Almost Human [Fox - US]

CastorTroy

Yeah, I'm really enjoying the banter between Dorian and Kennex. Think that's the main reason Kennex accepted him. Not only is he good at his job, but he can hold his own in a slagging match.

So I'm taking it this is a prequel leading up to Kennex donning the judge's uniform and assuming a new name? Or is it leading to him joining Starfleet?

bluesfan

CastorTroy wrote: »

So I'm taking it this is a prequel leading up to Kennex donning the judge's uniform and assuming a new name? Or is it leading to him joining Starfleet?

Well there's been references to perps and cubes so maybe he'll end up with a son named Fargo

pixelburp

Started watching this, hearing mumblings that it's meant to be a fun show so far; three episodes in and yes, it seems to be just that - I'd certainly keep watching. Its biggest strength is definitely the two leads & there's always a lot to be said for good chemistry and banter between protagonists; the sparring between Dorian and Kennex drives the show, no question. It also helps if the main character is going to be a gruff, plays-by-his-own rules supercop that he's played by someone as likeable as Karl Urban. Michael Ealy also deserves praise for the juggling act that Dorian presents.

On the flipside though, the other main characters are woefully underwritten - so far - particularly the two female cops, who are relegated to 'grumpy police captain' and 'possible love-interest' ciphers. Early days but I hope the writers' love for Dorian and Kennex doesn't completely overpower the show.

Another minus is that the actual world itself is hopelessly generic, borderline lazy considering the mythology was set-up with a narrated wall of text: "crime has gone nuts, we use robots now kkbye". The needless 'futuristic' flourishes on everything also gets very distracting (the neon trim and little LED displays on evvverything) and future-visions are always a tricky balancing act between prediction and fantasy; I could buy into the world a little more if it looked a bit more like the presentday.

Still though, I'm entertained so far, having fun watching the bickering cops do their thing, and that's more than I can say of recent Genre TV shows...

don ramo

pixelburp wrote: »

Another minus is that the actual world itself is hopelessly generic, borderline lazy considering the mythology was set-up with a narrated wall of text: "crime has gone nuts, we use robots now kkbye". The needless 'futuristic' flourishes on everything also gets very distracting (the neon trim and little LED displays on evvverything) and future-visions are always a tricky balancing act between prediction and fantasy; I could buy into the world a little more if it looked a bit more like the presentday.

that film looper out last year nailed a proper looking close future, everything looked more or less the same, the most futuristic thing was the bikes, but i felt immersed in the world none the less,

jenjenten

I am rapildy loosing interest....is just a proceadural set in the near future, case of the week....no season arc, no character development, no playing on the themes...androids, clones, ghost in the machine etc.

No real exploration as to what its like to be an android, no backstory, Dorian is supposed to be crazy?....eh?, not seeing it. Yer wan from Friday Nights Lights adds nothing....Klennex could swoon at any femle and it would make no difference.

They are wasting a show with tons of story telling potential out of fear or stick to network proceadural rules.

CastorTroy

I'm enjoying it but I thik it may get better once they start airing them in the correct order. At the moment it's obvious they're out of order.

pixelburp

don ramo wrote: »

that film looper out last year nailed a proper looking close future, everything looked more or less the same, the most futuristic thing was the bikes, but i felt immersed in the world none the less,

Yeah that's true, though in Looper's case the aesthetic was a more 'retro' look n' feel, mostly lo-fi with just the odd touch of the future; that's easier to sell and ground than throwing neon and LED on everything, including umbrellas for some bizarre reason. Or, for that matter, making your fictitious drug a glowing green liquid - it's the fuuuuuture! :rolleyes:

I watched the other 3 episodes of the pre-xmas run and my thoughts remain the same: good snappy chemistry between the two leads, some vague hints towards character development for them, but a show bogged down by its lack of creative vision, culminating in a generic futuristic melting pot. I'll keep watching anyway.

And between her magazine-cover good looks and the utter absence of characterisation, bar being a potential romantic target for Kennex, Detective Stahl is making me extremely cranky. Considering Almost Human comes a producer of Fringe, a show with one of the stronger female TV leads in years, it's disappointing the main woman here's just an empty, pretty face. So far.

jenjenten wrote: »

I am rapildy loosing interest....is just a proceadural set in the near future, case of the week....no season arc, no character development, no playing on the themes...androids, clones, ghost in the machine etc.

