HUMANS - S1E3 - Episode 1.3
Previously on HUMANS, ‘Episode 1.2’
Fred Ain’t Saying Shit
Hobbs speaks to Fred, who’s constrained in a chair while the technician monitors what’s going on in his head. Hobbs shows Fred a photo of Anita (Mia) from his underwater memory, and admits he knows Fred and four others were created by David Elster and kept in secret. As he speaks, memories of Niska and Mia play on the screen. Hobbs knows they were split up, but he doesn’t know why.
When Fred realizes what Hobbs is doing, he hides his memories. Hobbs shuts him down. Frustrated, he asks if they’re sure nothing of importance was in the belongings found in the junkyard. The technician notes there was food and water, something Synths shouldn’t need.
Toby to the Rescue… to Get Rescued
When Joe and Toby arrive home and learn that Laura has taken Anita back, Toby hops on his bike and speeds away. Presumably, on his way to Best Buy or wherever one purchases a Synth. Laura is stopped in traffic and only sees Toby racing in front of them a moment after Anita does. Anita also saw a van pulling out of line to go around the stalled cars. She jumps out of the car and stands in front of the speeding van, taking the hit, but saving Toby’s life. Startled, Toby goes flying off his bike.
Laura yells at Toby because she’s the worst. He’s fine, but more concerned for Anita who lies at four different awkward angles on the sidewalk.
Joe, Sophie, and Mattie arrive at the scene of the accident. Sophie declares Anita a hero, Mattie teases Toby, and Joe questions Laura about taking Anita back. She counters with why he let Toby race out like Lance Armstrong. She finally tells him about Anita’s non-sharing with other Synths and saying something cryptic about Sophie. Joe rolls his eyes and says he’s driving the kids and Anita home. Laura will walk Toby’s bike back to the house. Anita gets to sit up front, adding insult to injury. Before she gets in the car, Mattie shoots her mom a look like she’s so disappointed in her.
Whorehouse of Horrors
Leo and Max break into a nightclub under construction, where Leo finds liquor and immediately starts to drink “for the pain.” Max states the obvious: They need to continue to look for Mia and Fred. Leo thinks they should lie low and set up online, calibrated searches for Mia’s root code. When they hear news of a crime on the street where Niska’s brothel is located, they rush out. So much for lying low.
At the brothel, the madame tells Pete and his partner, Voss, what happened with Niska and shows them her picture. Voss recreates what must have happened in the room. Their boss arrives and after exchanging a look with Hobbs outside, he tells the detectives that they are to declare this an accident - an illegally hacked Synth went a little bonkers during rough sex. Pete is not happy with this and accuses Hobbs of being from the manufacturer and instigating a coverup. When Pete attacks a reporter, the boss sends his ass home. Voss is instructed to quietly work the case. Hobbs gets a lead on Silas.
Max and Leo watch from up the street, looking shifty as fuck. Max uses his super Synth hearing to learn someone was seriously hurt. They know it was Niska’s doing and leave.
Pete gets home just as Simon Synth is pressed up against Pete’s wife, helping her knead some dough - not a euphemism. Thankfully, Pete doesn’t see this intimate moment. He grabs a beer and yells for his wife to tell Simon to stay out of his face.
Meanwhile, Niska’s at the mall getting her life. She steals some clothes and dons blue contact lenses. She totally ignores a Synth at a charging station who wants to know why Niska doesn’t share. She doesn’t even give her so much as a “you don’t know me like that.”
Later, Leo and Max meet up with Niska, who won’t apologize for what she’s done. She tells Leo he wouldn’t have asked a human woman to stay in that brothel. Offended, Leo says he’s “practically” one of them. Niska only came to say goodbye and admits she will continue to hurt people who deserve it. Max won’t give up on her though, and says they are family. She reluctantly takes the cell phone he hands her before she walks away.
The Great Escape
Millican convinces Vera to clear out a spare bedroom so they can move his bed into it. While she’s in there, he leaves the room and locks the door. He gets Odi and prepares to go for a drive. Vera spots this from the window and uses her T-1000 strength to pull the bedroom door open, splintering it. Odi drives away as she protests that what Millican is doing is cray. I half expected her to take off after them, also like the T-1000.
While they’re out driving through a wooded area, Millican notes he’d like some ice cream. Odi takes this an immediate command and attempts to exit the car while he’s driving it. They crash into a tree. When Millican recovers, he instructs Odi to run and hide in the woods. Then he sits in the driver’s seat and waits for help.
That night, at home and bandaged up, Millican feels bad about leaving Odi by himself. Odi sits in the woods, calling for him.
