In the previous episode of Extant, Molly was infected with the hybrid-killing virus and experienced hallucinatory dreams as a result. Back in the real world, Molly’s health quickly declined, even as her loved ones begged her to keep fighting. After finally getting his memories of Molly and John back, Ethan was horrified when Molly flat-lined and no one came to help. Meanwhile, the surviving hybrids infiltrated the GSC and the Humanich army was called in to handle the situation.
In this episode, “Don’t Shoot the Messenger,” Molly recovers from the hybrid-killing virus but is haunted by something she saw in her dreams. Meanwhile, Toby begins to question his loyalty to the GSC, the Humanichs start taking orders from a mysterious source, and John sends a message from beyond the grave.
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Molly Wakes Up
As the episode begins, Molly is still flat-lining. In her dream state, she sees JD approach her, holding his stomach. He is bleeding heavily and he asks her what she did to him. Molly looks down and sees a gun in her hand. Then she wakes up, alive and mostly well. I say mostly because her skin starts to peal and she ends up shedding it. It is different from the way hybrids shed their old skins, as Molly does not get a new body, nor does she age the way the hybrids do.
Now back among the living, Molly reunites with Ethan and JD. But before they can properly celebrate Molly’s survival, they have to escape the GSC and the Humanich army heading their way. Yet Molly pauses their escape to go after Terra. While the other hybrids have left the building, Terra has locked herself into the virus containment unit and is apparently holding a hostage. Molly gets Terra to let her in and she discovers that the place has been rigged with explosives. She also learns that Toby is the hostage trapped with Terra.
Molly plays on her previous connection with Terra to try and get through to her. Terra responds to Molly, but she is afraid that she will be killed. Even if the Humanichs do not find her, she thinks the humans will kill her. Once Toby is released from Terra’s mind control, she
is able to read his thoughts and see that he does not want to hurt her. She eventually gives up the trigger and Molly deactivates the bombs.
Toby helps Molly and her loved ones escape through some evacuation tunnels and gives Molly a phone so he can get in touch with her later on. He stays behind to try and throw the Humanichs off their trail. Apparently Toby has decided to be a decent human being this week.
Lucy Returns
When the Humanichs arrive at the GSC, Julie sees Lucy among the Humanich army. Somehow, she was put back online. Julie does the smart thing and stays hidden in fear that Lucy will seek revenge for Julie decommissioning her.
While looking for the hybrids, Lucy and the other Humanichs run into one of the scientists who worked on the hybrid-killing virus. He tries to cover for Molly and the others by blocking the Humanichs from gaining access to the rest of the building. Since he is preventing them from carrying out their orders, Lucy kills him to get him out of the way. This, despite the fact that Humanichs are not supposed to be capable of hurting humans.
Lucy and the Humanichs make it to the virus containment unit and Toby pretends that he is still a hostage. He says that there was only one suicide bomber who lost her nerve and ran off. Lucy frees him but does not follow the order he gives her. She says she is taking orders from a “higher power” now. Then someone sets off a bomb at the GSC.
Later that day, Julie goes to see Toby and tells him that she decommissioned Lucy after Lucy attacked her. They both wonder who could have brought Lucy back online and Toby remembers the conversation he had with JD about Nicholas Calderon.
Meanwhile, Lucy meets with Stanton and explains her reasoning for taking a human life. Stanton seems to think Lucy was justified in the kill and tells her she believes there is a mole inside the GSC. Lucy tracks down security footage of the containment unit and shows Stanton a recording of Toby helping Molly and company escape. Stanton has Toby taken into custody, planning to charge him with treason.
After failing to convince Stanton that Lucy and the other Humanichs cannot be trusted, Toby is able to escape from custody. While he is driving, he realizes he is being targeted by some kind of drone. He tries to call Molly, but is seemingly killed before he can fill her in on what he has learned. Is Toby really dead this time? It certainly seems like it.
Who is Calderon?
Once they escape from the GSC, JD and Molly take Ethan and Terra to a safe place to hide out. JD wants to stay in hiding until one of his contacts comes through with new papers for them and a way for them to disappear. But Molly argues that she needs to meet with Toby because they finally have an ally in this fight and they will not be safe until they finish what they started. JD reluctantly lets her leave, but not before kissing her goodbye. Molly’s brush with death made them both realize that they do not want to waste time dancing around their feelings for each other.
Molly meets with Toby and he tells her about his suspicion that Nicholas Calderon might be the “higher power” now controlling the Humanichs. Apparently, Calderon and John created the Humanich prototype together but they had a huge falling out after Calderon got a bit too extreme in his beliefs. Molly remembers the message John left her prior to his death and now realizes that he was telling her that he was going to meet with Calderon. Molly and Toby wonder if John realized Calderon was trying to take over the Humanichs program and Calderon killed him to shut him up. Toby tells Molly to stay in hiding while he investigates Calderon.
Ethan Delivers a Message
As Molly is meeting with Toby, Ethan starts to glitch and poor JD does not know what to do. Molly returns and sends Ethan into shut-down mode until they can get him to Julie. Julie begins to work on him, but it turns out that Ethan’s glitching has to do with a message John embedded in his programming.
Ethan, speaking in John’s voice, tells the others that if they are hearing this message, it means that something went wrong with the Humanichs and a Humanich has killed someone. John warns that it will only get worse from here and that there is only one way to stop it. He says that the answer lies with Calderon. He also draws an image of something Molly saw in her dream, making Molly wonder if her vision of JD’s death is connected to them going after Calderon.
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Other Happenings
— Throughout the episode, Molly keeps having flashes of the vision she had of JD’s death at her hands. Eventually, she tells him what she saw and JD laughs it off as just a dream. But Molly is not convinced. Is Molly’s dream really some kind of premonition? Will Molly be able to save JD from this terrible fate?
— Once Toby pegs Calderon as the potential “higher power” Lucy spoke of, he realizes that Calderon has a connection to the A.I. he has been using to gather information on the hybrids. This A.I. could have told Calderon everything he needed to know about the hybrids. Toby believes that Calderon somehow hyped up the impending threat from the hybrids so the government would create more Humanichs for his army. Toby thinks Calderon is planning a coup and will use the Humanichs to make it happen.
— During their time together, JD and Ethan get a chance to bond. JD teaches Ethan how to play poker and Ethan asks JD what his intentions are with his mom. JD tells Ethan that his intention is to keep Molly, Ethan and Terra safe and Ethan decides he is good with that. Their brief scenes together are great and I hope we get more interaction between these two in future episodes.
— When JD and Molly take Ethan to Julie’s, Terra stays behind on her own. By the end of the episode, Ares has managed to track her down. What do the other hybrids want with Terra? Will JD and Molly return before Ares takes Terra away or will they have to rescue her?
What did you think of this episode of Extant? How creepy was it to hear John’s voice coming from Ethan? Who is this Calderon guy? I do not remember if he was even mentioned in the first season and now he appears to be the person behind everything. Is Calderon really controlling the Humanichs or is someone just using his name? Did you buy Toby’s sudden turn-around or do you think his change of heart fell flat? Will Lucy go after Ethan? Will Ethan fall victim to whoever is controlling the other Humanichs? And will Molly and JD get some real alone-time together before the end? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Extant airs Wednesdays at 9pm on CBS.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
