Ah, the penultimate episode. It’s the entry near the end of an ambitious science fiction show that can make or break a fledgling series. Will Extant be able to pack in enough secrets to broaden their audience for the finale next week?
Things seem to be lining up for a big bang within the first ten minutes of this week’s episode. Odin seemingly gains Ethan’s full trust by watering the notion in his head that Molly and John will shut down his systems. He gives him a phone (that looks like a cellular version of Simon) so Ethan can contact him if ends up in the lab. Remember a few weeks back when Molly was in her offspring-induced dream? Turns out she sent the Seraphim off its current course.
Oh, did I mention that Katie Sparks is alive? She’s just been in a hyper sleep for almost 2 years after escaping the Aruna in an escape pod. I’m feeling a bit wary about this…am I the only one? Back in John’s lab, Charlie discovers that Ethan went offline for almost 90 minutes while he was in Odin’s care. Charlie brings this to Julie’s attention and again tells her that he thinks Odin is shady. Hey, Julie! That’s longer than the missing Nixon tapes! Open your eyes!
Camryn Manheim returns (FINALLY!) to administer a shot to jog Molly’s memory. She grabs the coordinates she entered to send the Seraphim off course, and she is determined to figure out where and why she sent it out of orbit. It’s basically a scene with Halle Berry talking with her computer. In a sequence that would normally stump mathematicians for days, Berry figures out that she sent the Seraphim a sudden distress call that would send it shooting off in a different direction. It’s similar to if astronauts saw an asteroid and had to make an emergency swerve. When Molly shows the video of Katie to Sparks, he admits that the Seraphim is falling out of orbit, and he begs for Molly to save his daughter.
When John takes Ethan in for a “deep scan” (wouldn’t that sound worse than a dentist visit to an 8 year old?), Ethan freaks out, and tells Julie that Odin said his parents want to shut him down. You were blinded by the hot Aussie, Julie. It’s all right—it happens to the best of us. She weasels her way into Odin’s apartment and finds a video of Odin and Ethan playing with a lighter. The second video, however, is much creepier. Odin explains that the “explosion at Yasumoto Tower” was caused by Ethan. Yeah, he’s going to frame a little Humanichs boy to start a war on machines.
The current ISEA director, Ryan Jackson, tells Molly that he wants her to go back up into space (Nope. Nope. Nope.), but she tells him no. When Molly and John get into an argument about it later, it’s very strange. He tells her that he never wanted Molly to forget Marcus and their child, but he never expected her to physically see them again. It’s an odd fight that has a weight to it that I didn’t expect. I’m glad they allowed Molly and John to communicate again in this episode instead of keeping them apart. John was becoming an ugly shirt model in Molly’s absence. When Ethan walks into the bedroom, however, it appears that John is talking to himself—just as Molly imagined Marcus on the Seraphim—and that damn circular pattern appears on John’s neck.
Molly is actually downstairs in the kitchen, and then she sees what she’s been wanting. A little boy, no more than ten years old, is standing in Molly’s yard. He has curly, dark hair, but his eyes glow a sinister yellow. Ethan runs into the kitchen and scares him away, but Molly chases after him. When Molly catches up with him, he reveals that he’s been instructed to do everything that he’s done. “They need blood,” he tells Molly, and he assures her that he is the only one who can stop them from reaching Earth. Molly has to go back into space.
Up on the Seraphim, Sean Glass is looking for supplied when he opens up a cabinet to find a dead Katie. Her rotting corpse is strapped in, and there is a gaping hole in her stomach. When he tries to escape, the doors close on him, and another Katie Sparks (the one he’s been talking to all this time) smiles on the opposite side of the glass. Glass didn’t know that he’s been communicating with Katie’s baby—and it’s just been using her face.
At the beginning of this episode, I was worried it would drag. One of my biggest complaints about the show is that it features such huuuuuge, ambitious plots, and I don’t think the pace of the show really supports it. For instance, Molly finds out that the Seraphim might be hurtling towards Earth (BUM BUM BUUUUMMM!!!), but then the next scene she’s calmly making food with her husband. Sometimes I want to slap the characters, because it feels like they lose focus. The second half of the episode really amps up the tension, though. It cuts back and forth between Julie’s discovery and Molly chasing after her son, and I found myself not even taking notes because I was so into it.
Bring on the finale!
