As if Karl Urban’s face wasn’t enough to make me tune in, the show was created by J.H. Wyman who had me at “Fringe.” J.J. Abrams signed on as an executive producer along with Wyman and Bryan Burk. Knowing only that Urban would be portraying a cop in the future, I tuned in prepared to be blown away with high style and intriguing plots that left me pondering their outcome long into the night, after I’d turned my television off.  The season didn’t come quite that close but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it.

Not to be confused with Being Human, the show about a vampire, werewolf and ghost shacking up in Boston (or Bristol if you prefer your sci-fi with an English accent), this show has a slick urban setting and science-based plot themes. Set in 2048, technology has developed so quickly that the crime rate has risen 400% in Almost Human Land. Due to this, every police officer is assigned an android partner. They’re life-like enough to avoid CGI portrayal, but artistry and contact lenses have made them distinct as androids.

Visually, it’s very reminiscent of Fringe and Star Trek with blue overtones and strong saturation. Thankfully, less lens flares than Star Trek and more open and airy than Fringe. The future, being only fifty years away, is realistically advanced. There are odd-shaped vehicles and holographic computer screens everywhere giving it that pleasant in-the-future style, but there are also modern-day semi trucks cruising down the highway keeping the show feeling as though this world is possible just a generation away.

Leading the cast is Karl Urban as Detective John Kennex, a human cop with a slight chip on his shoulder and not much love for the android officers. Two years prior to where the story begins, Kennex led a raid with his partner on the criminal group Insyndicate, but the raid goes awry and the accompanying logic-based android abandons Kennex rather than help him attempt to save his partner. Kennex’s partner is killed and Kennex loses a leg in a blast falling into a coma for seventeen months.

As we enter the Almost Human universe, Kennex has a handy new cybernetic leg and rejoins the squad thanks to Captain Maldonado, portrayed by Lili Taylor. The commanding yet compassionate Captain, assigns a MX-43 (another logic-based android) to Kennex. Let’s just say it doesn’t end well for the droid. Urban takes the first step into earning the viewer’s admiration as he portrays Kennex casually pushing the MX-43 out the car onto the highway when the stickler-for-the-rules android attempts to report Kennex for breaking protocol.

Enter Michael Ealy as Dorian. Captain Maldonado, realizing her detective isn’t going to so easily play along, assigns a re-commissioned DRN model android to Kennex. The DRN models are designed to be as human-like as possible (see: can’t deal with crap and suffer from emotional trauma) which initially caused their replacement by the logic-based units. But the wise Maldonado says, “Hey, Kennex has got issues, let’s give him an android with issues too.” And there, a beautiful friendship is born.

Michael Ealy’s portrayal of Dorian is a lovely one. He creates a warm, gracious character filled with both vulnerability and aggressiveness when needed, with a quick wit capable of slinging the barbs back at Kennex like any good buddy-cop should. Ealy maintains a speech pattern and mannerisms distinct enough to make Dorian perfectly almost human and combined with his arresting features he stands out as the humanoid one of the pair.  His laid-back style pairs well with Urban’s sarcastic depiction. Their chemistry is top-notch, creating the best scenes within the show- the car rides.

The humor took me a bit by surprise. I suppose I just wasn’t expecting it from a cop story set in a futuristic world and while some would argue that there are plenty of bromances on television already, the give and take between Kennex and Dorian is endearing and often hilarious with their science-fiction twists from Dorian scanning Kennex’s testicles to Kennex being far less impressive to kids as Dorian to Dorian’s impressive robotic anatomy.

Adding these humorous elements together with a talented cast and solid character set-up creates a thoroughly likeable show. Minka Kelly shines as Detective Valerie Stahl, a “chrome” [genetically engineered human] who goes against the grain by becoming a cop. Also on the roster are Michael Irby as Detective Richard Paul, the irritable but reliable detective at odds with Kennex, Mackenzie Crook as Technician Rudy Lom, the police force’s android expert and the aforementioned Lili Taylor.

The cast really is fantastic. While the season doesn’t stretch the boundaries of their skills, you know instinctively that anything that gets thrown at them, they’re going to portray with amazing capability. Mackenzie Crook, in particular, delivers a strong performance turning Rudy into that underestimated character who you know will really be the most important of all.

So with all this praising, why did this show not quite live up to its imagined marvelous-ness? Short answer: pacing of the main plots. There are two main overlying plots that were introduced in season 1. The first being, Insyndicate the gang and Kennex’s ex-girlfriends involvement with them and what that means to John. The show began with a Kennex desperate to learn answers, still a bit angry at the world but it felt that rather quickly he became much more happy with his routine and being back on the force. So when the issue was again brought into the forefront (thanks to Fox’s rearrangement of the episodes) and Kennex was pill-popping and sweating and wrecking police Ford Fusions in episode ten “Perception”, it felt a little out of left field. And despite learning that Kennex is being watched via surveillance in his house, the issue isn’t revisited before the season’s end.

The second main plot point that is left dangling is regarding “the wall”. In “Unbound” (episode nine), John Larroquette guest stars as Dr. Nigel Vaughn, the scientist who created the DRNs and the “Synthetic Souls” that make Dorian, Dorian. In the end, Dr. Vaughn has an ulterior motive other than just helping the police – he steals the Synthetic Souls and some processing cores and escapes beyond a giant wall (think The Lorax). Whoa, what wall? We’d never seen that before. And yet, you’ll never see it again in season 1.