Ha, I must laugh considering you're echoing my own general thoughts in the Agents of SHIELD thread, yet there you tried to persuade in sticking with that show I think Almost Human shows far more potential as a character drama, if nothing else, than Agents... which just seems to be spinning in circles with nothing to say or do. But I digress

miralize

I gave it 3 episodes. Like Ealy, not hugely impressed by Urban. His tendency to overemphasise every word for dramatic effect, while not bad in small doses, just takes me out of the show and has me focusing on that instead.

Watching the latest episode and still enjoying the show though I really wish that it would spend a little more time building the world around the show. The whole solar flare knocking out power was quite an interesting device that the show did nothing of note with.

I get that the show is being aired completely out of order and as such there's quite a few plot points that don't add up but when they do hit on something good they forget about it pretty quickly.

It's the stars who are keeping the show so damn watchable. The chemistry between Dorian and Kennex is great, it feels so natural and unforced and I think that I'd happily watch 42 minutes of them talking each week.

It is refreshing that the show isn't trying to force some ongoing story for the sake of it but it did set one up in the pilot that seems to have been ignored since.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Deleted User wrote: »

It's the stars who are keeping the show so damn watchable. The chemistry between Dorian and Kennex is great, it feels so natural and unforced and I think that I'd happily watch 42 minutes of them talking each week.

I agree with everything you said, but this in particular I wholeheartedly 100% agree...

CastorTroy

I think the second shot episode airs next week and may address some of the storylines in the pilot.

Did they learn nothing from when they aired Firefly out of sequence? Seeing Kennex acting friendly with Dorian one week then being hostile to him the next doesn't help with consistency.

pixelburp

Yes, the only reason I'm sticking with this show is for the chemistry between the two leads, they both really knock it out of the park with the material. They have spark and wit, and really emphasises how important the basics in TV production can be.

It's just a shame nearly everything else around them is so sub-par. The world building continues to be a thoughtless and lazy collection of tropes and cliches - the clunky expository scene telling the audience about the unregulated internet, the 'darknet', being a particularly awful example :rolleyes: and demonstrates the writers don't appear to have 'genre' sensibilities, if you know what I mean - and the female characters continue to be underwritten to the point of insult.

conorhal

^^^^^

I agree, another new show that, for me, is currently surviving on the charm of it's lead characters is Sleepy Hollow, without Mills and Crane's subtle, hilarious and chemistry filled relationship the series would be tediously formulaic.

FreudianSlippers

I thought this week's episode was monumentally boring. I do like the show and I totally agree that the show works because of the acting... However I think Bones (since it's pretty much his default acting go-to) is getting too much credit. It's all about Michael Ealy; he also totally carried Common Law, which I think suffered some of the same problems as Almost Human - leads working well together in a show that isn't at all compelling to watch.

jenjenten

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

I thought this week's episode was monumentally boring. I do like the show and I totally agree that the show works because of the acting... However I think Bones (since it's pretty much his default acting go-to) is getting too much credit. It's all about Michael Ealy; he also totally carried Common Law, which I think suffered some of the same problems as Almost Human - leads working well together in a show that isn't at all compelling to watch.

I think the fact Fox aired the episodes out of order smacks of a Firefly repeat imo. Its been a LONG time since Fox has decided to air OOO...a clear sign they dont have faith in the show.

FreudianSlippers

jenjenten wrote: »

I think the fact Fox aired the episodes out of order smacks of a Firefly repeat imo. Its been a LONG time since Fox has decided to air OOO...a clear sign they dont have faith in the show.

I agree that OOO is never a good sign, but this episode was poor no matter where/when it was aired.

OOO?

Also I never realized they were airing them out of order. Why. On. Earth?

jenjenten

Deleted User wrote: »

OOO?

Also I never realized they were airing them out of order. Why. On. Earth?

One assumes to front load what they consider better episodes at the start to gain an audience, then mix in weaker ones later in the season. If you start off with 5 weak episodes you lose your audience forever.

pixelburp

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

I thought this week's episode was monumentally boring. I do like the show and I totally agree that the show works because of the acting... However I think Bones (since it's pretty much his default acting go-to) is getting too much credit. It's all about Michael Ealy; he also totally carried Common Law, which I think suffered some of the same problems as Almost Human - leads working well together in a show that isn't at all compelling to watch.

Not sure about that - nearly all the reviews I've read of this show have singled out Ealy as the stronger of the pair of lead actors and the shows most-valued element. He's undoubtedly the heart of the show, with Urban pegged as the gruff, straightman in the routine.

