Extant 2×10 Review: Don’t Shoot The Messenger
I have no idea what the writers of Extant have in store for the second season finale. The stakes keep getting higher every week. The current pace of Extant can be described as plot twists galore, and it’s awesome!
Molly Woods (Halle Berry) died and came back to life, which was expected. You can’t kill off the main lead of the show, especially when it’s played by Halle Berry. I liked how the whole scene about her coming back to the land of living was more or less a metaphor about her shedding her previous life and embracing her hybrid evolution. We didn’t see much of the changes because of the ton of stuff that was already happening, but I hope to learn more about the new Molly in the coming weeks. Does she have more powers than a normal hybrid? I have my fingers crossed that she shows some telekinetic abilities in the near future.
The dream she had about JD Richter (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) being injured and holding a weird device in her hands makes me think she might have some untapped precognitive abilities. There’s definitely a destiny that Molly needs to fulfill, and I’m looking forward to her journey. Heroes need a direction to go in instead of waiting for things to come find them. They need to be proactive about saving the world, and I think Molly will do her best to track down the person responsible for all the bad stuff that’s been happening.
In the beginning I thought Nicholas Calderon was going to be the bad guy, but by the end of “Don’t Shoot The Messenger” I’m not sure anymore. Extant has a way of making audiences feel confused about the supposed antagonists.
Tobias Shepard (David Morrissey) started out as suspicious at the start of the second season. He ordered a drone strike in an area Molly was in and released a virus knowing it would kill her, too. However, this week he seemed to come to his senses and helped Molly escape with JD, Ethan (Pierce Gagnon) and Terra.
The same goes for Julie (Grace Gummer). The writers set her up as a character for the audience to hate, but as the plot progressed she apologized to Molly and decommissioned the Humanich program. It’s not enough for me to forgive her, but at least it is a start.
Now the writers are doing the same with Nicholas Calderon. Is he the bad guy or not? Why did John leave a message urging Molly to find him and retrieve an item that looked like the strange thing she was holding in her vision?
The scenes showing the characters bonding were the highlight of the episode. I liked Molly and JD’s sweet scene where he suggested they should vanish and start a new life. They even shared a kiss that officially made me fall in love with Molly and JD as a couple. What is their ship’s name anyway? Jolly?
I also liked the scene where JD taught Ethan how to play poker. I enjoy watching scenes where characters bond and appreciate writers putting them in episodes. It allows the characters to come across as more human and relatable to the audience.
Lucy came back this week as the leader of the Humanichs and she was scary. She killed a human and I was surprised that Madam Secretary wasn’t worried about her decision. Is she not scared the machines will rise against humans? Is she not familiar with the Terminator franchise?
This week’s episode of Extant clearly setup things for Molly’s next mission. Every hero needs a good team for support and I want Molly to team up with JD, Julie and Ethan to face all the threats. Also I hope that Julie ends up being the one who shuts down Lucy for good!
Extant rose in ratings this week. So, hurrah!
What did you think of Extant this week? Do you think Nicholas Calderon is a good guy? Is Tobias really dead? What will happen to Terra? Let us know!
Author: Farid-ul-Haq
Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.
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I personally think there is too much going on and many of the plot elements seemed rushed. For instance, from Molly getting sick with the virus, to her dying, to her coming back, to her now being thrusted right back into a new, major plot twist – it just all seemed too quick as it happened over just two to three episodes. Then there’s the part where the hybrids take over the command center. I thought it would be another hybrid / Humanics showdown but when Molly gets to the lab, the only hybrid still there is the girl. And she has a bomb that Molly was able to stop pretty easily… Big deal! I was looking forward to a Humanics and hybrid fight. Where did the hybrids go so fast? How did they get out? Why was this part left about by writing staff? Also, I too noticed the inconsistency between characters we thought were the antagonists at the start of the season – Tobias is the worst offender. Sometimes I wondered whether or not the writers wrote him so that he intentionally plays both sides or were the writers just simply doing a bad job writing his character period? I’m also not sure I like the new Calderon twist. I think it would have been much better just allowing Lucy to be the antagonist herself – she doesn’t need anyone behind her recent bad behavior. It makes the plot so much more interesting. Plus, bringing a new major character in that’s going to take the show in a new direction is one thing, but why do this by having two of the main characters “just” talk about Calderon and the new plot twist? It just seemed like they didn’t know where to take the show or how to connect any new plot once they did come up with something. So they write it in and have the characters talk about it – PRESTO! We have instant new plot!
I do agree with you. There is definitely a lot happening in the show, especially in the last few episodes. And even though I think Nicholas Calderon just kind of ‘showed up’ without any mention of him in the past I’m looking forward to knowing more about him and if he is a bad or good guy or even both.