What We Love About Extant

We know it's early, but so far we're happy.

Posted by Leah Singerman

We've been following Extant since its premiere a few weeks ago, and we're definitely into it. There are for sure a couple of issues, but last night's episode was pretty interesting so right now we're just going to focus on what we like about the show. But before we get into all of that, here's a quick recap from last night's episode, titled "Wish You Were Here."

Molly's boss, Alan, lies to her and tells her the medical department was doing an experiment on her to see if they could reverse her infertility. She seems to believe him, and she ends up telling John the truth at the birthday party he throws for her. Sam comes to the party briefly, draws some of Molly's blood, and leaves to examine it at her office. Molly is surprised when Tim, Marcus's brother, shows up. They have a heart to heart and Tim mentions that he sees Marcus sometimes when he looks at other people. He thinks it's Marcus sending a message that even though he's gone, he's still here. This would be sweet if not for the creepy music and the whole space baby sitch. Later, Molly discovers that Tim was a hallucination and decides to give in to Alan and go into quarantine to get some answers. When guards won't let Sam into her office, she realizes there's a problem and texts Molly, who has just gotten into the car with Alan. Molly convinces Alan to pull over and she runs for it. Luckily, John is just behind them. (How did he know?) She escapes with him, and that's the end. There's also a very minimal plot line about Ethan starting school, and the adults' concerns about what being around other kids will do to him. Julie clearly has some issues with the way things are going, and it looks like she feels some ownership over Ethan, and that she's a little miffed that he belongs to John and Molly now. After all, she did help create him.

So, things that are great about this show:

The Talent: Steven Spielberg is producing, and Halle Berry is at the front and center, giving this show a ton of power and attention from the get-go. The rest of the cast is fantastic too. Same with the special effects- we really enjoy all of the gadgets and cool technology, like how they can get data to show up on the mirrors in front of them, or how their phones are almost see-through.

The Mystery: It's a story that doesn't seem to have been told before, and you can make all kinds of guesses about it. But it's not so much anticipation that it's just painful. There's also a good balance between the explained and the unexplained. For example, it was important for us to know that Alan wanted Molly to come in of her own volition, so we can start to guess that maybe he somehow sent Tim. On the other hand, when Molly tries to find Harmon and only sees a circular design that later shows up on her arm when Sam draws blood, there's no explanation, which is okay because it was just a little detail.

The Relationship: John could easily be jealous of the whole Marcus situation, and Molly could easily hide it from him. But instead she's honest, and he understands and respects their relationship. That takes a lot of levelheadedness and compassion. Also, you don't often see genuine love between a married couple on TV- either it gets ignored, or they get broken up all the time. So this is nice and refreshing, at least so far.

The Real-Life Ties: So far the Ethan subplot doesn't have all that much to do with the main mystery of the series, but it does give us a lot to think about in terms of our own lives. We can all relate to the fear of change and the fear of new things, and also to the questions about technology and when it becomes too much. We like Ethan's story because it fits in with the main story but (excuse the corniness) brings it down to Earth.

We hope the show can take advantage of these strengths and pack a little more action in as it goes on, but for now we're pleased. What do you guys think of Extant? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @DweebCast. We'll see ya next time!

(images via CBS)

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC, its affiliates, or its employees.

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