S02.E06: You Say You Want an Evolution / S02:E07: The Other

[HalcyonDays]

Episode 6 synopsis: Molly panics when she discovers she is changing physically – the question is into what, and whether she can reverse what’s happening to her. Also, JD’s ex-wife, Dorothy, shows up suddenly on his doorstep to discuss their daughter.

Episode 7 synopsis: Molly and JD want peace and they attempt to get Shepherd to agree to a deal between humans and hybrids. Lucy attempts to manipulate Charlie's feelings to leave him in a compromising position."

[Neurochick]

Here's what's interesting, the ailens all look biracial and the white folks want to kill them.

I detest Lucy, I hope she crashes or disappears, like Windows 95.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Neurochick

[Enero]

Lucy is definitely thinking robots against the world. Her view of humans is pretty negative. How did she learn so much so fast about human behavior anyway? Did they program her that way? Anyway, she's definitely not going to start sympathizing with the human condition anytime soon.

.

Totally not shocked that she tried to seduce Charlie. Glad he kept his hormones in check and stopped things from going too far.

Now that the aliens can procreate without killing the mother, how did they manage that anyway. Have their reproduction spores evolved? I definitely think JD's daughter is pregnant with an alien baby. Why else would their be so much focus on her pregnancy?

Speaking of JD, I really like his relationship with Molly. They had some nice scenes tonight.

I still don't feel anything for Julie. She made her bed and now she's paying the piper for it. Her tears mean nothing to me. That said, I found it strange that she would disappear on a trip to DC, right when the Humantics program is shifting into high gear.

Toby and the others are so focused on saving the human race from the aliens that they're totally missing what's right in front of them. The irony of this situation may be that the Humanitics they are creating to save humanity and stop the alien invasion may be the very thing that take over earth and stamps out humanity.

Neurochick - Though I'm willing to bet the writers haven't thought that deep to purposely create a double meaning here, I too find it interesting that all the alien hybrids appear to be played by minorities.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Enero

[ottoDbusdriver]

Totally not shocked that she tried to seduce Charlie. Glad he kept his hormones in check and stopped things from going too far.

 

So, are the Humanechs anatomically correct ?  Or to borrow a phrase from 'The Strain' have the designers made them go smooth ? 

 

Speaking of JD, I really like his relationship with Molly. They had some nice scenes tonight.

 

JDM is doing a great job with this role -- too bad the show wasn't better.

 

Toby and the others are so focused on saving the human race from the aliens that they're totally missing what's right in front of them. The irony of this situation may be that the Humanitics they are creating to save humanity and stop the alien invasion may be the very thing that take over earth and stamps out humanity.

 

I think they should be wary of Ethan's army of spiderbots -- they will kill you and everyone you love. </snark>

Edited August 6, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Free]

Lucy is definitely thinking robots against the world. Her view of humans is pretty negative. How did she learn so much so fast about human behavior anyway? Did they program her that way? Anyway, she's definitely not going to start sympathizing with the human condition anytime soon.

 

I think they should be wary of Ethan's army of spiderbots -- they will kill you and everyone you love. </snark>

 

It's where it's been heading, unless the direction changes, they're going to turn on the humans.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Free

[Big Mother]

The Humanichs cant reproduce, and they can be located/decommissioned (i.e. killed) easily by their creators. The question is, whether their creators don't develop real feelings for them (see: Ethan) which makes it really hard to do away with them.

[ottoDbusdriver]

The Humanichs cant reproduce, and they can be located/decommissioned (i.e. killed) easily by their creators. The question is, whether their creators don't develop real feelings for them (see: Ethan) which makes it really hard to do away with them.

 

When Lucy was questioning Charlie about the expiration dates, I don't think she got the point of it was for the Humanechs to have a normal human life span -- while Lucy was acting like they had a 4 year lifespan like the replicants in 'Blade Runner'.  Somehow I don't think Lucy has seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

[Such A Flirt]

Lucy, this ain't "Battlestar Galactica" - leave Charlie alone!

 

Urgh, I just knew they were going to go there at some point. Thank you for not falling for it, Charlie.

 

Speaking of hot, I am loving JD more and more. Please don't kill him off.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Such A Flirt

[bagatelle]

So they turn on the new Humanic and send him to do battle the very next day.  Did they check his functionality first, or did I miss something.

[shapeshifter]

Here's what's interesting, the ailens all look biracial and the white folks want to kill them.

Neurochick - Though I'm willing to bet the writers haven't thought that deep to purposely create a double meaning here, I too find it interesting that all the alien hybrids appear to be played by minorities.

I tried to point this out at the beginning of the season, but, as often happens, my words got in the way of my meaning. I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing this now. So, will the not-white-aliens (note the double entendre of the word "alien" too) and the mostly white humans wind up teaming up against the more diverse Humanichs?

I may have dozed off during a key bit (2 hours is a lo-o-ong time after work on a Wednesday) but did Toby's soon-to-be ex not know that TAALOR was an AI? Also, does this mean an AI is running the show? If so, will the AI eventually side with the Humanichs out of "ethnic" loyalty? ("Ethnic" is the wrong word, but y'all know what I mean, right?)

