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Humans (2015) is aptly-titled. Though it’s a show prominently directing focus on androids, at its core it’s a series that puts humans under the microscope, examining our flaws and tendencies as a species. Any mayhem caused by a sentient race of artificial intelligence is the responsibility of its creators, and each installment of Humans coughs up more evidence that we are our own worst enemies.

“Episode Two” took some darker turns from the series premiere, casting shadows on various subjects and themes that will certainly develop into cryptic storylines. We learn a few new details about Synths that trigger sparks of dystopia, like the oddity of Anita (Gemma Chan) not randomly sharing data with other Synths she encounters. Larger than the question of why Anita isn’t sending data, is what exactly are all the other Synths sharing? With such popularity in the everyday lives of regular people, the Synths would have a wealth of information - why are they exchanging it on a widespread scale? Who is receiving it? What are they doing with it? With the prevalence of data collection and fraud in our daily lives, this behavior is immediately suspect to modern audiences. Especially since it’s unclear whether or not Synth owners even know what’s being shared - or that it’s being shared at all.

There’s also the case of George (William Hurt) being forced to own a new caretaker Synth against his wishes. Things only get worse when the Synth disobeys his request for lunch, instead preparing him a dietary-approved meal instead. It gets worse when George discovers she’s allowed to touch him without permission, because the government’s Department of Health is its primary user - not George. She tells him when he needs medicine, what he’s allowed to do around his own home, and any violation of her rules is reported to his doctor. George feels imprisoned in his own home as a robot tells him what’s in his best interest. Something that was designed to improve human life is instead being used to dictate it. George’s situation is commentary about how the elderly would be treated if this technology exists in the future, but equally a metaphor for the way we treat the elderly today.

In another revelation, though it’s not much of a surprise, George helped create the original Synths, only to now have their functionality pitted against him.

The prostitute Synth, Niska, introduced briefly in “Episode One,” also gets a larger arc this episode when she to break the rules of being a Synth after a john wants her to pretend she’s young and afraid. You root for her because the human is despicable, just like the ones operating and prodding the captured sentient Synth in a laboratory.

“Rather than synths it’s actually the humans that have been put underneath the microscope: our fears, fallibility, frailty and dark desires.” - Neela Debnath, Express

The series shows a bold appreciation for the way we’re headed as a technology-dependent society, and isn’t afraid to highlight the various ways humans could make the worst out of our growing scientific endeavors.