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=John Kennex=

John Kennex is a fictional character portrayed by Karl Urban and is the protagonist of Fox Broadcasting Company's Almost Human, a futuristic TV show that takes place in the year 2048. Kennex is a detective with a prosthetic leg returning to the police force two years after an ambush which killed several police officers, including Kennex's partner, and put Kennex in a coma.

Creation and Casting
Kennex's character was created by J.H. Wyman and portrayed by Karl Urban, who has also starred in science fiction movies such as the Star Trek reboot films. Executive producer J. J. Abrams approached Urban about the show while both of them were working on Star Trek. Urban read one of the scripts and then accepted the role.

Characteristics
According to Karl Urban, Kennex is angry and emotionally closed off. He is distrustful and harbors a lot of guilt over leading officers to their deaths in an ambush, especially after discovering his girlfriend had used him to gain police intel on the attempted raid. A psychiatrist’s evaluation at the beginning of the show details that Kennex is suffering from “depression, mental atrophy, trauma-onset OCD, PTSD, and psychological rejection of his synthetic body parts.” He attends weekly anger management sessions but is unwilling to participate.

Kennex often antagonizes his partner or other police officers. However, he is compassionate as shown when talking with victims of crime. He is "morally centred" and loyal to those close to him. When an old friend is accused of being involved in drug trade, Kennex refuses to believe the man is guilty. Apart from the failed raid that put him in a coma, Kennex has an excellent record as a police officer. He is a proficient marksman and carries two handguns.

Kennex has a prosthetic leg since losing his right leg in the ambush. Kennex dislikes his synthetic leg at the beginning of the series, and similarly has a low opinion of the androids that all police officers are partnered with.

Kennex's character development is a major theme of the show. Urban comments that “The Kennex that we met in the pilot was not the real John Kennex,” and that Kennex is still recuperating both physically and mentally from the ambush and his coma. Throughout the series, he also comes to term with the role technology plays in his life.

Backstory
Kennex joined the police force because of his father, who was also a police officer but died 10 years prior to the start of the show.

Two years before the events of the pilot episode, Kennex led a police raid in which he and his team were ambushed by the criminal organization inSyndicate. Many officers died. Kennex rushed farther into the fight to save his partner, Michael Pelham. A police android informed Kennex that Pelham was dying and beyond saving. Kennex refused to abandon his partner, and the android left them both. Explosives then killed Pelham and destroyed Kennex’s right leg, putting him in a coma for 17 months. After waking, Kennex has difficulty remembering details about the ambush and discovers that his girlfriend has disappeared.

Storylines
The show begins several months after Kennex awakens from his coma. Police captain Sandra Maldonado convinces Kennex to rejoin the force and investigate a robbery tied to inSyndicate, despite the recommendations of a psychiatrist and the resentment of other police officers who blame Kennex for the failed raid.

All police officers are now partnered with an MX-model android. Kennex hates MXs, particularly since he and his partner Pelham were abandoned by an MX during the ambush, and he destroys his MX partner on their first day. Maldonado then partners him with a more human-like model of android, a DRN who goes by the name Dorian. A major theme of the show is Kennex and Dorian developing mutual trust and friendship.

Throughout the show, Kennex investigates and attempts to remember the ambush that put him in a coma. He visits a memory doctor known as a “recollectionist” multiple times and takes memory-enhancing drugs, despite the resulting flashbacks and negative effects on his physical health. Kennex discovers that his ex-girlfriend Anna, who had disappeared by the time he came out of his coma, had used him to gain police intel that resulted in the ambush. Kennex asks a forensic analyst to discretely analyze evidence such as a Russian matryoshka doll given to him by Anna, which they find out is a listening device.

The show ends with a case of personal significance to Kennex. Ten years ago, his father had arrested a serial killer. However, murders with an identical modus operandi begin happening again. After ruling out the possibility of a copy-cat killer, Kennex realizes that the real killer is still at large.

Kennex’s father had begun to suspect that he had arrested the wrong person, but he was killed a few weeks later before he could prove it. He was also investigated by internal affairs for stealing robotics out of evidence lockup to sell illegally. By solving the case, Kennex catches his father’s killer and proves that his father did not steal the robotics.

Dorian (DRN-0167)
Dorian is Kennex's assigned android partner. Kennex initially dislikes and distrusts him. Dorian’s model, the DRN, has a reputation for emotional outbursts. However, Dorian begins to gain Kennex’s trust by saving his life in the first episode.

The two frequently bicker and tease each other while driving to crime scenes. Both have a similar sense of dry humour. Their conversations are occasionally serious, and both are apt at recognizing when the other is upset. Throughout the show, their unwilling partnership develops into a friendship. However, Dorian and Kennex sometimes clash over Kennex’s callous and rule-breaking behavior.

When Dorian’s performance is reviewed at the end of the season, Kennex tells the inspector that Dorian is the reason he stayed on the force. To thank Kennex, Dorian gives him a new and improved synthetic leg.

Captain Sandra Maldonado
Captain Maldonado is Kennex’s supervisor. Kennex respects her but will disobey her orders if he disagrees with them.

Karl Urban characterizes their relationship by saying that Maldonado is “like a big sister” to Kennex. Maldonado is the only character that Kennex feels he can be open around. Kennex and Maldonado trust each other but are also honest with each other if they disagree.

In the show, Maldonado convinces Kennex to return to the police force, partners him and Dorian together, and inquires into his well-being when he is acting odd. Maldonado recognizes the guilt Kennex feels and tries to prevent him from obsessing over it.

Valerie Stahl
Valerie Stahl is an intelligence analyst on the police force. Kennex and Stahl appear to have romantic feelings for each other, which Dorian comments on multiple times. However, Kennex and Stahl do not explicitly address their feelings.

When Stahl is kidnapped by criminals, she chooses to contact Kennex to save her life. After Stahl is rescued, the two drink bourbon and watch a sports game together. Later in the season, Kennex unsuccessfully dates other women. He then asks Stahl out for drinks, but she is already going for drinks with another man. Despite this, Kennex and Stahl still appear to have interest in each other. No romantic relationship develops.