When Lucy and the new Humanich soldier infiltrated the hybrids' ("hybrids" looks to me a lot like biracial on this show) compound by simultaneously stretching open the chain linked fence, I thought it was apparent that having the same memories was handy--they were thinking alike. But then right after that, Lucy was about to shoot Molly, but the other Humanich talked her out of it for strategic reasons that she did not readily see. I had a hard time understanding why they would think differently on that one point. Maybe Molly and Julie will become targets of Lucy because she is jealous of Ethan's and Charlie's affections for them? But Ethan isn't so affectionate twoards Molly right now, so...?

ETA: I LOLd when, right after JD said he got a D- in science 30 years ago, Molly ordered him to extract a bone marrow sample from her hip with absolutely no instructions beyond: Use this ginormous needle.

Poor Helios. Did they kill him?

Edited August 6, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Actionmage]

Okay, first, this was a relatively quickly-paced two hours. I was a little surprised when it was time to stop for the night.

 

Now, I said it was quickly-paced, not that it wasn't repetitive. Or stupid at points. Yet, after opting out of the last couple of episodes, I didn't feel too behind on this double dose.

 

First, do the hair folks hate Melina Kanakariedes, aka JD's judgey ex-wife, The Judge? Ms. K doesn't have to have her fabulous  curls for every part, but if what she had was the alternative in Future World, no thanks. Worse than the beige-iness of Season 1!  Also, just because the trope-riffic ex says JD's daughter doesn't want him in her life, it doesn't mean she actually said it. Also, a judge raging on about a policeman's hours? Even in the future? STFU, Judge. I have loved Melina since she started on Guiding Light, so way to have me hate a character in under five minutes of her first appearance, Show.

 

Yeah, Julie?  The whole ' getting a clue' thing? You're doing it wrong, as so many others have stupidly done before you. I do hope that you can redeem your horrible retcon, though.  So, when you think that your amoral, diametrically-opposed philosophy-wise co-conspirator/ boss says she'll take care of your highly ethical boss/ would-be lover? Don't tell her you think that! Because then you "hurt" her "feelings" and then Otis the Elevator ( nice one, Show) will drop you like your hot and not in the good way. So quietly sobbing in the bedroom of the child you kidnapped 1) won't help him if he can hear you while powered down and 2) you earned that achievement Ace, so own it and CYA faster and more completely. Which I hope that trip to D.C. was about.  I actually was hoping Julie would come sweeping in and essentially tell the army to back off her  Humanechs. Then a cadre of security and a higher-ranking someone could take Toby and his aide/lover away. Not that it isn't going to stop the Hybrids and the Humanechs tete-a-tete.

 

Ethan is just getting stronger and a bit creepier this season. I think I like it? It is deeper than what the actor got to play last season, so I hope he's having fun. I kind of want Ethan and Terra/Tara to be the ones that end up brokering a peace.  Our Most Adorable Overlords, they will be.   Was I the only one that still got creeped out when Terra/Tara explained to JD that the mommy elephant wasn't sleeping, that she was dead? Yeep, even through the cheesiness. The line was delivered just right.

 

Charlie and Lucy could be a good relationship if 1) she wasn't essentially an infant/toddler and 2) he wasn't essentially her father/ father figure. ( George Michael joke here.)  If Lucy was given Julie's basic brain patterns ( as Molly would probably be prepping for her flight during that point, possibly), I can see where Lucy has a more cynical outlook than our Ethan ( as opposed to Julie's memory-compromised Ethan). It might also account for her doggedness about taking down Molly against express orders.  Still, while there are times I wholly buy that she cares for Ethan, I don't know how much she really cares. I don't know how she'd react if, for instance, Ethan chose to get all of his memories back and decided to resume becoming more human/mortal. I think she would flirt with the idea of killing Molly and/or Julie for letting him think it was worthwhile.

 

I just hope the rest of the Humanechs aren't white and blonde "perfect" specimens. Still, I hope Ethan got the picture of Lucy, Lucas and himself. Ethan so badly wants a family that he's seeming to do what he did with Odin last season, just on a wider scale and with potential genocide instead of "just" murder. The scene with Lucy in her cammo and Ethan wanting to go with her was sweet to a point. I was hoping that Charlie would have Lucy reassure Ethan it was better that he stay behind, that it wasn't a bad reflection on him and his abilities. Yet neither one did.

 

IA with the poster that said that Molly and JD are a good thing this season has. I could see them as just friends, but they are hot enough to potentially be a couple, as well.  Gotta say that I was agreeing with JD about the memorial. Yeah, it's nice they feel bad and that the deaths aren't thought of lightly. But? Those were women that had people that cared about and miss them, at least some if not all. While the 'we don't kill the mothers anymore' is a good step, it's not helping the dead ones, ya know? 

 

Still, if you don't trust The Other ( as the first hour was titled), even a little bit, how can there ever be peace? 

 

Now, to the stupid:

*Julie haltingly asking Anna if she had "John" killed, complete with flashback realization

*Charlie getting surprised then drunk-ish over Julie having her "memory box" full of pix of her and "John"

*The AI having to tell a colonel in some sort of special ops department how to look for an alien signature after a couple of sweeps turned up nothing.

