Almost Human - 1.11 "Disrupt" - Review & Speculation

Our eleventh episode and now prepitude episode for the season begins with Rudy running diagnostics which result in seeing a memory of a little boy playing with a space shuttle. DRN awakes in the middle of it, extremely alarmed by Rudy's invasion of space, as Rudy did this without permission while DRN was unconscious. John interrupts the argument and tries to give DRN an analogy of waking up with a morning shave that just really doesn't cut it! He then proceeds to tell Rudy while DRN is getting ready to go that Detective Paul is on leave and they're taking his shift due to a rather comical and disturbing  piece of information that he had a certain body part pierced and that he didn't go to a professional, as John suggested, and now has to have some kind of surgery!! After they leave Rudy continues to look at the memory now coming up as "fatal error" and "foreign image" on screen...

The next scene introduces us to Michael Bennet, who scans himself into his home with his hand using a security technology from a company called Synturian. He's talking to another guy on the phone explaining that he has nothing left to say about what their security system did to kid that was trespassing. As he walks through his house we're introduced to a holographic 'person' named S.A.M. Michael asks why the chimes are on and S.A.M. responds by saying his wife Linda has been meditating. 

Michael disrupts Linda's meditation and when he asks her how her day ways, she aggressively explains that they have had twice as many threats. She shows him some of the mail on a virtual wall and continues to expresses concerns and fears about how she fears this will never end. Michael reassures her that it will and suggests that maybe S.A.M. prepare her a mood stabilizer, but she declines and says she's going to go for a swim. Michael asks S.A.M. to put on the 'ticker' (stats from the day) and S.A.M. does before he disappeared to go and help Linda in the indoor pool room. Suddenly news clips in the form of files play on Michael's screen. When S.A.M. reappears it becomes more an more evident he is having major glitches and the house goes into a lockdown mode. Michael furious at S.A.M. for playing those files notices that Linda is trapped underneath glass-like pool covers and can't breath or get out of the pool! Michael tries to override the system, but he becomes trapped by other sliding doors that are also locked by the same system. He busts the sliding door glass and then begins to use the same object to pound the top of the pool cove, but he is shot in the back by a camera that detects him as a threat. Linda then drowns.

Captain Maldonado tells the press that they aren't ruling out any suspicious activity, even though it appears to be the smart home security system that killed them both and a reporter comments wondering if this is retaliation for the death of a boy last year.  Maldonado replies by saying she can not comment at this time. 

John and DRN begin to investigate at the scene after a fun little bit of dialogue with another officer in explaining what happened to Richard Paul (but with a story variation) and that everyone should chip in to buy him a donut pillow. Getting on with the evidence we learn that this house is actually the same house that killed the boy and that the time of deaths in both cases is nearly identical. DRN comments that the probability of that is exceptionally unlikely and Maldonado chimes in with how she doesn't believe in coincidences and that is why John and DRN are there. John learns that he will be questioning the boy's mother, even though it seems unlikely she could of had the ability to hack the security system, but it's possible that she could of had it hired done and that really anyone could have in retaliation.

DRN decided the best place to start is with S.A.M. we immediately learn that S.A.M. knew he was overridden and put on manual mode, but that the files of who did it had been erased along with security footage too! They then learn that the Bennetts had 56,000 and some threats!

Waiting at the Synturian technology building DRN accuses John that he has been lying about the specifics of Paul's leave, but John cuts him off and says this isn't about Paul, but about Rudy invading DRN's personal space and explains to DRN that now he knows what it feels like to be more human and to have human connections in which everything is messy and why John chooses to live alone.

Another S.A.M. appears and takes them to Mrs. Stenson. John notices unlike the other S.A.M that this same actually isn't a hologram, but an andriod! S.A.M. explains he's the next evolution for their security system. DRN starts to see those memories that Rudy found earlier in the episode, but we see the boy is connected to tubes or intravenous and is bed ridden. John asks if he's ok and he says that he is and they walk through some doors.

