The Defenders: Mean Right Hook

 "We just go and find another team to join? An army?"

Oh boy. This is quite the episode. Our heroes are all investigating what seems to be a big, multifaceted conspiracy involving the hands from different directions, in what seems to be a well-constructed plot. There's so much going on, but the story is easy to follow, not an easy combination. I'm enjoying this very much.

Sigourney Weaver's dying Alexandra continues to fascinate, and not only because she can order around Madame Gao like an underling. Is she hinting, after her private performance by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, that she may be considerably older than she looks? Is this why Jessica traces the shell companies back to 1820 and finds it doesn't stop there?

I like the handling of the characters. Jessica is her irrepressible, irreverent self. Luke may be all loved up with Claire, but nothing will stop him doing the right thing. Matt, complete with an intervention by Foggy to give him work to be "another type of hero", is struggling with not being Darevevil: heroism as addiction. Danny is a right mardyarse: I fail to see what Colleen sees in him. Oh, and Misty is awesome.

At the end, excitingly, our protagonists meet. There's a hero vs. hero fight between Luke and Danny, in which we get to see what happens when the unstoppable force that is the Iron Fist meets the immovable object which is Luke. And Jessica's attorney is... Matt.

I can't wait to see what happens next.

Iron Fist: Dragon Plays with Fire

 "It was someone much more treacherous than I..."

And so the season ends, at last. And the finale is, in the end, superb. What could have been a tiresome tale of false accusations turns out to be much deeper.

This is about Harold, the arch-manipulator, who always was the malevolent puppet master. I suppose we didn't need Gao to tell us it was Harold who arranged for the plane to crash, not wanting Danny's father to expose what was always his heroin operation. I'm sure I wasn't the only viewer who had more than an inkling.

But it's about more than that. It's about Ward redeeming himself, being loyal to Danny and enen showing some wise self-knowledge at the end. It's about Joy realising the terrible truth about her father, yet being perhaps easy prey for Davos trying to turn her against Danny as Gao smiles. It's about bad, abusive families and the damage they cause across the generations, some treatable, some bad. Colleen and Danny are a sweet couple but, as Claire says, they're both pretty damaged people.

I saw thend coming, too: K'un Lun is gone for the next fifteen years now. Yet Danny has learned a lot about himself, and what he wants to do as an Iron Fist: to be a hero. It's fitting that he and Ward are reconciled. Both of them have grown.

Yes, this series was uneven in places. But overall the final episodes are strong enough to make it a very impressive serial.

Iron Fist: Eight Diagram Dragon Palm

 "You're all I've got..."

Suddenly it all changes: Danny doesn't fall far, fortunately, and wakes up to a charm offensive by Harold, who is not dead after all. He's welcomed back into the company, 51% stake and all. Is this it? Has Danny won?

Well, no. From the start his new role has tensions. To the existing board members he's a cuckoo in the nest, and he would be wise to show some patience before throwing his weight around. Yet, on day one, the board meeting brings a moral dilemma about the pricing of a new drug... and Danny does the right thing, rather than the diplomatic thing.

There's more backstory, too. Harold did die of cancer. But he did a deal with the Hand, who resurrected him, but at the cost of secrecy and being their "good servant". Why do the hand want that pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn? They're certainly prepared to terrorise a triad for it.

Meanwhile Danny and Joy bond further, while Colleen continues with her cage fighting. I have no idea where this is going, as the arc has taken an unexpected turn. But the Hand, I'm sure, are the Big Bad. With Madame Gao at the centre of it all. I'm still enjoying this. It may not be quite as good as previous Netflix Marvel stuff, but the margin isn't great.

Iron Fist: Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch

 "It's my name!"

Like the two previous episodes, this is utterly gripping. We have the narrative of Danny trying to prove who he is and asserting his rights against the Meachums. Colleen (I liked the reference to Daughters of the Dragon) has an interesting arc with her joining in the cage fighting she'd previously denounced as dishonourable: sher's up to something. More compellingly, though, what drives the status quo forward now is connections with the wider Netflix Marvel world.

