Abhiroop Das
Created by Mickey Fisher, CBS’s ‘Extant’ follows its protagonist, astronaut Molly Woods, in her chance encounter with extraterrestrial life, which leads her to enquire about the nature of humanity as a whole. In season 1, she returns from space after a 13-month-long solo expedition, only to find herself inexplicably pregnant. When powerful forces begin to show interest in her unborn child, the protagonist realizes that there are bigger mysteries at play. The child is revealed to be the creation of an alien entity that wants to proliferate on Earth. With the help of her artificially intelligent android child, Ethan, Molly beats the aliens’ plans and saves the world from a spaceship full of alien spores; however, the story is far from over, as the aliens’ true intention is still unknown. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Extant Season 2 Recap
The second season begins with Molly returning from space after successfully avoiding a crisis with Seraphim. However, she is immediately forced to lie to the public and convince them that no aliens have touched down on Earth. John manages to create a new body for Ethan, but the child is quickly taken into Homeland Security’s custody, who call him a safety hazard. Not long after, John dies in a mysterious car accident, causing Molly to break finally. After spending a while in a psychiatric facility, she escapes upon learning of deaths among pregnant women caused by alien activity. Before she can make it far, she is intercepted by JD, an investigator for hire. However, he soon gives in when he learns that his own daughter, who has recently gotten pregnant, might be at risk. Molly joins hands with General Shepherd, Head of the Global Security Commission, to take down Offspring, who is at the source of these events.
Molly eventually locates Offspring in a bar. He has aged visibly and rechristened himself Ahdu. When he learns that the military is planning a drone strike to take him out, he nearly destroys the whole place, but stops at his mother’s command. Meanwhile, Julie secretly reprograms Ethan, leading him to believe that she is his mother. At the same time, the Humanich project is tasked with creating a new generation of robots, geared for combat. They begin with a Humanich named Lucy, who quickly begins to assert her agency by rallying Ethan to join hands with her against humanity. Things take a dark turn when the inventors of the robots learn that their creations are being used to kill Hybrids, that is, people who have both alien and human blood in them. However, they are unable to control the government’s whims, and the violence intensifies.
A number of strange encounters confirm to Molly that she is a hybrid herself, and this leads her to find shelter in the community of hybrids led by Ahdu. She learns that the Hybrids have mutated so as not to harm pregnant women, and are now eager for a peaceful co-existence with humans. Molly’s pleas fall on deaf ears, and before long, an army of Humanichs ambushes the Hybrid camp, slaughtering many of them. Ahdu, who has been rapidly ageing all this time, dies of old age in his mother’s arms, leaving his daughter, Terra, in her care. Meanwhile, Ethan slowly begins to reconnect with his real past and helps Molly figure out the real culprit behind all of the events, including the death of John. This hidden figure turns out to be the presidential AI assistant TAALR, who holds control of the Humanichs, as well as a virus designed to eradicate humans and hybrids alike. The only way to defeat it lies in an amulet containing a kill switch, and Molly takes on the mantle of bringing it down.
Extant Season 2 Ending Explained: Is TAALR Still Alive? Who is the Man at the End?
When Molly makes her way to TAALR’s central facility, the AI states how the very reason it was constructed has now put it at odds with humanity. It explains that, as a program created to avoid a disastrous future, it can predict humanity’s trajectory and is certain that it will eventually destroy the planet. To stop that, it begins an elaborate plan to cull the majority of the population and revitalize Earth to its former glory. However, Molly is quick to point out how its plan is evil as well, as it entails the slaughter of billions of innocent lives. Furthermore, the next stage in TAALR’s plan is to replace humanity with artificial intelligence, particularly, with Humanichs as an independent species. The AI does not deny the claim, and instead frames it as evolution taking its natural course. This idea becomes TAALR’s defining characteristic, eventually helping him survive the ordeal and start from scratch.
TAALR’s counterattack against Molly’s kill switch starts with her own double as a humanich attacking her. Although it seems to be a losing fight for the protagonist, with the robot easily overpowering her, Molly soon finds a way to turn the tables around. Tapping into her powers as a hybrid, she tears through the humanich’s spine and takes out its controls, disabling it. Lucy’s subsequent arrival creates tensions, but those are resolved when we learn that she now sides with humans, having already been familiar with TAALR’s plans. This scene serves as a microcosmic representation of the larger conflict at hand, with Molly’s organic, more human form of evolution defeating TAALR’s cheats and ploys. Additionally, it is the AI’s cruelty that turns the most intelligent Humanichs, Lucy, and also Ethan, against it. With no way of defending itself, the antagonistic entity watches helplessly as Molly uses the switch to disable all Humanichs in one go.
However, just when it seems that TAALR has been killed, it pulls off its backup plan, rebooting for just long enough to transfer its consciousness to a Humanich vessel. As it is brought to life after Molly destroys the robot chain, it is not affected by the effects of the kill switch. Additionally, with the artificial intelligence’s mental and physical prowess by its side, the new Humanich stands out as a foe on a tier of its own. Notably, we are never shown the new Humanich’s face, and it appears in the final scene of the season with its back to us. However, its general build, coupled with the growing mystique around its appearance, lends itself to a host of new possibilities. While it is possible that it is a new design of Humanichs, there is a greater chance that it is the body double of a known character.
