Almost Human Review: Skin (Pilot, Part 2)

Just tinkering around with a good ol' sexbot...

Warning: The following review definitely contains spoilers.  Read at your own risk.

What a weird way to follow up last night's episode.  Last night's episode, although not perfect, provided viewers with a good introduction to both of the characters.  This episode, thinking it would continue on in this fashion, and flesh out the characters more, really did not.  Aside from Kennex's moments with a kid.  "Skin" felt like more of a mid-season filler episode than the second half of a premiere.

This episode provided all flash, with little substance.  Sexbots, sexbots, sexbots were the talk (and theme) of the entire episode.  So much so, in fact, that Karl Urban said the word probably a dozen times at least.  To be honest, it almost bordered on cringe-worthy.  Perfect idea for a drinking game: everytime the word is mentioned, drink.  You'll be hammered by the halfway mark.

Surprisingly enough, the moments of humor in this episode worked rather well.  I laughed during the "never scan my testicles again" scene between Kennex and Dorian.  Kennex's tough-guy act is the perfect companion to Dorian's display of intelligence and curiosity.

To me, the episode just did not seem to comprehend what it was trying to go for thematically.  Initially reminiscent of a CSI episode, I quickly saw hints of "Dollhouse" as the episode progressed, although that may just be me.  Some of the bits of humor were even reminiscent of Whedon's style.

Again, the show feels like it is continuing to borrow from other shows and films.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since most of what it borrows from is decent enough, but the show needs to establish its own identity soon.  Throughout the last two episodes, I kept getting the "Been there...done that..." feeling, but I can't help but commend the show for its two lead performances and it's visual style.

Essentially, this is what went down for the entire episode: there are sexbots, we find out those sexbots have human DNA, those sexbots that have human DNA have the DNA from kidnapped women, another woman is kidnapped to use in one of these bots, but her son is left behind, Kennex has an emotional moment with the son to find out where his mom went, they find another sexbot with human DNA from a prior kidnapped woman and determine her "birthplace" to find out where the manufacturers are, and stop them while saving the son's mother.  Say that three times fast.

 

During the course of the episode, I was never compelled by what was happening, because quite frankly, "Skin" did not have a good plot.  Urban and Ealy's performances are the highlight of the show, but with such mediocre material to work with, the episode falls flat.  The attempts at humor and the dynamic between the two characters were strong, but the disappointment settles in when you find out the episode really goes nowhere.

Rating:

6/10

 (6 out of 10)