Almost Human is an action-packed police drama set 35 years in the future, when police officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids. The year is 2048. Meet John Kennex a cop who survived one of the most catastrophic attacks ever made against the police department. After waking up from a 17-month coma, he can't remember much - except that his partner was killed; his girlfriend, Anna Moore, left him after the attack; and he lost one of his legs and is now outfitted with a highly sophisticated synthetic appendage. Suffering from depression, mental atrophy, trauma-onset OCD, PTSD and the "psychological rejection of his synthetic body part," John returns to work at the behest of longtime ally Captain Sandra Maldonado. By mandate, every cop must partner with a robot. And despite his passionate aversion to androids, John is paired up with a battle-ready MX-43. But he abruptly terminates his partnership after the robot discovers incriminating information about him. So technician Rudy Lom introduces John to Dorian, a discontinued android with unexpected emotional responses. Although such responses were deemed flaws, it is in these "flaws" that John relates to Dorian most. After all, John is part-machine now, and Dorian is part-human. John and Dorian's understanding of each other not only complements them, it connects them. As he adjusts to working with his new partner, John also must learn to get along with his new colleagues, including the eager and somewhat starstruck Detective Valerie Stahl and the distrustful Detective Richard Paul, who does not welcome John back with open arms. Almost Human will follow the week-to-week missions of John and Dorian, as they fight crime across this futuristic landscape, while the mysteries surrounding his attack and the larger mythology of this new world unfold. Is friendship between a human & an android even possible? When a police detective John Kennex gets a new partner, an android of a DRN model or Dorian, he never thought it was possible to become a friend with a human-like walking machine. Could he be wrong? I just seen the first episode and I gotta say I'm really hooked on this show that's filled to the brim with human drama, action, humor, suspense, and mystery. But it's the human interactions between the two leads that makes the show very interesting and really thought provoking as well. Karl Urban(of Star Trek, Lord of The Rings, and of course, the utterly stellar "Dredd" fame) is really great in the role of a hard-as-nails cop who doesn't take too kindly to synthetic androids; one in particular, played by Michael Ealy, who is the complete antithesis of Urban. Ealy's character, Dorian, despite being an android, is very believable and convincing; conveying emotions that are(no pun intended) almost human. It'll be really interesting to see how their relationship plays out in subsequent episodes.<br/><br/>There's a lot of mystery and intrigue going on in this show so much, thankfully kept at the minimum to keep the audience guessing at the true motives of some of the characters while also giving the proceedings a heavy dose of suspense in a fantastically realized world and though it draws heavy inspirations from classic science fiction films, it weaves it's own plot and twists to keep things interesting and fresh. There are some plot points that I felt were rushed, but overall, this was a great episode to kick off the entire series. Be warned, there are some bloody scenes that are really intense, but the special effects, for a TV series, are really good and has a sense of hyper verisimilitude that, ironically enough, isn't too far-fetched. How long will it be before life-like androids begin to roam among humans in everyday life? If you don't think it's possible, then check out Raytheon, or DARPA, which are actively researching and developing this cutting edge technology. More importantly, there are lots of moral issues that should be discussed such as technology being too powerful, being replaced by androids, and as well as finding out what it means to be human and what separates man and machine.<br/><br/>I'd say "Almost Human" is an intelligent and thought-provoking series that within it's narrative, raises lots of questions, and though there's really no easy answers, the journey to find them is an exciting ride for those willing to undertake. I'm already anxious to see what's gonna happen next. Here's hoping that the show is successful for an entire season. This 2013 Fox TV sci-fi series was almost really, really good! It certainly had many great elements! It was a great concept it was imaginative it was scientifically insightful had great special effects high production values and featured great actors (Ealy & Urban were actually quite good together).<br/><br/>Yet for all its greatness it certainly had plenty of whateverness Lili Taylor and Mackenzie Crook's characters were bombs the soundtrack was totally obnoxious there was way too much ridiculous robot-on-robot fighting too much gun porn and most damming a very weak story arc.<br/><br/>This lack of a story arc which was supplemented by all sorts of unexplored and unrelated lose ends kept me wondering what the heck was the point to it all? <br/><br/>If the point was the humanizing of a robot (synthetic soul) as the name implies it really did not give the concept its props. If not what the heck was it about? <br/><br/>Chalk it up to bad writing a one season failure that flirted with greatness! <br/><br/>6 of 10 stars <br/><br/>RECOMMENDATION: Play a drinking game with this series by taking a shot every time you hear the phrase "are you OK." You will catch a good buzz and it will become quite comical!
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344 weeks ago