S02.E04: Cracking the Code

[HalcyonDays]

Episode synopsis: As Molly works to create a virus that will eradicate alien hybrids, she discovers that aliens are trying to communicate with humans through a hidden message in their DNA. Also, Lucy helps Ethan run away from Charlie in order to help him recover memories of his mother, Molly.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Finally, some funky future tech -- the laser nail groomer, the foldable video ad in the pamphlet, the 3-D printing 24 hour food restaurant, that funky Minority Report style screen.  Not really impressed by the voice-recognition text messaging that Charlie was using -- we've got that now.

 

Why are Molly's nails always growing -- is she part werewolf ?  And what are these voices she keeps hearing that apparently tell her what to do ?  Because they helped her with the genetics puzzle.  And does she blackout when she goes out to pick up guys late at night ?  Did she even remember picking up and banging that guy from the restaurant ?

 

They really glossed over the fact that she shot Toby.  You would think that body armor would be much more improved, and maybe just leave a bruise instead of a couple of cracked ribs.

 

So what's turning Molly into full-on horndog every night ? Is it the full moon ?

 

And the whole Richter's daughter is possibly pregnant from the Offspring was just a waste of time.  Did they ever ask Kelsey to describe who the possible father looked like ?

 

Lucy is quite the snappy dresser -- she looked great all episode.  I'm assuming it was Lucy that left that message on the mirror.  But wouldn't Gina the apartment AI alert Molly that Ethan had been in the place, and there was a record of him scanning his thumb-print ?

Edited July 23, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Driad]

 

Why isn't this on?  On-line schedule says  today at 10 PM but the station is showing Criminal Minds instead.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Why isn't this on?  On-line schedule says  today at 10 PM but the station is showing Criminal Minds instead.

 

There was an announcement last week that (likely because of the low ratings at 10pm) they were moving Extant to 9pm and Criminal Minds to 10pm

[Free]

 

 

Why isn't this on?  On-line schedule says  today at 10 PM but the station is showing Criminal Minds instead.

 

 

Time change to an hour earlier, I think.

[Big Mother]

I was also sure that the alarm system would alert Molly  that someone had been at the house. Also - why don't we see any interaction between Charlie and Ethan at all about what he had just done? Ethan fainted when he remembered Molly - and Charlie just picked him up, walked out, and nothing happens? Weird. At least I saw in the "This Season on Extant" previews that he will still bring it up with Julie/Charlie.

 

I love feisty Lucy.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Big Mother

[Rhetorica]

Good episode. They do move the plot along. Lucy is either going rogue and saving the day or jumping to the other side. Did I understand correctly that the guy in the lab said the alien species is epicene? Is that why Molly is so sexually aggressive now? I really didn't miss Julie this episode and can do without Ms jealous of my lover's former lover. But she may be the one to expose Molly.

[wayne67]

I really enjoyed Lucy corrupting Ethan with the notion of independent thought and action. I do wish the boy robot would stop fainting all the time. It's getting tedious.

 

It was nice having a break from Julie and her high strung brand of crazy. Unfortunately we still had to deal with General's Chief of Staff being all snarky about Molly.

[thuganomics85]

Ah, the old "bulletproof" vest trick.  Glad to see Toby is apparently always wearing.  Although, it looks like it hasn't advanced very well, if they still suffer from broken ribs in the future.  They haven't created a reflective one, yet?

 

So, Molly is continuing to be effected by whatever the hell happen to her, with her fingernails always growing back quickly and randomly sleeping with guys, and not remembering what happened.  She even almost did it with JD too, except he stopped it before things went too far.  I wonder what other symptoms will be popping up.

 

I'm really not sure what the point was of bringing in JD's pregnant daughter, unless it ends up being a screw-up and she was impregnated by an alien.

 

A lot of time spent watching Molly mess around with DNA, that involved a ton of science stuff I'm not famailar with.  But, hey, here is Michael Gladis (Paul Kinsey from Mad Men!) as the leader of the team, I think.  Meanwhile, Toby's girlfriend is clearly jealous of Molly.

 

No Julie, which is a plus.  Ethan though, goes snooping for Molly thanks to Lucy's suggestions, and finds her house, but of course, fritz-es out again, so Charlie takes him before Molly gets back.  But wait!  Someone (has to be Lucy, I think), left Molly a message that Ethan was there!  All I ask is that this leads to Molly throwing down with Julie, when they finally reunite.

[Free]

I really enjoyed Lucy corrupting Ethan with the notion of independent thought and action. I do wish the boy robot would stop fainting all the time. It's getting tedious.

