There’s a certain level of irony in this review being delayed due to technical issues, given this show’s (and this episode’s) subject matter, but that’s a fairly easy joke to open with. Yet, it’s still the only joke I’ve got so lets move swiftly into the actual review thing.
Note: while I don’t like actively spoiling plot points here, it’s probably inevitable with the discussion. So consider this a spoiler warning.
Nice Little Opening
This was a detail I was really into when watching that pilot and I’m glad they’re gradually returning to it: John Kennex’s artificial leg. It was necessarily a cold open, but the episode opens with a nice little moment with Kennex waking up and attaching his leg and having to deal with it as part of his morning routine. It also has a nice little callback to a line from the pilot that’s reference again later on in this episode. It may not be a big thing, but that opening was a moment I enjoyed because not only does it show the writers dealing with this disability as part of the character, something I appreciate, but also allows us to have a look into Kennex’s private life.
It was just a nice little opening.
Hey, Waitaminute… Haven’t I Seen This Before?
This was pretty much my prevailing thought throughout the episode, that I had seen it or something like it before. Then it finally clicked: this is just Die Hard Of The Future. Once I had noticed it, I just couldn’t stop noticing it. Almost every plot point in this episode maps to a plot point from Die Hard right down to the twist near the end of the episode. Now, I would be lying if I said the thought of watching Die Hard with 100% more robots didn’t appeal to me, but by the end it was getting a bit ridiculous.
This isn’t really a gripe because the episode still holds up really well thanks to a showcase on the Kennex and Dorian partnership that once again showcases the chemistry between the actors, but some of the elements just don’t really work in translation. The villain of the episode, for example, (who I have been calling Discount Michael Rooker since I saw the episode) doesn’t have the weight to carry that side of the episode and so it all falls down to Emily Rios (Andrea from Breaking Bad) to completely carry those segments of the episode as one of the hostages. She does it really well and there’s a lot of emotion, but there’s just no real threat on display from Discount Michael Rooker or any of the other villains to make me scared for her.
MacKenzie Crook Needs More To Do
This a real slow episode with not a whole lot going on through the middle and that let my mind wander places. And that place was that I really hope this show gives more to do to Mackenzie Crook. Crook plays the technician for the police that takes care of all the androids and he’s just a really good actor, but I only ever really see him in smaller roles. I’d love for this show to spotlight an episode on him later on down as they clearly want to keep him around. Give him more to do, dammit!
Dorian’s Time To Shine
Dorian taking out a room full of bad guys while dual wielding pistols. That’s it, that’s the thought. That was just really badass. I want more of that. Give me more of that.
Slow, But Good
This was definitely a much slower episode than previous ones mostly because it locks it’s main characters in one location for an hour and there’s only so much you can do with that. Hence most of the episode dealing with the (far less interesting) mystery surrounding the bad guys while intermittently cutting back to shots of Karl Urban and Michael Ealy climbing stairs for eternity. It’s a strange format for an episode this early in the show, but it did lead to more bonding between the two leads and nice showcase of their badass Captain.
What I’m trying to say is that despite how weirdly constructed this episode was, they still managed to make it enjoyable which was no small feat. This could easily have been the episode that killed the series and knowing Fox’s reputation with genre shows, that’s a looming worry, but they managed to pull it off rather nicely. Mind you, it wasn’t exactly as good as last week’s episode, but the show has already found some solid footing, I think.
