Almost Human has been one of the most anticipated new shows for this fall season with names such as Karl Urban, Michael Ealy, J.J. Abrams, J.H. Wyman and many more attached to the project. Despite already having seen the pilot at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, it was definitely a thrill to see it a second time on live TV.
Urban is definitely a strong actor to lead his own show and having seen his amazing performances in the Lord of The Rings and Star Trek franchises, it was definitely thrilling to hear that he would be part of this project. John Kennex is a damaged character who is hiding scars (not very well).
The pacing of the pilot was a bit slow in the first half and it wasn’t until the scene when Ealy’s character was introduced that the episode started to move things a bit faster. However, the second viewing was able to show that this was necessary to explain Kennex’s life and more of his character.
A lot of protagonists in TV shows today are damaged and have personal issues, but the size of that element has been varied from show to show. In Urban’s case, he definitely has a balance which is a good way to give the audience an intriguing protagonist.
The casting of Ealy is definitely one of the reasons why this pilot worked. Since this is a buddy-cop crime show set in the future, with the premise that police officers are now paired up with androids, it was important to find something unique in that setting.
Having a human detective paired up with an android that can express emotions is another reason why this pilot was so enrapturing. The dynamic between Ealy and Urban was strong and it worked so well from the minute Dorian was activated.
What is always important for any new show is to have a strong supporting cast and whoever was the casting director for this show, that person did a fine job of assembling these talented actors.
The strongest out of all of them in the pilot was definitely Mackenzie Crook’s character. He stood out a bit more than the others with his subtle wittiness, though this is not a slam on the other amazing actors such as Minka Kelly (Valerie Stahl) or Lili Taylor (Captain Sandra Maldonado).
They all were interesting, but Crook had a slightly bigger part. The good thing is that this is just the first episode as there are plenty of opportunities for them to show the audience more of these characters. The pilot was mostly focused on establishing Dorian and Kennex’s relationship.
The writers made sure to make the comedic and the dramatic elements on an equal level, for example, the scene in the car where Dorian is asking questions which annoys Kennex. That is a good way to keep those elements on a stable level and hopefully that is how they will write the episodes in the future.
The way that they shot this pilot was phenomenal and since this is set in 2048, obviously it has to look a bit futuristic, but not too much. They found a balance in making it look a sci-fi show, but still a bit grounded as well.
One of the things that are interesting is definitely the opportunity of getting to see things through Dorian’s eyes since he is an android. To see how he investigate and analyze situations was definitely intriguing, so hopefully there will be more of that.
There is not much to complain about as the pilot had very few flaws. The only one worth mentioning would be the pacing that the pilot had in the first part, but as mentioned, it made sense.
Overall, the pilot was a success as it managed to introduce all these characters, this world that is set in the future and it has definitely captured the interest. Almost Human has a lot of potential with its strong cast as well stories and this is definitely a show that is recommended to tune in for each week.
Starting tonight, with its second episode, Almost Human airs Monday nights, 8/7c on FOX.
[Photo via Liane Hentscher/FOX]
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