning as if in an attempt to verify that the man he idolized wasn't a lunatic. It's a rich characterization for Kern, and is used to explain his spiraling addiction to Absalom, the gas drug he was seen inhaling last week. Similarly, Kryger (Brad Beyer) has his reasons for helping Molly to. In addition to being "The only friend I have on this planet," Kryger declares his intention to help Molly in order to figure out what the ISEA did to him up in space. He needs to know the truth almost as urgently as Molly does, as this entire fiasco has effectively ruined his life.

Credit: CBS

And so the threesome teams up to track down the fetus, and it takes the better part of forever to actually get to anything exciting. The first half involves Molly doing a lot of digging, with the help of Sam (Camryn Manheim), into the Aruna mission and the death of Katie Sparks (Tessa Ferrer). This is all well and good, but it just seems to drag on interminably, as Molly tracks down a ground control operative for the Aruna project and tries to get him to talk, only for the man to be found dead the next day in an apparent "suicide" en route to meeting with her. And so Molly is back to the drawing board, confessing her absolute terror to John, while also rambling that, despite her fear for her safety (and the safety of her family), she just can't let this go. When John insists that the risk is too high, Molly declares, "No risk, no reward," yet the characterization makes it seem as though Molly herself doesn't even really know what she intends to do. John is right when he notes that she could probably bring down Sparks with just the Aruna mission recording alone, since it proves he knew what really happened to Katie and the rest of the Aruna astronauts.

However, Molly feels that to expose Sparks now would cost her the chance to find her fetus. Of course, we have no idea what Molly actually plans to do with the fetus once she finds it, other than the vague rationale that she "just needs to see it" for her own sake. This, despite the incredibly high likelihood of her dying in the effort. It's almost characterized as a sickness on Molly's part, as her desire to know about the fetus is motivated less by a sense of revenge or justice, and more out of a compulsive curiosity to know what this thing is that she carried. In fact, you might almost call it "motherly instinct," as her "child" was taken from her and she wants him back, despite Kryger insisting that she wasn't his mother, she was his host. But that doesn't mean the fetus doesn't have an attachment to Molly, as it appears he's trying to communicate with her, sending birds up against a window in the shape of the mysterious circular pattern, and defending her from Sparks's gun-wielding agents by forcing them to turn on each other. The fetus appears to want his mother, even if his mother doesn't seem to understand anything he's trying to tell her.

Credit: CBS

This all concludes in an action sequence that is among the more engrossing things the show has done so far, as Molly and Kryger make their way down to the containment facility where the fetus is being kept, thanks to a distraction put in place by Kern. However, Kern is unable to get Sparks and his men out of the lab in time, so Molly and Kryger basically walk into a trap. A shootout ensues, the fetus telepathically comes to his mother's aid, and Molly is left to fend for herself against Sparks...who shoots her in the chest, apparently killing her?! Well, yes and no. This is apparently all an apparition sent by the fetus, as Molly turns into Katie before Sparks's eyes. As Sparks begins to hear the sound of weak wheezing from around the corner, "Katie" rises up and tells her father, "He needs our help." Meanwhile, Kryger shoots the container holding the fetus, insisting to a heartbroken Molly that it couldn't be allowed to live. However, when Molly throws back the lid, she discovers the fetus is gone, replaced by the unlucky scientist tasked with checking on its progress early in the episode (after the fetus created a storm of condensation/fog that completely obscured its containment area). So where is the fetus now? And what does he want from Molly? I'll admit, I'm interested. I just wish getting to that killer conclusion had been less of a slog.

Extant is on the right track with "More In Heaven and Earth" and "Incursion", although I'm not sure this is a show designed for binge-watching, so I really don't know if two episodes per week is going to work. But it'll be interesting to see how the show manages pairing episodes together when they, perhaps, don't fit as nicely together as these two did (for the most part). But for me? Even while it was compelling in parts, two straight hours of Extant just might have been too much.