Extant - Recap: Shootout at an OK Corral

I mentioned last week that I wasn't sure if Extant could sustain being aired in a two-hour block. Granted, CBS making the decision to burn off these episodes in two-hour programming blocks has nothing to do with what's best for narrative, as I'm guessing the network just wants this over with before football season starts. But even then, you'd think they'd find room on another unused summer night to air a second episode per week, because realistically, this back-to-back scheduling has left me feeling utterly wearied by this show. In short, two hours of Extant is just too damn much. I'm sure, in isolation, I might have enjoyed "Care and Feeding" and "A Pack of Cards" far more than I did. They both have elements of a possibly good episode, as they tell one connected story over the course of two hours: Molly (Halle Berry) is on the hunt for her baby, and has formed a temporary alliance with Yasumoto (Hiroyuki Sanada) to get the job done. This involves being escorted by a man named Dr. Mason to the site where Sparks (Michael O'Neill) is hiding out. Throughout the two-hour jaunt, we get flashbacks to Molly's past, such as the horrific night where she lost both Marcus and her baby within hours of one another, as well as a few brief flashes of her time with Ethan (Pierce Gagnon) before leaving on the initial 13-month mission. We also get a telling flashback to just before her departure, in which Molly reveals to John (Goran Visnjic) that she just isn't feeling this "family" he wants to create with Ethan.

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These are all solid enough moments, particularly the flashback to the night of Marcus and Molly's accident, as we don't really need to know Marcus that well to still be affected by his death and its ramifications (ditto Molly's stillborn baby). But I almost feel like all of these details are coming a bit late. These might have helped explain why Molly was so obtuse in the early half of the season, caught between showing genuine affection for Ethan, and a reticence against getting too attached. It might also have helped to bring home just why Molly was so deeply affected by Marcus appearing to her in space. It wasn't just that someone she loved died, it's that her last image of him was of his mutilated body lying on the side of the road. That image had probably been seared into her mind to such a degree that seeing Marcus in front of her, fully-formed and back to his old self again, would have been a genuine shock to the system. Of course, to get this Marcus stuff early enough to matter, we would have had to get these flashbacks in the pilot. And the show just didn't seem like the sort of show that would give away so much, so soon. Then again, they've given away plenty already about "the offspring," while not really explaining any of his motives just yet.

Credit: CBS

Sparks is hell-bent on keeping Katie safe, and it's his story that I found strangely resonant this week. He's not exactly in the moral right here, but he doesn't pretend to be. He knows he's breaking laws and killing innocent people in the process, but he just doesn't care, because these innocent people are what stands between him and a second chance with his late daughter. One of the most affecting moments of the entire show so far is when he brings his long put-upon ex-wife, Anya, to come see the apparition of Katie for the first time. Anya has been putting up with Sparks's late-night phone calls about Katie for the better part of two years now, and she's just worn down to nubs by it, and with good reason. As Sparks brings her back to an old camping motel/retreat they used to visit with Katie, she begins chastising him for his unfairness in putting her through all this. We can see the grief worn deep into her bones, as she just can't stomach constantly being reminded of Katie. However, this pays off in a stunningly emotional moment, as she catches sight of "Katie" for the first time and basically crumbles to pieces with a mixture of joy, shock, and disbelief. In one moment, Anya goes from hating Sparks to joining his cause. There's no way she's going to lose Katie again, and Sparks's desperation and determination are now hers.

Naturally, this focus means bad news for anyone trying to get close to the offspring, as the child basically uses Katie to communicate his orders to Sparks. And those orders involve getting him bodies he can possess. It's a bit of a silly conceit, since you'd think the child would just use Sparks, although the show does try to explain this away by saying the offspring needs stronger bodies. Either way, it still plays like something out of a horror B-movie, as a sheriff and a repairman are the unwitting victims of the offspring, completely taken over in both mind and body after being tied up and left for the child by Sparks. But the silliness doesn't really end there, as the world's biggest coincidence puts Kryger (Brad Beyer) and Kern (Maury Sterling) in the same retreat as Molly, Mason, and the child. Turns out the sheriff the offspring possessed is the same sheriff Kryger and Kern intend to speak to in order to widen their manhunt for Sparks. And so the offspring is able to use this sheriff to neutralize the threat. However, because the offspring is still just a kid, he makes a few mistakes along the way, as both Kryger and Kern are able to slip out from just under his nose, and then take him unaware to gain the upper hand. Ultimately, everyone ends up at the retreat, and a shootout breaks out. But not before things get a whole lot weirder...

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Molly finally makes it to the retreat after being forced there by Mason. Molly had tried to escape from the doctor after receiving what she believed to be a warning sign (in the form of a flock of birds forming the circular symbol before attacking their van). But she's as bad at escaping as she is at sound decision-making, so she finds herself captured once again. As she gets to the door of the retreat, Sparks is all-too-willing to allow her to see her "son," precisely because the offspring ordered him to, through Katie. Apparently, the offspring needs Molly in order to do something, and we quickly see what it is. The offspring -- whom we never see -- transports Molly's mind into a simulated memory in which Marcus doesn't die in the car accident, nor does her baby. Molly is essentially in a state of bliss...until the baby starts losing oxygen, at which point Molly overhears "Ben" (her A.I. companion in space) directing her to enter her access codes into the baby's oxygen panel. As Molly does this, we see that -- in the real world -- she's actually entering her access codes into a panel that controls the course of a ship in space. Or, at least, that's the appearance the show seems to be giving us, as we see "Ben" telling an astronaut that his ship has changed course for Earth -- although the A.I. warns the astronaut not to get his hopes up. How does this factor into the offspring's plan? It's hard to tell, although the show tries to divert attention from the mystery by killing Kryger in a shootout. It's our first major character death, and I almost felt bad for not feeling anything at all. But I really don't think the show has succeeded in giving us reasons to actually care about Kryger as a person, beyond whatever aid he could lend to Molly. Her tears at his death feel strangely unearned, and is illustrative of how these thriller elements are overtaking good storytelling. This felt like a shock for shock's sake.

Credit: CBS

That said, the story was still more worthwhile than the stuff with Ethan and John this week, as they're essentially held captive in Yasumoto's palatial estate. John comes up with a plan of escape by using Ethan to bypass the security measures. However, once he's free, he encounters Odin (Charlie Bewley), who takes him away to go meet with Julie (Grace Gummer). This wouldn't be so bad, except we know Odin is hell-bent on obliterating Ethan, and so every interaction is dripping with menace. It'd actually be far more compelling if there was any kind of indication of what Odin intends to do beyond just endearing himself to Ethan further. With only a few episodes left, I'm not sure the show has much more time to kill in this department. But I suppose it's all being structured this way for a reason, and would have played far better in isolation, without this "back-to-back episodes" approach. But as it is now, it feels like two hours passed by without a whole lot happening on this front.

Ultimately, "Care and Feeding" and "A Pack of Cards" were probably better individually than they were as a pair, but I find it impossible not to link them due to the nature of their airing. These mini-movies aren't doing the narrative a whole lot of good, but the story that's actually here would be iffy even if these had been aired individually. The show is just so obtuse from one week to the next that it's getting hard to parse out what, exactly, the story actually is. Is it a story of a mother trying to become a mother? Is it a story about the possible obliteration of humanity? Or is it a story of people regaining what they've lost? It's hard to know what the story is about in any one week, but hopefully the impending end of the season will narrow the focus and provide clarity.