AMC's Humans takes place in a world very much like our own, except for lifelike robots called Synths that have taken over most of mankind's menial jobs. The show debuted on AMC with very little fanfare, suggesting that the channel is saving its promotional firepower for the debut of its Walking Dead prequel in August. But on the basis of the first episode, Humans has plenty to recommend it.
The first episode introduces three concurrent plotlines: A dysfunctional family with two working parents and several obnoxious kids buys a Synth to help run the household; instead of helping though, the Synth, named Anita, exacerbates existing family friction. Meanwhile an elderly physician (the great William Hurt) tries to hang on to his obsolete Synth, whom he has come to think of as a surrogate son. And finally, a young man named Leo runs around trying to rescue a small group of rogue Synths who have acquired true sentience and have self-awareness and emotions.
It's a sci-fi trope as old as Isaac Asimov's 1942 "Three Laws of Robotics," which have formed the foundation of almost all robot/android fiction since. In case you're not familiar with Asimov, here they are:
- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Humans raises some interesting questions about the idea of robot slaves replacing people, but never really wraps itself around the bigger issues. Everyone in this universe seems to have a job, although obviously the displacement of human labor by machines would be devastating to world economies. The teenage daughter of the family who brings home a Synth wonders why she should study medicine if a Synth will soon be able to do surgery better than a human doctor; just imagine how Synths would impact manufacturing, the service industry, government bureaucracy, or even the military. If everything from flipping your Big Mac to directing traffic on the corner can be done better by robots, what will people do for a living? We can't all be scientists, although Humans seems to suggest otherwise.
William Hurt's role as Dr. George Millican, a pensioner who's grown overly fond of his Synth, despite the fact that he's long overdue for an upgrade, and National Health has just purchased millions of the latest model. George's Synth has become the repository of a lifetime of memories with his late wife, memories that George himself is starting to lose because of dementia. If the Synth "dies," those memories die with him. And bringing that human element to the story makes all the difference.
Colin Morgan's role as the leader of some sort of Synth underground, trying to save a handful of sentient Synths from capture by the authorities, will need some fleshing out. The first episode doles out details in bits and pieces and it will take a while for the whole story to make sense. But we do learn in the first episode that a secret government agency (apparently we'll never run out of those) is on the trail of the sentient robots, whom some scientists fear could bring on a Terminator-like Armageddon.
There isn't a single idea in Humans that you can't trace back to Pinocchio (or Frankenstein.) But the idea of man making life in his own image, and then being destroyed by his creation, is such a powerful myth that there's certainly room for one more television series about it.
Humans airs on AMC on Sundays at 9 p.m.
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