Almost Human serves up some terrific sci-fi stand-alone episodes with dark and threatening undertones while maintaining a sense of style and excitement.  From “Arrhythmia” where people are dying from black market sold human organs to “Simon Says” focusing on a demented man who kills people remotely with bombs and airs it live on the internet to “Beholder” introducing us to a man who kills people to steal their facial features so he can build the perfect version of himself to impress a woman he loves [caaaraaazzzy!]; the singular stories are intriguing and provocative. Therefore, had the main plot points been woven in tighter throughout the season, unity between the episodes would have been felt. The season finale failed to endcap any of the plots presented in the prior twelve episodes, nor explore them further. In fact, I was not even aware this was a thirteen episode run and fully expected another episode as it didn’t have that “finale feel.”

So, why did Detective Stahl choose to become a police officer? What’s the background of Captain Maldonado? Why does The Wall exist? Will we ever know the answers to these questions? Maybe not. The show, as of now, is on the cusp of cancellation. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a second season to fulfill the masses of potential this show contains and I’m hoping the producers come back prepped with stronger writers and a firm sense of where the story is headed.  I’d hate to see this cast and premise go to waste.

Almost Human Season 1 Gallery

Okay, so the wacky aren’t the most common variety of fan videos. Romance, Recaps, Drama, Humor are all popular genres of music videos. If fans can think it, they can spin it. But where fan videos really excel, is expanding on the theme of unrequited love; the underdog character who yearns for something they can’t or at least don’t yet have. After all, what is vidding without a tiny bit of emotional masochism?

Take 5 clips of a character longing, throw in dash of beautiful music and a pinch of lighting, text, voice over or effects and you’ll have a powerful music video to watch on repeat that will hopefully sustain your need for that sweet sweet pain until the end of hiatus (or better known as “hellatus”.)

One of the most surprising and fabulous characters to emerge on the small screens in 2013 is the latest incarnation of Lucy Westenra in NBC’s “Dracula”. In this version of the classic we discover that Lucy is in fact, in love with her best friend Mina. Tragically, Lucy is trapped in the social properness of the Victorian era and by fear of rejection by Mina.

In this video titled “Lucy + Mina | Angels” by YouMadeMeSeeIt, the vidder encapsulates Lucy’s hidden passion.

By beginning the music video with a black screen and moving text to match the echo-filled voice overs, the vidder brings the dialogue into deeper focus, setting the story up for the rest of the video to come. The gentle notes of the music sets the tone for Lucy’s sad perspective.
The vidder does a wonderful job of working with her chosen music sample by correlating the lyrics to her clip choices such as at :23 to :25 with “You move through the room” as well as the closing clips of Lucy’s crestfallen expressions in :48-:52.
By why does this video encapsulate the underdog? While this is a “vidlet” (meaning a fan video that is not the full length version of the selected music and totaling less than one minute), the vidder tells a complete story. Lucy’s point of view is perfectly described through voice-over, not only telling of her feelings for Mina, but WHY she has those feelings for Mina.

Ah. So good in that wonderfully painful way.

When shows just aren’t delivering enough of your angsty needs, you can always count on a show based on a comic series to deliver the goods. On Arrow, Oliver Queen’s chemistry sizzles with sidekick/friend Felicity Smoak, and though the comic canon dictates he’ll end up with Laurel Lance, fans have taken “Olicity” by storm (rightly so, I must say since Laurel has all the personality of an ironing board.)
In “If I Lose Myself“, xostelenaforeverox uses beautiful typography and lighting effects and excellent beat use to create a clean, clear and concise story.

Another reason to love this video is that canonically, neither character has openly stated feelings for the other. It’s all read between-the-lines comments, looks or touches which the vidder captures very well. I’m very fond of the line: “You can feel the light start to tremble, Washing what you know out to sea” at :40-:46 while Oliver & Felicity work side-by-side setting up the heartbreak that we love. She bookends the video with quotes from Oliver that lend themselves to proving his unrequited emotions and fills in-between with unspoken expressions of unreciprocated love from Felicity. It’s a two-for-one, people, all with that “I’m the fan, so I’m making this the way I want it to be” awesomeness.

Not wiping away any tears yet? Okay, let’s add the possible death of a sweet and vulnerable character. One vidder took an episode from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where we find the endearing Jemma Simmons’ life is at stake after contracting an unknown disease and in her moments of distress subtley lets it show that she loves her lab co-worker/partner-in-crime/best friend, Leo Fitz (sidenote: FitzSimmons. It’s a pre-made shipper name, gentle viewers!)

The video “When Everything Is Wrong, You Make It Right” by adrianmarcano122 stays within one episode, nearly one scene actually, and captures the character’s turmoil quite well playing along with lyrics of “I feel so helpless here, watch my eyes all filled with fear” and then at :36 you witness the impact of Jemma’s non-verbal tell on Leo while the singer croons “Tell me do you feel the same?”. It’s a shipper’s set-up and it works.

Convinced yet that underdogs with unrequited love are the best thing ever to hit YouTube? Start watching and building your playlists to get you through the barren days of TV holidays. Come back here and tell us what your favorite unrequited love fan videos are.