Episode 1.1- "My name is Anita Hawkins"

An excellent place to start with this show would be with some background information in the genre of Android science fiction. For this, we can look to a Science fiction writer, not to mention Professor and Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Issac Asimov, and his Three Laws of Robotics. Asimov described these laws in a story of his in 1942. Asimov laid these laws out almost 80 years ago but they are still held as a standard when depicting androids and the show Humans is no exception.   His laws are as follow                                    

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;
2. a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law;
3. a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

So let us take a journey into the universe of HUMANS.

The title sequence begins with clips of antiquated robots, quickly changing through various images culminating in clips of fine-tuned surgical machines. Next, A picture of a human hand x-ray and a clip of an articulating robotic hand showing us that the human mimicry trajectory the process hopes to take.  We begin the first voice over “could you use some help around the house? Introducing the world’s first family android’.  We see happy children interacting with a robot then quickly cut to the Boston Times headline “ROBOTS THREATEN 10 MILLION JOBS”. The voice-over continues “This mechanical maid is capable of serving more than just breakfast in bed ” the images that follow imply a suggestive turn. A new voice-over begins, “ What could you accomplish if you had someone... Something like this?” Another article is shown reading, “RISE OF THE ROBOTS: HE’S DONE IT. ELSTER UNVEILS SYNTHETIC MAN” A news broadcast is heard “ These machines will bring us closer together” voiced over an Australian newspaper article “SPOT THE SYNTH”. There is so much to unpack from these 48 seconds. It builds a story for us of the evolution of androids and the culture of the HUMANS universe up to this point and lets us question where it could be heading.

The title sequence ends, and we are then introduced to the Hawkins family. Joe Hawkins is seen fumbling over the dishes, cleaning, and looking after the children. His wife, Laura, sends him a message that she will be away for another day. Upon receipt of this message, Joe announces the decision to go shopping with his youngest daughter Sophie. We are brought into an apparent Synth dealership. An android woman is then seen being transported to the Hawkins. The salesman assures Joe there is a 30 days return policy, and each synth is unique in style.  Joe is given a tablet with directions to repeat “Dandelion three, waterfall two, hummingbird one, seashell.” We see the synth’s eyes switch over to green irises, initializing her setup. She requests a DNA sample to become bonded to her primary user, Joe, and the setup is complete.  

We then reenter the Hawkins home. Maddi, the eldest Hawkins child, is upset at the presence of a synth in the house. When Laura returns home from her work trip, she is upset to see that a synth has been brought into the house without her knowledge and with Joe knowing that she is against having a synth in the home. Knowing Joe feels strongly about the situation, Laura decides not to argue and joins the family to give the synth a name. Sophie suggests the name Anita, for a friend that had moved away. Laura accepts, and Joe commands the synth that her name is Anita. When Laura asks the synth, “What is your name?” the synth replies, “My name is Anita Hawkins” This is the first of many unsettling moments for Laura. You can tell that the inclusion of the family name was a little too personal for her comfort. Shortly after, we see Laura with a photo book, looking somber and reminiscing, then hiding this book. Anita is then noticed standing watching Larua and asks if she should unpack her cases for her.  Laura questions Anita about music and feelings. Sophie runs into the Kitchen and Anita burns Laura with a hot pan saying she weighed the options of the situation and the child’s safety took precedence. 

Laura notices Anita watching her again but then sees Anita looking in on Sophie as she sleeps. This is a sort of last straw, and Laura commands Anita to not look in on Sophie anymore, to which Anita replies, “of course”. At this point, Laura believes there is definitely something off about Anita. She is still trying to figure out the situation, but she is convinced that her actions are not what they should be. Laura and Joe get a letter notifying them of Maddie’s drop in grades. Maddie is upset and defeated stating, “ Yeah, I could be anything I want, right? What about a doctor? That’ll take me seven years. But by then, you’ll be able to turn any old Synth into a brain surgeon in seven seconds...My best isn’t worth anything” While this statement sounds somewhat angsty, it’s also an unfortunately astute observation. The synths have increasingly complex functions, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Who’s to say how far things will go?

