Almost Human recap: 'You Are Here'

Before we get started, this is your weekly reminder that Fox has been airing episodes of Almost Human out of order. This week’s outing, “You Are Here,” is actually episode two, which explains the return to the Insyndicate plot thread set up in the pilot. It also explains why Kennex is acting a bit out of character this week.

So let’s bite the bullet and get started!

We jump right into the action this week to find a man named Anton racing through the city. (It’s fun to see the little bits of Minority Report-esque futuristic tech around the city. We’ve been getting less of that in recent episodes, which makes me think the show has already blown through its effects budget.) After being stopped by an officer, Anton announces, urgently, that “they’re going to kill me.” Suddenly, a bullet crashes through the window and takes out Anton.

Next we find Kennex in an unlikely place — an anger management session. (I love the flying coffee delivery roomba robot. Let’s give him a name. Perhaps CoffeX?) John puts on a big fake smile and says he’s doing just fine, thank you very much. The counselor counters by offering up a huge info dump about Kennex’s ex-girlfriend Anna. In case you forgot she ever existed (which is reasonable since absolutely no one, Kennex included, ever mentions her), Anna was secretly working for Insyndicate, the criminal organization behind the ambush in episode one that cost Kennex his partner and his leg. Had this episode actually aired after the pilot as it was supposed to, the bits about Anna would’ve helped to heighten Kennex’s distrust of the MXs and Dorian. (The whole thread about Kennex blaming the MXs for his partner’s death has basically been dropped.) But now that we’re eight episodes in the Anna stuff feels pretty random. Anyway, Kennex’s inappropriate comments towards the other folks in the session were amusing. (Poor Marty!)

Later at the crime scene, Dorian and Detective Paul’s MX disagree over how the bullet that killed Anton traveled. The MX reminds Kennex that Dorian’s model was discontinued and is therefore “inferior.” Kennex responds to the MX’s hectoring by blowing its head off. (Seriously, someone needs to make a supercut of all the MX destruction scenes. They are the best.)

Back at the station, Maldonado has no problem whatsoever with Kennex’s random destruction of what is probably a very expensive piece of robotic hardware. Just kidding! She’s furious, as is Det. Paul, who threatens to do the same to Dorian. Kennex is angry that Maldonado has made him work with a faulty android partner and goes on a rant about how the MXs are not cops, but “bullet catchers.” Now that we’ve established Dorian and Kennex’s partnership, this rant feels strangely out of character. It would’ve made sense in the second episode when Kennex was still wary of Dorian. But FOX had to go and jump to the sexbot episode (technically the fifth episode in the production order) following the pilot because, you know, it’s FOX and we can’t expect them to resist sexbots right out of the gate.

NEXT: Insyndicate is back!Dorian discovers that Anton worked with his girlfriend, Kira Larson, at a company that makes tracking software for personalized advertising. (Perhaps they also made the video billboards in Minority Report?) In the car, Dorian, with a big grin on his face, notes that Kennex must like him since he shot the MX. Nothing like a random act of violence to help you bond with your partner. Rudy calls and reveals that the bullet was controlled remotely and can find its prey anywhere.

At Kira Larson’s office, Kennex and Dorian find out that Anton was a gamer. (He was an Elder in something called “Warriors of Grun,” a detail that doesn’t pay off at all as the episode goes on.) Kira plays a message from Anton on her video hand phone and reveals that Anton was meeting with a headhunter named Natalie. (So by 2048, people get smart phone chips installed under their skin? Of all the tech on display in this show, cell hands is the one most likely to come to pass.) Outside, Dorian tells Kennex that he knows how Anton was killed.

As it turns out, Anton created the guidance system for the bullet. Kennex and Dorian figure out that Anton sold his software to some gunrunners who then had him killed. Cut to Natalie, the “headhunter” that Anton was seeing, and some gunrunners showing a buyer a video of Anton’s murder. The buyer wants to see the bullet in action, so the gunrunners decided to use Kira as the next target since they have to kill her anyway.

