Humans “Episode 2” 

What the what? I think we all assumed Leo was human because we’ve seen him bleed and we’ve never seen him recharge. But when he’s unresponsive and Max fashions a way to “charge” Leo and he responds, we know that Leo is something we haven’t seen before. Is he a hybrid? Did he start as 100% human and their “father,” turned him into something else? I was already pretty interested in his story, since he’s been trying to reunite his little family, but this adds an entirely new level of complexity and interest to this entire story.

Are the Synths making humans obsolete? Mattie has a great point. Why study for years to become skilled at something when a Synth can be programmed to the do the job in a fraction of the time? Synths only have menial jobs (as far as we know), but it’s only gotta be a matter of time before they start moving up the corporate ladder, so to speak. If it’s cheaper and more efficient to teach a Synth to do something, why waste time teaching it to a human?

We know Mattie’s grades have been slipping, but it’s not because she’s not smart — it’s that she’s stopped trying. And she makes things a little more difficult for herself when she tries to become a secondary hidden user for one of the janitor synth’s at school. Mattie (with Harun’s help) was smart enough to cover the synth’s head, so there’s no way to know whether or not Mattie’s really responsible. We know and the school administrator suspects, but there’s no real proof. So when Laura shows up and starts acting like the lawyer she is, there’s really nothing the administrator can do.

Pete is also having difficulty with this Synth craze. The only reason Simon’s in his home is because Jill needs him for her recovery. So when Pete goes to question Silas, things get physical. Pete thinks Synths are turning their lives to shit. Not only are they affecting his home life, but dealing with Synth-related crime is his job, so he literally can’t get away from them. And it’s making him unprofessional to boot. But his partner disagrees. Karen tells him the only bad things that’ve happened to her were done by humans. That statement alone makes me want to get to know her so much better. Hopefully we’ll get some backstory on her in the next few episodes.

But back to Laura. We can see her struggle. Anita appears to be doing strange and/or hurtful things — but only to Laura.

Laura: “I’m watching you.”
Anita: “I’m watching you too, Laura. You’re right in front of me.”

So creepy.

The rest of the family, save Mattie, thinks the sun shines out of Anita’s plastic ass. Joe still refuses to take her back, no matter how uncomfortable Laura tells him Anita makes her. Toby wants to sexually assault her because he’s a hormonal teenager, who apparently thinks it’s ok to touch Anita without her consent, just because she’s a machine. And Sophie is so happy to have a friend. She’s the only member of the Hawkins  household whose motivation seems pretty pure in regards to Anita.

Other Developments

And what about Vera? George clearly doesn’t want her, but because of his health issues Vera is forced upon him. And because of Anita’s random spouting of facts, he know that Synths aren’t allowed to initiate contact with humans — or, her model isn’t. Vera is allowed to touch George without his consent, because it’s in his best interest, of course. She’s also pretty good with the threats when George doesn’t seem that interested in following her medical advice or instructions. At least she hasn’t found Odi yet. George needs to do a better job of hiding him if he doesn’t want to part with him.

Niska’s having a very hard time in the brothel. As we know, she refused to turn her pain off, so whatever these men are doing to her, she feels and will remember all of it. She finally reaches her limit when a client, who seems sweet and shy at first, wants her to pretend she’s very young and scared. Niska refuses, which she technically shouldn’t be able to do. When he tells Niska she belongs to him because he paid for her, she’s had enough. She kills him, which surprised me, and uses his finger to escape the room. The madam tries to stop her, but Niska cuts the chip out of her neck and makes her escape. Now she’s just got to find Leo and Max.

Random Thought

Hobbs calls Fred “the Mona Lisa, penicillin, the atom bomb.” If, like Hobbs suspects, Fred and the other Synths who are able to feel emotions decide to turn against humanity, they would certainly be able to wipe the human race off the face of the planet. I understand the Mona Lisa — beautiful work of art made by man — and the atom bomb — capable of killing or poisoning every living thing on the planet — references. But penicillin? It was the first medicine to help cure infections on a large-scale, but many infections are now resistant to it. So, is Hobbs saying that these current Synth models will outlive their usefulness and will soon need to be replaced by a “stronger” Synth. If that’s true, the singularity is sure to happen sooner rather than later. It’s interesting that Hobbs seems to think in terms of absolutes. But I guess someone needs to be thinking about the drawbacks of having so many Synths out in the world who are capable of thinking for themselves.

Humans airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.