As the holidays approach and Christmas television specials are jingling their way into our living rooms, the winter vacation TV slump has finally arrived. Every year after the Christmas episodes have aired, we must wait until our shows return in the new year.
This awkward time period, usually filled with Netflix, hot cocoa and the freedom of being able to wear pajama pants all day in the comfort of your own home, is often boring. That was until I came across a new show called “Almost Human.”
The show follows Detective John Kennex (Karl Urban), whom you may have seen last playing Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in “Star Trek Into Darkness.” In the pilot, Kennex wakes up from a year-long coma to find he’s lost his leg and friend in a police ambush. He then sets off to find the group responsible.
Set 35 years in the future, “Almost Human” is a cross between “I, Robot,” “RoboCop” and “Total Recall.” Each police officer must be paired with a robot or “synthetic,” as Kennex refers to them, that must go with them on every assignment. As Kennex tries to remember what happened to him before the raid and the accident, he is forced to come back into work.
Drawing parallels to “I, Robot,” Detective Kennex also has a synthetic body part that he has not grown accustomed to and resents. The first “synthetic” he is partnered with is quickly dismissed when Kennex pushes him out the door of his moving vehicle. After filing the report as an accident, he is sent to a warehouse where he meets his new “synthetic,” Dorian (Michael Ealy).
This “synthetic” is different from the rest; Dorian has been programmed to have feelings, unlike his robotic counter parts. Instead of only using logic, Dorian uses his skills to listen to what Kennex has to say and helps him protect the police agency during an unplanned raid.
I did not recognize the woman playing Captain Sandra Maldonado until I realized the last time I had seen her I was covering my eyes as she was being exorcised in the movie “The Conjuring.” Lili Taylor takes on this new role as a police captain in a torn-apart future with strength and grace. Her portrayal of this character shows both the nurturing relationship she has with Kennex and the hard road she has to face trying to find the group responsible for Kennex’s accident.
It is not just the relationship between Dorian and Kennex that holds up this show, but also the special effects. According to “Almost Human,” the future is filled with documents on clear sheets of plastic that appear with just a mere shake of paper and computerized everything. At the end of the pilot Kennex and Dorian begin to form a bond and launch what I’m sure will be an ongoing investigation that will last till the end of the season.
I do not know what the future has in store for this show with its odd timing in the premiere schedule, but enjoy the TV lull, stretch out that elastic waist band and take in the quality time spent on the couch in your post-Thanksgiving nap.
