Almost Human

I'm really looking forward to seeing this now. Thanks for posting this, I'd have probably overlooked it.

Never heard of it but after watching that I now know I'll be following another series when it airs. Can't wait.

Never heard of it but after watching that I now know I'll be following another series when it airs. Can't wait.

*updated the article to fix the youtube link*

I think Fox took down the trailer because of a copyright claim for unauthorized music in the trailer. You'd think they'd have all that taken care of. Don't be surprised if the trailer disappears again.

Doesnt look too bad

After being delayed last month, this series started this week. The first episode premiered on sunday and the new eps will be on every Monday. I watched the first ep on demand and caught the new episode monday.. Great show, great potential. I love the entire concept of the show and I think they're pulling it off excellent. Movie quality visuals too. The criminal weapons were what shocked me, in their simplicity more so than the advanced abilities of the synthetic cops. The criminals had some mist spray they put on their face that made them appear as shimmering brilliant white light on security systems and made them completely unidentifiable on recorded video.. and they also had DNA bombs. Small explosion in a crime scene and the entire place is contaminated with random genetic samples that destroy forensic DNA tests.

The synthetics really make me wonder if thats how advanced AI will be in our own future.. very human, almost human as the title of the show implies. Similar to Battlestar Galactica's human cylons, except noticeably robot in how they operate, scan their surroundings, etc.. If anything its like they are the first step towards the Ghost in the Shell anime.

I just finished getting caught up on the show last night and I have to say I love this show. Has so much potential, I just hope Fox doesn't pull a Firefly here and cancel it because this show is awesome.

Have to say I was rather surprised by how low tech some of the weapons are. You'd think with synthetics around they'd be sporting much more powerful weapons then just your average, everyday guns. The tech they use though is pretty amazing. Like the spray mask that screws with cameras, was a rather nice touch. The one thing that sells me on this show though is the interactions between Dorian and John. On one hand you have a synthetic that was made to act and emulate like a human that is also trying to learn what it is to be human and you have a damaged cop who's basically relearning who he is (the first episode basically answers why he's relearning). Just my take on the premise of the show. Their banter is priceless (Dorian cracks me up, especially with the whole online dating profile thing. Damn near lost it when he did that).

Out of all the synthetics the only ones that appear and act human are Dorian (DRN) and those sexbots from episode 2. The MX series AI is just to robotic to emulate a human, then again they were made to be just like that (no emotion, just logic based programming (acting a lot like Spock)). AI like Dorian's is far off but honestly it'd be amazing and creepy at the same time to meet something so human but know it's actually a synthetic emulating human behavior. If that happens we might just be living in a GitS universe (which would be totally awesome).

I agree about Dorian and John, the interactions between these two characters really make the show good. That dating profile thing got me laughing, but when John scared those kids by stabbing himself in the leg was even funnier.

Have you seen the movie "I, Robot"? After watching it again, I can see where Almost Human has taken some liberties from that movie. Its not a rip off of it at all, but Will Smith's character does have a grudge against synthetics, also has a synthetic leg (and arm) and is also a police officer. And the main robot in his investigation is a synthetic with almost human characteristics. Its an interesting comparison, but aside from those few similarities, these two properties are very different from each other.

I thought about the low tech weaponry too, maybe they didn't have it in their budget to have everyone shooting blasters. I also assumed in a world with advanced AI robots, flying cars would have happened first. Oh well.

The first season ended earlier this week with a bit of a lackluster finale. I do like this show, but it's pace is a bit too slow. I thought the show was going to end the season with a new lead on the syndicate / organization that John rejoined the force to investigate.. but aside from a couple episodes in the entire season, they've never been mentioned since. Also, what the hell is up with that giant wall? On the other side of the wall is a demilitarized zone.. but they never emphasized what was over the wall.. and it was only mentioned in a single episode. If there is a gigantic wall at the edge of this city.. why only show it in one episode? And I'm still wondering.. what is on the other side.. is it the border of another country? Maybe its an old penal colony and its encased in a giant circular wall.. maybe its another city of people who have shunned the government and all technology? I have so many questions about that wall and it was only in the one episode. wtf.

