A quick review of last night’s “Almost Human” coming up just as soon as I create a dating profile for you…
In my initial review of the series (based only on the pilot episode), I said that Dorian (as written, and as played by Michael Ealy) was the only thing that stood out from an otherwise generic buddy cop procedural. “Skin” didn’t make the show any less formulaic, but it went for a lighter tone, particularly in the Kennex/Dorian relationship. Whatever reservations John might have had about working with an android have been wiped away, and now Dorian’s comfortable enough to tease him about his struggles dealing with children, his attraction to Detective Stahl, and more.
It’s probably a healthier long-term strategy, since ultimately the series will succeed or fail based on how much people like Ealy and Karl Urban together. This wasn’t exactly the relationship established in the pilot, but it was entertaining enough to mostly cover for another forgettable case. And the fact that a story about sexbots with stolen human skin could feel forgettable speaks to the challenges a show like this is going to have in an era where traditional cop shows edge very close to science fiction as it is.
But I do like Ealy (Dorian at the sexbot’s deactivation was by far the episode’s most interesting scene), and I liked Urban a lot more here once they toned down Kennex’s angry Luddite persona a bit. This doesn’t feel like a show I’m going to watch every week (and I doubt I’ll review it again until it does something special), but “Skin” suggested an acceptable USA level of entertainment.
What did everybody else think?