There are two, count ‘em TWO, episodes of Extant this week, so let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?
Molly plans on getting in Sparks’ face. She sends Sam on a mission to go through the Aruna crew’s medical files to see if there are any anomalies. “I want to see him sweat,” she tells Sam. It also turns out that Kern still has Kryger in custody, and he’s still shocking his head while he’s tied to a chair. Even our torture methods have gotten more futuristic! Water boarding is sooooo 30 years ago!
Molly attempts to contact Derek Pearce, the Aruna mission specialist. He would have seen Katie Sparks’ distress call. The upside: Derek is pleasant to look at. The downside: Derek doesn’t stick around for very long. Molly goes to his impressive loft only to be turned away. When she’s at home she goes some good old fashioned Googling. Well, she talks to her computer while she makes a snack. Derek bought his apartment for only $1. What a steal in this economy! He bought his fancy schmancy $5.2 million living quarters from a mining company called Claypool Industries—a company that doesn’t have an address or any contact information. Feeling cocky, Molly emails the picture from Kryger’s apartment, and he invites her to his place that evening. When she goes, however, Derek’s dead body is being covered up by a police officer. They tell Molly that he jumped…or did he…
When John takes Ethan to school, two Japanese Regina Georges-in-training chat with each other in Japanese about how they want a Humanich just to have another girl around. Ethan hears their insults and replies back in Japanese. This BLOWS. JOHN’S. MIND. He calls Molly and asks her if she taught him Japanese. Yeah, John, Molly has so much time on her hands to teach your Humanichs child a new language.
We learn that Kern’s drug addiction is more serious than we thought. His mother (played by JoBeth Williams!) shows up to express her concern. Apparently, Kern’s father was a pilot who claims the voice from God told him to land his plane in a field. He tells his mother, “There is more than heaven and Earth” and she seems satisfied in that answer. If Sparks thinks Kryger is dead, why is Kern keeping him alive? Does he think there’s a connection to Molly’s baby and something much bigger?
Meanwhile, Julie goes on another date with Odin, and he seems to be really interested in Ethan’s development. You’d think he would just be a sweet, hot Aussie trying to woo a Streep daughter, but you’re wrong. He’s not the nice, injured vet you think he is. Odin is leading a rebellion against the potential machine uprising, and he and his group view Ethan as a major threat. Remember Femi Dodd, the woman from the first episode that questioned John’s Humanichs research? Turns out she’s married to Yasumoto (yeah, he’s still around), and she is part of Odin’s group.
You know those scenes where someone is waiting for another character in a dark room? They usually turn on the light (perhaps a scotch in hand) and the characters have a great scene together that usually ends with one storming out triumphantly? That happens between Molly and Sparks. She barks that she wants her baby, and she will stop at nothing to find it. She also tells Sparks that better pray for his daughter’s forgiveness. Her dramatics result in Sparks leaving his house, and Molly follows him to another location. She sees Claypool Industries is located in this building, so she charms a security guard into letter her check out the empty spaces. Since everyone is in on this conspiracy, the guard locks her in and contacts Sparks—who happens to be standing over Molly’s baby and talking to his dead daughter yet again. A SWAT team enters the building, and when one soldier tries to take Molly, he reveals himself as Kern. He guides her through the building, and they eventually speed away in a car driven by Kryger. Yay! Everyone’s working together now!
John decides to go into Ethan’s programming and slow down his development. He’s becoming increasingly concerned that he’s developing too fast, and he wants him to learn things at the same speed that other kids do. When he tries to access Ethan’s hardware, his access is denied, and Ethan, alone in bed, wakes up suddenly. End of episode one! But wait! There’s more!
As soon as Kryger, Kern, and Molly are in a safe place, Kern spills EVERYTHING! He confirms that the ISEA extracted Molly’s baby and that they covered everything up. He even confirms the sex of the baby (I was kind of hoping she’d have a Rosemary’s Baby-esque smiling reaction). Kern thinks the baby is trying to communicate through Molly, but Kryger thinks it’s dangerous (“It ain’t the baby Jesus!”). Kryger is also very vocal about Kern’s loyalty.
Sparks meets with Yasumoto and says they should kill Molly. Yasumoto objects, because she is the offspring’s mother, and they should have any interference with the baby’s development. He tells Sparks that he’s dying and he’s almost out of the goopy yellow substance that sustains his body. Sparks says they can try another mission, but Yasumoto thinks they have something more useful in their possession. He orders Sparks to move the baby to another site, and, when the baby is no longer dependent on Molly, Sparks can kill her if he still wants to. What a pleasant business meeting…
Ethan goes against his father’s wishes, and rides his new bike to the park. He sees two young teens blowing up a robot garbage can. When Ethan approaches them, the little twerps try to take his bike, and they push Ethan into the mud. When he gets back up, part of his skin has some loose, and you can see the mechanics underneath. John finds him, and Ethan demands to take the robot can back with them. Ethan’s curiosity is escalating very rapidly, and it seems that John might not be able to keep up.
Kern informs Kryger and Molly of the plans to move the baby, and they hatch a plan to take it themselves. They go from being astronauts to heist enthusiasts right before our very eyes! It doesn’t appear that the baby wants to be moved, however. Right when the ISEA plans to move the baby (and our fearless heroes set their own plan in motion), the incubator emits a substance that sticks to the inside of the glass cage it’s in. They call off the move, but Molly needs to see it (“I need to know what he’s trying to tell me”). Molly, Kryger, and Kern plan an explosive distraction to Molly can get to the lab. She leaves a tearful message for John, but he goes to find her anyway. When he’s about to leave, Ethan runs up and give him a hug, and it’s rather touching. In tonight’s two episodes, John has been worried about his intellectual development, but Ethan is also growing emotionally. It’s a really nice moment.
Kern’s explosive goes off, and the building begins to evacuate. As Molly and Kryger ride their way down to the baby in an elevator, Kern tries to get Sparks away from the incubator, and he tells Sparks that Molly “has been taken care of.” Right when he’s about to leave, Sparks sees the elevator moving and he realizes that Kern has double crossed him. From inside the elevator, we hear gunshots go off, and the doors eventually open. Everyone is dead, and Kern and Sparks are missing. As Molly approaches the incubator, Kryger fires shots at it and apologizes to Molly (“I couldn’t let that thing live”), but the baby is no longer inside.
Sparks chases after Kern with a gun, but he changes course when he sees Molly. He corners her and shoots her in the chest. As he stands over her body, she morphs into his daughter Katie. He hears noises behind him, and he can see something lurking in the shadows. When he turns back, Katie is alive, and she tells her father, “He needs our help.”
My head is kind of spinning after two hours of this show. This could be its own huge movie. Ethan’s development…Yasumoto’s impending doom…Odin’s creepy uprising against the machines. So much is going on. The first episode was much more set-up, and the second feels like more of a payoff. Strategy on CBS’ part? While I am very much enjoying this summer series, I sort of want it to conclude. The stuff with Molly’s father and the Humanichs rights seems like a distant memory.