They interview Mrs. Stenson and the company lawyer Peter Newsom, as they explain that this is worst time possible for something like this happen, as they are about to launch their android version of S.A.M. DRN asks about their anti-hacking security measures and suggests that someone from the company might be a suspect. The man is highly offended, because they do thorough background checks. Kennex backs up DRN saying that the reason this is so important, is because killing a child for trespassing is an overstated unnecessary punishment. Stanton explains that she was assaulted at age 15 when 3 men broke into her parent's house and that is why she believes in the work she is doing. John then asks if there was any one particular person or group that stood out making threats when the trial for the boy's death was going on. Stanton says, yes a group called Disrupt.

Detective Valerie Stahl then question Aaron's mother. She tells Valerie that she was at her son's vigil last night and that she isn't a murderer or a hacker and explains the only reason she went to trial was point out how dangerous Smart Houses are and that they should be illegal and that Synturion's lawyer, Peter Newsom, made her son out to be a criminal. Valerie asks if she ever found out why her son was there that night and she says no, but that what ever it was he didn't deserve to die for it. Valerie then asks if any of Aaron's friends could be capable of doing it, and she say no that Aaron didn't have a lot of friends. He spent most his time on the computer. Val asks if they could see the computer.

In the meantime John and DRN are out driving when they see a digital terrorist video from Disrupt. At the precinct Captain Maldonado says they do have a person known in relation of Disrupt who goes by the handle Crispian X. John and Kennex discuss this with Rudy, who admits to having a hacker past as he explains Crispian X isn't a member of Disrupt, but a well known freelance hacker! He tells them that it was often a ritual to have parties after a hacker hacked something big and thinks he can use his old handle to find a party Crispian may be going to.

They get a location, and Rudy always expecting everything to be costume party, has Valerie and John dress the part, but when they get to the building they see that there isn't a live party there at all, but a virtual one, as they are all using virtual reality technology. After asking around and some outfit admiring, John and Val locate Chrispain X, who's really a young guy named Nico. While with Nico at the station another death occurs via smart house. This time it was Synturion lawyer Peter Newsom, who suffocated due to fire suppression mechanism malfunction.

Nico is cut a deal after explaining that Disrupt didn't do this and he hacks into Aaron's old computer where we learn he had a love interest named Emily Wilson and that she is planning on killing Stenson. John and DRN hit the road and call Stenson to warn her. The android S.A.M.s begin to try and attack her, but John and Kennex are able to get into the building to try and help. Nico allows John to have holographic images of himself move in sync to confuse the S.A.M.S., while Nico works on deactivating the last one. DRN locates Emily and successfully talks her out of suicide right before they to almost die of suffocation.

Back at the precinct Valerie shows Aaron's mom that he was not alone as they uncovered files with photos from all the people who's lives were touched by Aaron.

At the lab Rudy tells John that he lied to DRN about the memory, explaining it's a much bigger deal than Rudy had lead on, as he explains that memory implanted is a real "organic" human memory.

Soldiers of the One

Some fans may have thought about Dr. Who's higher ranking Romans with the name Synturian, but for me it seems closer reference to Battlestar Galactica and it's prequel series Caprica in which their mythology stems to Cylons and Centurions. In Caprica we see the earlier models of these Cylons both in terms of Centurion robots, but also in an earlier model of a house hold security robot called "Serge".Additionally the virtual reality clubs are reminiscent to Caprica's as well along with the futuristic terrorism and war aspects.

Note: Actress Suleka Mathew appeared in the first season of Battlestar Galactica [re-imaged] as a reporter and is not the only Battlestar actor to appear in Almost Human.

Disrupting Our Perception

One of things I really liked about "Disrupt" is how well it complemented the previous episode "Perception". Both episodes give a heartbreaking story of the week of young adults dying, both featured memory (and/or data left behind), including each episode taking a more internal look at the memories of main characters John Kennex and Dorian, while also juxtaposing the "who done it" from parents of the dead youth to their significant others. Both episodes also had holograms and lawyers and both episodes gave us more time with John Kennex working with Valerie Stahl.

