Extant 2×5 Review: The New Frontier

A lot of things happened in this week’s episode of Extant and I enjoyed seeing the writers focus more on the interactions between the characters. A lot of times a show ends up focusing too much on the big picture and doesn’t spare time to flesh out characters. This is where Extant is different and I’m grateful for that.

I liked how we got to know more about Tobias Shepard (David Morrissey) and his personal life. The writers could’ve easily written him as the Head of the Global Security Commission, and a potential love interest for Molly Woods (Halle Berry), without a backstory but they didn’t. Instead they showed the pressure Tobias felt with every major decision he made in his job. He also took time to meet his sister and attend his niece’s birthday party. I also liked how he understood he couldn’t give Shayna (Necar Zadegan) the family she deserved. Moments such as these make characters relatable and give them layers.

Even though Extant has aliens and human-like robots, it has always been about what it meant to be a family and human. Extant is about everyone trying to find the true purpose in their lives and connecting with others. We got to see a lot of that this week. The custody battle over Ethan (Pierce Gagnon) was intense. It reminded me of Halle Berry’s movie Losing Isaiah.

I think the writers know Halle Berry shines in emotional scenes and that’s why they keep giving her awesome material to work with each week. Grace Gummer returned as Julie Gelineau and it was obvious she wasn’t going to let go of Ethan easily. I think she’ll probably end up doing something wrong to cause a rift between Molly and Ethan.

I really wanted to see those two fight it out when Molly barged into Julie’s house to find Ethan. Please, Extant writers give me a fight scene. Even though I love Grace Gummer’s acting I still want to see Julie be taught her place by Molly.

Molly needs to hit Julie with a shovel! The fans deserve it!

The story also revisited John’s murder with JD Richter (Jeffery Dean Morgan) taking up the case. I couldn’t help but notice a comedic scene where he mentioned bribing an insurance guy with a steak dinner to get the black box from John’s car. So, I guess queer people do exist in the future and JD isn’t against bribing them with some dinner to get information.

I don’t know if I need to be afraid of Lucy (Kiersey Clemons) or not. I get that Humanich’s want political rights and don’t want to be reprogrammed whenever their owners will it but I also understand that these robots can easily start a revolution. Lucy was created as a killing machine, something she demonstrated by taking out an alien hybrid with ease, and I don’t want such a robot turning against humanity. Ethan told Molly about Lucy near the end of the episode and I think she won’t be happy about John’s work being used to create robot soldiers.

As if Molly didn’t have enough to deal with already she also got some new powers this week. Will these new powers help her face the alien hybrids or will she be ostracized by humanity and be left without a sense of belonging?

The ratings for this week’s episode ‘The New Frontier’ were steady this week, which is good news. Another good news is that fans of the show will be treated to double episodes next week!

What did you think of Extant this week? How do you feel about Ethan finally meeting Molly? Are you scared of Lucy? 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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