We see Anita finishing laundry, and then she starts to look at a picture of Laura holding Sophie as a baby. She seems to have memories, flashes of being underwater.  We later see Anita is reading a bedtime story to Sophie.  Sophie wants Anita to read to her, saying that Anita reads the story better. Defeated but resilient, she looks Anita over and finally says, “You’re just a stupid Machine, aren’t you?” to Which Anita replies, “Yes, Laura.”  Laura is awoken from sleep as she hears the back door open and finds Anita outside looking at the moon. She commands, “You need to stay inside after we go to bed.” Anita says to Laura, “The moon is beautiful tonight, don’t you think,” It is at this statement that Laura has heard and seen enough. Synths are not supposed to ask questions like that. They are not supposed to have accidents or cause any harm to humans. So the question that remains is what is Anita?

A parallel story tracks Anita, or Mia as we soon find out, from before joining the Hawkins family, and who she was. Mia and a group of others are talking about their charge levels as they walk through a forest. Leo, who appears to be the group leader, and Synth Max split off from synths  Mia, Fred, and Niska, who set up camp. We soon see Mia, Fred, and Niska being taken away by an unknown man. Leo is unable to catch the van, and it drives off toward a city skyline. We then see Leo and Max in the present searching for Mia. They visit a shop that is known for collecting and distributing boosted units.  We are given Silas Capek as someone who deals in boosted units, and somewhere they might find what they are looking for.

Leo and Max make contact with Fred and discuss a rendezvous point. We then see Fred, who had been sold to Lethridge Farms, working at an indoor orchard. Fred is called out as sentient by Professor Edwin Hobb who seems to be researching the possibility of sentient Synths. Fred tries to run away but is caught and powered Down.  Leo is seen at the rendezvous point telling Max something is wrong, Fred is not coming. Leo Visits a brothel and sees a blonde at the end of the hall. Leo walks in and hugs the synth, Niska, before telling her it is not safe to leave and she cannot come with him yet. He asked her if she turned off her pain? She replies, “No, I was meant to feel.” With this statement, it is clear that she has genuine feelings of resentment, far outside of a typical android being. We see Fred on a table being observed by Professor Hobb and David Elster. The professor wants to examine him, but he is not allowed. He then starts to discuss the singularity with Mr. Elster. He states the singularity is the “Inevitable point in the future when technology surpasses us. When it becomes able to improve and reproduce itself without our help, it is the moment we become inferior to the machine.” 

We also begin a story that does not yet intersect with the story of Anita/Mia. A caseworker from the Health System visits Dr. George Milligan. His caseworker states that he qualifies for an upgraded synth as his old D series is quite outdated. She introduces him to Vera, a state-of-the-art nurse synth. George claims his synth is out grocery shopping so he cannot be looked over. We then meet Odi, who George had hid in the closet. Odi has the blue synth “blood” draining from a nostril, and He is clearly deteriorating. George and Odi then are seen shopping. Odi ends up malfunctioning and accidentally hits a human grocery worker. Special task forces Karen Voss and Seargent Pete Drummuns arrive to investigate the incident. George pleads to let Odi be released back to him but Pete tells him someone has been hurt he needs to be scrapped; it’s the law. Pete eventually tells George that he can take him home to scrap himself as long as he does it today.  Dr. Milligan brings Odi back home to try to restart him.  Odi continues to malfunction. George asks Odi to look at old photos to try to remember his wife but Odi reports “fatal error”.  Sergeant Drummuns comes home, and we see his wife with her PT Synth following an unknown accident. We see George as he prepares to destroy Odi Stating, “There’s things that you know” As George is about to destroy Odi, He remembers the memory George had used to test him. 

Our episode ends with the Hawkinses watching a news program, Laura and Joe in one room and Maddie in another. The guest on the show begins discussing Asimov blocks, and states, “synths simply are not able to do us any harm” This is of course a nod to Issac Asimov’s first law of robotics. The guest continues.  “How can we replicate something?  What is human emotion? What is love are we born with it or can it be learned?  Fear anger violence, memory how do you teach a computer to forget or dream. Would a conscious synth dream or have nightmares.” This is all voiced over individual shots of the characters we have met throughout the episode. The guest finishes with, “Of course not they are just machines.” The final message is voiced over the final scene showing Anita walking down the street, away from the house,  with Sophie in her arms. 

Wells, Phillip M. “Issac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics.” Michigan Technological University, www.csl.mtu.edu/winter98/cs320/AI/pmwellsasimov.html. Accessed 2 Feb. 2021.

“Episode #1.1” HUMANS, season 1, episode 1, AMC, 28 Jun. 2015. Prime Video, amazon.com/video.