Extant: Season One, Episode Three – “Wish You Were Here”

First aired July 23rd, 2014.

Everyone is getting together to throw Molly (played by Halle Berry) a belated birthday party since she was in space for her actual birthday. Little do they know what she really needs is a baby shower.

Molly’s boss, Alan (played by Michael O’Neill), decides to make up a story to explain what’s happening to her. He tells Molly that the company conducted an experiment to get her pregnant using DNA from her and her husband, John (played by Goran Visnjic). Although Molly pretty much buys it, she still has her friend, Sam (played by Camryn Manheim), take some blood to run tests. She also finally goes to John and tells him everything that’s going on before finding a drawing of the hexagon symbols that keep appearing in her body in the trailer of the other astronaut Kryger (played by Brad Beyer).

This lady seriously needs to take that “don’t trust them” warning more seriously, everyone keeps telling her that but she won’t listen. I also can’t believe she bought that story when even her boss didn’t look like he believed it. I’m glad people like John and Sam are clued in on what’s happening, because they seem to have more sense. Those hexagon symbols look important. Perhaps they’re the official symbol of whatever alien race actually impregnated her.

While at the party Molly connects with an old friend named Tim (played by Arlen Escarpeta) but becomes distraught when John points out that he was never really there. Convinced there’s something mentally wrong, she immediately calls up Alan and takes him up on his offer of having more tests done. However, while at the lab, Sam finds a bunch of suits taking her research and, as they surround her, she sends a text to Molly telling her to run. Molly makes Alan run the car off the road and is picked up by John who decided to come after her. When a team of armed men invade their home, they find it empty and the Woods family on the run.

I like that the plot went in such a Bourne direction so early on. Usually, that kind of thing is dragged out for a while. What’s also great is the usually obvious option of going public is out because people would want her locked up anyway because of her condition. Molly’s going to have to meet up with Kryger at some point for pointers on how to live off the grid because, clearly, she is an easy target for these people. I’m also really curious to find out why she keeps seeing dead people. Maybe there’s some significance behind it.

The B plot of the episode revolved around Ethan’s (played by Pierce Gagnon) first day of school. Parents were worried about their children being exposed to a robot child, but everything seemed to go perfectly. That being said, since his father found a pigeon he trapped in the garage, it looks like maybe those parents’ fears were warranted. During the party John’s colleague, Julie (played by Grace Gummer), was obsessing about how dangerous it was for Ethan to be allowed around people. Later, she read Ethan a bedtime story, something she did hundreds of times while he was just a computer program.

Ethan’s apparent mistreatment of animals is starting to come off as a red herring, because he’s never shown doing anything explicit. Unless he’s shown actually doing something bad with an animal, I’m going to write the whole thing off as fake side plot meant to fool the audience. However, I’m definitely convinced that Julie has an unnaturally strong attachment to Ethan that will lead to some craziness later on. I’m betting that Julie originally programmed him and, now that he’s a “real boy,” she believes herself to be his rightful mother.

Quotes & Thoughts

“What are you gonna tell her?” “Something more believable than the truth.”

How could someone be dumb enough to get into that guy’s car in the middle of the night alone?

“I can’t keep going on like this, John! Something is happening to me!”

That prototype robot Julie was playing with was too creepy.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Friday Fiction: Snowfall In The Living Room
• “It Came From The Archives” Doctor Who Special Reviews: The Church on Ruby Road
• Review: Lucky Girl, How I Became A Horror Writer by M. Rickert
• Friday Fiction: Frozen Army
• Foundations: The 5 Best Artifact Cards