Mickey Fisher
Executive Producers:
Brooklyn Weaver, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey
Mickey Fisher, Greg Walker, Steven Spielberg
Starring:
Hally Berry as Molly Woods, Goran Visnjic as John Woods
Pierce Gagnon as Ethan Woods, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hideki Yasumoto
Michael O’Neill as Alvin Sparks, Grace Gummer as Julie Gelineau
Camryn Manheim as Sam Barton
Premise:
An astronaut returns home from a year long solo mission in space.
She tries to reconnect with her husband and son in their everyday
life. Her experiences in space and home lead to events that
ultimately will change the course of human history.
Rating: 8/10 (B+)
The show takes place 30 years from now and centers around Molly who has just returned from space and tries to readjust to life on earth. The very first minutes feel like a family drama but it’s when John tucks Ethan into bed when you’ll realize that this is a science fiction show. The premiere does a great job at introducing us to John’s project “Humanics” and with John getting funding (from an unexpected source) we are bound to see more of them. There is also a short but extraordinary scene in which Gagnon perfectly portrays Ethan’s struggle to show human emotion.
Molly learns early on that she’s pregnant. We get somewhat of an idea what happens to Molly but it isn’t until the end of the episode until we see what exactly took place during “The Gap”. The visuals for the spaceship are exceptional for a television show and the general depiction of technology is very appealing, clean and sleek (Seriously, I want that garbage can).
You can also expect a very peculiar scene in which Yasumoto undergoes a very strange procedure which purpose remains unclear. If you are familiar with the recent works of O’Neill and Sanada, then you’ll know which side they are on. They become suspicious of Molly and they seem to have arcane knowledge about the bigger picture that is at play here.
Halle Berry delivers a nuanced performance for her first television role with a strong ensemble to support her.
The series premiere raises a lot of questions and though it is too early to tell if the show is capable of providing enough answers(I’m looking at you Under the Dome), I will say that it’s a great mix of family drama and science fiction that explores the potential threat of extraterrestrial life and the possibility of merging artificial and human intelligence.
“I think I need a flip.”
“It’s not a master/slave relationship. My partners and I believe:
If we want machines to be more human, we have to give them the
human experience. They have to learn like children learn. The
Humanics’ brain learn good from bad, right from wrong. The same
way we all did… for the most part.”
“Welcome back, Mr. Yasumoto.”
“It was like this when I found it. Your hair looks really pretty.”
“It’s me. I’m real. It’s not like on the Seraphim. You’re not hallucinating.”
Make sure to check out the series premiere of Extant on CBS, WED 9th July 9/8c.
Thanks Mark. Looking forward to checking this out myself.
ReplyDeleteBe interesting to see the post-episode reactions and ratings.
I'm excited for this one :)
ReplyDeleteHalle Berry. Science fiction. Oh yes.
ReplyDeleteNot typically my type of thing but I figure it's worth tuning in for the unique premise and Halle Berry. Glad to hear it's pretty decent. I don't watch anything on CBS except for Big Brother (lol), but I'm gonna give this a shot.
ReplyDeleteHahaha. Funny you say that, I loathe reality TV pretty much all the time, but Big Brother is one of the few reality and one of the ONLY CBS shows I even watch. Not even sure why as they usually cast the most shallow people imaginable but friends from a long long time ago used to make me watch it so I guess it's kind of nostalgic. This year is my favorite cast in a long time though so I'm actually enjoying watching it at the moment, ha.
ReplyDeleteI'm soooooo excited to watch this. Two things: First, how sad is it that CBS only risks edgy shows with the potential to be great (UtD is great for CBS but not nearly as good as it should be) in the summer?! Other than POI and maybe Good Wife I pity anyone who thinks CBS has the best or second or even third best programming choices, but it's refreshing to see them heavily promote all these summer shows. Second: I'm so glad Halle Berry is on TV! I always liked her and thought she gets less credit than she deserves for many of her roles.
ReplyDeleteI really hope this show is broadcast's number 1 show this summer so CBS will be obligated to renew it, I think I'm going to LOVE it.
Ditto. It's a cry from last years cast - these guys are interesting to watch for the right reasons.. for the most part. there's always a few crazies. But I like that again we're seeing lots of backgrounds represented this year. Jocasta and Donny are underrepresented on the show but entertaining and very funny on live feeds. Big Brother is a huge guilty pleasure lol. I loved the Canadian version as well.
ReplyDelete