 

It's the same thing over and over again with him unfortunately, it's gotten too repetitive.

[shapeshifter]

It's the same thing over and over again with him unfortunately, it's gotten too repetitive.

I'm okay with it, because at least it's consistent. Plus, it is a relatively graceful way to limit a child actor's hours. Also, unlike many annoying child actors, I really like what he brings, so I'm willing to put up with the loosed-marionette-strings routine.

[Free]

I'm okay with it, because at least it's consistent. Plus, it is a relatively graceful way to limit a child actor's hours. Also, unlike many annoying child actors, I really like what he brings, so I'm willing to put up with the loosed-marionette-strings routine.

 

It's the writing that I have more of a problem with, the actor is doing what the writers want him to do.  In his storyline, his character is stuck doing the same thing over and over again and it's especially problematic considering this is a 13 episode per season show, so this kind of repetition is taking up screen time.

[Happytobehere]

I'm really liking the retooling of this show. It is much improved over last year. I just hope it is not too late and that they can draw in new viewers to justify a third season.

I never liked the Julie character nor have I ever liked GG in any role I've seen her in. However, I never realized the impact she has on this show until this episode without her. It seemed like a much more pleasant show, if that makes sense. In all honesty, with the military and darker hair woman as villain, Julie can disappear since she is no longer needed in the role of antagonist. I say wrap the Ethan kidnapping story up and have her leave the canvass.

Charles, are you really that much of a pathetic loser? You see who Julie is, what she has become and what she has done, yet the minute she spreads them for you, everything you know to be right and wrong goes out the window. Well, here's hoping that before Julie bids the show farewell, she decides to make a little phone call about you.

I'm also really liking JDM on the show. However, I don't get what the point of his daughter's pregnancy was either. I assume that somehow it comes into play later on in the season because otherwise, it was just a bizarre interlude.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Happytobehere

[ribboninthesky1]

Good episode. They do move the plot along. Lucy is either going rogue and saving the day or jumping to the other side. Did I understand correctly that the guy in the lab said the alien species is epicene? Is that why Molly is so sexually aggressive now?

 

I'm wondering if it's another way for the alien species to spread it's DNA. Like, Molly sleeps with random men, who will sleep with other women, and so on.  She thinks she's sick, but even though the offspring was extracted from her, its DNA integrated with her own? Making her a hybrid of sorts?  Either that, or her blood is the key to that alien antidote they're trying to come up with.    

 

I laughed my ass off when she approached the lone dude in the restaurant.  He didn't know what the hell was going on, ha! 

 

Co-sign with those who didn't miss Julie.  She can be gone for the rest of the season, as far as I'm concerned.  I love that Lucy is not here for Julie - guess she was made in Molly's likeness beyond just the physical!   

[shapeshifter]

I'm really liking the retooling of this show....

I'm also really liking JDM on the show. However, I don't get what the point of his daughter's pregnancy was either. I assume that somehow it comes into play later on in the season because otherwise, it was just a bizarre interlude.

I'm liking this season much better too. The daughter's pregnancy served to reveal more about JD's character and also linked him to the pregnancy issue in a more personal way. Whether there will be more to it remains to be seen. It looks like Kelsey will be in a couple of other episodes, so the pregnancy might have also been a way for Molly to bond with her. I wonder what Lucy and Kelsey would think of each other.

[HalcyonDays]

They really glossed over the fact that she shot Toby.  You would think that body armor would be much more improved, and maybe just leave a bruise instead of a couple of cracked ribs.

 

Yeah, but the bullets are better too. It's like with today's military tech. Someone creates a very effective bullet proof vest, and a few months later, someone else makes a bullet that can pierce that new vest, and so on and so on.

 

Good episode. They do move the plot along. Lucy is either going rogue and saving the day or jumping to the other side. Did I understand correctly that the guy in the lab said the alien species is epicene? Is that why Molly is so sexually aggressive now? I really didn't miss Julie this episode and can do without Ms jealous of my lover's former lover. But she may be the one to expose Molly.

 

Love Lucy in this. Great character and interesting too. Love her influencing Ethan and getting him to think outside the robot box.

 

With Molly, I wonder if somehow some of the alien DNA someone got into her system, affecting her. In season 1, we saw that the alien whatever can onto the space station and impregnated the two female astronauts. Like the alien has some desperate need to propagate. And now Molly, that same instinct is taking over. Somehow those spores are making her behave sexually aggressive and causing her nails to grow fast (and hair too maybe?).

