Human Is

An interesting episode to ponder upon its concept. Well acted, well made, but somewhat lacking in directed flow. Would have been nearly sufficient to have the two leads and nobody else around them, figuratively. Brilliant acting by the two leads.

Bryan and Essie play their roles perfectly. Touches some universal themes: war and peace, love and hate. All in 47 minutes.

Bryan Cranston plays Silas Merick, a brave army officer in a future desolate Earth now called Terra.

He is also a jerk who treats his wife Vera coldly and callously. Vera finds comfort in an underground sex club and jogging in a virtual reality world.

Terra is at war with the planet Rexor IV. Although it seems the humans are the aggressors exploiting Rexor's resources for themselves.

Following a bloody battle with the aliens in Rexor, Silas returns as a changed man. He is warm, loving and kind to Vera. He is also accused of being a metamorph and stands trial.

The drama has a nice twist by Vera who exploits the propaganda given in his testimony by General Elin. It is something reminiscent of Star Trek.

I'm really starting to warm to PKDED. Having just come off watching the Black Mirror series, the anthology-style scifi is clearly developing nicely as a renewed genre and Human Is, with great performances by Brian Cranston and Australia Essie Davis really pushed a lot of buttons for me. Sexy, nicely shot and it makes the most of a slightly predictable but well paced story. It's got its flaws - the extended 'uptown gal goes downtown for a sexy time' scene is one of them - but in overall it gives me lots of encouragement to keep watching. However, if we still have to wear stockings in the year 2520, that will suck a LOT.

What some are missing as they criticize the conclusion of this episode is that the military entity here is not much different that some sort of unyielding, single minded group. Since these people are dependent on a substance necessary to their existence, they feel they can go to another planet and rape the resources of those people. When they meet resistance, they people they are stealing from try to defend themselves and keep what is theirs. It is stated early on that they have no interest in any sort of agreement or negotiations. So the others are seen as evil. Well, in the process of escaping, Bryan Cranston's comes back a different man. Of course, he is seen as having been infiltrated by the enemy. While the conclusion was a bit predictable, I still thought it was pretty good.