Extant #1-03 Recap: Seeing Ghosts

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After two surprisingly gripping episodes, Extant seemed to take a minor step back with its third episode, Wish You Were Here. Rather than focusing on the creepy, probably paranormal circumstances surrounding Molly’s miracle pregnancy and the strange visions that continue to haunt her, Extant went a different route with this episode and focused on the effects these strange events are having on her family life. And while it dragged a little more than the first two episodes, it built up to some really big things, and thankfully put an end to the one major issue I had with the show. Yes, I’m talking about Molly keeping the secret of her pregnancy from her husband John. One of my biggest pet peeves in television is to see a character keep a substantial bit of information from their friends or family simply because it makes the plot more ‘suspenseful.’ It hardly works in the show’s favor, and often backfires, succeeding in only pushing the viewer further and further from connecting with the cast. Thankfully, Extant did not make this mistake, and while it’s still odd that she kept the secret from John for this long, especially considering how much he’s been trying to help her work through whatever issues she has, I was very glad to see that particular plot thread come to an end. While John’s response might not have been as expressive as I may have expected, as he seemed to just run with the idea that his wife was mysteriously impregnated while on a solo mission in space, I did appreciate how quickly he believed her. There was no denial or even argument from him, he just accepted what his wife was telling him and immediately tried to help her cope with it. I still hope John gets some more development and personality as the show goes on, as he can occasionally feel kind of flat, but this episode of Extant was definitely a step in the right direction and I am really interested to see how he will impact the plot know that he’s more involved in it. Other than revealing her secret to John, however, Molly had a slightly less eventful episode than she has had before, until the end, that is. The focus, as I said, was very much on further showing the stress in her family, but quite frankly, I felt like it was a little unnecessary. I appreciate the thought behind it, but  the first two episodes did a great job at already establishing how hard it is for Molly to be back on earth after being alone in space for so long. Wish You Were Here also felt a little too similar to the previous episodes in its plot progression, and it almost felt like some events were being thrown in just to pad the episode’s length in order to further the build-up to the climactic conclusion. For example, the issues John faced in regards to Ethan going to school didn’t really stand out all that much since we’ve already seen him work through similar situations in the past. Still, I think the show is doing a good job at showing just how crazy it is to have a family raise an artificial intelligence as a son, and I like seeing how not everybody is as willing to accept it as a rational, understandable thing to do as our main characters are. Hopefully the show finds some more unique ways to demonstrate that though, as I really don’t want to see such a promising show held back by any repetitive plot lines. In terms of the conspiracies surrounding Molly’s pregnancy, however, Extant proved yet again that it is not going to fall into cliche, as it continued to surprise me with off-the-wall twists that have doubled my interest in the show. While answers are still slim, Wish You Were Here furthered the development of the conspiracy substantially. Having Molly’s boss, Alan Sparks, deceive her into thinking that the government had actually used one of the DNA samples she and John had used in the past when attempting to conceive was a nice twist, as that was actually my first theory as to the cause of her pregnancy. Obviously the causes behind are far more mysterious, and, as I suspect, paranormal, and I am genuinely excited to get to the bottom of it as the show continues. Wish You Were Here might have taken things a bit slower overall, but it did end on quite the high note which almost demanded that I watch the next episode as soon as possible. While enjoying a fun belated birthday party for herself, Molly finds that her ex-boyfriend’s brother, Tim, had decided to show up and the two seemed to have had a great time catching up. It was a nice scene, seeing the two of them reconnect after so long, and it did a fantastic job at further establishing just how involved Molly was with fellow astronaut Marcus before he did in a car accident. However, the twist came when John revealed that Tim was never actually at the party, as proven by the picture he was absent in, despite Molly’s belief that he had been standing right next to her during it. As if that crazy hallucination wasn’t enough to freak us out, Extant pushed it even further as Molly finally discovered that Alan Sparks might not be the helping, comforting friend she thought he was. While it might seem early to have Molly catch on to his plans so early in the show, I thought it was a great to keep the plot moving, and it resulted in a climactic finale for the episode that almost left me on the edge of my seat. With Molly, John, and Ethan seemingly on the run, I’m anxious to see where the show will go next, and can only hope it keeps up the kind of plot twists it’s been so consistently throwing at us.