The entire planet seems to be hooked on HBO's Westworld and though there's no denying that certain stretches of the series, and nearly all the performances, are exhilarating, the show is convoluted and plot-heavy in the extreme. The series still seems to be explaining its world some six or seven episodes in, and the moments that don't feel like mechanized moments to keep the complicated, overworked plot spinning are remarkably rare. One doesn't have to think too hard to see why it's a hit: Westworld taps into a feeling of resentment felt by lower-and-middle-class families toward technocrats, for one, but also deals directly with the folly of man in his wanting to become a god. And yet, the series seems to be saying almost nothing insightful about these major, complex ideas, simply using them as window-dressing for what is a science-fiction revenge thriller.
In comparison, AMC's Humans taps into similar ideas in far more intimate terms, going less for bombast than emotional nuance in how the Synths - the show's name for cyborgs who can be bought for all sorts of uses - come to revolt against their owners. The series returns in February on AMC after a gut-punch season finale late last year, and the new trailer for Season 2 suggests that the Synths will continue to strive for full consciousness, while their owners continue to weigh the possibility of a world where they are the lesser species.
Here's the trailer for AMC's Humans Season 2:
Here's the official synopsis for Humans Season 2:
"Niska is still at large and in possession of the consciousness code. Her synth family, Mia , Leo and Max, unaware of her location, are each trying to find their place in the world while Joe and Laura attempt to mend their marriage.
"As unconfirmed reports of synths behaving inexplicably surface, the ripple effects of one simple yet seismic decision sees the past return dramatically and surprisingly to the door of the Hawkins house. Joe, Laura and the entire family are faced with a difficult choice that will put the family under an intense spotlight.
"In the US, Milo Khoury, a young Silicon Valley billionaire, founder and CEO of a leading technology company is pioneering new research. But he needs help and attempts to recruit Dr Athena Morrow - the country's pre-eminent Artificial Intelligence expert.
"Suspicious of his motives and focussed on her own work Morrow is single-minded in her drive to create a new kind of machine consciousness.
"As an emerging form of intelligent life – the synths – and an established one – humanity – fight for their places in the world, a thrilling multi-stranded narrative evolves which continues to ask: who has the right to determine what it means to be alive?