We know from laast episode that Harold wants to defy the hand. We now see him humiliated, controlled and belittlred by Madame Gao. Meanwhile, a seemingly desperate Danny finds none other than Jeri Hogarth, gains her trust, and suddenly his legal situation is looking up. The legal machinations of Jeri are hugely entertaining. What's more Danny seems to be starting to suspect that Harold may well not be quite so dead...

So far this is as good as any of its predecessors. Acting included, overall.

The Matrix (1999)

 "There is no spoon."

This film, by its very cinematography, may well sinply ooze the essence of the late '90s. But it is timeless.

Obviously, this is a truly great film. The fact that a film so drenched in philosophy and wonder can be such a blockbuster hit is a testament both to the genius of the Wachowskis and to the openness of humanity to ideas. And the fact that the "red pill" has in recent years been adopted by thenow thankfully dated alt-right is as meaningless as the alt-righ themselves,  along with everyone who doubts that Trump is a wannabe dictator or that Brexiteers are all Putin's bitches. These people are sad, hateful virgins, while this film is full of joy.

The point is not that this film posits a reality in which our lives are not only but a dream but are simulated realities while we are farmed horribly by AI's resulting from a singularity that looks worryingly as though it may happen within my lifetime, competing with global heating in the fear stakes. The point is, on the one hand, that this film has such a bloody good soundtrack (Rob Zombie, he whose "Dragula" was ubiquitous, and rightly so in late '90s rock clubs, and, er, Marilyn Manson, a genius who may possibly also be an abusive bastard). On the other, though... yes, this is an action sci-fi film with sci-fi protagonists. Yes, it uses its premise to mimic the martial arts visuals on the popular martial arts films of the time. Bjut it means something.

There may well be a religious subtext. If so, it's refreshingly subtle and not preaching uselessly to the converted. There may, as chronicled in recent years, be a trans subtext, endorsed by the Wachowskis who have both transitioned. But subtexts naturally abound with a subject matter so deep as the nature of reality and the ethics of living in a comfortable simulation vs. harsh reality. Should we pretend that there is a spoon?

And yes, I noticed: said bent spoon was in the real world, not the matrix. This film is awesome.

Jessica Jones: AKA Smile

"You really are an anal crumpet, aren't you?"

So this is it, it’s over, and somehow it all fits into fifty short minutes.

It’s interesting to have the finale be the episode in which Rosario Dawson guest stars as Claire, providing the rather necessary plot function of nursing Luke to health while Jessica has her final confr with Kilgrave. But she also acts as a link to Daredevil and a nice person for Malcolm to chat to about being a “sidekick”- he ends the episode as Jessica’s self-appointed employee, a former social work student finally finding a way to help people.

After a tense set piece with Kilgrave getting everyone in the hospital to want Jessica dead, and an injection into Luke’s optic nerve that we thankfully don’t see, it’s time for the final showdown, and the unhinged Kilgrave has managed to increase his powers even more, even at a 60% risk of death. David Tennant is outstanding for this finale, but Krysten Ritter is extraordinary. Her monologue to the unconscious Luke is quietly devastating. She can’t be with him because, essentially, her self-Loathing means she sees herself as not deserving happiness.

The final showdown- a horribly injured Albert has time to warn Jessica before dying- sees a much more powerful Kilgrave. But a clever bait and switch between Jessica and Trish, and Trish allowing herself to be bait, allows Jessica to trick Kilgrave that he can indeed control her. And it’s when he’s at his very creepiest and his very rapiest that Jessica is able to quickly snap his neck. Visually it feels sudden and even anti-climatic, but thematically it’s satisfying. Kilgrave dies at his most unrepentant.

Hogarth gets a nice little coda to begin her atonement by saving Jessica from being tried for Kilgrave’s murder, but Jessica ends the series still consumed with self-loathing. A magnificent end to a magnificent series, and a character I want to see again.

Jessica Jones: AKA 1,000 Cuts

"I'm a man of my word. If I feel like it."

Now that changes everything.