But the episode also might tie back to other episodes too. By looking at the possibility of DRNs memories being either false or just not his own, we open up the series for more complex story telling with a realization that we might not know who's memories we can trust, including John Kennex (although I suspect that there's a juxtaposition here with John's memories being his own true memories and DRN's not).

I was reminded of the episode where DRN met the another DRN (model number 494) and how DRN went out of his way to help retrieve information for 494 to remember his former cases (give him memories), but then seemed to try and limit the memories by the end of the episode, due to DRN's change of perception on the matter, and only the image/knowledge of the boy Philip remained (and it's unclear if DRN intentionally left him with that single memory, or if this was just a memory DRN wasn't able to erase).

I'm wondering if this image or memory of a child could also relate to the same boy Philip, especially when one might consider that the Michael and Linda Bennett are highly reminiscent to Fringe's Philip and Diane Broyles. (and in turn the Broyles are reminiscent to Marcus and his first wife Diane Dixon of Alias)

But if that were true, who is Philip? Or is Philip a code word or operation? Can this memory corrupt DRN? Trying to figure out who implanted the memory is hard to say, but again using a company who's name has letters similar to Insyndicate's, and seeing synchronized holographic Kennexs, with people racing to hack each other and control machines and interworking mechanics, and Maldonado's comments on not believing in coincidence all I think point to Insyndicate. Additionally for Philip Broyles, especially the alternate Broyles, we were able to see from episodes like "The Abducted" just how important his children were to him. We might want to consider that who ever sent this memory to DRN is trying to make a connection and that whomever this boy is, is probably the reason why whatever is going to happen, happens. The space shuttle is also an interesting facet, whether it be simply a metaphor for a child's hopes and fantasies, especially if the child is or was "sick", or if it more directly ties into whom the child might have grown up to become. But there are quite a few episodes were young people and/or children are featured or make an appearance and they seem important to the mystery behind this memory. Another thought is what if it would be a memory of young John Kennex?

Some might immediately think of Nigel, DRN's creator, since creating a "synthetic soul" might go hand in hand with creating memory, but Rudy did say that he lied to DRN about DRN picking out objects from one context and just creating a new one, but tells us that memories are not synthetic, but organic, -genuine human memories!!! Nigel to me strikes me of somebody who isn't really leading Insyndicate's agenda, but someone who seemed semi-coherst into helping them, because they have a common enemy. Ana is then really the only other person we know for sure that isn't behind bars that relates to Insydicate, especially since we know she stems back to the time period in which DRN and John were out of service.

But this also brings me to another thing to look at in which I think from Nico to Rudy to Nigel I think we see a spectrum of genius hackers/creators in society. Rudy's reveal that he used to be hacker and his concern for DRN's welfare I think shows us a guilty conscious, and although I don't think Rudy is on the wrong side, I think there something he is hiding from his past and/or important information he's withholding. It's a curious thing to consider that he is one who bought him off the black market and that he did wake DRN up randomly those 4 yrs he had been decommissioned. I would suspect that one link we might see get exposed would be from whom ever Rudy bought DRN from is probably the big key that will

 lead us to either Ana or some member of Insyndicate.

Note: Nigel and Rudy are kind of similar -and not often heard of traditional or prestigious names. But Ni-co and Ni-gel also have a bit of a name pattern or similarity

Really the mythology has been expanding nicely with various androids, chromes, holograms, face-changing technology, technology that allows you to see things differently (drugs, virtual), and time-controlling tech. These last few episodes in particular make everything we have seen feel much more cohesive and has been combining the more basic mythology from earlier episode to make more complex and visually tantalizing episodes!

