“Empathy for the Devil” is episode three of season two of Extant.
Five months earlier, at the County Morgue in Santa Clara, the Offspring’s body starts to split. And a new, older version emerges from the shell. It takes clothes and money, then uses its powers to get an apartment. With supplies, the Offspring watches television and listens to multiple radio channels at the same time.
In the present, the now adult Offspring sits next to Molly in a bar. In the previous episode, “Morphoses”, Toby gave the go-ahead for a drone strike on the bar. Molly asks the Offspring if they’ve met before, as it disables the camera watching them, and suggests to Molly they go elsewhere. They are outside when JD shows up.
JD wants to know what Molly is doing. Does she know the killer? Is this the killer? Then the Offspring uses its powers to make JD lower his gun, and Molly finally realises who he is. The Offspring makes JD hold his gun to his head, but Molly convinces the Offspring not to kill JD. There’s a sound and then the drone strike hits the bar. It seems they went ahead, even without a visual on the target. Not a bright idea.
The Offspring gets away as JD tackles Molly to the ground. JD asks Molly who the Offspring is and Molly tells him it’s her son. As armed people show up and take them prisoner.
Julie speaks to Charlie in the lab, as Ethan calls Julie ‘Mother’. Charlie gives Julie a look. Julie says she didn’t want to wipe Ethan’s memories of Molly, but he was in a lot of pain.
JD is being questioned by Velez. She has a spray cannister she says mimics the feeling of three days of sleep deprivation. JD keeps saying he’s a cop on a case. Which is pretty accurate. Velez thinks JD is holding back information, and tells him he could save innocent lives. What did Molly tell the man in the bar? JD isn’t being cooperative, so Velez sprays him. Now he’d love to cooperate, but he’s too tired to talk.
Molly is being questioned too. She talks about fruit and starts eating an apple. She will talk when whoever is behind the glass comes out and answers her questions. Starting with why they blew up a bar full of innocent people. Toby is on the other side. He enters the room, turns off the recorders and gets the others to leave.
Lucy is activated again. She knows who Anna Schaefer is and is introduced to Ethan. Ethan already knows her, but not in this body. They go off together and Schaefer says she wants a field test. They want to test Lucy’s ethical routines first, as she couldn’t learn like Ethan. Schaefer asks if they know what they’re fighting – aliens, yes – doesn’t see the point of ethics. Charlie says it’s to reduce human casualties.
Toby tells Molly that, when he asked her to lie to Congress, he thought the Offspring was dead. He didn’t have her committed, but clearly doesn’t rate her mental state highly. Toby explains what happened at the morgue. They looked for the Offspring. And found him. With Molly. What was Molly doing in the bar? Molly had no idea it was the Offspring. Toby doesn’t believe in coincidence, but Molly is telling the truth. Which, admittedly, doesn’t mean it’s a coincidence.
Julie’s tampering with Ethan’s memories starts to have consequences. Schaefer is impressed with Lucy, but doesn’t seem to consider the potential problems behind an ethically limited killing machine. JD becomes much more open to strange possibilities after what’s happened.