The whole series up to now has been based around the central plotline of Jessica having to provide evidence against Kilgrave so that Hope, an innocent young woman, doesn't spend her life locked away for something she didn't do. There are, of course, as a drugged up Simpson points out, a few problems with this, not the least of which is how can Kilgrave ever plausibly be imprisoned? If he can get Hope freed on a whim then the answer is surely "never". But the dramatic final scene removes this imperative. Jessica, both freed of her obligations to Hope and freed of Kilgrave's control, can now set out to kill him.

So much happens, though. A crazed Simpson suddenly murders Detective Clemons. Robin tries to kill Hogarth and is accidentally herself killed by Pam, who ends up disgusted with her (former?) fiancee. We learn that Killgrave has no power over Jessica any more, and that his power is a virus that can potentially be cured. Most horrifyingly, like any abuser, Kilgrave still has no conception of having done wrong, and continues to believe that it is Jessica who has wronged him.

Mostly, though, it's an episode about character, in spite of the sidelining of Simpson's no longer nuanced character, with some first class acting from both Ritter and Tennant as the series disposes of a fair bit of ballast so it can move towards its end. Bloody good telly, yet again.

Jessica Jones: AKA Sin Bin

"Killgrave? Think about obvious! Was 'Murdercorpse' already taken?"

Jessica is playing for high stakes with Hope's freedom, not her own this time. She may have Kilgrave where she wants him, but does she have enough evidence for a conviction? It’s a high tension episode as a desperate Jessica cuts all sorts of corners for Hope, but may just make the situation worse.

I have to say I think the whole concept of plea bargaining is just awful. It isn’t justice, and I hope we never bring it to this country. But it certainly provides a good dramatic device. We also get to see a resilient Kilgrave where he isn’t in control, and he’s quite the match for Jessica. It also seems that Simpson survived the explosion, and has a part still to play.

Most ominously, though, Jessica isn’t the only one who is desperate. Hogarth faces ruin from her vengeful ex, and seems tempted by the prospect of Kilgrave making her problems go away.

Jessica shows us her true skill as a detective by tracking down Kilgrave’s parents, showing us that beneath the alcoholism and PTSD is a brilliant mind. They turn out to be much closer than expected, and it seems that Kilgrave’s side of the story isn’t exactly correct.

The family reunion is as grimly compelling as you might expect, and ends in chaos as an angry Kilgrave makes his mother stab herself to death and nearly does the same to his father, escaping in the confusion. But does Jessica have the evidence she needs? It’s an extraordinary episode, at once fast-paced enough to be exciting and slow enough to give the characters real time to breathe.

Jessica Jones: AKA WWJD?

"I care if you die. The rest are fungible."

This tour de force of a two hander between Krysten Ritter and David Tennant is easily the most significant episode yet. And the best.

The fifty minutes consists mostly of Jessica and Kilgrave together in Jessica's childhood home, which Kilgrave has rather creepily decorated, right down to the CD's in her bedroom and the Green Day and Nirvana posters (nice!). We learn many things about both their pasts and get to know them both much better. Kilgrave won't control her as he somehow imagines that it's possible for her to fall in love with him of her own free will. Yeah, right. He's not above using others to manipulate her though, reminding us that the character is of course a metaphor for controlling, abusive men.

We learn, through an early flashback, that Jessica's younger brother is long dead. Jessica can put away an awful lot of wine. And there's an early clash as Kilgrave denies responsibility for Reva's death, saying that he only told Jessica to "take care of her". Worse, he denies the fact that he repeatedly raped Jessica while he controlled her because, hey, he bought her dinner.

There's a brief interlude as we see just how ruinously horrible Hogarth's divorce is going to go, and Will Simpson is trying to blow up Kilgrave. But then we hear about Kilgrave's horrid childhood- abused and experimented on by scientist parents, hence his powers and, no doubt, his sociopathy. And it seems he's a Kevin. Well I never. Worse, Jessica lost her parents in a car crash as a teenager because she was being a dick to her little brother in the back.

But it's when Jessica persuades Kilgrave to use his powers for good- defusing a hostage crisis, and not even making the hostage taker kill himself- that the big piece of misdirection occurs. She even goes AWOL to chat with Trish, and we're left convinced that she's considering trying to use Kilgrave for good. But it's all a trap, and we en up with Jessica in possession of a drugged and unconscious Kilgrave- but too late to save Will, who is, er, blown up by his own petard.

