Humans Season 1 Review

• Title: Humans
• Season: 1
• Episodes: 8
• Discs: 2 (Blu-Ray)
• Original Network: Channel 4 (UK)
• Cast: Colin Morgan, Katherine Parkinson, Gemma Chan, Tom Goodman-Hill, Emily Berrington, Ivanno Jeremiah, Ruth Bradley, Neil Maskell, Lucy Carless, Theo Stevenson
• Format: Widescreen, Color, Blu-Ray, NTSC

This review included some spoilers for Season 1 of Humans.

David Elster and his team develop “Synths”, synthetic man, humanoid androids. Advertisers proclaim the virtues of the world’s first “family-friendly android” as a time and labor-saving device for the busy family. But as Synths are placed in more and more jobs a backlash develops that the Synths are replacing real people. Meanwhile, after a particularly busy weekend looking after his three children while his wife is away on a business trip, Joe Hawkins gets fed-up and buys a Synth at a store in the mall. His youngest daughter names her “Anita”. The youngest daughter, Sophie, bonds immediately with her new synthetic nanny. When Laura Hawkins returns from her trip she’s upset that Joe bought a Synth without talking to her. In the first few episodes of season 1, Laura is deeply suspicious of Anita and even afraid of her. She also feels like she’s being replaced. Toby, the couple’s son, fakes a complete lack of interest and disregard for Anita but finds her attractive. And Mattie, the oldest daughter, points out that Anita is the family’s slave. She’s also a hacker and tries to access Anita’s systems to explore, play, and see what she can do.

Meanwhile, Leo Elster, the son of David Elster, leads a group of self-aware, conscious Synths. Consisting of five people, one of whom was Anita – early in the first episode they are split up. Mia is erased, given a new personality, and becomes Anita, the Hawkins’ family android. Max is Leo’s close companion and is positive, upbeat, and strangely almost religious. Fred is dependable and kind but is found by Hobbs, a computer scientist who at first worked with David Elster but was later fired. He’s now a police department and government consultant on Synths and Synth crime. He captures Fred and secretly places software in him turning him into a double agent. Niska is a gorgeous, leggy, Nordic-looking blonde – who ends up working in a Synth brothel. She really hates her job. It becomes apparent fairly quickly that Leo is a Cyborg. When David Elster’s son drowned after his wife drove their car into a river or lake, Leo saved what he could of Leo, his personality, and his memories and built the Leo Synth with this personality. Unlike most Synths who bleed blue (actually a type of mechanical fluid), Leo bleeds red, like a human, and needs food and water to survive as well as regular charges like normal Synths. Yes, Synths must be charged nightly – like a smartphone.

The worlds and stories of Leo and Max and the Hawkins family slowly come together and collide. Although this series starts rather slowly, in the end, I liked it and I do plan on ordering the remaining two seasons. It’s a thoughtful commentary on what it means to be human, no pun intended. I recommend it.