I hope the show gets another season and I hope that season covers some ground, because the show ended a bit on the slow side for me. They shouldn't treat another season like this. It seemed to follow an xfiles theme, episodes that could be watched in almost any order. It needs to have some focal point to keep me interested.

My thoughts on the wall are similar to what the walls were in Judge Dredd. I'm assuming that outside the wall is either a barren wasteland or a completely lawless zone left over from a previous war (something like Appleseed). The last episode mentioned that there are what can be considered supercities throughout the world that are the only civilized and relatively safe places to live or that's how I took it anyways (plus I'm pretty sure this is taking place in the US, with the city there in being New Pittsburgh (or at least I think so)). I'm thinking we're seeing more of a ravaged world scenario that just so happens to have extremely high tech levels (again like Appleseed). We'll never truthfully know until the next season starts (if there is one, I'm really hoping there is).

As for the last episode I thought it did well as a finale. We got a rare look into John's past and what made him into who he is today and we also got a look into just how corrupt the city's police force is (something I started picking up from the start, the ambush on John's unit at the beginning of the series was a little to convenient even if his *spoiler I will not reveal* was working for the Syndicate). I have a very bad feeling that the Captain (who's name I will not try to spell) is in on something far reaching in the police force (dealing with the corruption aspect). She was acting really funny in the last few episodes and I'm really starting to get worried because I like her character but something just seems fishy about her.

I'm getting the feeling they're not going far into the Syndicate yet because I think they were afraid of how well this series would do. The Cape (a show that I really liked and got cancelled only 10 eps into the first season) threw a lot of it's plot out in the first few episodes which I think led to it's eventual cancellation, people didn't feel the need to continue watching something that revealed almost everything in the first few eps. If this gets another season I'm sure they'll start really delving into the Syndicate (I mean they left us with that whole "hey there's a spying device in your house that recently uploaded information to a secure server" thing on that one episode) or at least they should. They left us with a lot of plot threads that have yet to be resolved (another being Dorian's human memories, Dorian's creator running off with all that tech, etc).

Dorian's creator ran off with enough synthetic souls that he could make a small army of Dorian style androids. Considering how powerful and efficient that one killer droid woman was.. the next season could focus on the people from the other side of the wall trying to take over the city.

I never got to see The Cape, but I remember the commercials for it. I never paid enough attention to the schedule and by the time I went to watch it it was already 7 episodes in.. I guess I should have watched it at that point anyway just to give it ratings. I think its on netflix now, I'll have to check.

I did like the very last scene of the season finale. It showed Dorian literally being almost human and it felt fitting to see the season end that way.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you guys rate the show? I might start watching it soon. 

I'd give it a 4. It's a really good show and one of the better sci-fi related shows I've seen in a few years. It does have pacing problems as Sledge mentioned which is why I docked it down from a 5 but overall it's a good show. Dorian and John make the show with their interactions between each other and Rudy is great for comic relief. I'd say give it a shot, you won't really lose anything by watching it (except for maybe an hour or two of your time).

I really do hope they elaborate more on why Dorian's creator took all those synthetic souls and all those processors. I get the feeling he might be working with the Syndicate to, as you mentioned, make an army of Dorian like androids on in a worst case scenario an army of droids like that assassin. Could really make season 2 interesting if they focus on that. I really want to know more about these human memories Dorian had because, if what I'm thinking is true, this could have far reaching consequences on how synthetic soul came to be and could really implicate his creator for more then a few atrocities.

Thats some good points. The show never did explain the nature of the synthetic soul.. and only that creator guy knows the full truth of what he made.

I'd give it a 4 out of 5 for season 1.

Cool beans Strider, I'll check it out mid-April when I get some free time on my hands. 

Cancelled.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/04/29/almost-human-canceled-fox/

That sucks. Thanks for the heads up.

Fucking Fox, always cancel the good fucking shows. It's Firefly all over again. *goes off to destroy something*