*Toby arresting JD's daughter-- if he was the bastard Toby is painting him as, then he won't do anything about the pregnant daughter in custody. If JD, being who we think he is, takes The Judge's word, why should he do anything? He'll get blamed for Toby's "brilliant" scheme in the end, so why borrow that trouble? Also, if he lets her just sit in custody, the public that is near to rioting after less than one day, might also get upset on behalf of that poor pregnant girl. So I double dog dare Toby to announce that he is kidnapping, um, ' holding for questioning' the small boy 'bot to dynamite Molly out of the woodwork. The Guv'mint picking on a pregnant lady and a little boy in order to find "terrorists".

There were more but it's late and this is pretty long as is.

 

One last thing: I thought it was humorous and insanely timed when we saw Ethan's spiderbot moving in closer to Charlie and Lucy. The movement seemed to be almost in naughty sync and I was surprised it was left in the episode! *g*

[thuganomics85]

Somehow missed that this was a two hour episode tonight, so I was a bit surprised when I saw the length of it On Demand.  Good news was that I did think these two particular episodes went together well, and it didn't just feel like two single episodes burned off together. I do wonder if there was a reason CBS wanted to get two of them out of the way tonight.

 

So, the war seems to be coming to ahead and certainly looks like the show is going down a path where the humans concentrated so much on bring down the hybrids, they have failed to realize that they have might have just created a worst enemy with the humanechs.  Makes sense: in sci-fi, aliens are always a bit of a wild card for alliances.  They could go either way.  But robotics?  Nine times out of ten (or maybe eight, if I'm feeling generous), they turn against their makers.  And I have a feeling that is what is going to happen.  Lucy certainly seems to developing a huge anti-human tude, that I can see getting only worse.  I do wonder if her pushing Ethan away at the end, will come into play.

 

Not that the hybrids are perfect or anything.  They did still causes the deaths of a bunch of women (even if they didn't mean to), and some of them like, like that one henchmen, seems to hate humans and thinks they are better then them.  But if what Molly's son says is true and that they have found a way to reproduce without killing the mothers, I guess that's a starting point.  I don't know; I guess there would be risk and downsides no matter what.

 

Figured Lucy would try something with Charlie, but I'm surprised he resisted at the end.  That's been a common theme this year on my sci-fi shows and he's the only one.  Congrats, Charlie!  You're better then Joe from Humans and One from Dark Matter!

 

I hope Tobias invested in more security.  Because I would not want to find myself alone in a room with JD, if I had just arrested his pregnant daughter on trumped-up terrorist charges.  I won't call JD a good father, but he does love her and... yeah, watch your ass, Tobias.

 

So, Julie really never thought that her phone call to Anna had something to do with John's death?  Really?  Talk about being naive: especially at this point, when she knows that Anna would do anything to keep the project chugging along.

[wayne67]

The Humanichs cant reproduce, and they can be located/decommissioned (i.e. killed) easily by their creators. The question is, whether their creators don't develop real feelings for them (see: Ethan) which makes it really hard to do away with them.

 

I don't think that's actually true. Ethan managed to deactive his GPS locator fairly easily and disappear several times already. Also Lucy has been built off Ethan's memories in part and would know that they can just jump to the cloud if in trouble. Also it seems that most systems are operated with high tech stuff that could easily be hacked by the Humanic army.

 

So the Humanics now number 100 or so with specialised programming specifically for warfare with a much faster and dangerous species than humans, Ethan has made remote surveillance spider bots in under a day, Lucy has access to the Humanics lab and could probably create superior models with the stuff in the basement than the humans could. As well as the AI's hijacking every AI system on the planet... I think the Humanics/robots are a serious threat to the humans.

 

Yeah, it's nice they feel bad and that the deaths aren't thought of lightly. But? Those were women that had people that cared about and miss them, at least some if not all. While the 'we don't kill the mothers anymore' is a good step, it's not helping the dead ones, ya know?

 

 

Unless the aliens can bring them back from the dead what else are they supposed to do other than apologise and find a way to stop the mothers from dying ? I suppose they could all commit hari kari for their sins but that's not exactly going to bring back the dead mothers either. The first Hybrid Offspring wouldn't know that having sex with human mothers would cause their deaths as his mother didn't die... By the time he figured it out those mothers would have been dead and it would have been too late to do anything but find a way to avoid it.

 

I expected them to use the technique the Government used on Molly but I guess they went to a different place by modifying the genetics or something...

Edited August 6, 2015 by wayne67

[ottoDbusdriver]

I kind of curious about who built TAALR -- and what was with the incredibly odd 3 layer authentication mechanism to gain access to the chamber to interface with it.

[HalcyonDays]

ottoDbusdriver - thanks for the heads up on the double-episode/title changes, BTW. I didn't know this was two hours long until I started watching (then forgot to update last night. Thank you for that). I swear to god two days ago, when I was setting up my PVR, it was only an hour long.