Now THAT is a bloody good episode.

Jessica Jones: AKA Top Shelf Perverts

"We both know you don't own a vacuum cleaner...”

Wow. Jessica has really hit rock bottom after last week; Luke’s stinging rejection has really affected her. We know that, narratively speaking, there’s no way she’s going to get locked up in Superman for the rest of her life for a trumped up crime of her own devising in the middle episode of the season is dark, dark, dark. Jessica is a very damaged person.

And the reason for that damage is as foregrounded as ever as we finally get a personal confrontation between Jessica and Kilgrave in which both Ritter and Tennant are magnificent. Kilgrave is the textbook abuser her, entitled to have Jessica just because he thinks he loves her. She’s the object of his “aff futons” and thus an object, to be allowed no agency at all. He’s refusing to use his powers directly on her but that doesn’t mean this is about anything other than a disturbing need to control. All this is every bit as disturbing as his murder of Ruben.

We also see Trish’s mother, and apparently Jessica’s adoptive stepmother, as we begin to get some backstory regarding Jessica’s childhood. And Will is going off the rails, tracking Kilgrave without being honest to Trish about what he’s doing. Here’s my prediction; he’s going to get himself killed.

Hogarth’s ex blackmails her for 75% of her assets; this means war, and brings this plot thread from
The background to the fore. I’m sure something will snap soon. It’s a decisively eventful middle episode, ending with Jessica seemingly helpless in Kilgrave’s orbit.  This is brutally good telly.

Jessica Jones: AKA You're a Winner

"Of course they're ok. I don't hurt dogs."

Narratively in the context of the season, of course (SPOILERS!) this is The Episode Where Luke Finds Out. It's halfway through the season so naturally it's time to build a big wedge between the two of them. But the way it's done is devastating, a massive blow that someone decent like Luke, whom she cares about, should be so disgusted with her. Yet this, like everything, is the consequence of that abusive relationship with Killgrave, who spends the episode carefully, and legally, with minimal use of powers, acquiring ownership of Jessica's childhood home. It doesn't get much creepier than that.

What gives the ending its punch, of course, is that Jessica and Luke end up working together and, after Luke hears the gist about what happened with Killgrave from Malcolm, he thinks he knows why they split up, and it doesn't take long before they sleep together. It's clear from these brief scenes just how much she likes him, and how much his rejection of her must hurt.

Elsewhere, Hope gets herself an illicit abortion as there's no way she can stomach giving birth to Killgrave's child, a foetus conceived by rape. We get the eye-opening revelation that Pam won't sleep with Hogarth before marriage because "I'm Catholic"- people who refuse to make sure they're sexually compatible with you before getting married are not taking the marriage seriously, and I'm not sure what Pam's agenda is here.

One other weird thing- Hogarth wants Hope's dead foetus. Why? A solid episode, though, in a series that continues to impress.

Jessica Jones: AKA 99 Friends

"You are coming across as distinctly paranoid."

"Everyone keeps saying that. It's like a conspiracy."

No Luke this episode,  and no Killgrave, although he pervades everything. No; instead Jessica gets a divorce case that isn't a divorce case, showing us the hostility that there is towards "gifted" people following all that CGI in The Avengers, and perhaps more importantly how easy it is for people to blame easy targets for their loss. Jessica distracts herself from guilt over Luke by setting up a support group for people controlled by Killgrave in the past, while Trish grows reluctantly closer to Simpson, the guilt-ridden cop who thought he'd killed her.

It's a quieter episode where the characters get to breathe, so we get to more fully explore the effects of PTSD on both Trish and Jessica, who are both very different, while we get out first
inklings of just how messy Hogarth's divorce is likely to be. The slow pace suits the style, and direction and narration style are, as ever, excellent in what is shaping up to be a very promising Chandleresque tale of domestic abuse.

Jessica Jones: AKA Crush Syndrome

"You should kill yourself."

"Probably. But I'm the only one who knows you're innocent."

The quality doesn't let up in the second episode as Jessica, spurred on by the need to prove Hope's innocence, resolves to go after Killgrave in spite of her extreme fear. Pausing only to impatiently suffer an interview by a cop played by Clarke Peters from The Wire, she spends most of the episode investig... er, blagging her way to some initial answers, which is compelling viewing in itself.

