The fascinating almost humans

MANILA, Philippines - Can you imagine an android cop roaming the streets and working with human police officers to catch the bad guys? The setting is 2048 and crime rates register an unbelievable high. To fight this, cops are mandatorily tasked to team up with a model android so they can ward off criminals.

That new policy of the Los Angeles police force is the setting of the sci-fi crime-drama, Almost Human. Karl Urban, best remembered for his big-screen appearances in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Trek and Red, leads the cast as Detective John Kennex.

Wounded in a brutal battle, he wakes up from a coma after more than a year and learns to live with his new, prosthetic leg. He returns to the police force and teams up with a cyborg cop, Dorian (Michael Ealy). Together, they fight the enemies of society.

We probably remember the film, I, Robot (starring Will Smith), upon seeing this new TV series. But the robots in Almost Human are so unlike the androids that litter the scenes and merge with people in I, Robot.

In Almost Human, the droids really appear as fascinating “human beings” who feel and react to everything happening around them. You will only see their robot form when they get wounded and their skin reveals their mechanical component. The episodes combine interesting plots with the synthetic advancements that the robots require.

As cops, Kennex and Dorian deal with all sorts of crimes, from kidnapping and stealing, to robbery, hostage-taking, hawking illegal, deadly drugs and even murder. Although they disagree at times, they work as a team and they know each other’s nuances and strengths in fighting off the bad guys.

The good-looking Urban appears in a larger-than-life role as the lead character in Almost Human. Even if he’s still working with a doctor for his full recollection of what happened before he was ambushed and slipped into a coma, he functions well as a cop doing active service in the present.

Part of Kennex’s body may be mechanical, but there are real emotions that are felt in the stories. Also, Dorian shows his “human” side when he comes to the aide of his cop-partner (Kennex). Clearly, their chemistry is evident.

In the second episode, they had to deal with cyborg prostitutes used for human trafficking. Real women are reportedly being kidnapped and turned into robots. In another episode, Kennex and Dorian encountered clones and had to fight them.

The futuristic crime series may have been strongly inspired by robot films including Total Recall and Robocop or even Terminator, but Almost Human proves that cyborgs and real people can work together. The setting is in the year 2048, so that may just be possible. Who knows?

Doing sci-fi on the big screen is relatively normal, but creating an action-packed setting on TV is tough, let alone make it a sci-fi series. Almost Human is a laudable project that is engrossing and interesting at the same time.

Brilliantly created and written by Joel Howard “J.H.” Wyman (whose recent credit was the film, Dead Man Down, starring Collin Farrell) and produced by Jeffrey Jacob “J.J.” Abrams (Alias, Lost, Undercovers, Person of Interest), Almost Human airs Monday nights, 9 p.m. on Warner TV. Also starring in the series are Lily Taylor, Mackenzie Crook, Michael Irby and Minka Kelly.