Hey, wow, my very own Five Thoughts. Sah-weet. Okay, so I’m supposed to bring you my thoughts on last night’s airing of the pilot for “Almost Human” on Fox. For those of you who didn’t catch it, it’s a buddy cop show set in 2048 with Karl Urban as the grizzled veteran who doesn’t trust the android partners that are mandatory issue who is teamed up with a state of the art android, played by Michael Ealy, who is capable of simulating human emotions.
So, let’s get to the whole thought-ing thing, shall we?
Trailers Always Lie
I should know better by now not to trust trailers in how they manipulate the footage they have to use to create a specific tone for the finished product, but what struck me here was just how different a tone the marketing had. From the trailer, I went into this expecting a much lighter show focused on buddy cop antics and future action. Instead, I get a more drama focused show on a bitter, old man dealing with major trauma being coaxed into recovery by a robot. And I like it. I like it a lot. This is a brave take for the show especially seeing as it’s on network television and, you know, it’s not a gritty high-budget film. Yet it really works. What levity it does have is spaced evenly enough that the show doesn’t feel depressing, but this is definitely not a comedy.
Love At First Bicker
Which brings me to the reason everyone should be watching this show: the “robromance”. Despite how much I hate that phrase (and how scared mainstream media is at portraying male bonding as anything but overbearingly platonic), I have to admit it does fit. What surprised me, though, was how quickly the show was able to power through the whole Karl Urban hates robots but oh wait no he doesn’t thing and still have it feel natural? I was expecting the show to keep the animosity between Kennex and Dorian (Urban and Ealy, for those of you not paying attention) going for a few episodes, but a couple of meaningful looks and it’s guy love all over again.
Don’t get me wrong, though, this is entirely a positive. Watching Urban go from robo-racist to best buddies after playing off of the strength of Ealy’s performance is really the highlight of the episode. And, boy, does Ealy do a lot with this material. Acting as an emotionless robot is one thing, but acting as a robot who is also simulating human emotions? That takes some doing and Ealy pulls it off incredibly. The chemistry between these two is what’s going to keep this show going.
World-Building Over Plot
So you have a near-future sci-fi story with a lot of world detail in how technology and life has developed because of certain technological advancements? Awesome, but how do you balance introducing all that information to the audience while still keeping a deep, twisted, engaging narrative? Well… you don’t, really. Something has to give and Almost Human smartly focuses on introducing the characters and the setting while keeping the actual plot of the episode simple with a nice and easy conclusion. I don’t have a hell of a twist ending, though, and hopefully what it lacked in plot here will serve as just an introduction to a more nuanced narrative from the next episode onwards. I’d say it’s a minor hiccup for the pilot, but I feel like there was more than enough character focus on the leads to balance it out.
Strong Opening, But Can It Keep It Up?
That being said, the focus on character development here leads me to wonder where the series will go from here. What I thought was going to take the whole season to work through took only this episode, so that leaves this season with a hell of a slope to climb. It can’t rest on the laurels of the chemistry between Urban and Ealy from here on out and that will really be the deciding factor on how long this show sticks around. Or it could just throw in a couple more Blade Runner references to appease us.
Oh, Look, A Near-Future Sci-Fi With Asian Influence AND Asian Actors!
I want to preface this by saying I’m a huge Firefly fan, but one thing that really annoyed me about that show was the overt Asian influence over the world and the complete absence of Asian actors. Almost Human keeps a similar idea between its influences from both Firefly and Blade Runner, but at least has the decency of having Asian actors in the show. I mean, the police force (which is pretty much the main cast) is still mostly white, but you know what, I’ll take what I can get at this point. Points for trying, Almost Human, points for trying.