Bad Robot Factor:
Each week after my review I will bring this section relating to many things Bad Robot in relationship to the episode, as I feel certain Bad Robot often makes a point to reference themselves with similar characters, subject matter, riffs, easter eggs, aesthetics, contrasting situations, & occasionally shared pop cultural references. So this section is to explore the possibility of those things, which may provide some and insight speculation and at the very least food for thought and/or trivia. I also think it's just fun to be able to reminisce!

Undercover

Nobody in history I think wore more fun- crazy cyber-punk outfits than Alias' Sydney Bristow! In this episode we were treated to an unnecessary (for them) and short glimpse back to the spy drama when John and Valerie dress to go to a hacker party! (Valerie herself was reminiscent of a cross between Kick Ass' "Hit-Girl" and Fringe's Nina Sharp).

Interestingly Alias' own birth may owe itself to Felicity with both Megan Rotundi's closet and to a comment J.J. Abrams had made suggesting he thought about Felicity paying for collage by being a an undercover spy between summers! Although not quite as colorful a costume party, but more classy and upscale, Undercovers, Mission Impossible III and Ghost Protocol have scenes were characters need to dress the part.

Trivia: Last spring going back to Alias' brand of costumes and looking at the personal lives of young people, did Bad Robot reteam with Alias and Brother & Sisters producer/writer/actor Ken Olin where they were to produce a Pilot for the CW called Electropolis -about young L.A. cops who spend their nights undercover. It was not picked up. Ken Olin currently produces for Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Philip Iscove, and Len Wiseman's  Sleepy Hollow.

Freelance and Hackers

This episode featured a freelance computer hacker name Nico. There have been a a lot of computer expert-like characters through out many of Bad Robot's series, but given how this episode goes with last week's where names Julian and Marshall were dropped, it seems it's pointing in Alias' direction and I couldn't help but remember the episode where Marshall was taken captive and the episode were APO was locked down and Marshall was the only one who could find and save Sydney when she was buried alive! ("Tuesday")

I Remember Aaron

Aaron is a recurring name in Bad Robot works. None so iconic as Aaron Littleton, Claire's island-born son on LOST. Although Aaron was more of a plot device on LOST, then a character that matured to have his own role, Revolution's Aaron Pittman might be an attempt to make up for that, but also there is one of my favorite episodes of Fringe where a small boy named Aaron is causing bad things to happen to other children because he became kinetic with a fungus that reacts to his emotions. He viewed as a boy who tended to feel alone in the world and tends to be a character who is highly reflective to Walter Bishop. ("Alone in the World").

Other names to consider:
Peter Newsom - Fringe fans no doubt thought of Peter Bishop, despite that this character has nothing in common with Peter, but I do wonder if the name was a pun? Peter (k)New Som(e) -thing?

Chrispian X and Kay Stenson remind me both again of Fringe's William Bell's "Mr. X" and Alcatraz's "Mr. K". Chrispian is also the name of a 3rd century St. who was martyred with his twin brother. During the middle Ages St. Crispian was a patron St. of shoe makers. (So maybe there's a Dr. Who reference after all)

Emily is also the name of Arvin Sloane's wife on Alias, the first name of Lost actress Emilie de Raven, and Fringe guest star Emily Meade, and a few minor characters from Fringe Emily Kramer ("The Cure"), Emily Clayton ("The Abducted"), and Emily Mallum ("Forced Perspective")

So what did you think of "Disrupt"? Do you think the memory of the boy is someone we know or someone we are going to know? Do you think Insyndicate is behind the memory implant? And would you like to have a "smart home" or S.A.M. in your home? Could you feel for Emily's motives? Would you like to see more undercover adventures? Let us know in the comments below!

About the Author - Darthlocke4

Laura Becker (Darthlocke 4) is a long time commentator, TV addict, and aspiring writer participating with other fans on SpoilerTV. She writes reviews and analytic type articles. Some of her other interests include philosophy, cultural anthropology, reading, drawing, and working with animals, as she grew up and continues to work on her family's horse farm.