In 500 Days of Summer, one of the characters argued that the plutonic family is dead., that the happily married once couple with 2.4 children is no longer the modern normality. Admittedly, he was trying to pitch an “Other Mother’s Day” holiday but the point was still there. That as society evolves sociologically and technologically so to do our ideas of what a family can or should be. Humans is great example of the way a giant leap in technology can overhaul the family dynamic and this episode takes a curious look at many different families are affected by the unfolding events.
Episode 5 – While she’s wanted for murder, Leo sends to hide out with Dr George Milllican. When Joe tries to send Anita back, Mattie takes her to Leo and Max in the hope lock unlocking her Mia personality.
From the start of the series, the Hawkins family pledged to be at least close to normalcy as they welcomed Anita into their home. Yet this week, their unit becomes the most shattered to show that even things that are supposed to work can still malfunction or even crash. The opening breakfast scene is a great platform for the subsequent events as it pledges the family on an almost united front. That when Joe reveals Anita’s discovered history, all the others (including Laura) are adamant about Anita staying. Then of course, as certain sins of past episodes come to light, centring on Joe’s adult settings experimentation, we see how quickly even such an established entity can be destroyed. Despite the obvious cheating husband implications between Joe and Laura, it’s Toby’s involvement that really steals the scenes. After jumping on the sex grenade (best weapon ever?) for his dad, their subsequent father/son talk is the emotional powerhouse of the episode. Young Theo Stevenson does brilliantly as he takes the moral high ground and their close (even role model level) relationship comes crashing down in bitter disappointment. This links well to Niska’s statement with Dr Millican that, “My experiences have shaped me just as yours have you”. In the same way that Humans create traits in Synth’s with programming, we also create each other’s personalities for better or worse based on how we interact with each other.
Family has always been the goal for Leo and Max. Last week’s “life program” discovery gives them a new motivation for it, which even brings deranged cousin Niska back on board. Max even verbalises his desires for a home and a family portrait which nicely triggers further big revelations over Leo. It was teased last week that Leo’s age is all wrong and through Hobbs and his team we even learn directly that Leo Elster (son of Synth visionary, David Elster) died as a boy. So Leo’s current human/Synth hybrid state of living leaves two main possibilities. The most likely is that David Ester saved his son’s life using Synth technology. Although as the time frame is still unclear, this opens the door to the more long shot alternative: Leo was resurrected in some way. Was his consciousness inserted into a new body once David perfected the life program? His scenes of being reunited with Anita also reinforce the feelings he has for her/Mia and how painful it must be to have her so close physically close but mentally far as her mind stays locked away. The writers do a great job of making us feel his frustration, helped by Colin Morgan’s performance (Merlin’s still got some magic).
The most interesting parts of this episode come from bringing to lesser characters into an expanded story position; the newly revealed hidden Synth, D.I. Karen Voss and the investigating government scientist, Hobb. Karen’s stomach bag reveal was an amazing climax to last week’s episode and this time we follow her personal actions, more closely as she conducts her own investigations. She’s linked to the main living Synth group as she purses Niska’s smash club antics despite the official investigations being dropped. What makes this really captivating is the absence of clear motive. What is her angle? The only slight clue comes from a conversation with Hobb as his organisation learns about the life program hidden within Max, Fred, Niska and Anita, “I don’t believe for a second he would have been satisfied with a legacy of just 4 machines”. This clearly implies there are other conscious Synth’s out there, which Karen directly proves, but just how many? Maybe there are a lot more out there like Karen, hidden in the Human masses? Is Karen trying to protect such secrecy by removing threats like Niska that draw too much attention. Then there’s Hobb himself. The final few minutes imply a much more personal connection to the original Synth creation project and his sympathy’s towards Fred in theface of termination suddenly throw his alignment into question. Is he really the bad guy? One immediate spoiler filled theory comes to mind concerning an alternative identity.
It’s not quite as impacting as the outstanding prior episode but really progresses the story well. Niska and George’s conversations about artificial consciousness are fascinating and again the increased character interweaving is incredibly rewarding. “True consciousness isn’t real without suffering or pleasure” according to Niska, which may be true. In that case Humans has the pleasure part covered.... now go find some suffering/watch reality TV.