At the precinct, Maldonado is questioning Reinhardt, the Insyndicate leader last seen in the pilot. Maldonado wants to know what Reinhardt and the Insyndicate were after when they raided the precinct and she’s prepared to offer him a deal in exchange for information. Reinhardt reveals that they were looking for something in the precinct’s evidence locker. Again, this part would’ve made more sense had it actually happened in episode two. Because it seems like Reinhardt has been in the interrogation room for weeks.

In the evidence room, Reinhardt taunts Kennex, noting that his ex-girlfriend Anna would be impressed to see him walking around. Also, Anna isn’t her real name. But he knows where Anna is, which he’ll reveal along with what Insyndicate was looking for if he’s allowed to walk. Kennex objects, telling Maldonado that giving Reinhardt a deal would be a dishonor to the families of the officers killed during Insyndicate’s raid. But Maldonado is worried that there’s something worse in the evidence room. Ooh, finally some mythology to dig into. What do you think is in the evidence room? My guess is concrete proof that Minka Kelly’s Detective Stahl is in fact a robot.

NEXT: Is Dorian the next K-Pop star?

Meanwhile, the gunrunners fire their magic bullet at Kira. Dorian jumps in the way and takes the shot meant for her because he’s a real gentleman that way. This leads to Dorian’s wacky malfunction of the week — he now speaks Korean. (It’s a fun bit, but I can’t help but wish that Michael Ealy had more to do in this episode.) Kira is worried that the gunrunners will still kill her and her daughter (a fair assumption since they have a remote-controlled bullet) and tells Kennex that she wants to go to a “scrubber” and get the full Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind treatment so she’ll forget all about Anton. Kennex asks her to help them identify Natalie.

In the lab, Rudy tries to fix Dorian, who is singing a Korean pop song. (Why that is part of his programming to begin with is anybody’s guess.) Rudy asks if the operation involves either undercover work or sexbots, two things that we’ve seen that he knows his way around. Stahl reveals that Anton had opened a bank account under the name “Mark Cross.” At the bank, Kennex and Dorian find a bunch of numbers and a video chip in Anton’s safe deposit box. They play the video and discover that Anton was being extorted by the gunrunners.

Back at the safehouse, Kira has taken off to get her mind scrubbed. (You had one job, MX on guard duty…) Kennex and Dorian race to beat the gunrunners to Kira’s location. At the back alley clinic, we see a number of illegal memory scrubs being performed. (Apparently people in 2048 really want to forget stuff.) Kira wants to remove everything about Anton from her memory so that the gunrunners will leave her alone. Too late, as the bad guys have arrived and a gunfight ensues.

Dorian fulfills his function as a “bullet catcher” and draws their fire by taking a ton of shots. (Also, Dorian blasting two guns is pretty awesome.) Kennex kills one of the gunrunners, while Dorian subdues Natalie. Back at the station, Kennex tells Kira that Anton traded software to the gunrunners in order to protect her and her daughter. Kira recognizes the numbers in Anton’s safe deposit box from the first time they met. Anton was old-fashioned, and had written down his number for her. They used to write notes to each other in pen, she recalls. (The art of letter writing isn’t dead in 2048 apparently.) Kira is glad that she didn’t zap the memory of Anton from her brain, and gives Kennex the pen as a thank you. Kennex turns around and uses it to write a note to Stahl. Awwwww! (Seriously, their budding relationship is moving at a glacial pace.) Maldonado thanks Kennex for not destroying any more MXs.”The night is young,” he quips as a nearby MX looks on, terrified.

Another solid episode that unfortunately suffers from Fox’s schedule shuffling. The show was hitting its stride and building the Dorian/Kennex partnership and then suddenly we’re back to square one. Hopefully things will get back on track when the show returns after another hiatus. (Episodes four and nine have yet to be scheduled, so things could still get a bit choppy.)

Next time: John Larroquette finally joins the cast as Dorian’s creator! Plus, Gina Carano as a sexy killer robot! Um, yes please! See you in three weeks!