Humans

Gaah! I can't wait for the next episode! It is building tension ju-u-u-st right: Creepy, heart rending, asking the big questions about life and love and what constitutes consciousness, in other words it just couldn't be better. It also feels like perhaps it actually is building towards a specific future point, rather than just bumbling along and making stuff up as it goes. I am very excited to see where they're taking us, and how current loyalties may shift..? (I hope so!) Very well made, very well acted, just well-crafted in every way. Who said the art of good Science Fiction is dead? It seems to be experiencing a renaissance right now in response to all the boring 'miserealism' of recent times - huzzah!

I expected this series to be an "I Robot" lite, but in fact I am impressed with the first episode both from its acting and the completeness of this initial 'view' into an alternative world. Keeping my fingers crossed it will maintain this standard. Although I know this was adapted from a Swedish series I'm deliberately staying away from it for now. The opening episode certainly seems to have captured the sense of atmosphere and something impending that Scandinavians do so well. With a cast which is more than able to add some heft to the 'human' side of the story - it was equally gratifying to see the 'synthetics' pull off the difficult balancing act between machine behavior and enough 'emotional' content to set the series up for some dramatic juxtapositions. Although there is a small level of "adult" content I think its use, given the use of technology in our own world, was both relevant and all too believable.

Humans was such a great show! I really got into it, great rounded characters and a believable future. I was really looking forward to the next series. So disappointed.

First, this is the kind of series the Brits have shown a knack for, riffing off normal life situations into something creepy and unexpected. (See for example UTOPIA, the original UK version, also reviewed by this scribe.) So even though this is a clone of a European show, it is a natural for English audiences.

Second, the casting of Bill Hurt suggests to the cynically-minded that series was done with a pre-sale to the US market already in the works, with Hurt's job to make the transition more comfortable and discourage yet another "forced cloning" of the show in the US market, a move that more often than not wastes money and creates an inferior product.

Third, the casting is to die for. Gemma Chan is perfectly cast as the main "bot" and reminds this cranky old reviewer of what happened when Barbara Eden first appeared as a family "genie" in the US decades ago. It is now agreed by TV historians that subliminally this appealed to many male viewers who stayed loyal to the show for reasons well beyond the story arc.

And Colin Morgan, once the Merlin of legend, is an under-rated actor who can only make the show better over time.

Looks like a winner to me.

Humans is an unexpectedly great show. The reason for this is that it's understated in the technology an emphasizes the humanity. The cast are all from UK and mostly unknown and it allows us to get to know the characters more. Gemma Chan who plays Anita/Mya led me to this series via her Twitter. I first saw her in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

This series is dark and brooding. It raises more questions than it answers with the interaction between the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Synths and the Humans who "employ" them to do ordinary household tasks.

The origins of the core group of Synths is a mystery that is weave through the course of this series. There is some limited action, violence and beneath all of that big question about the ghost in the machine. This may be the best follow-up on ideas of sentient robots first presented since Blade Runner.