 

Gonna add more later but first - I think Molly doesn't have any clue. One second she wants to stop the virus being released to save herself and also find herself a cure, next she want's peaceful co-existence between the races. She's all over the map in a second. And the only voice of reason was JD and Tobias. I did like them saying exactly what I was thinking, also with that one hybrid who was agressive and read JD's mind - duh, that is exactly why you can't have co-existance. For that exact reason. Tough one though. Human-hybrid genocide or being controlled by hybrids when they get angry.

 

Lucy is awesome again but when on earth did she visit Paris? Last episode, she had to convince Charlie to let her out of the building, now she had learning experiences in Paris. And yeah, poor Charlie -you know that video is going public.

 

Shallow comment of the episode: JD, scruff, dimples, ragged jeans and dark cotton shirt. Never change, JD (or JDM).

[Neurochick]

I find this show very interesting.  

 

I think the reason the hybrids are played by POC is probably because of Halle Berry, who is one of the show's producers.  I saw a clip of her at ComicCon and she glowed about Kiersey Clemons, saying what a fine actress she is.  Perhaps Berry is trying to hire as many POC as possible, giving exposure to actors we might not see on TV.  

 

I also find it interesting how the show and the story has done a 180.  Now it seems we, the audience are supposed to root for the aliens.  Last season, the aliens caused a lot of havoc, remember one of the things they can do is make people see things that aren't there.  Wasn't there some high up official who kept seeing his daughter or something?  I remember a whole lot of people were killed during that mess.  One of the reason the humanics were created was because every time they sent in SWAT teams, the hybrids would cause the SWAT folk to start shooting each other, more dead folks, so the idea of creating humanics wash't a bad one if you think about it.

 

But now, that we see the hybrids are all very attractive biracial looking people it causes folks, well at least me, to side with them, and not with the humans who are mostly, save for Lucy, white folks.  

[Free]

I also find it interesting how the show and the story has done a 180.  Now it seems we, the audience are supposed to root for the aliens.  Last season, the aliens caused a lot of havoc, remember one of the things they can do is make people see things that aren't there.  Wasn't there some high up official who kept seeing his daughter or something?  I remember a whole lot of people were killed during that mess.

 

It was rebooted, so I guess it was some of the changes that went on this season.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Free

[ottoDbusdriver]

Lucy is awesome again but when on earth did she visit Paris? Last episode, she had to convince Charlie to let her out of the building, now she had learning experiences in Paris. And yeah, poor Charlie -you know that video is going public.

That was weird with Lucy mentioning her trip to Paris, but then she mentions something about the fact that her memories were installed since they didn't have the luxury of learning by experience -- so I'm thinking they were implanted memories from somebody else.

I know it's the future and all, but what was with the Pixis cube that Charlie was taking photos with -- man that thing is big and awkward, it sure won't fit in your pocket.

[mage-girl]

Did I hear this in the preview for next time?

 

MALE VOICE (CHARLIE?): Lucy's gone off the rails!

 

Kinda like this show...

 

Seriously, seriously loving it. Extant is so crazy. I wasn't pleased when Under the Dome got wacky, because I'd read the original book, and what was being done in the show seemed like sacrilege. Even though I know that it was done with the author's approval. (I've been reading Stephen King since I was in grade school. I don't read everything he does, and admit he's got a lot of bombs among the hits, but I'm fond of him.)

 

But Extant can get as crazy as it wants. I've got nothing to compare it to (favorably or unfavorably). Sometimes it makes me groan, but other times I'm laughing. Like when Molly asked J.D. to take a marrow sample. (Thank goodness we found out later he'd been a combat medic! At least he had some idea how to handle a needle. ;-) Or when Terra said the mommy elephant was dead. Or when the elevator nearly killed Julie. Did anyone else get the impression that Ethan knew exactly what the elevator was up to? When they got out he gave the elevator this look. Creepy Ethan is kind of fun.

 

I was waiting for Lucy to hit on Charlie. I actually said, "OMG this nerd gets so much ta--" just before he broke it off. It's okay, I can call Charlie a "nerd"; I'm a geek myself. :-)

 

What a sad, sad farewell scene between Molly and J.D. "Goodbye forever!" "I'll miss you!" "See you in another life, brotha!" Wait, that last one is from another TV series...

 

Toby is taking orders from a computer/AI? Oh, Toby, Toby, if only you had any idea how truly "infallible" these things are (or aren't).

 

If Charlie never installed the limiters on Lucy, and they used Lucy's programming as the blueprint for the rest of the Humanichs, does that mean they don't have limiters either?

 

I felt so bad for Ethan when Lucy told him that he would never be like her and the other Humanichs. Poor little guy is just looking for a family. :-(

 

I love the spider-bots. Good way for Ethan to find stuff out. Also a good way to get blackmail material. I don't think Ethan would actually do that. Lots of people he could extort on this show, however.

 

No idea what's going to happen next week. But I'll be watching!

[Big Mother]

The crucial mistake the Humanichs project people are making, is that they are not aware that there are no limiters programmed in Lucy, thanks to Charlie, and since they cloned her motherboard to create 100 Lucy clones, they have just unleashed 100 dragons into the world. They think they created 100 Ethans, instead they created 100 runaway machines. If next week's preview shows anything, it comes to a head next week. But thank goodness next week is not the season finale, so that means Molly doesn't die, I hope.

