In the previous episode of Extant, Molly and JD made it out of the GSC and went into hiding with Terra and Ethan. But before long, Ethan started glitching and they had to take him to Julie for analysis. Meanwhile, Toby began investigating Nicholas Calderon, John’s old partner, after evidence pointed to his involvement in John’s death. Whatever Toby found out must have been big because someone murdered Toby to keep him from sharing this information with Molly. And speaking of John, Ethan’s glitching was revealed to be a message John left behind, letting Molly know that if something went wrong with the Humanichs, Nicholas Calderon was the only one who could help.
In this episode, “Zugzwang,” Molly and JD track down Nicholas Calderon in the hopes that he knows how to deal with the Humanich threat. Meanwhile, Julie tries to figure out who Lucy is getting her orders from, but her search for answers puts her in danger.
Extant Recap: Molly Dreams of JD’s Death >>>
Molly and the Magic Bullet
With Toby dead and no longer able to help them, Molly and JD are determined to shut down the Humanichs on their own. Molly gathers together everything from her old house that did not get destroyed in the fire, including quite a few things from John’s office. Ethan is thrilled to see a chess set among those things and he immediately starts to play. Before long, he realizes that someone else is playing with him. They start getting a coded message through the chess set and Molly and Ethan are able to understand it. The message is from Calderon and he tells them how they can find him.
Molly plans to head out to find Calderon but JD will not let her go without him. Molly tries to argue with him, saying that the dream/vision she had is connected to Calderon and she does not want to take the chance that JD will be killed. Molly has already lost too many people she loves and she does not want JD to be added to that list. JD assures her that she will not lose him and says he’s made his choice and he is going with her.
Molly, JD and Ethan make their way to Calderon’s location and are met with a Humanich pointing a gun at them. They quickly turn the tables on Calderon and his Humanich and question Calderon about this device that can supposedly help them beat the Humanichs. Calderon tells them about TAALR, the A.I. he and John created and how it got out of control. Calderon blames TAALR for framing him as a terrorist and for killing John. He also says the amulet Molly saw in her dream/vision is a kill switch for the Humanichs program, but he claims he lost that amulet when the government took control of TAALR.
Calderon offers to let Molly and her loved ones spend the night at his home and they decide to take him up on the offer. Molly and JD use their much-needed alone time to finally act on their feelings for each other. But their post-coital pillow talk about the future is interrupted by Ethan’s screams.
They discover Calderon trying to remove Ethan’s speech translator. He claims he just wants it for his Humanich, who lost the ability to speak several years ago. Ethan helps Calderon fix his Humanich’s speech problem and in return, Calderon tells them the truth. He does still have a way to defeat TAALR and the Humanichs, but it will come with a terrible cost.
Calderon gets them what they need but is then arrested because he had to come out of hiding in order to get it for them. Molly is horrified when she realizes that Calderon got them the amulet/kill switch. (In her dream/vision, Molly was holding said amulet when she killed JD.) She tries to get rid of it, but JD reminds her that it is their only chance of defeating the Humanichs. They have to use it, no matter the cost.
What is TAALR’s Endgame?
Stanton is running things at the GSC and she wants revenge for the bombing against their people. She is working with TAALR — the A.I. John and Calderon made for Threat Assessment and Algorithmic Research — in order to make that happen. TAALR tells her that killing the hybrids is a must if she wants the human race to survive and insinuates that the hybrids might have been responsible for Toby’s death. But Stanton is not so quick to jump to that conclusion so she asks TAALR to find out if there is another player on the board that she needs to worry about.
Julie tells Stanton about the message John left behind in the event that a Humanich took a human life. But Stanton is convinced that Lucy did what needed to be done. Stanton’s faith in Lucy is so strong that she makes Lucy her new head of security. Stanton is also making changes at the Humanichs lab. With such a high demand for new Humanichs, Stanton is giving the go-ahead to let their current Humanichs start working in the lab to increase production, given that they are faster and more efficient than their human counterparts. Julie is not pleased with this development.
Later, TAALR advises Stanton to let the public know the truth about the hybrid threat. He says the Humanichs can keep the public under control, but Stanton believes the public would see the increased Humanich presence as an occupation. Will Stanton go through with TAALR’s plan?
Lucy Kidnaps Julie
Julie and Charlie are concerned about the number of Humanichs that are being put into production. They are also concerned about Calderon having possibly hijacked the Humanichs program. Julie wants to know who this “higher authority” is that Lucy is now getting her orders from. The only way to find that out is for someone to get close to Lucy and swap out her network card. To do this, Charlie plays on Lucy’s feelings for him and arranges to have a “date” with her later that night.
Unfortunately, Julie and Charlie are stopped before they can find out who is controlling Lucy. With the new Humanichs about to be sent out around the world, Julie and Charlie plan to destroy them all. Alas, Lucy catches on to their plan and puts a stop to it. Lucy goes to Charlie at the lab and tells him that she has taken Julie and put her somewhere he will never be able to find her.
Other Happenings
— As the episode begins, Ethan is packing up his stuff to move back in with Molly. Molly and Julie decide it is time to put their issues aside in order to move on. They hug it out. Despite the hug, I still do not know if I buy Julie’s turn-around. She was pretty insistent on keeping Ethan no matter the cost and now she is just letting him go with Molly even though Molly is still technically a wanted terrorist. Is her change of heart for real?
— Molly blames herself for Toby’s death because he died while trying to help her. Meanwhile, the media is blaming Toby for the bombing at the GSC. I did not care for Toby, but it’s sad that he finally started to do the right thing, only to be killed for his efforts.
— Molly, JD and Ethan return to their temporary safe house to find Terra gone. The last time we saw her, Terra was opening the door to Ares. Did he kidnap her? Did she go with him willingly? What is the hybrids’ ultimate game plan here? Do they just want to live in peace or are they trying to take control from the humans?
What did you think of this episode of Extant? Are you pleased the show took a moment between impending disasters to let the characters connect or did this episode move too slowly? Do you think TAALR is the real threat or is someone controlling him? After all the build-up to Calderon, are you disappointed he is not the big bad behind everything? Will JD fall victim to Molly’s vision of his death? And will all the main characters survive next week’s season finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Extant airs Wednesdays at 9pm on CBS.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
