Oh Extant Season 1 Episode 12 -- what the hell were you trying to say?!

Now I'm all for cool bait-and-switch tactics to shake things up and make them exciting, but I have to draw the line at making them impossible to understand.

Because here's what happened during this hour -- I no longer have any idea what's real and what's not and I wouldn't be surprised if everyone woke up in some sort of a stupor at the end of the season finale and we were left with nothing.

That can't possibly be the effect they were going for here.

The business with John talking to a Molly that wasn't there really threw me. I get that Circles (unless I missed it, Molly didn't bother giving her son a name before he disappeared, so Circles he remains) probably did it to distract everyone so he could meet his mommy, but sheesh.

Although I did really like the circles effect on Circles face -- that had to be the coolest part of the entire night. Not his "thriller" eyes (a similarity someone on Twitter pointed out), but how the circles fit so perfectly on his face.

I was certain that Katie Sparks was telling the truth, but a bloodless one took her blood and became her, so she could even be seen in videos. And, no, fake Katie, it's not OK! Not at all. It's annoying that they want to embody us but not understand how our bodies and minds work.

Before the blood is an interesting way to explain whatever the dust particles are, but I doubt we'll find out anything about them. Who they are, why they are becoming extinct, why they want us, etc.

Odin was only using Ethan to train him to do awful things he could then say make him an out of control monster. Uh, no. He's a kid. All kids would burn their hands in flames and say that stupid stuff about their parents if a cool older dude showed an interest in being their friend and, well, didn't actually catch on fire!

We have one episode left and I don't see how we can't be left with a bunch of dangling stories.

With Molly trying to save the world from the alien vampires and spending what looks like a lion's share of the finale on the Seraphim, what are the odds the Odin/Ethan nut-job cult thing will end satisfactorily?

How about any more connections to Yasumoto? Isn't he trying to upload into Ethan?

Will we find out why the aliens have access to our memories of people on the day they left us? 

Will we see Sparks get what he deserves? He's bound to go cray-cray when he discovers his Katie is a friggin' alien and not real -- again.

The beginning of the series was slow and the middle was amazing and now we're rolling into the "we're not really sure what's going on and we're just trying to end it" phase. At least that's what I see. 

It's official. I'm disappointed. I wanted something deeper about what makes someone human. We got a brief snipped of that when Julie told Ethan if someone can love they can be loved or something, but it wasn't enough.

Throwing my hands up for the week. What about you? Did you get more out of it than I did? Can you sense my growing frustration? Does it seem like it's going off the rails or is it just me? I'm open to hearing how wrong I am!

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.