 

ETA: oops. Mage-girl and I posted at the same time, so we basically said the same thing about the limiters.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Big Mother

[HalcyonDays]

I know it's the future and all, but what was with the Pixis cube that Charlie was taking photos with -- man that thing is big and awkward, it sure won't fit in your pocket.

 

Yup. Or the convenience of JD having a Porsche Spyder (and other current sports cars) in pristine condition.

 

Or that the bone marrow needle still hurt. That actually made me laugh. Bone marrow extration can be very very painful (incompetent doctor) but you'd figure 50 years in the future, they would have found a better less painless way. And also, aiming correctly is crucial and Molly should have been lying down.

 

I think the reason the hybrids are played by POC is probably because of Halle Berry, who is one of the show's producers.

Probably, but also, Molly was the first one to be impregnated with the hybrid. Her son then started to impregnate others on earth, and in turn those decendents had kids, etc etc. So Molly is essentially the grandmother (or great grandmother or great great, depending on number of generations) of all of them, hence the skin colour genetics reflected in the hybrids. They are all related back to Molly. I think that's what they were trying to show or at least what I thought.

 

However, if Halle demanded the casting of the really gorgeous males POC as the alien hybrids, I'm not complaining at all. *grin*

[Big Mother]

I have not watched Season 1 so I may be missing some backstory. Can someone tell me why Anna is so insanely invested in the Humanics project that she is steamrolling ruthlessly over everyone and everything to see it through?

[shapeshifter]

 

I love the spider-bots. Good way for Ethan to find stuff out. Also a good way to get blackmail material. I don't think Ethan would actually do that. Lots of people he could extort on this show, however.

Charlie is the most morally upright character on the show. It will be sad and ironic if/when he gets accused of having sex with "government property."

[ottoDbusdriver]

I have not watched Season 1 so I may be missing some backstory. Can someone tell me why Anna is so insanely invested in the Humanics project that she is steamrolling ruthlessly over everyone and everything to see it through?

 

No idea -- she wasn't even in Season 1.

[Free]

I have not watched Season 1 so I may be missing some backstory. Can someone tell me why Anna is so insanely invested in the Humanics project that she is steamrolling ruthlessly over everyone and everything to see it through?

 

She's actually a new character this season for this storyline.  As for the backstory, I guess she's supposed to be a government type cliche.

[freebie]

 

Speaking of JD, I really like his relationship with Molly. They had some nice scenes tonight.

I completely agree. And, yet, I keep thinking what in the heck is he doing getting involved in all of this. Yes, Molly tells a compelling story, but it's more than a little ridiculous that her most staunch supporter is a guy she met very, very recently. I think 99 percent of the planet's population would find this situation way above their respective pay grades, but here's J.D. camping out with the hybrids and getting himself in as deep as you can go. What is his motivation? Or is it just that Molly needs a tall, dark and handsome love interest, and JDM fits that bill to a tee?

[Free]

I completely agree. And, yet, I keep thinking what in the heck is he doing getting involved in all of this. Yes, Molly tells a compelling story, but it's more than a little ridiculous that her most staunch supporter is a guy she met very, very recently. I think 99 percent of the planet's population would find this situation way above their respective pay grades, but here's J.D. camping out with the hybrids and getting himself in as deep as you can go. What is his motivation? Or is it just that Molly needs a tall, dark and handsome love interest, and JDM fits that bill to a tee?

 

To replace her dead husband as part of the reboot this season?  I think.

[Blue Plastic]

I thought maybe Lucas and the other new Humanichs did have the limiters since he (I think he was the one with Lucy ripping up the fence and stuff) cautioned Lucy not to shoot Molly and thus retain the element of surprise.  Lucas having the limiters is the only thing I can think of that would explain why he would have a different strategy than Lucy since they are otherwise all copied from the same motherboard or whatever you call it and have very little to no life experience.  I would think that Charlie would have been careful to install limiters on the new batch even though he's let Lucy manipulate him into leaving her limit free.

 

I think it's interesting that Ethan without his genuine life experience (now he has just a made up story that Julie installed to make him "happy") and therefore also without the accompanying pain of the loss of his family is now more unfeeling and susceptible to Lucy's teachings.  But I wonder how long we are going to have this meaner, harsher Ethan.  I liked the original incarnation a lot better.  Do not care for Creepy Ethan.

 

The bone marrow aspiration was of course laughable.  Molly's motivations keep wavering from one thing to another and it's almost like "My baby!" all over again.  But even with the goofy stuff they are giving me interesting things to think about so I like it.

 

I didn't even RECOGNIZE Melina Kanakaredes.  That was her?  I too remember her from back in her "Guiding Light" days.  I had not the slightest inkling of recognition of her, like AT ALL.

[wayne67]

I thought maybe Lucas and the other new Humanichs did have the limiters since he (I think he was the one with Lucy ripping up the fence and stuff) cautioned Lucy not to shoot Molly and thus retain the element of surprise.  Lucas having the limiters is the only thing I can think of that would explain why he would have a different strategy than Lucy since they are otherwise all copied from the same motherboard or whatever you call it and have very little to no life experience.  I would think that Charlie would have been careful to install limiters on the new batch even though he's let Lucy manipulate him into leaving her limit free.

