When the witness to a murder is killed while giving testimony from a secure location, things don’t look good for Captain Maldonado in Blood Brothers tonight’s episode of Almost Human (Fox, Mondays, 8/7C). And when the identity of the killer becomes known, things get even dicier. Also, a psychic!
During the murder trial of Ethan Avery (Alex Miller), Haley Myers, one of a pair of witnesses to the crime is brutally killed while giving testimony via hologram projection – making a very definite impression on everyone in the court. Maya Vaughn (Megan Ferguson), the second witness, manages to flee the scene and is found by Dorian (Michael Ealy) and brought to the station.
On the way, she reveals to him and Kennex (Karl Urban) that she’s psychic – to a predictably sceptical reaction from Kennex. She claimed her fellow witness has told her who killed her. At the station, she causes a stir when she gives readings to several of the officers on duty before picking up and leaving – forcing Kennex and Dorian to go after her. Just after they pick her up, they are ambushed by a group of masked men in a van. Now we have a situation where an impossible murder has been committed and the sole remaining witness has been attacked while in a random location.
Blood Brothers is probably the best ep of the season, thus far, for Almost Human. We may not have any details on Captain Maldonado’s (Lili Taylor) history, but we learn a great deal about her by the way she handles herself and this investigation. She is not someone any criminal – no matter high their IQ – should ever want to piss off.
We learn maybe a bit too much about Dorian and definitely too much about the standard android cops – in scenes that are both disturbing and hilarious. We also get a bit more development of the hinted at potential Kennex/Detective Stahl (Minka Kelly) relationship (soccer is involved!). Avery and Maldonado face of in a perfectly realized set of bookend scenes, highlighting the difference beyond the genius psychopath and the controlled, but emphatically emotional captain.
Kelly and Taylor get their opportunity to shine and both make the most of it.
The screener for Blood Brothers had no credits so I can’t give credit where credit is due, but given the relatively hard sci-fi setting, the writer manages to makes Maya’s gift very credible – and Ferguson is very, very good in the role. The psychopathic Avery is also very effective and the idea that even a genius can be tripped up as a result of his own ego is well handled.
Even without completely finished effects, audio, and music, Blood Brothers is briskly put together and maintains the balance between the gee-whiz-tech and character development that is required to keep the show both believable and appealing.
Final Grade: B+
Photos by Liane Hentscher/Courtesy of Fox