Naked Inspection
At the house, Anita explains that for insurance purposes, Joe has to do an examination of her before she can repair any external damage. He takes her to the shed where she gets naked so he can point out her boo-boos while trying to avoid her boobies. He mutters, “It’s not real. It’s not real.” Anita reminds him, “I’m not real.”
Toby listens outside the door like a fucking creep.
When Laura gets home, she and Joe question Anita together. She again denies taking Sophie out of her bed and clarifies what she said about keeping Sophie safe. Laura looks like a crazy woman.
A few minutes later, Laura enters the living room while Anita plays a video game with Toby and Sophie, and Mattie watches. Everyone is laughing and happy until Laura arrives. She apologizes for yelling at Toby and then asks if she can play. Toby notes there are only three controllers, and when Anita offers up hers, Sophie protests. Ouch.
Laura, you can’t sit with us.
Niska Gets Her Life, Almost Takes a (Another) Life
Niska sits in a bar, orders a drink, and begins to read a book given to her by Esler. A guy approaches her and starts to flirt. Back at his place, he tries to make small talk and says he’s not married. Niska is like, “We fucking or nah?”
In his bathroom, she notices a hair ties that belong to a woman. She takes a big-ass butcher knife from the kitchen and finds the guy in the living room trying to straighten up. He had his little girl for the weekend and she left the living room a hot-ass mess. Niska realizes he’s not married, drops the knife on a chair, and leaves when he’s not looking.
Come to Jesus Meeting
Anita finds Laura’s hidden photo album and stares at a picture of a little boy and girl. On the back reads, “Laura and Tom.” Sophie asks Anita to tuck her in, but Anita says that’s Laura’s job. As Laura prepares apology cakes for Toby, Sophie begs her mom to let Anita put her to bed. Joe steps in and says yes, which annoys Laura. She burns the cakes and dumps them. Joe sips his wine and is all, “Hey, I totally would have eaten that!” Just like a man.
Anita prepares to read Sophie’s bedtime story, but asks Sophie if she’ll let her mother do it. It will make Laura happy, she says. Moments later, Anita tells Laura Sophie has changed her mind. As Laura reads the story to Sophie, Mattie listens and reads along in her room. Before Laura leaves, Sophie asks if she’s happy now since Anita said this would make her mother happy. Mattie overhears this and looks concerned.
That night, as Anita charges, Mattie connects her laptop to Anita. Anita warns her this is a no-no, but Mattie wants to know why Anita is such a weirdo. Suddenly, Anita grabs Mattie’s arm and says, “I’m here. Help me! Help me!” With the shit properly scared right out of her, Mattie takes her ass to bed.
The next morning, Laura questions Anita. She suspects Anita has been illegally modified and tests for the most common modification: making it appear as if the Synth feels pain. When toothpicks in the hand don’t work, Anita offers to show Laura how it’s done and sticks a toothpick in her eyeball. No pain. And the puncture heals over once the toothpick is removed.
Laura is all, “Then why am I tripping?”
And Anita is all, “Cause that’s just what bitches do.”
Kidding.
Anita tells her it’s not uncommon for people with no Synth experience to behave as Laura has. Laura notes Anita is good at reading emotions (knowing Sophie choosing her made Laura sad) when Synths are notoriously bad at it.
Anita insists she never meant to make Laura feel like a bad mom (even though she totally is), but it’s kinda true that she is a better parent… because she’s designed to be. However, she cannot love Laura’s children. When Laura asks if Anita wishes she could, Anita says she doesn’t understand the question.
Just when things seem to be cool between them, Anita asks about Tom, which freaks Laura out. She tells Anita never to say that name again. Anita apologizes. Joe listens from the next room, confused.
Mattie logs into a hacker’s forum and asks if anyone has seen anything like Anita’s root code. In the bar, while Leo sleeps and dreams of a car underwater, Max is running the searches they spoke about earlier. He finds Mattie’s post and while they can’t trace who she is and where she is exactly, they know Mia must be nearby.
Overall Thoughts & Questions:
- Some suspected Millican didn’t want Odi recycled because the Synth knew things Millican didn’t want others to find out. But if that’s so, why would he leave Odi out in the woods where he might be found? Why not disable him? OR just leave him powered off in the shed and hidden.
- Is prostitution legal if the sex workers are Synths?
- It’s interesting that people who are already suspicious of Synths and their roles in society are the ones who immediately jump to the worst conclusions, even if they shouldn’t make sense. They remarked that Niska’s crime was the first. Most rational people would assume she was illegally modified to murder.
- I have so many more thoughts on this episode, but I’ll save them for tonight’s podcast.
