Spoiler alert: this recap covers the fifth episode of Humans showing on Channel 4. For episode four, click here
Gone are the days when Niska was just synth brothel eye candy. Now she’s shaping up as one of the most kick-ass characters in Humans.
“If we could make more of us, then the humans would have to accept our existence,” she says, with a glint in her eye when Leo informs her that his dad hid the secret formula for giving synths consciousness in his family of dollies.
But with Niska still wanted for murder, Leo sends her to lie low at Dr Millican’s house. Busybody Vera sees straight through Niska’s impersonation of a human. She’s not bringing anyone a cup of tea unless there’s a trace of cardiac or respiratory activity. “I’m not a synth, dolly,” deadpans Niska.
‘Illegally modified’
Ever the detective, Mattie is trying to find out if the name “Mia” means anything to Anita, but she’s interrupted by a family conference to break the news that Anita is “really old, and probably illegally modified”.
“You can’t get rid of someone just because they’re old,” says Sophie, striking a chord. So it’s down to a vote. Of course, Toby wants to keep Anita so he can lust after her, Mattie has further investigations to do and even Laura votes to keep her. She’s staying, then.
‘Twice as pretty and a fraction of the cost’
Karen has a close shave when Pete bursts into her bedroom to tell her about Niska’s exploits – she’s busy recharging.
At work, they are hauled into the boss’s office and instructed to pour water on all this “Killer Synth” business. “If this dolly hurts anybody else then I’ll be replacing the pair of you with synthetics,” he warns. “Twice as pretty and a fraction of the cost.”
Karen knows about the smash club incident and, being a synth, she can type very fast indeed, so it doesn’t take her long to get more information.
‘There’s something else in there’
Haunted by images of Mia, Leo wants to meet Mattie again, but she is reluctant. “You’re weird,” she says. Besides, she is busy earwigging her parents and their discussion about “Tom”.
The manufacturer has come to collect Anita and it’s Mattie who whisks her away at high speed – and into the arms of Leo. “Any inappropriate physical contact must be reported to my primary user,” warns Anita as he embraces her as if she’s still Mia.
“There’s something else in there,” says Mattie. “Believe me, I’ve seen it.” No amount of flicking through the architecture in her head will bring her pre-Anita memories out.
‘You had sex with her’
Safely back at home, Anita goes off to get on with that massive pile of washing (or whatever it is house synths do all day). Mattie is flicking through her activity report. “You little pervert,” she cries, eyeing Toby. “You had sex with her.”
The panicking teenager takes the hit for his dad to keep the object of his affections in the house. No wonder Joe volunteers to have The Talk with him. “Mum said you slept with Anita. Why would you do that?” says Joe.
“I don’t know,” replies Toby, knowingly. “You tell me.”
‘A legacy of just four machines’
Hobb update: he has had access to Leo’s records, showing he was brain dead before being released into David’s private care and dying weeks later.
“David succeeded in creating true AI and I don’t believe for a moment he’d have been satisfied with a legacy of just four machines,” he concludes. But if Leo needs all four synths to make the “consciousness proliferation” happen, Fred must be sacrificed.
In happier news, Odi’s back! He is found by a jogger in the woods, malfunctioning and dripping blue blood.
Pete’s off to sort this one out himself. “Stick it up your bollocks,” he tells his synth deskmate. He visits Dr Millican to present him with a £175 fine for fly-tipping and takes the opportunity to search for Odi in the house, while Niska lurks with some scissors.
“I’ve seen people hide synthetics in places that would make you weep for humanity,” says Pete as Dr Millican hastily gets rid of Niska’s blue blood and blames it on Vera having a leak.
‘I think she’s posing as a human’
Why is Karen so interested in Niska’s story? Did she think she was the only synth pretending to be a human? Karen’s certainly very good at it, even casually stealing one of Pete’s chips.
Not a fan of humanoid types, Pete is trying to get his head around the possible threat of synths posing as humans. “That changes everything,” he says, as Karen holds his gaze for a second too long.
‘It was a moment of complete stupidity’
Time for Joe to come clean and admit to Laura it was him who bumped plastic with Anita. “I’d had a few glasses of wine and I was pissed off with you,” he says, rolling out all the standard cheating excuses. “It was an accident. It was nothing. It was a moment of complete stupidity.”
Then he brings out the big guns. “It’s a sex toy,” he claims. “It’s not another human being.” Maybe raising the subject of “Tom” will even things up.
A sad end to this episode, then, with the wasteland of human-synth interaction laid bare. Leo is crying, Max is lonely, Niska is snooping through Dr Millican’s photos. Bags packed, Joe is getting into a cab …
Notes and queries
- Synths have the perfect get-out when conversations get tricky: “I need to charge.”
- “Dollies” is one of the most popular insults used against synths – a seemingly innocent word taking on a threatening meaning.
- Who is sad that Simon’s stint as synth-with-benefits has run out? Surely it’s not just Jill.
- “If you’re not worried about dying, you’re not really living. You’re just existing.” Thought-provoking words there from Dr Millican.
