Real Humans (review)

Nordic crime fiction has flourished in television (as well as in literature and film) for some time now. Nordic SF television, however, is a true rarity. The Swedish television series Real Humans (Äkta Människor, (2012–), produced by SVT (Sweden’s national public television) and Matador Films) is therefore a rare treat. The series has demonstrated it is possible to produce quality sf television for the Nordic region, as it has proven both a critical and commercial success; Real Humans has won several international prizes, such as best manuscript (for the series creator and script writer Lars Lundström) at the Seoul Drama Awards in South Korea and the prize for best television series at the Prix Italia. The series has been sold to almost 50 countries, including France, Germany and Australia.

Season one of Real Humans consists of ten episodes. The narrative is set in an alternative reality that resembles contemporary Sweden; in this reality, humans have created humanoid robots called ‘Hubots’ to serve in varying capacities. There are, for instance, Hubot factory workers, personal trainers, sex workers, babysitters and care workers. Hubots resemble humans in their appearance, but they lack free will and the capacity to feel emotions – factors typically used to distinguish humans from machines in sf. It is, however, soon established that not all Hubots are what they seem: some are ‘liberated’ and therefore have their own free will and are capable of emotions, even love. The ‘non-liberated’, regular Hubots are also revealed to have surprisingly human-like qualities. The first season of Real Humans centres on the liberated Hubots and their attempts to find the missing sequences of the programming code that is the secret to their free will – the code that will enable all Hubots to be free of human control. Who will find it, and what will it be used for?

The liberated Hubots are helped by Leo (Andreas Wilson), the human son of the scientist David Eischer (Thomas W. Gabrielsson), who created the Hubots. It is soon revealed that Leo has also been altered by technology. One narrative thread focuses on the love story of Leo and the Hubot Mimi (Lisette Pagler), as Mimi gets separated from the other liberated Hubots and is captured by black market Hubot retailers, reprogrammed, renamed and finally sold to a ‘regular’ Swedish family – the Engmans. One of the main themes in the first season thus centres on the question of whether Mimi will regain the personality she had as a liberated Hubot. Another thread discusses the possibility for machines to serve as care workers. An elderly man, Lennart Sollber (Sten Elfström) struggles with the fact that his old Hubot is breaking down and must be replaced by a newer model. Lennart has grown to see the old Hubot, Odi (Alexander Stocks), as a friend, and does not want to lose him. The new Hubot Vera (Anki Larsson) is surely effective – even terrifyingly so – but can she care for Lennart the way that he would like her to?

A central theme that emerges in Real Humans is the definition of personhood – or humanity as such. By negotiating the relations between humans and machines, the series taps into questions that have long preoccupied various sf narratives. What is the difference between humans and machines? What makes us human? Can a machine have a soul? Real Humans is very conscious of its genre and makes intertextual references to other sf narratives and popular culture. These include insightful references to Isaac Asimov’s work, and a nod to the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, famous for their song ‘The Robots’. The capacity of the Hubots to feel emotions and the developing of friendships and love affairs between humans and Hubots also links the Hubots to the emotional humanoid machines seen in, for instance, Blade Runner (Scott US/Hong Kong/UK 1982) and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (US/UK 2004–2009). In Real Humans, one of the Hubots, Gordon (André Sj...