 

Shallow comment of the episode: Goddamn it, JD is a hottie. I don't know why, but Jeffery Dean Morgan is really smoking on this show (sorry, I like his rugged unshaved dimpled look). Also, Charlie without the glasses was looking good also.

 

This show is entertaining me much more than last season. It's going to be interesting to see how JD and Molly work together in this situation. Also, Lucy and Ethan - she is going to be wavering on her sides and I think ultimately will choose Charlie. For some reason, I think she bonded with him somehow, and when that military /govert org tells her to do something that could ultimately hurt him, she will decide not too. Same with Ethan.

[DearEvette]

I watched, I think, at most 3 episodes of season1 and bailed.  I thought Ethan was creepy and thought Molly and John had an antiseptic marriage.  Serioulsy. Halle and Goran and no chemistry,imo.

 

Decided to try the first ep of this season to see if I'd like it better.  I do.  Much better.  I binged all the eps and now I am looking forward to watching live.

 

I am liking Ethan 1000x more this season.  I am rooting for him to get back with Molly so hard!  I liked his trek to find her in this ep and the little bit of suspense --would they connect? wouldn't they? -- that small subplot added was welcome because I knew it could go either way.

 

JDM is smokin' and I am liking the relationship he has with Molly.

 

I am also enjoying Lucy so much.  I saw Kiersy Clemons in the movie Dope about a month ago and even though I knew who she was it took me a minute to connct the dots because she gives Lucy such a 'mechanical' tone sometimes, the actress allows herself to lose some animation in her face when she plays Lucy.

 

And even though I find the bigger overall arc of trying to kill the aliens a good one, I am enjoying all the little subplots they are juggling: Julie (even though I hate her), The Governor (yeah, I know he is Toby but he will always be The Governor to me) and his feels about Molly and his girlfriend's feels about Molly, whatever is going on with Molly, Charlie.

 

And finally, I like the bit of humor they infused with Molly's latest pick up.  His facial expressions -- both at the diner and the next morning  -- were gold.  And his big, white briefs.  "Call me!"  LOL.

Edited July 25, 2015 by DearEvette

[SlackerInc]

Poor Grace Gummer: no one seems to like her, whether here or on The Newsroom. No one but me, that is.

Finally, some funky future tech -- the laser nail groomer, the foldable video ad in the pamphlet, the 3-D printing 24 hour food restaurant, that funky Minority Report style screen. Not really impressed by the voice-recognition text messaging that Charlie was using -- we've got that now.

Why are Molly's nails always growing -- is she part werewolf ? And what are these voices she keeps hearing that apparently tell her what to do ? Because they helped her with the genetics puzzle. And does she blackout when she goes out to pick up guys late at night ? Did she even remember picking up and banging that guy from the restaurant ?

[snip]

I'm assuming it was Lucy that left that message on the mirror. But wouldn't Gina the apartment AI alert Molly that Ethan had been in the place, and there was a record of him scanning his thumb-print ?

Agreed about the cool tech, and also that the voice texting was less impressive. On the other hand, maybe that is an "ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of deal.

Pregnant women's nails actually do grow faster in real life, so this is the "accelerated" version. Not sure why the General's scanners are not picking up on Molly's infection though.

Molly does black out when she goes to pick up guys, which was why she was shocked when he was in her bed in the morning. Notice that later with JD, when she came to she was shocked to find her clothes partly off.

AI Gina seems to be passive rather than proactive. If Molly asks her who has been there, she will presumably provide the info.

I love feisty Lucy.

Ditto!

I'm also really liking JDM on the show. However, I don't get what the point of his daughter's pregnancy was either. I assume that somehow it comes into play later on in the season because otherwise, it was just a bizarre interlude.

I like that not everything has to have a really obvious plot justification. Earlier, when the daughter showed up pregnant, people were complaining that it was too much of a coincidence if she were pregnant by an alien. Well, there ya go: a coincidence of that level was apparently not happening. But it did help flesh out her father's character, it allowed him and us to see what was going on in the government clinics, and it helped reunite Molly and JD.

Speaking of those government clinics, I do have to wonder how they are explaining things to family members when the infected mothers do not come back home or even call from the hospital. Given people's willingness to get conspiratorial about stuff that's actually innocuous (like the Jade Helm operation in Texas), there's no way this wouldn't blow up into a major level of online buzz and get pregnant women running for the hills. Which of course is counterproductive to the government's agenda.

Edited July 27, 2015 by SlackerInc