Extant – Re-Entry – Review

CBS’ new summer series “Extant” starts with a spaceship drifting in the dark silence of space. Based on the promos, we expect to join astronaut Molly Woods (Halle Berry, “X-Men”) during her solo mission to the stars. But instead, it pans out to reveal her young son Ethan (Pierce Gagnon, “Looper”) playing with a toy replica.

It’s an image that seeks to capture what the show seems to want to be, a family drama wrapped in conspiracy theories and sci-fi conceits. The pilot isn’t completely successful in unpacking that premise, but there’s some interesting ideas at play.

The hook in the premiere that hits all three prongs – which was also spoiled in the promos – is the reveal that Molly is pregnant. It’s an impossible situation because not only was Molly alone on a space station for thirteen months, but she has long struggled with fertility problems. She pleads ignorance to her friend and physician Sam (Camryn Manheim, “The Practice”), but throughout the hour, we see that Molly isn’t being honest.

These flashback sequences – which show Molly’s strange encounter with what seems to be an extraterrestrial or supernatural entity – are strong and stylish. The subtle, over-the-shoulder reveal of Molly’s visitor, which really drops the viewer into her shoes. Her reaction of silently wrapping her hand around a hot lamp to test that she’s not dreaming. The low-key spookiness of her ethereal guest walking on the ground while Molly hovers in zero gravity and only repeating words she’s said. These scenes are standouts, which is good since this is the event the show spins around.

So how will this affect things on the family front? Well, how about the fact that the mysterious specter appears to her as Marcus (newcomer Sergio Harford), a man we learned earlier in the episode is a deceased former love of Molly’s. We don’t hear how Marcus (who was also an astronaut) died. Could the circumstances of his death explain why Molly saw him or was he willed up subconsciously, a la “Contact?” In any case, how will her otherwise supportive husband John (Goran Visnjic, “ER”) react to all of this, to Molly having a child that she couldn’t have with him, and with, in some way, a man he seems convinced she would still be with if he was alive?

And then there’s Ethan, who – in another understated reveal – turns out to be a robot built by John as part of a project to make machines more human. Both Molly and Ethan feel disconnected and blame the other, in conversations with John, for being different and for the distance between them. I’m curious to get the backstory here. How long has Ethan been a member of the family? How old was he when John created him? Was this why Molly accepted an assignment that took her away from home for so long? And how will their feelings change now that Molly is having this child? On the minus side, I did think the scene of Molly catching Ethan with a dead bird and him creepily commenting on her hair was tonally off, like something from a horror movie shoved in.

On the conspiracy theory end of things, Molly is keeping what happened to her on the space station and her pregnancy from her superiors at the International Space Exploration Agency. And that appears to have been the right call. Her boss, Director Alan Sparks (who I immediately didn’t trust because he’s played by Michael O’Neill, a total “Hey, it’s that guy!” who I remember best from his role as the hospital shooter on “Grey’s Anatomy”) is in cahoots with Hideki Yasumoto (Hiroyuki Sanada, “Revenge”), an influential businessman with some sort of affliction that he sees Molly as the answer to. So what’s their agenda really? And how does it connect to Harmon Kryger (Brad Beyer, “Jericho”), who reportedly committed suicide after a similar mission, but appears alive in the cliffhanger to give Molly a cliché warning about not trusting anyone?

So a lot of questions that might not get answered satisfactorily, but “Extant” does have assets in its strong ensemble cast and slick visuals. I did think Berry played Molly as too calm considering the storm of crap she’s subjected to, though her panicked freak out in the final flashback was better. TV pros Visnjic and Manheim stood out among the supporting players. And I liked how the show kept its futuristic trappings (bathroom mirrors with touch data and television screens, 3D PowerPoint presentations, fancy trash receptacles, etc.) subtle and on the right side of reality.

What did you think about the launch of “Extant?” And which aspect of the show interests you the most – conspiracy thrills, sci-fi spookiness, or how the family at its center will deal with it all?