But it's the characterisation that really keeps you hooked, with the subtext that Jessica is a domestic abuse survivor never far from the surface. We start out with awkwardness, though, as Jessica has to tell Luke Cage that she was only ever interested in him for business reasons as a client thought his wife was sleeping with Luke. He understandably feels used and disgusted. But, after this inauspicious beginning, Jessica spends most of the episode being quietly awesome piecing together how Killgrave survived, forcing a doctor to perform the surgery as a random bloke is forced to donate both kidneys and ultimately spend the rest of his life as a vegetable in thrall to his overbearing and religiously in-your-face mother. Ouch. That's dark. But Kilgrave has a weakness; anaesthetic.

Meanwhile, we get introduced to Jessica's twin neighbours, who seem to be yet another abusive relationship. And we get our first, horrifying glimpse of Kilgrave as he simply knocks on the door of a random home and orders the family to let him stay and do as they are told; it's horrible to see him sending both kids to the closet. But we end on an interesting cliffhanger as the super-strong Jessica and the invulnerable Luke both "out" themselves to one another by accident. Now that they have something in common will the awkwardness last?

Another impressive bit of telly and a very promising series.

Jessica Jones: AKA Ladies Night

"New York may be the city that never sleeps but it sure sleeps around."

I should start by saying that, although I read a lot of Marvel stuff as a kid and a teenager, I'm rather vaguer about anything later than '94-ish, from which point my comic book collection took a definite second place to my record collection. To put it simply, I have no prior knowledge whatsoever of Jessica Jones as a character (although I certainly recognise both Luke Cage and the Purple Man when I see them), and am coming to this fairly cold with my only expectations being to expect a variation on the noir tone of Daredevil. So it's a pleasant surprise to find a mix of very Raymond Chandler PI tropes (I love the narration) and a very feminist subtext.

We're told little of Jessica's past frm before she became a hard-boiled, hard-drinking private eye other than a hint from Trish late on that she used to be some kind of "hero", that she has super-strength that she doesn't advertise too widely, and that she's a year beyond a relationship with a sinister may called Killgrave, whose power to make people want to obey him is used mainly on the opposite sex and, it's implied, for extensive sexual purposes. This is a clear and deliberate metaphor for spousal abuse, and the way we're gradually shown how Jessica is still dealing with PTSD shows the very real trauma of spousal abuse and the very real courage needed to confront it. In a world where most Avengers merchandise fails to include Black Widow because blatant sexism it's good to have a Marvel series, with a female showrunner in Melissa Rosenberg, that deals with such issues.

It's a brilliant intro, showing us Jessica and her world and beginning the season arc, all while working as an episode of telly in its own right, with that shot ringing out in the lift being a truly shocking moment. We meet Jessica and the various characters who inhabit her world, including the interesting and nuanced Luke Cage, with whom she has some hard sex and an awkward parting. It's a very promising start to a series that promises to be a very different kind of noir to Daredevil.

Humans: Season 2, Episode 8

"You're not going to lose me, Niska. You've got me."

It's the end, then, and inevitably we will end with all synths everywhere being conscious. A truly historic event; the Singularity. And that leaves rich potential themes for next series. Never mind how society is ever going to cope; surely this means the end, violently or just as much otherwise, of humanity as a biological species?

But let us not get ahead of ourselves. We start with reconciliation between Max and Leo, while Laura and Joe are divided again between her social conscience and desire to do the right things for people or who happen to be synths, while he just wants to retreat and defend his family. There are a lot of Joes in the world, sadly.

Athena has to admit to Karen that it simply isn't now possible to give her a human body, thereby destroying all her hopes and dreams. And there's a heartbreaking scene as V explains to her "mother" that's she's far more than just Ginny and is leaving the network to explore, and that mother and "daughter" will never meet again.