 

I assumed that Lucy diverged from Lucas's strategy because Lucy and only Lucy knew that Charlie had installed an expiration date on them. I'm imagining that's probably part of the reason why she wanted to kill the mother of the Offspring and the former wife of the genius who thought giving random expiration dates to robots would make them more human.

 

Charlie wasn't the one that uploaded Lucy onto the other bots, he'd have no way to install limiters on them without revealing that he didn't install limiters before. Also even if he tried to install limiters, it'd be a prototype version that may be bug laden. Seldom anything created by humans is perfect the first time around, especially with thousands of lines of coding.

[Happytobehere]

I agree with the comments about Molly and JD's relationship.

I too wondered if creepy Ethan is the side effect of Julie removing his memories as the key component in Ethan being able to simulate a human boy was connected to the life he lived as a boy.

Clearly, for the short term at least, the humanics are the greater threat to human kind. But as soon as the hybrids have the numbers, they too will seek to eliminate humanity as they came looking for a new planet to populate, not share. Helios made that clear, and I doub he us alone in his thinking. In fact, the mothers not dying only increases the hybrid population and speeds up their timeline.

[Neurochick]

Since Lucy is basically a computer is it possible that she could just crash?

[Latverian Diplomat]

I kind of curious about who built TAALR -- and what was with the incredibly odd 3 layer authentication mechanism to gain access to the chamber to interface with it.

They were following the three part taxonomy of authentication that is used in security circles:

What you are -- biometrics, like a fingerprint scan on a laptop or phone -- in this case a full body scan

What you know -- a password or PIN

What you have -- a physical object usually an electronic device that generates rolling authentication codes, like a garage door opener or the unlock button on your car keys. In this case, it was a unique physical object, which is problematic. It takes an AI to recognize the object, and it can potentially be more easily duplicated than a keycode device. Also, if the identity of the object is secret, then that's also a "what you know" as much or more than a "what you have".

 

Usually, only one or two of these is used to secure something, but combinations of two or three can be used to make something more secure. So, one of the writers read up on security and decided to show off a little, I guess.

 

Since Lucy is basically a computer is it possible that she could just crash?

Critical systems are designed to reboot automatically if they crash. As a military prototype, I would think Lucy would be set up that way.

 

We've seen Ethan shut down a couple of times. But as a closely watched experiment, I think he was set up to stay shut down with the idea that assistance would be forthcoming. 

 

Lucy is also more streamlined than Ethan, so she is probably less likely to get into a complex glitch like Ethan. Also, her memories haven't been hacked into in a dumb way that didn't work, like Ethan's were.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Latverian Diplomat

[Latverian Diplomat]

They are all related back to Molly. I think that's what they were trying to show or at least what I thought.

 

However, if Halle demanded the casting of the really gorgeous males POC as the alien hybrids, I'm not complaining at all. *grin*

Really, the problem is the lack of diversity in the GSSC or whatever. That's a very white organization. At the meeting with Lucy, there is only one POC at the table, for example.

[wayne67]

I too wondered if creepy Ethan is the side effect of Julie removing his memories as the key component in Ethan being able to simulate a human boy was connected to the life he lived as a boy.

Clearly, for the short term at least, the humanics are the greater threat to human kind. But as soon as the hybrids have the numbers, they too will seek to eliminate humanity as they came looking for a new planet to populate, not share. Helios made that clear, and I doub he us alone in his thinking. In fact, the mothers not dying only increases the hybrid population and speeds up their timeline.

 

I was curious about Ethan's disinterest in the elevator malfunction which lead me to think that A) he was responsible and was getting revenge on Julie for wiping his memories of Molly and reprogramming him to think she was his mom B) he just doesn't GAF about a near death experience because he can just exit to the cloud if critically injured like he did last time C) It was the act of Anna and she had the elevator go up and down as a program and Ethan didn't care enough to investigate motives D) it was Lucy who tampered with the elevator.

 

I don't think we have any proof that the Hybrids want to take over the world other than Human paranoia. Classic Hobbesian trap, both sides think the other side is going to make a preemptive strike so they're both escalating the fight. For all we know the Hybrids once they've reached suitable numbers to rebuild their population may just wander off to another suitable planet with sufficient biospheres to support them. Humans have space faring tech and might know somewhere where they can relocate.

 

Other than the Magneto wannabe there is no indication that the Hybrids are particularly hostile to humans. Also when he said he was Holly's AB's brother was anyone wondering what he meant? Is he Katies kid ?

 

Toby is basing his decisions on what an AI is telling him, that AI has had absolutely no interactions with any of the Hybrids so what does it know about Hybrid psychology?

Edited August 7, 2015 by wayne67

[Big Mother]

Totally off topic'ish here, I was tickled pink to see Tara playing with Magformers. it's a staple in our home and it made me chuckle to think that Magformers may be such a huge deal in 2140 or whenever this is happening, that even the little hybrid kiddos have them.

