TV Review Almost Human Season One Episode Three "Are You Receiving?"

Are you Receiving? takes on the hostage episode.

Now, if you're a TV watcher who watches a lot of drama like myself, you'll already know that some shows have done this episode way better than others.

I'm happy to say on Almost Human with it's unique spin on the police procedural, and their own spin on the hostage contained episode, they knock it out of the park.

Dorian and John respond to a call at a building when a security guard is found shot. Futuristic methods are already seen as the bad guys had set off a bomb in the lobby, making people evacuate.

The police set up a signal jammer which shut off signal in a multiple block radius.

It was fun to watch Dorian download the security footage in his head and send it back to the station. Nice little reminder that while the criminals have new methods, the police can process data and a crime scene faster.

Another futuristic (and humorous) opportunity came when Dorian masked his voice and spoke exactly like a Portuguese woman on a 911 call, and later exactly like John himself.

It also commented on the subtle nod Almost Human has gave to the question - "how much technology is too much technology?" While helpful to calm the Portuguese woman down on the phone, this ability could be used for very bad reasons.

With the episode structure itself, there was enough intrigue with the twists and turns. Initially John and Dorian ID the hostage takers as the holy reclamation army, who are asking for a special trigger mechanism for an explosion device - at what Dorian says is a "megaton level". After John and Dorian kill one of them, they find out they are using a "face maker" which allows them to take on the identity of anyone they want - in this case the holy reclamation army. However, unable to contact the station because of the jammer, John and Dorian had to continue on to the floor the hostages were at. Through the help of one of the hostages who left their phone on, they were able to figure out the team was using a "point to point" communication method with another team.

After a scan of the area, John and Dorian figure out that this team (which later turns out to just be some regular criminals) was using the police signal jammer to rob a nearby precious metals weigh station. Dorian gets in a firefight with some hostages and gets cornered.

Almost Human's unique twist on the cop show came in handy as John used a face maker to impersonate the hostage taker they shot to get close enough to save Dorian, and kill the other hostage takers.

Dorian then finally disables the bomb that was going to wipe all the hostages out. John gets the station to lift the jammer and the other members of the heist team end up getting locked inside the metals room.

The humor again returns this week which was great. It felt authentic and real to the show. I liked Dorian ragging on John for using his Olive Oil technique on his leg and not saying thank you.

It was a good indicator into their relationship, as well as the type of person John is. Other regular humor is peppered throughout - using the gum to fix Dorian's head, Dorian not understanding John's sarcasm when he says his head looks fine, John telling Dorian he's buying noodles after Dorian tells him he doesn't eat, etc.

However my personal favorite thing about the episode was Dorian's nod to John's story from earlier about feeling like he was going to die after falling through the ice and how Dorian felt the same way with the gun pointed at him.

While Dorian exclaimed "I know it's not the same", John replied "dead is dead." It wasn't the most elegant way he could have put it, but it was a nice way of him saying what needed to be said: yes we may be different but feelings are feelings and those emotions are what connect all of us.

Unrelated, it was really weird for John to talk about Elton John (someone who is presently very much alive) like he had been dead for years.

I imagine we will get more weird things like that as we go on in the series.

Photo Credit: Collider