John Kennex is actually an android
Discussed in this article
. Considering how similar Almost Human and Blade Runner seem to be, this theory was bound to pop up eventually.- For that matter, why not everyone else? Also discussed, if in jest, on this episode of the Firewall-Iceberg podcast.
Dorian is a Chobit
- So many keywords. 'Not like other robots', 'Built to be special', 'Intentionally partnered with a particular person ("Someone just for me")'.
- Episode 6, Dorian tells John about when he was decommissioned, and how he hoped that someone would wake him up again, as it turns out that 'someone' was John.
It's not spelled InSyndicate...
...it's N'Syndicate. After the singers. And over the course of the first season we will slowly be made aware that all of the hyper-organized masked crime organizations are the ideological descendants of fandom communities on the modern internet. There will be a villain that is a DRN
The Blade Runner parallels are pretty high. It makes sense a Roy Batty-type character would factor in.- Maybe John's girlfriend is a DRN?
- the XRN was close, so confirmed?
Almost Human takes place after the events of Fringe
Almost Human takes place in the same universe as the In Death series.
Just a few years before the series of books. We have the advanced tech, high crime and robots. The Wall could be how LA dealt with the Urban Wars. Maldonado was Dorian's partner on his first attempt to be a cop.
This is why she thinks he's "something special" and why she partnered him with Kennex. Just to give this particular Epileptic Tree an extra shake, they had a relationship that became more intimate than was appropriate for partnered cops. This may have been what led to Dorian being retired in the first place.- Given the possible Asimov call-outs in this series, that might not be so far-fetched.
Almost Human takes place in the same universe as Continuum
Dorian will have a Cute and Psycho moment.
- Based on a Q&A with Michael Ealy, according to him "...two wires go the other way and all of the sudden he’s not the Dorian you love."
Dorian is special because he as a DRN as well as him specifically in terms of what he looks like are based off of his creator.
The DRNs creators achieved the Synthetic Soul through a sacrifice of their own brains and likeness. Their plan was a sort of immortality ala The Portrait of Dorian Grey.- Possibly Jossed by Arrythmia. In that episode we meet another DRN and he looks exactly like Dorian. Though it is possible that the original creator of the DRNs made them all in his image.
- Also Jossed. Dorian's creator will be played by John Larroquette.
DRN really stands for
Dr. Right Number. Almost Human is an Alternate Continuity of Mega Man. Dorian was originally created to be a male sex bot
Hence the implied Gag Penis. Rudy (or Rudy's father) was the true creator of the DRNs and their Synthetic Soul programming
When they went crazy he was disgraced and had to change his name. Rudy has been trying for years to bring back the DRN line as a means of salvaging his reputation. He recommended Dorian as Kennex's new android partner as part of a long-term plan to vindicate the DRN design and the Synthetic Soul program. The DRNs that went crazy were sabotaged
They came up with a test to see which were usable and which were dangerous, though Dorian expresses skepticism regarding the accuracy of the test, and then they decommissioned the whole line anyway. The MXs are shown to be little more than drones, no creativity whatsoever, and thus only good for grunt work such as guard duty and extra muscle for a human cop. Dorian, on the other hand, has shown himself to be far more capable. A big criminal organization may have realized the danger posed by the DRNs and decided to nip it in the bud by infecting some of them with a virus that made them go crazy and then having their political puppets push to have the entire line decommissioned- Possibly backed up by Simon Says, where Dorian starts suffering from some pretty extreme mood swings just because he can't get a full recharge. If someone was looking to discredit the DRNs all they'd have to do is delay one recharge here, another recharge there, and suddenly we've got moody DRNs randomly punching police officers in the face and generally acting like bipolar maniacs.
There will be a storyline where an MX either gains more sentience or gets a version of Synthetic Soul.
Max the MX will be used to expand upon the fuzzy distinction between DRNs (as people, represented by Dorian) and the treatment of MXs as tools. Ultimately, Max will either be destroyed or have his memory wiped willingly but it will trigger a push by Dorian to be recognized as an individual rather than city property.- There is Dr. Vaughn's case of Synthetic Souls and Kennex has a habit of destroying MX's so they may end up combined at some point.
Dorian has resentment about the MXs, believing they took or are in the way of the possibility of him being a full cop.
- Seven episodes in and it seems like Dorian's negativity about MXs are unfounded. It's like he tries too hard to distance himself away from them by not showing any reaction over their destruction. As oppose to the IRCs during Rudy's autopsy, where Dorian looked uncomfortable, it is possible the IRCs have a structure similar to his own.
- Well... he does possess emotions and they kinda sorta did (if unintentionally). It'd roll right back into the premise that Dorian is a living being with emotion for him to actually hold biases and prejudices.
- At the very least, he's not bothered when Kennex shoots one in the head that was insulting him and sees it as a cementing of their friendship.
DRNs instinctively (by program) imprint to the one that awakens them.
- Maybe makes it easier for them to interact with their human.
- This is actually suggested to be the case when Dr. Vaughn talks to Dorian. When he created the DRNs, he was, more or less, trying to be a good person and help the police fight crime. When he created XRN after the failure of the DRNs, he was in a negative mood. His own mental instability may have even been the reason for DRNs becoming unstable.
MXs, while incapable of having full-on personalities and emotions, do pick up some traits from their human partners.
This is similar to the "imprinting" one above. Think about it: If an MX had to deal with a civilian in crisis, then the civilian would be more comforted by a sympathetic voice than a coldly logical one. However, to avoid the problems that the DRNs brought up, instead of giving MXs souls, the developers designed each MX to base its normal interaction with humans on its partner's actions in a similar situation. This would allow the humans and the MXs to "tag-team" a civilian victim, for example both providing an ear to the victim in time of crisis. This also explains why Valerie's MX from "Blood Brothers" sort of cracks a few jokes, and why Paul's MX in "You Are Here" actively discriminates against Dorian when no other MX has been shown to have any particular reaction to him: Valerie uses humor to put others at ease, and especially makes jokes around John, ergo so does her MX, (who maybe even keeps track of the game just because Valerie likes the team, and chooses to do it without prompting) while Paul has expressed his disdain for John and Dorian multiple times, unwittingly inspiring the same behavior in his MX. MX Units are extremely hobbled the way that they are because of production costs
Kennex has wasted two units without so much as a reprimand so far. They're referred to as bullet shields by the officers and yet there are other synthetics like the DRN line that are far, far more advanced and those are considered outdated. The police are probably going with something older that is cheap and easy to maintain instead of something top of the line. The MX series is probably a modular design with a handful of faces on interchangeable bodies that the police can do what they want with.
- Given the latest revelations, seems confirmed. After throwing tons of money at the DRNs, which malfunctioned, and then several people injured or killed by the XRN, the police very likely took what money was left and selected the cheapest, least error-prone model they could find - the MXes; the councilman helping to award the contract was in it for political brownie points.
- That said, it was probably also a matter of practicality - the MXs are intended to be assault units (SWAT, effectively). DRNs were designed to actually work police duty. So MXs don't need to be complex. They literally are made to be disposable bullet shields. The fact that they can do other things is probably more to help offset the basic costs - it'd be equally wasteful to have an android line that couldn't do more than just stop bullets.
Eventually we will meet an android that doesn't know it's an android
The android will honestly believe itself to be human and will disregard all evidence to the contrary. It will ultimately suffer an existential crisis when it's confronted with proof of it's inhumanity. Almost Human takes place in the same universe as Attack on Titan
The wall holds the titans back. Almost Human is actually the next Deus Ex release
Just add a Gambit Pileup (played via ratings of course.)