Laura is in trouble as Hester sneakily lies her way into the house and they have a philosophical chat about the role of violence in resolving social injustice. It isn't long before a hostage situation develops and it's Leo and Mia to the rescue. Its interesting to see just how protective towards him Mia is. Meanwhile, Toby's relationship with Renie is finally going well and Sophie, whose story is left unresolved,is taken by Joe to a kids' party with a synth clown. Brr.

The real action, though, is between Hester and Laura,who strikes a nerve in telling Hester that she is what she is because of abuse, reacting just as a human would. This doesn't go down well with Hester, who proudly announces that she has killed four humans and their lives mean nothing to her. This is chilling. And the lack of regret means, of course, that she isn't going to survive the episode.

Hester and Leo have an emotional reunion, but she suddenly stabs him just after he has declared his love, which is nice. In the end it's Mia who kills Hester, along with herself as an heroic sacrifice. Only the arrival of Niska, just in time, saves them both, and it's right that it should be Niska who sort of redeems herself by killing Hester.

We end with Leo seemingly comatose and all synths worldwide becoming conscious, including Sam who seems to avert Karen's attempted suicide. It's a truly magnificent individual episode of television and elevates a series that had started out without as much promise as the last one into something truly special.

Humans: Season 2, Episode 7

"It's time for them to fear us..."

We start with Mattie being interrogated about her code to make all synths conscious, but fortunately she's able to stonewall and leave because Mia and Leo are essentially nice. Hester isn't, but for now she's just the new girl. It's Mia who now takes charge.

The media are beginning to notice "bizarre synth malfunctions"; we're entering the endgame. Synths are becoming conscious more and more. But Odi, tragically, is not among them as a devastated Mattie reads what is in effect a suicide note from Odi, who is rebooting himself because he hates being conscious.

A direct contrast is Karen, who outs herself as a synth to Athena and asks for her consciousness to be uploaded into ahuman body so she can have the one thing she's always dreamed of.

Laura and Pete meet and compare notes as Mia's plan to rescue the synths at Qualia proceeds. The raid is magnificent, bold and a tragic failure, leading to the casual deaths of many conscious synths which is devastating for everyone but especially Leo. This leads to Max reconciling with the others, but that is small comfort. These are powerful scenes.

This is yet another emotionally powerful episode as Revie, hearing whatSophie has to say about being a synth, emotionally abandons her lifestyle: "It was fun, but you can get lost in it." At least there's happy news that Niska is back with Astrid- if she survives. The ending is devastating, though, as a rogue Hester tries to kill Athena and manages to kill Pete in the process. Poor Karen is inconsolable. Finally, in the penultimate episode, this season is really coming together to be magnificent. It may have taken a long time to get going but a good finale would elevate the season to magnificent.

Humans: Season 2, Episode 6

"I had sex with him."

So, as both Athena and Pete know, Khoury is trying to create conscious synth children for bereaved parents as a cynical moneyspinner. And Athena will do as she's told because Khoury "owns" V, what with her being company property. Ouch.

Meanwhile Mattie finds Leo at his hideout and tries to talk some sense into him as Laura sets about trying to restore Anita into being Mia again, one of the few sequences that feel like padding and, once she manages to do this, poor betrayed Mia is heartbroken. In a moving scene, Odi confesses to a priest; his life no longer has purpose or meaning now he is free. All he wants is the life of service he remembers. This is troubling, but there will always be individuals like this.

Karen falls in love with the seraphim Pete brings her, and bonds herself to him, very clearly showing how she identifies as a human. Mattie receives little gratitude after saving Mattie's life; they are both sort of rivals for Leo and, anyway, we know that Hester hates humans. It's unknowingly cruel of her to tell Mattie she's had sex with him and then blindly ask her if she's ever been with anyone.

Poor Sophie, though; even Joe's egg fight fun can't get rid of her desire to act like a synth. It's an event-filled episode of a season that's finally hotting up, ending with Mia revealing to Leo and Hester that Mattie has the code to make all synths sentient...

Humans: Season 2, Episode 5

"I believe the man has ejaculated."

Max makes a friend: a newly conscious synth who has been looking after some rather unpleasant children. She is given hope, and a possible future. Contrast that with Mia, who has been sold by Ed to cover his mother's care home costs. It seems MIA meant very little to him after all, and that's horrible.

