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Humans

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay
Kristin Smith

TV Series Review

Humans—real humans—are pretty messy. We won’t rinse our dishes no matter how many times we’re told. We’re prone to let our attention wander at inopportune times. We cry over spilled milk and laugh at inappropriate jokes. We’re frustrating, unpredictable and just barely domesticated.

And there are times when we look at the people in our lives—those whom we would say we love more than anything—and secretly think to ourselves, Wouldn’t it be great if I could just make them do what I want them to do?

Well, humanity is no more malleable in the sci-fi show Humans that it is in the real world. On the other hand, there are some disturbingly human facsimiles that might deliver on that fantasy of “people” just doing what we want them to do.

Therein lies the problem.

Perfect Robots, Imperfect People?

Humans, produced jointly by AMC, Britain’s Channel 4 and a company called Kudos, unveils a world in which lifelike robots, called Synths, are all the rage. They serve as caregivers and janitors, golf caddies and sex toys. Every harried, well-to-do family seems to have one to help around the house; and the British government prescribes them to the sickly like antibiotics.

For loads of people, that’s just great. Who couldn’t use a hand folding the laundry? Why, in many ways, they’re way better than real people! No problem with that, right?

Right?

“Why would I have a problem with something that makes my existence pointless?” opines Mattie Hawkins, a teen who used to be pretty hostile to her family’s pre-owned Synth, but who is now helping the robots in the human-versus-Synth revolt.

These days, though, lots of folks are less than thrilled with the ubiquity of Synths. In fact, humans are now being taught that Synths with green eyes are rebellious and dangerous, while those with orange eyes are perfectly programmed machines.

But Mattie’s mother, Laura, is dedicated to showing the humans that Synths are their equals. Not all humans are convinced. Neither are Synths. In fact, in Season 3, a coming clash continues to brew as humans and robots vie against one another for their place in the world.

Another Take on A.I.

Ever since God created us, it seems, we’ve wondered whether it might one day be possible for us to manufacture life, too—or at least, reasonable facsimiles of human life—through witchcraft or science or both.

And never has the possibility of such a creation felt so close. Scientists are creating more skilled, more lifelike robots all the time. Some technological theorists believe it’s just a matter of a time before our computers become self-aware.

Those elements come together in Humans, a disturbingly thorough and surprisingly thoughtful exploration of future human-robot relations. While there may not be a lot of original ideas here that weren’t brought up in, say, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence or Blade Runner or even Frankenstein, Humans digs into them in interesting, compelling ways.

Only Human After All

But, alas, compelling television often goes hand-in-hand with problematic content these days. And Humans is no outlier.

While the show sports a TV-14 rating on AMC, its content feels more mature than that. Human-robot sex (in myriad variations) is a frequent conversation topic, with human (or human-looking) forms on nearly full display in provocative, titillating encounters. Violence can be bloody and wince-inducing, too, with people and Synths alike suffering seriously painful-looking wounds. The s-word and other profanities are commonly uttered unbleeped, at least on my iTunes version of the show.

We don’t need to say that most of this content is completely gratuitous and unnecessary, of course. No one needs to hear a bevy of s-words to contemplate AMC’s provocative brave, new world. But it shouldn’t surprise us that the show’s creators included all that material anyway. In some ways, we humans—at least the humans that create our television shows—are surprisingly predictable.

Episode Reviews

June 12, 2018: “Episode 2”

After a human bombing kills hundreds of Synths, a character named Max finds that leading his fellow green-eyed Synths is increasingly difficult; their anger at human violence toward them has nearly reached the boiling point. Human Mattie and Leo (a mysterious human/Synth hybrid) must leave the Synth compound to save their own lives. Mia and Niska leave the compound to search for other Synths. Laura realizes that working for the government means she must uncover secrets. And Joe, who’s now separated from his wife and living in a Synth-free area, thinks he has identified two Synths in his supposedly humans-only neighborhood.

Meanwhile, tension in the Synth compound continues to increase. Humans are bent on destroying the robots to protect themselves. We witness Synths being cruelly shoved to the ground, and we learn that they’ve also been beaten, mistreated and killed. A dead Synth body lies (fully clothed) on a gurney, and other dead Synths are scattered on the ground. Someone is given a shot in the stomach.

Synths discuss their emotional connections with one another and with other humans. A man smokes a cigarette and suggests buying marijuana. Threats are yelled, and a beer bottle is thrown at a human family. Someone drinks wine and beer. Jesus’ name is misused once, and other profanities include “p-ss off” and the British vulgarity “blimey.”

Humans: July 5, 2015 – “Episode 2”

Niska, a Synth working as a sex robot, stands naked in a decontamination room with a couple of other similarly employed, equally unclothed Synths. (All are seen from the rear and, briefly, from the side, with breasts and rears partially visible.) An elderly client asks her to play like she’s both “young” (how young is not specified) and very, very frightened. Niska refuses and strangles the man. She cuts open the back of her neck (blue fluid pulses out of the wound) and graphically digs under the skin for a tracking device, which she discards.

Toby Hawkins, a teenage boy, tries to touch Anita’s breast, which she forbids, threatening to tell the boy’s parents. A nude male Synth lies on a table in a research facility. (He’s curled up in a fetal position, and nothing critical is shown.) Someone gets stabbed in the gut: the wound is bloody and gross. People are beaten, wrestled and kicked. One man has what looks to be an icepick held to his throat.

Mattie tries to hack into a synth and nearly gets expelled for it. She later smokes pot and kisses her accomplice. Peter helps Jill pull down her underwear to go to the bathroom (which we hear). We see women in lingerie and bathing suits. Humans and Synths lie and mislead. We hear the s-word four times, as well as “d–n,” “p-ss,” “a–,” “h—” and the British vulgarity “bloody.” Jesus’ name is abused twice, and God’s name is misused three times.

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paul-asay
Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

kristin-smith
Kristin Smith

Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).

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