Extant 1×3 Review: Wish You Were Here

It was obvious from this week’s episode of Extant that Molly couldn’t trust anyone, and whatever’s happening to her is clearly affecting her mind. However, the best part of the episode was John Woods protecting his family.

Last week’s episode revealed that ISEA knew about Molly’s brain scans matching Harmon’s when he came back from space. It was kind of funny to see that ISEA wasn’t really being subtle with their approach. They really didn’t care if Molly was suspicious of them. I’m on the bench about Alan Sparks. In some of the scenes he comes across as evil while in others he shows real concern regarding Molly’s well-being. Maybe he will end up helping Molly in the future episodes?

As far as what Molly (Halle Berry) experienced in space and how she got pregnant is concerned, nothing was revealed in the episode. Alan Sparks lied about her pregnancy occurring because of a secret nanotech experiment the medial team did before sending her to space. I don’t know why Molly believed such an explanation, but I think that the thought of her and John finally having a child clouded her judgment. Molly’s infertility was the focus of the episode and the reason why she decided to go to space for 13-months.  The flashback sequence felt like an answer to viewers who might be questioning why anyone would accept going on a solo-mission in space for a year.

Marcus dying, Molly losing her unborn child in the same accident, and not being able to get pregnant even with John seemed to have piled up on the female protagonist. She needed to get away from everything and that’s why she decided to go on the mission. Molly is a character who loves space and it was shown in the scene where she forgot about all her worries during a morning run when she saw a shuttle shooting towards the sky.

The show is clearly going to tackle aliens in the story. The interesting thing for me is how these aliens are making contact through Molly. Whatever they have done to her, it’s having an effect on her emotional state. How do they know about her relationship with Marcus and her desire to have a child? Not only that, Marcus’s brother also showed up and was later revealed to be another of her hallucinations. Why are the aliens, or whatever they are, tapping into her emotions? What are they trying to do?

The young actor Pierce Gagon continues to shine as the Humanic Ethan. The character is very well-written and Pierce is fully capable of amping up the scare factor when needed at such a young age. I don’t know if I’m supposed to root for Ethan or feel bad that I don’t trust him. However, other characters are completely comfortable with Ethan, especially Julie (Grace Gummer). She really wants to be with Ethan. I understand where her character is coming from. She helped build Ethan and feels left out now that John and Molly are taking care of him.

John Woods (Goran Visnjic) stood out for me this week. Not only do I like the gender roles being switched in the married couple but also that he’s perfect husband material as far as I’m concerned. He looks out for Molly and Ethan. Family is important to him. Even when Molly told him that she was pregnant he didn’t make it about him and comforted her. I hope he keeps being supportive of Molly, and that my concern he might turn ‘evil’ is just my paranoia due to watching too many mystery shows.

Molly’s friend Sam (Camryn Manheim) also helped her again this week. I’m really digging her character. These are the kind of female characters I like to see on my TV screen. She took action and put up a fight against ISEA. I worried about the character and hoped she wouldn’t get caught throughout the scene where she tried to reach her office. She’s credited as a main character and I look forward to seeing more of her.

All in all, this week’s episode of Extant was quite enjoyable. There are still a lot of unanswered questions in the story but at least the writers know how to deliver some interesting characters and enough intrigue to keep the viewers hooked.

Did you watch this week’s episode of Extant? What do all the crazy circles mean? What are the aliens trying to do? Let us know in the comments section below!

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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