Sometimes it’s not all about the action, but more about the development of the series. This is what episode three of the second series of Humans does. It builds up the split stories that are going on, but how are all these going to connect?
The episode opens with Dr Athena Morrow, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, who visits her daughter at a hospital. This makes it clear who Vee is; her affection for Vee, voiced by Chloe Wicks, is an emotional one, as we figured out in episode two.
In Westgate-on-Sea, Mia, played by Gemma Chan, has realised she has feelings for Ed, the café owner played by Sam Palladio. She talks it out with Max, played by Ivanno Jeremiah, who tells her she needs to tell Ed how she feels and to talk it out with him. Hester, played by Sonya Cassidy, listens in; knowledge is power.
That Hester is a sneaky cow… #Humans pic.twitter.com/aqaRIlm1w3
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) November 13, 2016
Meanwhile, Leo, played by Colin Morgan, discovers that the guy they were holding hostage has escaped. Max owns up to letting him loose, but Hester holds back from announcing that she had killed him. Leo decides to go on the run, thinking their home has been compromised, but Mia stays behind because of Ed.
This builds up future episodes as Leo, Max and Hester plan to rescue the captured Synths. With Max being the nice guy and Hester being confused as to what is right and what is wrong; Leo is going to be pulled in two different directions with every decision.
As for Mia; she talks to Ed on the beach. She opens her feelings in a robotic love scene that definitely has sweet vibes going on. They end up kissing behind the counter, but later on in the episode, they are seen by Ed’s friend Danny, played by Eric Kofi-Abrefa. What ramifications will this lead to?
Everyone remembers their first kiss… #Humans pic.twitter.com/hvdD3IFa3x
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) November 13, 2016
As for lawyer Laura Hawkins, played by Katherine Parkinson, her frustration runs through in this episode, as Niska, played by Emily Berrington, is put through a series of tests to prove that she has feelings. Images to which we would normally flinch at, Niska doesn’t bat an eye.
When you're trying to go to sleep and your scumbag brain starts running through terrible memories. #Humans pic.twitter.com/9e3aSvITni
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) November 13, 2016
Music doesn’t do much either, but the house music with the bass vibe does bring memories of Berlin, Germany and Astrid from the first episode. Astrid, played by Bella Dayne, was Niska’s girlfriend, the person who ignited Niska intention to want to be trialled as a human for killing a guy. Laura attempts to talk to Niska to get some sort of feeling from her, she quizzes Niska on her reasoning behind killing someone, leading up to her admitting that she was scared about being raped.
Later on, Laura notices that Niska is rubbing her wrist, which leads to Laura going through Niska’s personal items, finding a hairband and a phone number scrawled on a napkin for Astrid. Laura has found a witness who would testify that Niska has feelings.
The Hawkins household continues on. Joe, played by Tom Goodman-Hill, has got a new job, working at the same place but moving boxes. Sophie, played by Pixie Davies, continues her Synth-imitation, even when she stabs herself with a knife by accident; Joe asks if it hurts, clearly worried because of the blood, but Sophie replies with a robotic: “Yes”.
Toby, played by Theo Stevenson, plays on the idea of sexuality; he is clearly only into Synths, he liked Mia, when she was Anita in the first series; now he’s into Renie, played by Letitia Wright, a high-school student who is pretending to be a Synth, just like Sophie. The question is, does this attraction to Synth qualities only extend to Synths themselves, or does the sex actually matter too? And what word term will Humans come up with to describe this feeling of attraction?
Synthies – coming to a Tumblr near you. #Humans pic.twitter.com/osrNIcC3ce
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) November 13, 2016
As for Mattie, played by Lucy Carless, she’s really not getting very far with Odi, played by Will Tudor. Frustration leads Maddie into uploading the extra code into Odi; of course, it doesn’t work immediately, just like when Niska released the code back in episode one. Later on, though, Odi wakes up, still broken but he can feel too. He ends up watching Joe in the shower, luckily Joe doesn’t see and Maddie rescues Odi in time.
If there is anything quite adventurous, it’s DI Karen Voss, played by Ruth Bradley, who returns to work. Her co-workers are noticing that her and DI Pete Drummond, played by Neil Maskell, are in a relationship. She is looking quite robotic, now that we know that she’s a Synth. Although, things take a turn for the worst when she starts to throw up.
The last scene sees Dr Anthea Morrow in England, having already talked with Hobb, played by Danny Webb, who was very much the bad guy in series one; setting herself up in a science facility, where they are keeping malfunctioning Synths. She has Vee with her, and if we hadn’t already worked out that Vee is her daughter, they confirm it with Vee talking about how she is only thinking of a specific waterfall; one where the doctor and her daughter visited in the past.
Ohhhhhh – the Synth brain is her kid. S**t just got dark… #Humans
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) November 13, 2016
This episode is definitely a builder episode, one that will definitely lead to much bigger things. It leaves quite a lot of questions and potential cliff-hangers. If anything, this series is going to be bigger than the first series, but all the characters are split in different locations. This makes it difficult to progress each story and show each narrative, all at the same time. Yet, this has been pulled off flawlessly and we just know the fourth episode will definitely have us on the edge of our seats.
What did you make of the third episode of series two of Humans? Tweet us all your thoughts @CelebMix.