TV REVIEW: Extant kicks off its Wacky Premise with a Family-Centered “Re-Entry”

By Chelsea Hensley

Extant has a premise that might sound ridiculous: an astronaut  returns home (to a scientist husband and robotic child) from a 13-month solo mission, pregnant. There’s just a lot going on in that one sentence that promises a doozy of a viewing experience. The first episode “Re-Entry” doesn’t disappoint in this regard as we see Molly (Halle Berry) beginning her readjustment to life back on Earth by throwing up in her bathroom.

Despite its weird premise, it’s the Woods family that Extant is focused on. It’s hard at times to find the kind of sci-fi that doesn’t lose itself among its shiny gadgets and its complicated plots, but “Re-Entry” does an exceptional job at laying the groundwork for the Woods family. John (Goran Visnjic), with his optimism and ambition are easiest to figure out, and even Ethan’s instability and unpredictability are easier to pin down than Molly, who’s pretty much a cipher.

She’s a well-liked woman who’s known and respected at work, but it’s hard to determine what her stance is on what’s happened to her.  Unable to get pregnant at all, she’s convinced she’s not really expecting, but she’s spooked when she receives a note from a mysterious someone who claims to know what happened to her. She’s more accessible in flashbacks when she’s horrified to see her now-dead lover, Marcus (Sergio Harford), in space. It only gets more terrifying when she awakens later and watches surveillance footage (which she “accidentally” deletes) that reveals that Marcus was never there. Even when the presumed-dead Harmon Kryger (Brad Beyer) approaches her in the episode’s final moments, Molly’s far from as surprised as one would expect, appearing more confused than afraid even when he advises her not to trust anyone.

Halle Berry as Molly Woods. Image © CBS

Molly has a much more energetic reaction to her humanoid son and his peculiar behavior. A product of John’s ambitious artificial intelligence project, Ethan (Pierce Gagnon) is a Humanich, a lifelike robot that John’s convinced only needs to be raised and treated as humans are to ensure he’ll function well in society, because there’s no reason anyone should be concerned about human-esque robots that have no safeguards attached to them whatsoever. It all works out well for John anyway, as the shady head of Yatsumoto Corportion (Hiroyuki Sanada) gives him the funding he needs anyway, after being withdrawn from some gooey stasis. The corporation’s motives notwithstanding, it’s probably better that whatever future in which Molly and John live doesn’t have any more Ethans running around, not when his temper tantrums result in dead birds.

Berry, in her first television appearance since the 90s, is a strong centerpiece for the show which is going to coast along on her being at the center of whatever conspiracy and alien something or other is chugging along behind the scenes. Molly’s own reactions notwithstanding, Berry is delightful in the role. She’s casually charming among friends at her welcome home bash and polite and respectful when chatting with superiors but her cool facade is practically shattered aboard her space ship when she sees Marcus, crying as she leans in for a kiss and devolving into panic as she watches and deletes the footage of her making googly eyes at empty air.

But just because Extant is character-driven it doesn’t mean it also doesn’t have its share of conspiracy. It’s all a conspiracy. From Molly’s sessions with her shrink being streamed to Yatsumoto and Sparks, to Yatsumoto only offering John his money to get closer to the Woods family, to Kryger’s warning about not trusting anyone. “Re-Entry” asks a bunch of enticing questions from the jump and only asks more by the time the episode concludes. What’s up with Yatsumoto? With Kryger? With Marcus? With Ethan? That being said, “Re-Entry” isn’t big on points that haven’t already been revealed in promotional videos and trailers though it’s nice to see the finished product.

Because it is a good pilot. For such a complicated show, it doesn’t go out of its way to explain everything or even make it all overly-enticing. The plot and characters do that on their own without trying too hard, resulting in a simple (which is a strange way to describe this packed series) first hour that sets the stage for the rest of the 13-episode season. But it could easily go downhill, drowning in its own conspiracies and very-twisty twists. So far it all works, as does the casually futuristic world the characters inhabit (this show has an obviously high production value) which stops short of being too alien, and Steven Spielberg’s producer credit gives me confidence that the show can flourish into the smooth sci-fi project the pilot promises it can be.

Stray Observations

• Molly sits down to view Harry Potter-esque moving photos of her and Marcus.
• Apparently John’s never seen Battlestar Galactica since he’s way too convinced that robots would never turn against us and take over the world.

Leave your thoughts in the comments.