Almost Human - Is That It?



So is that it?  Our two heroes ride off into the sunset, the best of friends and ready to tackle the next big adventure?

Almost Human hasn't been renewed yet so we may have seen the last of Kennex and Dorian.  It was a nice safe ending and it reminded me of the ending of season four of Fringe when everyone got back together and shared a nice smile.  I'm glad we dodged that bullet back then and I hope we do the same this time.

There are so things left on the table for Almost Human.


First and foremost is the journey of Dorian.  It's no secret that Dorian was my favorite character from this series.  Will his humanity continue to evolve?  What of the pressure of being almost human?  Can he deal with the things he sees or will it lead to a deep depression that affected the other DRN's and led to their suicides?  Can he be happy in his own skin or will prevail upon Rudy to transfer his essence to a clone and live like a real human?  Will humanity continue to shun his ilk and treat them as second class citizens or worse yet, property?

Will Dorian request a mate ala the legend of the Frankenstein story?  With his synthetic soul can he find love there?  What would love like between to "artificials"?


John Kennex has a bit of a journey to explore also.  With his artificial leg he can be seen as "almost human" too.  How will he deal with is trauma?  He constantly fights with being incomplete thanks to his cybernetic leg.  Will remembering his new leg at the Sushi bar mean a sense of closure for him?  How can that ever be when he knows it was his ex-lover that blew his leg off and is a member of a criminal society?  Whatever happened to them?


Why did Captain Maldonado bring John and Dorian together?  How did she know they needed each other?  Why is Dorian good for Kennex?  Did she know of Dorian's history with Rudy Lom?  What was Dorian then and why was he preserved?  Did she have a hand in it?


What are the secrets beyond the wall?  Heck, why is there a wall?  I have a feeling we would have learned many of those secrets when Nigel Vaughn made his return.  What would he bring with him, an army of Dorians with a new version of his synthetic soul?  What is a synthetic soul?  Is it molecular in nature or is it paired with an algorithm made compatible with the essence of intelligence?  How the heck was that done?  There was alot of threads left dangling there.


What of the Almost Human premise in general?  We got a glimpse of how the future world warehoused people in the last episode especially the downtrodden and disaffected?  Is future government so distant from it's people that they make them stand in line for their pill formed sustenance?

Why is everyone so unhappy in the future?  People have turned to "Chroming" themselves and still they are not happy.  Valerie Stahl sought to hide her identity despite her perfection so she could mingle with regular people.  

Why all the memory wipes?  Can't people deal with their pasts anymore?

Are we so unhappy that we sought to make artificial humans and when that didn't work out we sought cloning instead.  What led to the banning of clones?  Was it so horrible that it led to a war?  Is that why the wall is there?


When I started to follow Almost Human I thought the principle narrative was to be all about Dorian and his struggle.  Clearly "Almost Human" applies to mankind's struggle in  a future world in general.  It would be tragic if we don't get to explore this world any further.

Yes, Almost Human lost it's focus as the season wore on.   Too may story lines started and left unfinished.  Thirteen episodes wasn't enough.  Will that lack of focus prove to be it's death knell or will it be the heavy cost of each episode to produce?

Questions, Questions.

I know I didn't do a very good job of answering them.  There was still a long way to go.  But it's not the destination in finding the answers, it's the journey.  Let's hope Almost Human gets too finish it's travels.




Comments

  1. Well I have to agree. As a regular episode I liked this one, particularly Dorian's review, etc. But as a season finale, weak. Everyone has pounced on the network for airing things out of order, but I think the real problem I have with this season is that it didn't feel like it was intended to be a 13 episode season. It felt like it was expecting a back nine. Granted, we don't need mythology every single episode, but a good half of the season did not address any of it. The episodes that did address the mythology elements only seemed to add additional layers of murkiness rather than clarity. Throw us a bone in the finale at least. Find a bug in John's cybernetic leg, a message from beyond the wall, the identity of the child in Dorian's phantom memory, something. I'm glad John and Dorian are getting along and all and will continue to work together, and that John has made some peace with his father's past, but this left me unsatisfied. We need a sense of the gathering storm, that reason to galvanize our heroes to continue to fight the good fight. Something about why the two of them together are uniquely suited for the next challenge.

    I hope the show gets a second season, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is all we get. So much potential.

    Lynne

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    1. I know what you mean about, "throwing us a bone." Even Fringe concocted a coda for the last 2 minutes of season four when September appeared and told Walter, "They're coming." Maybe Kennex's leg should have started beeping and a voice would come through his toes.

      I've heard the show was pretty expensive to produce, so maybe someone at FOX told them to reign it in but they were still expecting that back nine. Then it didn't happen. As Homer Simpson would say, "Doh!"

      Another thing that Fringe would do is have a stand alone episode but drop a mythology bomb on us in the final five minutes that would have everyone buzzing for a week. Maybe Wyman needs to clean house or have a firmer grip on the tiller. Focus people!

      If they do come back for a second season maybe they should focus on doing somewhere between eight and twelve episodes and have a plan like a lot of other shows do.

      So, I don't know what their chances are for a second season. They seem dim if you trust the internet. AH has a loyal fan base but they don't strike me as the army of warriors that Fringe had. Plus, Fringe had friends in high places and I haven't heard of anyone in this case going to bat for them. Maybe they should sit back and study what Sleepy Hollow did.

      Thanks Lynne!

      I

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