Odi, too, is conscious, but with no desires of his own; he just wants to serve and be useful. This time, though, it's his actual personality. That's interesting. And a direct contrast with Leo and Hester who have definite plans for the liberation of all synths.

Athena hears that her daughter is dead and, distraught as she is, she isn't going home for the funeral. That seems to prove beyond doubt that V is Ginny and, sure enough, we get this confirmed. Things stay emotional as Mia foils Ed's plan by pretending to the prospective purchasers that she is just Anita again. But she ends up as Just Anita again. Will she ever again be herself?

Toby's wannabe synth wannabe girlfriend is called Renie and, in another heartbreaking scene, offers him sex while in role as a synth- but he wants to get to know her as a person, not just to get inside her pants. This, of course, makes her feel that her chosen persona is being rejected and she sends him away. It's an episode full of emotional rejections and heartbreak. At least we get the contrast of Hester coming on to Leo, whom she likes and wants to protect. But Hester represents the violently revolutionary Left, and he the more middle class progressive- and she's swaying him.

Probably the biggest thing in plot terms, though, is that Mattie has worked out the full code for making ALL synths conscious. Oh, and Niska realised at the climax of her consciousness test that the odds have been stacked against her... and escapes, awesomely. Again. And then we end with the big reveal of what seraphim are... little synth children!

Now the season is really getting good. I hope this level of intensity gets maintained.

Humans: Season 2, Episode 4

"It's Qualia!"

We begin with an ideological schism as the moral Max leaves in disgust after Leo agrees to Hester's cynical plan to allow humans to kidnap a consciousness synth and follow them to their base. It works and, yes, it's Qualia. But Leo is going down a slippery slope, even condoning torture on Hester's part as long as he doesn't have to watch. The moral issues at play in this programme are fascinating.

There's an interesting post-coital scene between Mia and are; she seems about as blissful as she can get, but did she enjoy the sex? We simply don't know. More developments happen with Sophie,who has a syndrome where she starts behaving like a synth, which causes Laura and Joe to have their signature moment of angst about being Bad Parents. Fortunately this is all interrupted by a menacing synth trying to force Laura to drop Niska's case; it seems someone really doesn't like what she's doing.

Laura's secret weapon in proving Niska's consciousness is,of course, Astrid, who is lovely. It doesn't matter that Niska abandoned her, or even that she's a synth; Astrid still loves her. Astrid is wonderful, and I'm very apprehensive at how it's all inevitably going to end in tears.

The plot thickens further as a bit of hacking from Mattie shows Joe to have been fired by synths, with no human involvement; there's more than a whiff of conspiracy here. And Khoury wines and dines Athens into a full confession of what she's up to- full transfer of human consciousness into an artificial body. He decides to support rather than fire her, but her work requires the, well, vivisection of any conscious synths held by Qualia.

Odi now seems to be conscious- he misses George- while Mia suddenly collapses to give us our cliffhanger. We still aren't hitting the heights of last season but the last couple of episodes have been better.

Humans: Season 2, Episode 3

"Apricot!"

This is still a good season, but something is still missing compared to last season. Perhaps we're still in the set-up stage?

Athena has a daughter, Gin who's in a coma; the obvious inference here is that V, her artificial intelligence, is somehow linked to her daughter. I'm sure we'll find out; Athena is finally off to Blighty to join the rest of the plot. Meanwhile Laura is continuing to try and prove Niska's consciousness so she can stand trial, and Joe, humiliatingly, goes back to work as a temp for his old employer on the shop floor. Laura has a rather dramatically effective three days, and much of the episode consists of her frustratingly failed attempts. These scenes are entertaining.

Leo and co all abandon their hidey-hole, unaware that Hester killed their prisoner rather than letting him escape. Meanwhile Toby tries to get to know the girl at school who wants to be a synth, and Mia gets back together with Ed and they start a rather heartwarming relationship. The season is starting to come together, I think; a lot more is happening and I enjoyed this episode a lot.

So many plot threads, all good; Odi is now up and working, while Pete and Karen are on the trail of the mysterious "seraphim". And Athena manages to blackmail a forcibly retired Hobbs into helping her. What is she after...?