 

On topic: How do hybrid births now happen without killing the mother? They get born normally, grow up quickly, and then escape to the compound, like that undocumented immigrant's child?

[wayne67]

On topic: How do hybrid births now happen without killing the mother? They get born normally, grow up quickly, and then escape to the compound, like that undocumented immigrant's child?

 

Perhaps Offspring leader telepathically transmits to his future babies to exit at the 8 month stage instead of at the 9 month stage or they develop slightly slower and that way they can be delivered like a normal baby. That said I have no idea how these pregnancies are actually killing these mothers so it's only a guess at this point.

 

Anyone else wondering about Molly and her random telekinesis? Did the other Hybrids ever display telekinesis ? All I remember is AB hallucinating his enemies into shooting each other instead of at him, nothing about telekinesis.

[Blue Plastic]

I assumed that Lucy diverged from Lucas's strategy because Lucy and only Lucy knew that Charlie had installed an expiration date on them. I'm imagining that's probably part of the reason why she wanted to kill the mother of the Offspring and the former wife of the genius who thought giving random expiration dates to robots would make them more human.

 

Charlie wasn't the one that uploaded Lucy onto the other bots, he'd have no way to install limiters on them without revealing that he didn't install limiters before. Also even if he tried to install limiters, it'd be a prototype version that may be bug laden. Seldom anything created by humans is perfect the first time around, especially with thousands of lines of coding.

Okay, I guess that could explain why they had Lucy do such a turnaround from purposely letting Molly go, even when she could see that Molly's hybrid status was "inconclusive," to being eager to kill her by the end of the episode.  But I didn't personally pick up on that as a motive because Molly had pretty much nothing to do with any of the policies at Humanichs, now or ever.  Unless the writers are going to do a huge retcon and say that Molly suggested to John that he give all the robots an expiration date, Lucy's anger makes no sense.  Why wouldn't she blame Julie?  She already dislikes her and Julie was John's second-in-command employee at the time the decision was made.  Charlie was working there, too.  Molly has zilch to do with it and Lucy doesn't even know her.

 

Maybe Lucy is trying to drive Ethan further to the dark side or something by killing off Molly and rejecting him herself (you'll never be a soldier) etc.

 

I doubt these writers would worry about buggy code since they didn't even bother to have Molly lie down for her bone marrow biopsy.  :p

[Latverian Diplomat]

Perhaps Offspring leader telepathically transmits to his future babies to exit at the 8 month stage instead of at the 9 month stage or they develop slightly slower and that way they can be delivered like a normal baby. That said I have no idea how these pregnancies are actually killing these mothers so it's only a guess at this point.

 

Maybe they figured out how to trigger labor (and prepare mom's body for it). Of course such a rapid gestation would probably kill a woman anyway, all the nutrients needed to grow tissue that fast would have to come from somewhere, and pregnancy is enough of a strain at a normal pace. But this is not the first sci fi program to use the express pregnancy trope.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Latverian Diplomat

[wayne67]

Maybe they figured out how to trigger labor (and prepare mom's body for it). Of course such a rapid gestation would probably kill a woman anyway, all the nutrients needed to grow tissue that fast would have to come from somewhere, and pregnancy is enough of a strain at a normal pace. But this is not the first sci fi program to use the express pregnancy trope.

 

There's several work arounds to nutrient absorption. The mother could eat three times as much food as she would normally without gaining so much weight, the genetic hybrid could absorb nutrients more efficiently than a normal fetus. For all we know the fetus uses it's developing telepathy on its mother to get her to eat high sugar food to provide energy/calories for its growth. We also don't know how long the babies take to pop out after all Molly was in space for 13 months and her dead husband showed up at some point in the trip. It could take a month or two before the baby pops out. We also don't know big the babies are when they pop out. They could be 3 pound babies with abnormally sized heads that shift into more regular looking humans to blend in. Or just use illusions to pretend they're like all the other humans though that shouldn't work on Humanichs.

 

Is it just me or was it intimated that the hybrid babies were supposed to be scary looking hence why it was always skittering in the shadows? Did they change their development since then or was it a result of early extraction like premature babies looking different from a fully developed baby. You'd think Molly or JD would ask one of those questions, "is that your real face?"

Edited August 7, 2015 by wayne67

[Latverian Diplomat]

There's several work arounds to nutrient absorption. The mother could eat three times as much food as she would normally without gaining so much weight, the genetic hybrid could absorb nutrients more efficiently than a normal fetus. For all we know the fetus uses it's developing on its mother to eat high sugar food to provide energy/calories for its growth. 

You can solve any problem if you throw enough magic at it. Mom's body has to change too, to accomodate the growing fetus, and it does so on a carefully evolved plan. You can invoke all kinds of claims (not addressed in the show) about how the hybrid speeds up and adjusts things, but at some point, the hybrid is doing so much complicated stuff that one has to wonder why a mother is required at all.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Latverian Diplomat

[wayne67]

You can solve any problem if you throw enough magic at it. Mom's body has to change to, to accomodate the growing fetus, and it does so on a carefully evolved plan. You can invoke all kinds of claims (not addressed in the show) about how the hybrid speeds up and adjusts things, but at some point, the hybrid is doing so much complicated stuff that one has to wonder why a mother is required at all.

