After a promising pilot, I was pleasantly surprised by Extant's second outing. Sadly, this episode was just plain terrible, and it was barely salvaged by a promising final scene. It's a pity really, because with its current ratings, the show needs to be wowing us on a constant basis in order to survive.




Extant requires a threatening antagonist, and Dr. Sparks doesn't exactly fill that void. Mr. Yasumoto has potential, but he was absent this episode and that's quite unfortunate after the reveal of his relationship with Miss Dodd. Exploring that dynamic could have done the show a world of good, while answering a number of questions in the process. Instead, this episode felt lazy in execution and lacking in purpose.


It doesn't help that the show is packed with far too many laughable moments. Chief among them was the shot of Ethan basked in darkness in a cheap attempt to create a sense of foreboding. I honestly found myself rolling my eyes at the cringeworthy-ness of it all. But that's not all: what of Dr. Barton's text message with Molly crazily trying to crash the car in an unwise bid to escape? A bit dramatic after seeing a couple of shady guys carrying boxes out of an office, no?




One final request: can we please not have characters talking in exposition? Because having to hear Molly explicitly tell Tim "he was your brother" made me wants to burn my eyes out with a hot poker. Really, writers, you can trust us to reach conclusions on our own from time to time.