This show just gets better and better, doesn’t it? When I first saw advertising for the pilot floating around I thought we’d be getting another go around at a show like Fringe, but set in the future and with, well, robot cops. Instead, this is punching well above it’s weight by having fully realised characters with a surprising amount of depth and actors that pull it off mixed with stories that take the elements of the best of police procedurals and layer it over with a sci-fi skin. By all rights, this show should be nowhere near as good as it is, but somehow it manages it. Now, let’s get down to business with my five thoughts on the fifth episode, “Blood Brothers”.
Note: Spoilers will probably discussed here so you might want to watch the episode first because it’s like really good, ya dig?
This Is a Very Law & Order Opening
One of the things I really liked about this episode right off the bat was its focus on the other side of the whole law and order thing by showing us how the court system works in this future. And there are some very cool ideas present like projecting a witness testimony from police protection. I mean, it doesn’t exactly go well because if it did we wouldn’t have an episode, but it was nice to get a look into how the technology of this future, which is kind of a core element to the show, affects the courts.
Petite Psychic
This is the element of the show that could make or break the episode for a lot of people, I feel, but it really worked for me. Sure, the idea of someone who can talk to the dead bends the suspension of disbelief a lot, even in a show where one of the lead characters a robot, but I think they pulled it off well. That’s largely thanks to Megan Ferguson, who brings a lot of genuine warmth and emotion to the character that could come off as a bit of a deus ex machina if she didn’t feel so human. The character’s emotional payoff at the end of the episode was acted so well by Ferguson that I couldn’t help but tear up. She managed to take a character that could have honestly been an episode killer and make her the highlight of the episode.
Why Does It Always Have To Be Clones?
Maybe it’s my terrible experience with mid-90s Spider-Man comics, but I always expect clone stories to take years to conclude with zero resolution because no-one really had any idea what was going on in the first place. That, thankfully, doesn’t happen here and we actually get a good clone story for once. In fact, this episode creates a clone scenario which is rarely seen in that all of the clones are protective of each other and treat each other like family. While they’re not exactly at the forefront of the episode, it did present a nice layer to the story and even added to the world building. It’s mentioned that cloning is outlawed which the series could very easily bring back in a bigger way. If this episode is set-up for something bigger down the way, that would be very smart.
I Told You So!
Either I can predict the future or great minds think alike because last week I noted that I wanted an episode that gave Minka Kelly more and lo and behold the show answered. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly the ‘Kennex and Dorian get kidnapped and only Stahl can save the day’ episode I was hoping for, but it was better than nothing. Okay, the whole having her be kidnapped and that being the moment Kennex realises she’s more than set decoration plotline was clichéd and unnecessary and could have probably been done better, but Minka Kelly actually got to act for once in the show and that’s better than nothing, right? Ah, well, let’s hope it gets better from here.
This Is All Very 2000AD
One thing I noticed during watching this episode is that it’s pretty much a set of helmets and black leather away from being a Dredd show and not just because Karl “Stonyface” Urban is in it. So far this show has introduced androids (obviously), medium psychics, cloning as well as an incident at “the wall”. All we need is some mutants and rad choppers and we’re set.
If this one comes true as well, I don’t know what I’ll do.
