Extant - Incursion

Gee, I thought the "Offspring" was a band.  But according to the Extant episode, "Incursion" the "Offspring" is the name for the entity the Sparks group is holding in stasis.  I guess they can't keep 'em seperated!

It's a bit of a relief this episode of Extant was more of an "actioner" than trying to tackle the weighty aspirations that Hamlet brought to the table in the last episode.  Good thing, I got a bit of a headache writing the last blog post.

We start with the new holy trinity of Molly, Kern and Kryger coming up with a plan to free the Offspring from the evil clutches of the unholy duo of....

Sparks and Yasumoto!

Our trio conspires in close dark confinement as or duo lays out it's plans in well lit arboreal splendor.  I hope the trees aren't taking sides in this.

Sparks pushes for Molly's removal while Yasumoto insists she still has her uses.  At least until the Offspring is moved far enough from her and any connection they have is broken!

I can't wait to we meet this Offspring in person and see what it is capable of.  Will it be benevolent?  Evil?  Will it give itself a name?  (Marcus? Dexter?)

We learn the Offspring has "matured" to adulthood and we get our first look at it's stasis chamber and a more revealing view of the adult in repose.

Maybe it is the lighting but this adult looked Caucasian to me.  I thought for sure the child would be African-American.  Readers will remember I thought the child would adopt the aspect of Marcus and with Halle Berry being of mixed race I thought for sure the child would at least follow suit.

I guess we'll have to wait to find out.

Anyway, Yasumoto reveals to Sparks he knows he's been communicating with the Entity in the form of Katie.

But hold a second, by the end of the episode we learn something profoundly different about the Entity.

I'm going to jump ahead here because this is really bugging me.  When Katie reappears to Sparks at the very end she tells him, "He needs our help."

"He?"

Katie is speaking of the Offspring in the third person?  I thought the spiritual visitations were a direct manifestation of the Entity.  He used them as a form of communication and a defense mechanism of sorts.

Are they telling us these "spirits" are a seperate entity in and of their own?

That's huge!

Is there some force that exists behind or outside the Offspring?  Is that what visits you in the depths of space and "fertilizes" you and protects it's progeny?

Maybe that isn't news to some of you and I guess it makes sense in retrospect but I was still surprised.

Mol and John confer in their usual confab room, the kitchen.  The toaster makes it return!  When the toaster appears you know Ethan can't be far behind.  But where is he?  Not at home!

He's off to the park where two young hoodlums are set on damaging a utility bot.

Ethan sees a kindred spirit in the utility bot and he confronts the two bullies in it's defense.  Things don't go so well but at least Ethan's "Terminator" look ensures the hoodlums  won't "be back."

Ethan's empathy if not downright sympathy for the bot leaves him in the care of his surrogate mom. Julie.  Here she plays a very crucial role.  Her love and tenderness towards his conundrum and the bot not being able to perform it's function elicits this from Ethan...

"What's my function?"

Ouch.  It's bad enough for  a child to wonder about it's place in the universe, how about a child that is so self-aware it realizes it is an artificial being similar to the bot and therefore exist outside humanity.

Has Ethan read Hamlet?

Thank goodness Julie responds that none of us knows our purpose as we travel the stage of our existence.

(Has she read Hamlet?)

I have to say this philosophical quandary led directly to Ethan hugging his Dad upon learning he was going off to rescue Molly.  I was worried Ethan was going to go all Terminator on John.  But instead he has become closer to his humanity thanks to Julie's little speech.  Note Ethan has donned his car jammies instead of the dinosaur ones like a normal little kid.  The dino ones set him apart symbolically as they were of an extinct species and perhaps humanity was to be one too.

Speaking of extinct, Kern has been found out as Molly and Kryger descend in the elevator.  He seems to be a short timer.

Buuuuut.....

The Offspring/Entity has taken over and when Mol and Kryger escape the elevator they find the security detail dead.

Not only are they dead so is Davis in the incubation chamber that once held the Offspring.

And Kryger put a few holes in him expecting the Offspring to be there!

I guess we know where he stands.  He proclaimed earlier in the episode that the child wasn't "the second coming of Jesus."  This is in direct opposition to how Molly feels.  She wants her child to survive.  Instant enemies with Kryger?  Should we fit him for a red shirt?

This brings us to the end where Sparks shoots Molly who morphs into Katie.

Ha, they didn't fool me!  I knew it was an hallucination.  But why bother faking the death of Molly and Katie?  To send Sparks a message?  That message of guilt isn't going to stick if Katie jumps up alive and tells Sparks they have to work together because, "He needs our help."

Slightly confusing.

Odds and Ends

I meant to mention this in my last blog post but thankfully Molly reiterates the "bird message" again.  She tells Kern and Kryger that she knows the Offspring/Entity was trying to communicate with her through the birds forming the circle symbol in the sky.

It reminded me of the birds forming a circle in the sky for Detective Rust Cohle of True Detective fame.  It continues the theme of hallucinations, other worldly messages, existentialism and the madness that define both of these series.

Another cool casting moment!

I think we've seen Anya Sparks before but maybe not.  She is played by Jeanetta Arnette and as Anya she appears to Alan Sparks in a televisual message.

Arnette has incredible sci-fi street cred having appeared in shows such as Fringe, Lost, Invasion, Roswell and Star Trek.

Now that's street cred!

See you next week for another Extant creature double feature!