I think the largest problem this show has is that it appears to lack a single, unifying vision of its future to pin everything together. It's all incredibly hodge-podge, and smacks of a mythology being made up as they go along, possibly by people who don't really 'get' sci-fi or don't care; the ludicrous 'darknet' exposition scream of a writing staff who are just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

For comparison of future visions, you look at something like Defiance: an equally subpar show but what it had to its credit was a mythology and world-building that was well thought through from the ground up. Contrary to Almost Human though, its weakness was the characters, but the backdrop was solid.

jenjenten

I was hoping for more I, Robot....ghost in the machine stuff....dare i say the even more of the VASTLY underrated movie...Bicentenial Man with Robin Williams. Stories that explore AI and androids....clones, etc.

There is a ton of story potential there being wasted.

aine1980

Have this on my to watch list, should i watch in the order they should have aired or give it a run as is? From reading above I think original order might be the way to go & view the show as it was intended to be shown?! Thoughts?

Patty O Furniture

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

I agree that OOO is never a good sign, but this episode was poor no matter where/when it was aired.

Yeah i thought it was a good ep, it always has its strong points in the banter btwn the two, but like the ep it wasnt on a full charge like the rest of them

jenjenten wrote: »

One assumes to front load what they consider better episodes at the start to gain an audience, then mix in weaker ones later in the season. If you start off with 5 weak episodes you lose your audience forever.

Here's the running order here:

FreudianSlippers

This week was probably one of my favourite episodes thus far. Interesting plot line and good play between all the characters. Nice to see some involvement from the ancillary characters this week.

pixelburp

Urgh, I feel like flip-flopping a little on this show - the kitchen-sink approach to the mythology is really beginning to tick me off a little. It's basically an "evil technology of the week" show, where the writers pull random technologies out of their arse for the space of an episode, manage to do absolutely nothing with the concepts, whereupon it's promptly forgotten by next week's story. Magic bullets that use social media and the world's omnipresent surveillance to track its targets? That's posititely laden with heavy drama and thematic potenti... oh no, it's just a boring witness protection episode where the cops act like morons.

I know I said the chemistry is what gets me through the otherwise mediocre setting, but lordy if the show isn't testing the limits of my tolerance. It was also pretty clear this was another episode aired out of order; the callbacks to the events of the first episode jarred a little and tbh I had completely forgotten who that suspect in the sling was meant to be.

At least Stahl got some character moments, even if it amounted to the revelation that she was genetically designed to be pretty. *facepalm* Well, at least they tried. Maybe next week she'll be allowed to make the tea. And with the mention of genetic engineering, at this rate the only sci-fi trope left on the shelf is space & time travel.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

That was the second episode. I probably would've liked it, had it been aired as the second episode. I did not however, enjoy it as episode eight in the series, considering Kennex has evolved so much more than that since the pilot. It distracted from my viewing of the show.

Burgo

CaptainNegative wrote: »

That was the second episode. I probably would've liked it, had it been aired as the second episode. I did not however, enjoy it as episode eight in the series, considering Kennex has evolved so much more than that since the pilot. It distracted from my viewing of the show.

Yeah it seemed strange him going back to his arsehole self from the first ep. I hate it when shows are aired like this

TheIrishGrover

The episode was only OK. Probably the poorest so far. Whatever about the storyline it was the acting I found poor. The woman they were protecting was absolutely terrible. I men nobody's going to win any emmys on that show (With the possibility of the Dorian actor. Think he's brilliantly funny). But this episode had some woeful acting. The girl was so bad that anyone acting with her was affected. Check out Urban talking to her the first time. Brutal.

I would love the show to continue but I'm not very hopeful. Even before the show aired I was doubtful. This is Fox after all and this show looks pretty expensive.

CastorTroy

Supposedly taking a 3 week break now due to Sleepy Hollow double ep finale next week then probably due to the winter olympics. Guessing a lot of series will be affected by the olympics

I liked this weeks episode and had it aired as intended it would have been far more effective. The evolution of the characters and their relationships has been done a major disservice by the decision to air them out of order
The whole technology run amok storylines are a little bland, especially when week in week out the tech is forgotten about. If there was a consistent use if the various tech then the show could actually build an interesting and dynamic world.

bluesfan

Great episode this week, adding a back story to the robot police force, adding a back story and mystery to the city and world in general while beginning an arc that can run in the background for the rest of the series. Unfortunately because of the way Fox is showing it, the next episode takes a step back. Tonight was episode nine, next week is episode four. I'll have to re-watch episode ten from a few weeks ago as some of the references might now make sense.