HUMANS - S1E5 - Episode 1.5
Previously on Humans, Episode 4
Niska’s robot run is a lot better than Fred’s. She runs right to Leo and Max. Leo explains his father hid the code to make more sentient Synths in all of them. Niska’s ready to find Mia and Fred, but Leo says she needs to lay low and gives her the address of a human she can stay with. He warns her to be nice.
At the Hawkin’s, Mattie asks Anita if the name “Mia” means anything to her; it doesn’t. Then the parents have a family meeting to explain that Anita is 14-years-old and probably illegally modified. They need to send her back, but the kids protest. The family votes and they all vote to keep Anita (even Laura) - all except Joe. Hmmm. Wonder why?
Pete nearly catches Voss charging herself when he busts in her room with the paper: Killer Synth is the headline. Their boss tells them to refute everything in it and puts Pete on phone duty, answering any tips that come in about the killer dolly. Voss asks about the 999 smash club call, but the boss blows her off. She digs anyway and finds the video of the fight has been taken offline.
A bleeding Niska shows up at Millican’s. He invites her in for a cup of tea. Vera immediately calls her out for being a Synth, which Niska denies. When Vera leaves to fetch the tea, Niska does admit to Millican that David Elster made her and she’s conscious.
Max and Leo are in the car, tracking Mattie’s friend (the one she kissed and who helped her try to hack the janitor Synth), hoping he can lead them to her and Mia. A message pops up from Mattie, who wants to talk about Mia. While Joe and Laura argue over Anita in the kitchen, Mattie takes Leo’s call in the living room. He wants to meet, but Mattie is hesitant because he’s weird. He says he’s been to charm school since the last time they spoke. (Are they flirting?!) Mattie overhears Joe asking Laura about Tom and tells Leo she has to go. He sends her an address.
When someone from Persona arrives to collect Anita, Mattie takes off with her in the family car, despite Anita’s warnings that it’s unsafe. Mattie takes Anita to Max and Leo, who both realize there’s no signs of Mia present. Leo hacks into Anita, looking for Mia. Max wonders if Mattie’s parents will be worried. She shakes her head no.
At the house, her parents are worried. Laura blames their argument and worries that Mattie will crash the car. Joe says Anita wouldn’t let that happen.
At Millican’s, Niska tells him to stop staring at her as there are no physical differences between her and other non-sentient Synths. She recites a quote from a book he owns: “Once you are awake, you shall remain awake forever.” She likes that. What makes her different is 17,000 pages of unique code. Here’s what we get from their convo:
- Niska is arrogant and angry. She assumes anyone who knows what they are will want to destroy them.
- Millican was recruited by Elster from MIT, but once he admitted he wanted no parts of creating sentient Synths, Elster got rid of him.
- Niska says her experiences have shaped her just as Millican’s have shaped him. But she won’t tell him what her experiences have been.
Leo’s not having any luck drawing Mia out. She begins to malfunction so Max shuts her down. When he restarts her, she’s still Anita.
Voss meets with the guy who ran the smash club, and he shows her the video of Niska kicking ass. Hobb meets with the executives funding his search for the Synths, and plays them a recording of the call Leo made to Niska when she was at the club. They realize Leo’s David’s son, and alive, and that the sentient code is hidden in all of them. Hobb is ordered to kill Fred so they can’t activate that code.
Meanwhile, Leo has given up on trying to find Mia and orders Mattie to take Anita home. Max looks heartbroken. At the house, Mattie goes through Anita’s instructions and finds the Persona diagnostic report. When she sees the adult options were activated, she accuses Toby of having sex with Anita, but he denies it. Laura calls the shop to get to the bottom of it, but when Anita enters the room, Toby realizes what must have really happened. He confesses.
When Joe comes home, Laura tells him and he doesn’t confess that it was him. Instead, he offers to talk to Toby the next day.
A jogger comes across Odi in the woods. He’s stuttering, but the man hears the word “murder” and calls the police. Pete takes the call and heads out to the woods, being nasty to his Synth co-worker in the process. Once he gets to the scene, Odi is gone. Armed with the serial number, he traces Odi to Millican and that day in the supermarket.
Leo dreams of drowning, being saved, and of Mia. He wakes up and tells Max he’s headed out and it’s probably time for Max to learn to care for himself.
Joe asked Toby about sleeping with Anita, and Toby accuses his father and admits to covering for him because he knows their marriage is in trouble. Joe has no excuse. Coward.
At Millican’s, he helps Niska tends to her injury and realizes she can feel pain. “True consciousness isn’t possible without pain… or pleasure.” She tries to avoid pain, but she’s not afraid of it or death. Millican counters that if you’re not afraid of death, you’re not really living; you’re just existing. Niska asks if he told anyone she was there, and he says no just as the doorbell rings. It’s Pete, which causes Niska to grab a pair of scissors and hide.
After they hear a noise, Millican follows Pete as he searches the house. Just as Pete is about to find Niska, Vera returns from the market and confirms Millican’s story that Odi isn’t in the house and no other Synth has been there. Pete gives Millican a fine and mentions he must be proud when he turns on the news - he knows Millican worked with Elster. Millican has no idea what Pete is talking about.
Voss tells Pete that Niska is posing as a human and says they need to work to find her together, but keep it quiet.
Millican sees the Killer Synth headline. Pete goes to a We Are People meeting and listens as the speaker riles up the crown with his anti-Synth speech. Pete smokes a pipe and looks like he agrees. Pete’s an asshole.
Joe confesses to Laura, who is furious. He tries to flip things around by asking about Tom. Laura responds by kicking him out.
Niska finds a photo of Millican, Elster, Hobb, and some other scientists. She asks about Hobb, who worked with them but also had a falling out with Elster. Niska realizes there’s something wrong with Millican and finds the newspaper on his bed. Hobb shows the suits that Fred has been killed, which they think is a good thing. Joe leaves the Hawkins home, looking pitiful.
Overall Thoughts:
- There’s no way Mia and Leo are lovers. Sorry. Just not buying it. He died as a small child, I suspect from drowning. Did Mia save him? We see from his POV that he “woke up” on a hospital bed with her standing over him. Is Mia his “mother?” Perhaps Elster’s “wife?”
- Also, was Elster having sex with Niska? She says her experiences have shaped her and she seems to have a really aggressive attitude towards human men, and she won’t say what her experiences are.
- Max is too adorable, which means he’s going to die.
- And there’s no way Hobb killed Fred because we can’t leave this series without knowing what the hidden code is and how it achieves sentient Synths.
- Toby, you’re the real MVP. (Mattie gets an honorable mention.)
