Once again FOX has a promising new genre show on their hands, but this time it's a bit more grounded and just might stick around longer than a season (and not get pre-empted by sports). If the ratings for the Sunday night premiere were anything to go by it didn't do badly at all, getting just over 9mil viewers...impressive when up against Sunday Night Football.
With the premier and the second episode out of the way, I feel I can sit down and at least get some thoughts about this ambitious and well needed futuristic cop drama. Don't worry, this one is mostly spoiler free if you haven't watched either of them yet, I hate giving things away too much and have tried to avoid it as much as humanly possible here.
That said, I'm already hoping this one sticks around because so far it's been a great ride and admittedly both +Carrie H.C. and I are enjoying it a lot more than we thought we would. There's some great special effects work going on and nothing seems too out of the realm of being possible, it seems believable and that's key for this kind of thing. Again, it's much like Firefly in that regard I think.
So, what about the show itself? Well, with two episodes down, it seems to be headed in the right direction with things. It is a bit strange and off kilter in a few ways, mostly due to relying on the foundation of some great genre movies and shows of the past. Anyone who's caught both episodes has caught the massive homages to Blade Runner, Total Recall and even, Demolition Man, Die Hard or Lethal Weapon. While many will discount and say things like "Oh they're just rehashing old ideas", they really haven't. The writers have been smart about where to put humor and where to jolt our memories of earlier films and it just works. Yes, there are cliches and the like, but for some reason it's not groan worthy, they've managed to make it interesting.
Overall, the plot is pretty simple. It's the year 2048 and crime has gotten so bad in the past couple of years that all human cops are now mandated to have a synthetic partner to help. Various organized and unorganized criminal groups are wreaking havoc on the world and the return of a damaged detective seems to be one of the only answers to the problem, especially when it comes to the most problematic of these groups, the Insyndicate. Who, conveniently enough has given our main character a rather rough time of things in the past.
Karl Urban and Michael Ealy are amazingly well paired for this and the scenes with them really show off the best of what the writers can do with the banter between them. They both just chew up the show and they seem 110% into things, which only makes it work even more. There's definitely a ton of chemistry going on between them and it really drives things forward. If the focus stays on these two for the most of the series, I'd be fine with that as they're really just that good at it. Just stick them in the car or a coffee shop and let them go...I don't think anyone would complain!
Speaking of Karl Urban, there have been times already when he's been channeling quite a bit of Judge Dredd in this one, but I'm totally okay with that as he was fantastic in that movie. Those who say his talent was wasted on that role have no idea what they're talking about and it's good to see him using that experience in this one. Weirdly enough, I don't see the two being that disimilar in their natures in a lot of ways. Though, it's highly likely that Dredd wouldn't be so friendly to pretty much anyone...at least not in the ways Kennex is. I also don't think he'd have the same sense of humor either, but I won't get into that too much...
The others did get a bit more time in the second episode, but it still pales in comparison to the Urban and Ealy (even Crook for that matter). That's hardly unexpected though, it could change down the road but for now it's just fine.
Given that the show is taking place in 2048, that's the somewhat near future for most of us. However, it's far enough ahead that many things shown could be reality by then and even the things that aren't, well, it should be enough time for suspension of belief by the viewers to kick in some. That said, it wasn't lost on the creative direction of the show that it is still somewhat close our time either. Only 35 years away isn't really that far flung and much like now, there's quite a bit of old tech mixed in with the hot and shiny new tech that's floating all over the place. This really grounds the show and makes it a lot more relatable for viewers as it's really just an advance mirror of our own time.
In the end, it seem as if this one is going to be a pretty good entry into the Sci-Fi genre that's desperately needed right now. (Especially after the flops FOX has had recently.) Sure, many may say the plots are predictable or roll their eyes at another "procedural cop drama" out there or even the Sci-Fi tropes being brought out. Yeah, those elements are there, but they're not beating everyone over the head with them either. Some are very subtle. In the end, people are thinking in such ways are missing the point of this one entirely by doing so.
So far this show is about the relationship between Dorian and Detective Kennex, it just so happens that they're both cops and it's the future. One human, one synthetic and yet they each have their own reasons for being there and doing what they are...that's the story here. As long as the big arc that's been set up continues to develop well alongside their relationship, it has a lot of potential and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.
Almost Human will air regularly at 8pm EST, Monday nights on FOX.
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