Karl Urban plays a cop in a cyberpunk city who hates androids and he’s assigned an android partner to work with. Over the course of the series, his character gradually learns to accept and respect his android partner. Except you’d never know that watching the show as it aired.
Fox aired the episodes out of order so Karl Urban’s character constantly jumps between respecting the android and being a jerk to the android from episode to episode. With no continuity, the show had terrible ratings and was cancelled after one season. I hate that all streaming services and even the DVD kept the incorrect airing order. None of them use the production order, which is how it was intended to be watched:
| Episode | Airing order | Production order |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | 01 | 1 |
| Skin | 02 | 5 |
| Are You Receiving? | 03 | 6 |
| The Bends | 04 | 7 |
| Blood Brothers | 05 | 8 |
| Arrhythmia | 06 | 3 |
| Simon Says | 07 | 10 |
| You Are Here | 08 | 2 |
| Unbound | 09 | 9 |
| Perception | 10 | 4 |
| Disrupt | 11 | 11 |
| Beholder | 12 | 12 |
| Straw Man | 13 | 13 |
It’s a shame too, because throughout the season there are references to “The Wall”. They keep mentioning how no one crosses The Wall. And yet in the very last scene of the last episode… someone crosses The Wall. I would’ve liked to see where they took that storyline.
Huh. I was watching that one when it aired, and I didn’t even notice, due to the mostly episodic nature of it. Not surprised, given Fox’s history (Browncoats will never forgive and never forget), but somehow it snuck by me.
Way more upset it didn’t get renewed. I’m a bit of an Urban fanboy and was really enjoying the show.
…guess I’ll go watch Doom again.
The most jarring for me is the 8th episode, which was supposed to be the 2nd episode. I’m 7 episodes in at that point and suddenly Karl Urban is being a dick and acting like he just met his partner?? Was weird.