Extant

After two episodes, I was intrigued although not totally sold. There are definitely some logic issues, and motivations aren't always clear, but I was really curious to see where this is all going.

But while it's kind of held my interest, the season's has proven remarkably devoid of logic. People do hugely stupid things (like go exactly where people would look for you while in hiding), Berry, her husband and her boss seem to be in some emotional fog that prevents her from thinking at all clearly. They're all supposed to be science types, yet there decisions are not just based entirely on emotion; they're based on the id emotions you would expect from a teenager. By the end of the season it would be easier to list the few things that make sense than the vast number that don't.

It's still generally watchable, and keeps me more-or-less interested, but it's quite possibly the dumbest sci-fi show ever made.

We have now watched 3 episodes and this is the turning point for pretty much any new show we take up. Almost Human, Intelligence, these shows made it to exactly 3, they were good mostly and well done but there was no "Intrigue" to keep our interest so a 4th was never watched. The Strain, was bad enough 1 episode was enough, but we watched a 2nd just to be sure, terrible writing ruined that show.

So here after 3 episodes are reasons why we are still interested, its not as good as many other top notch shows, but it is "good enough" so to speak and better than many others:

STORY - So far its kept our interest, and that interest has been increasing with each episode not decreasing. I'm not going to give anything away here so will leave it at that, main thing is they give you some questions, and then slowly drop you clues to answers. I find without this element and something to link shows together, shows in general do not keep our interest. Blacklist is a prime example of a show that did a GREAT job of this, you always want to keep watching to see how things will unfold and have questions answered and so far we're on board here.

WRITING - Others have pointed out some flaws, and I see what they are pointing at but overall I think flaws are minor and writing and scripting is decent to good, certainly miles ahead of the Strain, but sure not up to the level of Dexter (very subjective however, I'm sure there are people who would point out numerous flaws in Dexter)

ACTING - Halle does seem a little "stiff", but overall we have found the acting to be good and believable from all characters, though the child really does not shows signs of his true self

DIRECTION/PRODUCTION - Good to very good, with SS (says exc producer, not sure how much he is really involved) in the mix you would not expect less, pacing seems good, budget seems decent, no issues that we found here anyway

SUMMARY - Like I mentioned in comparing two other somewhat new sci-fi type shows Almost Human and Intelligence, this one is done about as well but has the edge on them just for the reason of Intrigue. Its not as intense (yet) as something like Helix, but the ending of episode 3 ramped things up and shows it could be heading in that direction (tension-wise).

Other rating from me for reference and comparison:

Game of Thrones - 10 Dexter - 9 Blacklist - 8 Almost Human - 6 intelligence - 6 The Strain - 4

It has a good developing story line and I have found the early episodes built up a level of suspense.

The actors have done a good job to get you trapped into it but I have found it a bit confusing having Hiroyuki Sanada playing yet another inscrutable Japanese hate character so soon after Helix.

The series is definitely work watching but I am concerned at the very slow pace. You get to the end of each episode feeling that not much progress has been made. I can only hope that this is not due to a lack of story direction.

I am starting to feel like saving the rest of the episodes of this series and watching them all in one hit to get some sense of pace.

In all, not a bad bit of SciFi and, hopefully, it will start to progress a bit quicker as the plot broadens.

I was intrigued at by the story and the series starts fairly well.

However, it didn't take very long to realise that not a lot was happening by the end of each episode.

It kept teasing that something would happen, but it never did. The pace of the story is too slow in my opinion and then a whole slurry of events happen all at once.

That wasn't a show stopper for me, just a minor gripe.

My biggest problem is Halle Berry's character.

She becomes increasingly annoying as the episodes progress. It came to the point where I just couldn't watch anymore as her character just became to annoying too bear anymore.

Lots of promise, but sadly poorly executed!

Extant has an interesting premise but the execution feels clumsy and overworked. While it is still a good Sci-fi show I think it still needs some time to develop and find it's stride. The positives include the great production values and that it has a blockbuster movie feel. I also think it has the potential to be better it just needs to up the excitement level.

Personally, I'm not thrilled with the casting and find Halle Berry's performance to be quite weak. She needs drama roles to shine but doesn't fare so well with "everyday/normal" roles. It just feels too bland and forced. The rest of the cast are fine, not fantastic, but they do their job.

Overall I think as the story unfolds it will keep me interested. I have noticed that each episode is slightly more interesting than the last so that's a good sign.