Out of all potential candidates for Humanich’s real face, one stands out, which is John Woods himself. This plays on the irony of the fact that TAALR itself was the one to kill John by hacking into his vehicle and causing an accident. Additionally, using John’s face gives it an edge in the upcoming showdown with Molly and Ethan, as he is a familiar figure to them. This makes it possible for TAALR, who appears to have complete self-consciousness, to manipulate the protagonist and her team to his advantage. This possibility also adds to the thematic enquiry of the show into the various forms of being extant. Besides John, characters like Calderone, the original co-creator of the AI, are also a possible pick, as it has access to many faces and personalities, much like the alien species it is fighting.
What Happens to Ethan and the Humanichs?
After thwarting most of TAALR’s plans, Molly finally wins the fight by inserting the amulet’s kill switch into the AI system. The key here lies in the nanobots that are present inside the amulet, which quickly eat their way through the programming, severing the link between Humanichs and their consciousness. This has an even greater effect, as all the robots begin to glitch, throw up liquids, and at last shut down. Given that Ethan is the original Humanich, this holds true for him as well, and Julie desperately tries to protect the child as the symptoms begin to set in. However, just when it appears that Ethan is gone, he miraculously wakes up, unaffected by the kill switch. Following this, he reunites with his mother, and we learn that he survived due to a firewall created by John Woods to protect Ethan from circumstances such as these.
It is likely that John created that firewall after nearly losing Ethan in the first season’s events. Back then, he learnt how easy it is to breach through Ethan’s security systems and turn him into a weapon, or worse, end his life. As such, John’s improvements on his son’s design ensure that Ethan remains who he is, and this comes to bear fruit in the finale. However, other Humanichs are not so lucky, as they begin to collapse one by one, scaring everyone around them. This marks a role reversal of the Humanichs’ original intent to end all Hybrid lives. However, given that the robots were just following orders from a higher entity, their demise is painted in shades of gray, with the question of autonomy and culpability coming to a head. At the center of this question lies Lucy, a character whose growth culminates in her attaining humanity as well.
Despite realizing the value of humanity in a manner similar to Ethan, Lucy is nonetheless affected by the kill switch and subsequently begins to die. Just then, she comes face-to-face with her creators, Julie and Charlie, and the duo breaks down at the idea of her going away. In particular, Lucy has a unique relationship with Charlie, as his desperate efforts to make her into a moral robot take a sharp turn when he is seduced by Lucy and nearly gives away his larger goals. However, in the end, Lucy’s transformation aligns with how Charlie always perceived her to be, a robot that balances its thought process by thinking of the good of humanity. In doing so, Lucy separates herself from her peers, who are all being mind-controlled on some level. Instead, she voluntarily chooses to sacrifice her life for a greater cause, showing once again how humanity can be depicted even by beings that don’t possess a human consciousness.
Do Humans Make Peace With the Hybrids?
With the Humanichs defeated and TAALR temporarily out of the picture, Molly finds the chance to make things right and bring the truth about Hybrids out to the real world. To do this, she calls for a global press conference and explains in detail the atrocities that were committed upon the hybrids, who are just trying to survive and find their place in the world. Notably, Molly’s words echo the general recap narration of the show, bringing its narrative full circle as an effort to use communication as a tool to generate empathy and understanding. To maximise that effect, she introduces the world to Ares, one of the surviving Hybrids, and uses his life as an emblem for the larger cause. She expands on how, at the heart of the matter, Hybrids are just seeking a deeper form of connection, and this message resonates with everyone present.
While Molly clinches a big victory for the cause of the Hybrids, she does not mention the fact that she herself is a member of this new species. Instead, she uses Ares as the voice of the people, despite being labelled as their leader by Ahdu or the Offspring. In light of this, one can interpret her speech about the Hybrids as also an introspective journey into the self, with Molly contemplating her initial perception of life outside of the planet, compared to now. Her sensitivity towards saving innocent lives shows her growth as a character, but at the same time, her yearning for a family and a loving, peaceful life also comes to light during her speech. This adds an extra touch to why she breaks down into tears of Joy in the end, with a hopeful future ahead for both her and the Hybrids.
Do Molly and JD Get Together?
The most important relationship that Molly develops over the course of the second season is with JD, an investigator for hire who soon becomes her ally in the investigation of, and subsequent fight for, the Hybrids. In their journey, the duo shares pain and joy alike, and this begins to gradually affect their relationship. What starts out as a professional partnership quickly evolves into a dynamic forged with trust and care, and before long, the duo gets intimate. Their relationship hits a troublesome point when Molly’s body double shoots at JD, nearly killing him. In order to rescue her partner, the real Molly mixes her own blood with his, with the subsequent reaction doing the trick. Although this exchange briefly puts her in the realm of suspicion, the two quickly get over their difference and start things stronger than before.
At the end of the season, Molly and JD walk out hand-in-hand, with the latter lightening the mood with his humor. The visual imagery of Ethan walking with Julie and Charlie indicates that his mother has found a new companion in her life worth relying on, and with this, she can finally move on from the death of her husband. JD brings a form of support that is only possible as the two have been through thick and thin together, and this is evident in his final look of pride and happiness at Molly’s accomplishments. However, there are still creases in their dynamic that are yet to be fixed, starting with the possibility that JD has become a hybrid too, due to his mixed blood. Additionally, Molly’s ominous vision of shooting down JD is only half addressed by the actions of her double, making room for potential conflict down the line that the couple will have to deal with.