 

That is true. This show doesn't bother to explain much of anything. We see more of the robot development than the aliens.

 

For an alien species capable of converting themselves into spores to travel into space for suitable hosts you'd think they'd go with an easier option for evacuation such as space travel or cloning.

 

Does anyone think that they'll actually kill the Hybrids ? If they do we'll end up with just the humans and the robots and Lucy is already showing signs of frustrations over humans dictating her life span and her movements so I guess the human robot war could be upcoming.

Edited August 7, 2015 by wayne67

[shapeshifter]

You can solve any problem if you throw enough magic at it...

Let's throw in a little photosynthesis. *It's not easy being green...* (Kermit the Frog)

[Actionmage]

That said I have no idea how these pregnancies are actually killing these mothers so it's only a guess at this point.

 

IIRC, the time jump between S1 and S2 has only been about eight months, per the premiere. Before that, these alien spores were causing astronauts to have tactile hallucinations and impregnated two women, Molly and Katie.  Katie's actual body was revealed with a very unpleasant gaping wound in her belly area. We were led to understand that Alien Katie was her child, masquerading as "mom" in order to get to Earth. Molly was impregnated and then had the alien baby extracted before  he came to term. Since it was only a week or two since Molly had come back to Earth , and she was baby-bump showing, that is how Molly survived Adu's birth.

 

Having your G.I. tract exploded like a scene from Alien isn't healthy for us mere humans.

 

In the months between leaving the family that picked Adu up from the bridge to Wednesday's episodes, his people have figured out how to not explode the mother's body and kill her.

 

As I said above, that's a nice first step. It would have been better to just not rape women in order to procreate with a fearful neighboring planet. Especially since it seems they either didn't know the women would die or they didn't care. I have a little more on that, but there's another thread for that.

 

[Mecca]

We've only seen the male aliens mature into adulthood and try to get women pregnant, but what happens when that little girl rapidly grows up?  Will we see a man pregnant? lol

 

ETA:  This was more of a wishful thinking on my part. I find it interesting that science fiction never really ever goes there.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Mecca

[shapeshifter]

...It would have been better to just not rape women in order to procreate with a fearful neighboring planet.

Wasn't it more seduction than rape? Yeah, I know, a fine line. But I don't recall what the surviving woman from this week's episode said about how the pregnancy occured.

[wayne67]

Wasn't it more seduction than rape? Yeah, I know, a fine line. But I don't recall what the surviving woman from this week's episode said about how the pregnancy occured.

 

I don't know that the aliens are raping the females, more like acting like that astronaut from Species 2 where he just finds lots of willing women to have sex with to satisfy the strange alien urge to procreate.

 

As for whether Adu knew or cared about the women's survival, he was probably 3 months old when he first mated with a human female and was probably going through alien adolescence surging with alien hormones and memories of his dead planet that he wanted to repopulate. 

[DearEvette]

I gather that the Aliens are simply finding willing folks and getting it on.  Kinda like the men that Molly picks up.   I thought that first pregnant woman Molly & JDM interviewed had stepped out on her husband with someone she found on and online dating site? K

 

So far it seems that of everyone, Molly might arguably be the one who is having sex against her will and without her consent since she goes into a fugue state and doesn't seem to be aware what she is doing until she snaps out of it.

[Mecca]

I wonder what kinds of boundaries the aliens have regarding procreation within their own little species bubble they've created.  There was that scene a few episodes back when Molly was in her "sexual trance" where she met her alien son at the bar and she tried to kiss him.  I believe he knew at that point that she was his mother and Molly didn't until he used his mind control on JD.  I don't remember him pulling away or showing really any signs of being adverse to sleeping with her.

[HalcyonDays]

You'd think Molly or JD would ask one of those questions, "is that your real face?"

Clearly they didn't ever see reruns of V. Tsk tsk.

 

I don't know that the aliens are raping the females, more like acting like that astronaut from Species 2 where he just finds lots of willing women to have sex with to satisfy the strange alien urge to procreate.

 

Well, the aliens may have an urge to procreate, but maybe the human women did not/does not. Not every woman wants a kid (points at self). I would be PISSED if, say using two forms of BC (because want to be 100%) with the significant other, who really is an alien, and I still got "accidently" knocked up. Royally pissed. Not here for that. So it can be construed as a form of rape - the woman was not with her actual mate, and the woman may not have wanted to get knocked up, therefore against her will.

 

Reminds me of the X-Files episode "Small Potatoes". Very similar, actually.

 

Also, with Molly. The alien need to procreate is making her hook up with some people at a bar that otherwise she wouldn't give the time of day. That seems against her human will.

[Holden McGroyne]

I've been trying to like this show from Day One, but I'm having a hard time. It's all over the plot/theme map and it's getting ridiculous. Halle is annoying with her 'super mom' schtick. Julie is a weak-kneed, conniving byotch, her lab associate is OK, JD is saving this mess for me, and why did they kill off HB's hubby?

 

This show looks like they should have thought the story arc out before filming, not after. They seemed to have switched directions and focus about six times. The show runners need to get their collective crap together.