Extant

It has a good developing story line and I have found the early episodes built up a level of suspense.

The actors have done a good job to get you trapped into it but I have found it a bit confusing having Hiroyuki Sanada playing yet another inscrutable Japanese hate character so soon after Helix.

The series is definitely work watching but I am concerned at the very slow pace. You get to the end of each episode feeling that not much progress has been made. I can only hope that this is not due to a lack of story direction.

I am starting to feel like saving the rest of the episodes of this series and watching them all in one hit to get some sense of pace.

In all, not a bad bit of SciFi and, hopefully, it will start to progress a bit quicker as the plot broadens.

We have now watched 3 episodes and this is the turning point for pretty much any new show we take up. Almost Human, Intelligence, these shows made it to exactly 3, they were good mostly and well done but there was no "Intrigue" to keep our interest so a 4th was never watched. The Strain, was bad enough 1 episode was enough, but we watched a 2nd just to be sure, terrible writing ruined that show.

So here after 3 episodes are reasons why we are still interested, its not as good as many other top notch shows, but it is "good enough" so to speak and better than many others:

STORY - So far its kept our interest, and that interest has been increasing with each episode not decreasing. I'm not going to give anything away here so will leave it at that, main thing is they give you some questions, and then slowly drop you clues to answers. I find without this element and something to link shows together, shows in general do not keep our interest. Blacklist is a prime example of a show that did a GREAT job of this, you always want to keep watching to see how things will unfold and have questions answered and so far we're on board here.

WRITING - Others have pointed out some flaws, and I see what they are pointing at but overall I think flaws are minor and writing and scripting is decent to good, certainly miles ahead of the Strain, but sure not up to the level of Dexter (very subjective however, I'm sure there are people who would point out numerous flaws in Dexter)

ACTING - Halle does seem a little "stiff", but overall we have found the acting to be good and believable from all characters, though the child really does not shows signs of his true self

DIRECTION/PRODUCTION - Good to very good, with SS (says exc producer, not sure how much he is really involved) in the mix you would not expect less, pacing seems good, budget seems decent, no issues that we found here anyway

SUMMARY - Like I mentioned in comparing two other somewhat new sci-fi type shows Almost Human and Intelligence, this one is done about as well but has the edge on them just for the reason of Intrigue. Its not as intense (yet) as something like Helix, but the ending of episode 3 ramped things up and shows it could be heading in that direction (tension-wise).

Other rating from me for reference and comparison:

Game of Thrones - 10 Dexter - 9 Blacklist - 8 Almost Human - 6 intelligence - 6 The Strain - 4

After two episodes, I was intrigued although not totally sold. There are definitely some logic issues, and motivations aren't always clear, but I was really curious to see where this is all going.

But while it's kind of held my interest, the season's has proven remarkably devoid of logic. People do hugely stupid things (like go exactly where people would look for you while in hiding), Berry, her husband and her boss seem to be in some emotional fog that prevents her from thinking at all clearly. They're all supposed to be science types, yet there decisions are not just based entirely on emotion; they're based on the id emotions you would expect from a teenager. By the end of the season it would be easier to list the few things that make sense than the vast number that don't.

It's still generally watchable, and keeps me more-or-less interested, but it's quite possibly the dumbest sci-fi show ever made.

Extant is an exciting well made new show which touches on multiple common science fiction themes weaved into some of the more mundane problems in life.

Only the pilot was available at the time I wrote this, but already there is a strong sense of where the show is headed thanks to the quick introduction of the story elements.

There is a mysterious occurrence told through flashbacks that happened when Halle Berry's character was on a routine space mission she has since returned from, and a spin on the classic Science Fiction debate of Artificial Intelligence, in this case directly impacting Berry's character's immediate family.

The budget felt like it was generous, the actors scripts and effects were all more than adequate to be believable, and they told just enough of the story to whet your appetite and have you postulating wildly.

I would strongly recommend this show to anyone who likes science fiction. If you aren't married to the genre its still well worth seeing, but the pilot's pacing was the measured introspective pace of much science fiction (the movie Moon is a prime example, although this is faster) and while I don't think it will be a problem for the majority of the audience, if you're on the fence and don't think you can handle a slowly unfolding mystery this might not be for you. I personally loved it.

I'm writing this review initially because my fear, with all the controversy over the series continuing, was whether the first season resolves itself sufficiently to stand alone. It does. In fact I found the ending to be the most satisfying part of the very fast and convoluted plot. The special effects throughout this series were also wonderful, and worth watching as a sci fi fan. There are comparisons with the robot series Humans (English and European versions both) which if looking to watch this show one should understand, as that is at least 40% of the story. Despite having an alien, this show does not compare with the Alien movies, but has more in common with Carrie. It's very good TV, but a little complicated.