Spoiler alert: this recap covers the eighth episode of Humans showing on Channel 4. For episode seven, click here
If you’ve grown to love the conscious synths over the past few episodes, look away now. Hobb has all five of them strapped to beds and he’s removing their ability to self-replicate, along with their dignity.
“But we’re not all here, are we?” says Mia. “There’s another.” Yes, Beatrice/Karen is still out there and she’s got Hobb in her pocket. Or should that be the other way round?
Hobb has hit on a cunning masterplan: creating conscious synths who are obedient, starting with Fred. Of all the synths, he’s a good choice – a subservient Niska would be so wrong and it would be plain cruel to see Mia return to the old dishwasher-loading days.
In other unnerving news, now Hobb thinks he has Elster’s programme, he has no use for the other four, who are fighting to save Max.
‘Synthetics are just property’
The mood in Laura and Joe’s house is subdued, which is understandable because it’s not every day your suburban semi is raided by armed police on the lookout for marauding synths. Reluctantly, the family hand over their phones and tablets.
“You have no idea of how special they are,” says Mattie, raging against the police. “Synthetics are just property,” says Laura, despairingly. “There’s no case to argue.”
But when Mattie reveals she might have temporary copies of Leo’s memories on her laptop, Laura has a plan. Now on their side, Pete lets Mattie and Toby slip out to rifle through the police van and retrieve the laptop. There’s a classic Pete moment of the “Stick it up your bollocks” calibre when he throws the other officers off the scent. “I’ve got nothing to do with the case so I thought I’d kidnap a couple of teenagers and have a nice day out,” he deadpans.
Armed with the bribery material she needs, Laura’s ready to make a deal.
‘You can’t kill something that’s never been alive’
Back at the lab, Hobb is going to use Leo as a hi-tech guinea pig, feeding him soup and running tests. He’d rather die.
“Humanity, it’s not a state, it’s a quality,” pleads Leo, as he tries to persuade Karen to connect with them. She thinks their continued existence is pointless. “Someone needs to correct your father’s mistake,” she says. “We’d never be able to live in peace with humans. Our existence can only lead to pain.”
The thought of Mia being cut to ribbons is too much to bear, but she’s saved in the nick of time when Laura informs Hobb she has Leo’s memories on a computer. “If you don’t let Mia and the others go, we’ll take it to the press,” she hardballs.
Hobb is having none of it, but eventually he concedes: he has to let them go. “We’re saving a family, Joe,” says Laura. She could equally be talking about her own.
‘Why is it your job to save them?’
“Whatever it is, it can’t be as bad as what I did,” says Joe, as Laura edges towards telling him about Tom, her brother who died. She couldn’t save him, so she has to help the conscious synths.
It’s too soon for a happy ending, but as Mattie hands over the laptop to Pete, and Laura gives Mia a wad of cash the synths get a glimpse of one. They’re finally free. But hang on, Fred’s transmitting their location to Hobb, who claims he has the code used to create the conscious synths.
If you’re going to do a runner, what better place to hide than slap bang in the middle of the anti-synth protest? With the ‘family’ now in the same place, Leo has summoned Karen. He knows they need her to save Max. “If I help you, you’ll have the power to give other synthetics consciousness. The world would never be the same,” she says. “Have you even thought about that?”
It’s like some kind of synth seance as Leo tries to connect all the group’s consciousness. Lives flash before eyes. It’s not pretty. The code’s corrupting. “Your minds are retreating to their deepest levels as they shut down. Don’t fight it,” says Karen. “If I help you, you’ll have David’s power.” Max is back: “We’re all together,” sighs Leo. But Hobb is still controlling Fred.
No one wants to risk the programme being found online, so Niska deletes it from the computer and you don’t mess with her when she’s on a mission. She hands a copy over to Laura.
‘Goodbye little mouse’
It’s an understatement to say that Humans doesn’t end neatly. Niska’s breaking out on her own. “I want to live my own life now,” she says.
Pete catches up with Karen. He asks her about her scar, which makes her different from Beatrice. “It must have been lonely all these years,” he says. Are they about to live happily ever after?
At home, the Hawkins family get back to normal while Sophie uses the feather duster to keep the place as neat and tidy as Mia used to. She even cracks out a comedy: “I’m sorry, Matilda, I don’t understand your question.”
Mattie’s flash drive is missing. It’s speeding through the countryside on a train with Niska. And that’s where things are left hanging.
So … it’s not so much an ending but a continuation. Are you happy that there’s plenty left to explore in the show’s confirmed second season, or are there too many question marks for you to sleep at night?
Notes and queries
- Where’s Niska off to? And does she really have Elster’s programme, or is it safe with Laura?
- What will the conscious synths do all day? Do they have a plan?
- “You can’t protect us any more,” Mattie told Laura. “We don’t need you to and that’s OK.” How will the family adjust to life post-Mia?
- Will finding love with Pete give Karen a reason to want to live? And what about if Leo and Mattie got closer? It was waiting to happen.
- And will the conscious synths live on for ever?
Too. Many. Questions.
