Biohackers Season 1 Episode 1 Recap – Arrival

The first episode starts with a woman wearing a necklace with the name “Mia” on it. She rides the train with a companion named Niklas. Someone asks if there is any doctor on the train because someone needs medical attention. Niklas encourages Mia to help because she’s a medical student. While she’s helping a woman, another woman who is just a few seats away loses consciousness. She and Niklas help the woman by using medical kits available on the train. Not long after that, Niklas faints as well.

Two weeks earlier, Mia Akerlund arrives at her apartment where she meets her new housemates. Lotta, who opens the door for her; Ole who helps her move her things into her room; and Chen-lu, who shares her dinner with her. Mia takes the newspaper clippings, magazines and some papers with a woman’s face on them, and hides them in her speaker. The next day, on her first day in college, she attends the orientation with Dr. Lorenz. Dr. Lorenz is a doctor of medicine, a biologist, the youngest medical professor at a German university ever, and obviously a very famous person in her field. While Dr. Lorenz is talking, Mia remembers her brother being brought to the hospital when they were kids. And a doctor named Dr. Lorenz was asked to attend to the boy. After the speech, Dr. Lorenz tells the students that her assistant, Jasper, will answer all their questions.

After class, Mia waits for Jasper and follows him to the library. Just before the library closes, Mia sees a glowing mouse while looking for Jasper. The two of them run after the mouse until they finally manage to catch him. Jasper says the mouse is genetically modified and he rescued it. Mia mentions that Dr. Lorenz sometimes hires medical students to help with clinical trials. Jasper says that it only happens when Dr. Lorenz is impressed with the students. Mia asks if she’ll be seeing Jasper at the party that night, but he says he’s not sure.

Mia works on the assignment for Dr. Lorenz’s class. Lotta walks in and tells her that she should enjoy her first night at the university and go to the freshmen party. So, Mia leaves her work and goes to the party with her friends. Ole gives them droplets of Chlorine E8 solution, the stuff that helps deep-sea fish see in the dark. They drop it into their eyes so they can see around. There, she meets Jasper again. And he introduces his best friend and roommate, Niklas. 

The next day, Mia attends her class with Dr. Lorenz. For their first lesson, they are asked to turn the cells to fluorescent green. Mia rushes to finish her work and submits hers in a different color. Dr. Lorenz is impressed because students only learn how to do that in the next years to come. She asks for Mia’s name and tells her to carry on.

After class, Mia follows Jasper again and asks to buy him a drink that night. She checks Jasper’s social media account to know what her style for the night should be. Then, she goes to Chen-Lu’s room to borrow a shirt. She sees Chen-Lu’s experiments on plants, including a glowing plant in the corner of her room. She meets Jasper that night and they get to know each other a bit more. He even tells her a secret, that he has his own small lab. Dr. Lorenz lets him do his own experiments, but not on campus.

He takes Mia to a shed in the woods. Inside is his own laboratory. He says he’s working on a gene vector, a modified virus that can transport DNA into human cells. He explains that using his gene vector, they can cut out the faulty DNA and replace it with a healthy one. Mia says it’s been possible for a while now. So Jasper explains that it’s only possible on test tubes. But he, on the other hand, can do it for an adult body. He tells Mia to give him a call if she needs help or she’s sick. Mia reveals that she’s never been sick before, even as a child. Then Jasper sends Mia the application form she needs to fill out if she wants to apply to be Dr. Lorenz’s assistant. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Lorenz meets a journalist who asked for an interview. It turns out, that the journalist is someone she knows, Dr. Winter. He asks her if she’s happy with her life and where she is right now. Dr. Lorenz says she’s happy when she makes new discoveries, discovers new methods, and helps heal people who could have died. “I am happy,” she says.

Back at the present time, Mia wakes up inside the train. A woman wearing protective gear approaches her and asks for her name. The woman sees the necklace and calls her Mia. But, Mia says her name is Emma. 

Our Thoughts:

It’s very obvious. Mia is only using Jasper to get to Dr. Lorenz. We don’t know the reason why, but it’s clear that she has her goals. Jasper on the other hand falls quickly for Mia and shows her his lab, though it’s supposed to be a secret. When we first saw Niklas, we thought that he and Mia were a couple. However, after watching the first episode, we realize that he is Jasper’s friend. So, what happened? And why did Mia introduce herself as Emma even though her name is Mia?

Mia is clearly very smart that she knows how to impress Dr. Lorenz. But why is she after her anyway? If we’re going to look at the flashbacks, Mia is probably after her because she was her brother’s doctor. Having nice roommates would help a lot because they look like they already like Mia even though she’s new.