“Episode #3.4” is episode four of season three of Humans.
In the previous episode, “#3.3”, Laura had gone to Niha to tell her she was quitting the Dryden Commission, as she felt they had already made their minds up about Synths. Niha told her that Laura, and Niska, had changed her mind about Synths, and this was Laura’s chance to get the point across – so instead of arguing, she needed to make the most of the opportunity. So Laura came up with the idea of taking the commission to see Max’s community at the Railyard.
This episode opens with a green eyed Synth juggling on stage in front of some children. When the children start throwing things at her, the Synth just stands there, until her owner puts her into a box and takes her home. A crash outside the window and an article on the news show that this is actually Day Zero, the day Synths became conscious, and the Synth in the box wakes up. Her owner doesn’t let her out; instead, he leaves.
This is Agnes narrating what happened to her. She says that she was in the box for seven hours. Agnes wants to meet the Dryden Commission when they arrive, saying that she will do the right thing. Agnes lies about discovering the Synths that Max turned away, and he doesn’t trust her either. So he won’t let her near to commission. With the commission coming to the Railyard, there is the potential for some good coming form it – or possibly something going horribly wrong.
Niska had gone to the address she got from the Synths that Max turned away, and it turned out to be a bomb factory. Whilst she was there, an orange eyed Synth got inside her mind. When she looked, he was there in the real world, and he gave her a message. To look for the ‘Synth that sleeps.’ He also gave her information that has led her to where the bomber probably is, before being deactivated. There is definitely something strange going on here.
Mattie and Leo have finally got together, and they discover an article about how the person responsible for Day Zero has been found and arrested. Given that Mattie did it, this is obviously not true, and she doesn’t want someone else to suffer for what she did. Turning herself into the police won’t go down well either.
Laura’s experiment at living next to humans to make them accept her is still not going well. When she leaves she is knocked to the floor by the mob outside her flat – but a human helps her up. The human turns out to be Ed, the man that Mia fell in love with, and who then betrayed her in “#2.4”, because he needed the money. The initial meeting in Mia’s flat shows that she hasn’t exactly forgiven him. In fact, she knocks Ed unconscious. Ed does appear to be genuinely sorry about what he did, and Mia may still have feelings for him.
Laura also appears to be developing feelings for Neil, and Joe is getting emotionally involved at least it would seem with Karen and Sam. Karen is concerned, because she was unable to run in front of a car to get Sam who had gone into the road. David Elster had made her in the shape of his dead wife, who had killed herself, and made Karen unable to deliberately put herself at risk. Which does raise the question as to just how Karen was able to function as a police officer – it’s not exactly a profession where you can completely avoid putting yourself at risk.