Humans

Channel 4 | AMC | AMC/Channel 4 | Release Date: June 28, 2015

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

76	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushFeb 9, 2017

Season 2 Review: The lines between human and artificial intelligence and empathy (or lack thereof) blur in fascinating and often devastating ways. [13-26 Feb 2017, p.19]

Tim GoodmanFeb 13, 2017

Season 2 Review: Humans, which is plate-spinning a number of compelling character-development stories in addition to the big-picture themes, is a series that is primed for a larger audience as it improves on its already impressively complex and nuanced story. A welcome return. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushJun 18, 2015

Season 1 Review: Humans feels like that sort [The Twilight Zone] of instant and very humanistic classic. [22-28 Jun 2015, p.10]

Robert BiancoJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: [A] compelling, smartly acted new co-production from AMC and Britain's Channel 4 that explores who we are and how fragile our own grip on humanity can be. Read full review

Emily L. StephensJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: In the first two episodes, Humans looks like a promising excursion into familiar territory, and one that plays well on several levels. It’s a domestic drama, a sci-fi thriller, and a meditation on alienation, all wrapped up in one sleek package. Read full review

Jen ChaneyFeb 13, 2017

Season 2 Review: Humans has delivered a second season that demonstrates a full, imaginative expansion of its narrative. Read full review

James PoniewozikFeb 13, 2017

Season 2 Review: Humans is a less ambitious production than “Westworld.” But its more pedestrian nature--it’s domestic drama merged with a sci-fi thriller--also makes it more emotionally effective. Read full review

D.F. LovettFeb 13, 2017

Season 2 Review: It avoids the present contemporary clichés of dystopias or apocalyptic landscapes, opting instead for something quieter. It might be too slow or too dry for some viewers--and the story may take some unnatural turns-- but like some of the best science-fiction out there, the patience of the attentive audience is rewarded. Read full review

ColliderChris CabinFeb 13, 2017

Season 2 Review: Humans may lack the visual pizazz or expressive symbolism to bring its bigger ideas into greater relief, but it’s becalmed yet thoughtful aesthetic actually works perfectly in tune with its subtext. Read full review

Mekeisha Madden TobyJun 30, 2015

Season 1 Review: While a subplot involving a John Brown-type Synth liberator, Leo (“Merlin’s” Colin Morgan), is a heavy-handed distraction, Humans holds up as a slightly humorous, thought-provoking, creepy piece of sci-fi filled with sympathetic performances and solid writing. Read full review

Ken TuckerJun 30, 2015

Season 1 Review: Humans is a clever piece of work. Read full review

David HinckleyJun 30, 2015

Season 1 Review: The Synths start to act in unexpected ways, and several ominous developments warn us that artificial intelligence must be controlled and directed. What stays with us about Humans, though, are the reminders of all the little ways things will change once we hand part of our lives over to robots. Read full review

Mark DawidziakJun 26, 2015

Season 1 Review: And yet, given how derivative it is, (say it with me now), Humans turns out far better than you'd think possible. The performances, pacing and direction are that compellingly good, at least in the first two episodes made available to critics. Read full review

Neil GenzlingerJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: Humans, a British product based on a Swedish series, feels fresh nonetheless, thanks to a multiple-plotline approach, a deft cast and its refusal to be simplistic. Read full review

Matthew GilbertJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: The show is at its best when it digs into the psychological subtleties of the synth-human relationship, including the notion that, with their precision and regularity, they could render us inferior, helpless, and despairingly unambitious. Read full review

Bruce MillerJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: While the past few TV seasons have had more than a few robot shows, this one bears watching, largely because it doesn’t insist there’s a “robots are good” or “robots are bad” way of thinking. Read full review

Tirdad DerakhshaniJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: A charming, exciting, and impeccably written sci-fi drama for grown-ups. Read full review

James PoniewozikJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: Like the dystopian British anthology Black Mirror, Humans is a sci-fi premise smartly reimagined for our own age of tech outsourcing. Read full review

Tim GoodmanJun 24, 2015

Season 1 Review: Humans finds a way to bring intrigue to a very familiar conflict. Read full review

RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 23, 2015

Season 1 Review: Humans intelligently adds to this decades-long conversation [what it means to be human] with strong writing, interesting performances, and, most of all, an eerie, disconcerting tone that forces us to question exactly what we want to happen. Read full review

Derek LawrenceFeb 11, 2017

Season 2 Review: The synth family of Mia (Gemma Chan) & Co. continues to drive the show's most interesting aspects, while the nonrobot Hawkins clan drags the action to a halt. Perhaps it's time for a new title. [17 Feb 2017, p.54]

Verne GayJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: A stylish, intelligent production. Read full review

Alan SepinwallJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: In a vacuum, the series is a solid, if not thrilling, piece of classic science fiction, exploring questions about the line between man and robot, whether computers can have souls, and whether mankind is destined to be rendered obsolete by the machines we're creating. Read full review

San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times

Chuck BarneyJun 23, 2015

Season 1 Review: It's familiar sci-fi territory, of course, but the show tackles it in intriguing style while delivering some suspenseful touches. Read full review

Emily VanDerWerffFeb 13, 2017

Season 2 Review: A story demands that it be led by its most compelling characters, and in most cases, that means the oppressed, not the oppressors. Humans can be intriguing, even enthralling. But it’s always held back by its title. Read full review

Rob OwenJun 26, 2015

Season 1 Review: Humans does introduce some intriguing scenarios that may, or may not, pay off. Read full review

Ellen GrayJun 25, 2015

Season 1 Review: For now, though, it's a familiar-looking drama that raises some less familiar questions about the things that makes us human--and the things that threaten to rob us of our humanity. Read full review

Mary McNamaraJun 24, 2015

Season 1 Review: This main narrative of Humans, which is based on a Swedish series and written by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, is solid if somewhat familiar; the truth and beauty of the series lies in the various B plots. Read full review

Jeff JensenJun 22, 2015

Season 1 Review: Some beats are poignant.... But there's nothing here that Blade Runner; I, Robot; Black Mirror; and many more haven't done before and done better. [26 Jun 2015, p.56]

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