Extant: The Second Season

In the second (and final) season of this ambitious sci-fi drama, astronaut Molly Woods (Halle Berry) has learned that her half-alien son (played by multiple actors as he grows) is a harbinger of Earth's destruction. Survival depends on her betraying both him and the government while also getting caught up in a conspiracy of inhuman origins. In addition to aliens, there are also “humanichs" on the prowl—robots that are indistinguishable from humans, which means there can be doppelgangers (a lazy plot device). Molly's husband (Goran Visnjic) only appears in the first episode, making way for a ruggedly sexy Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the new male lead, whose role as friend and foe in the government plot isn't quite clear. Molly's humanich son (Pierce Gagnon) makes a welcome return, as does Grace Gummer as a rebel humanichs engineer. But this season's focus on a fugitive Molly tracking down an alien being bogs down in formula narrative about machines taking over humanity, nanobot technology, shifting identities, and—groan—a magic amulet that will save the world. Extant still boasts big-budget production design and special effects, but the new direction for the story turned out to be a hard sell, and the show folded its tent. Presenting all 13 episodes from 2015, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, set tours, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Optional. (T. Fry)