SyFy has struck gold with it’s new series Alphas which is yet another take in the superhuman gene theory. Many people wrongly overlooked this show due to the fall from grace that Heroes had and their general unwillingness to view another “X-Men rip-off” as this genre is deemed. Though the origins of shows that deal with superhuman abilities will channel X-Men to a certain degree, I can argue for Alphas very easily.
The premise of the show is that a good team of super-humans (or Alphas) are brought together in order to combat a terrorist organization of bad Alphas. The good team is led by Dr. Lee Rosen (David Stratham), an earthy psychologist with a deep interest in super humans. On Rosen’s team are the following:
Gary Bell (Ryan Cartwright)
An autistic young man with the power to read radio waves and much more. Gary visualizes the communication around him allowing him to track phone signals, conversations, texts, email – you name it. If you are sexting your girlfriend overseas, Gary is the Alpha peeking through your virtual window and watching you (bad analogy I know). Gary was hands down our favorite Alpha, he was funny, a leader in his own right and a very complex and lovable character. Gary is the definition of good writing for this show along with Ryan Cartwright’s acting.
Cameron Hicks (Warren Christie)
Hicks has a dead-eye aim, can free-run across roof tops and ricochet bullets off of things and hit the bulls-eye. Think of Angelina Joli’s Fox in Wanted and you have Hicks. He’s a former athlete, and a part-time father but on the show he is the strong, handsome, silent type.
Rachel Pirzad (Azita Ghanizata)
Rachel has heightened senses and the personality of a gerbil. While her sense of smell, touch and sight is amazing, it comes as a huge social downer for this woman due to the fact that kissing is disgusting, she can hear what people whisper about her and she can tell if your heart is beating irregularly – from across the room. Although we warm up to Rachel near the end of this season I really expected her to grow more on me. Of all the Alphas she was the most distant to the team – which is understandable given her talent.
Bill Harken (Malik Yoba)
Bill is the Hulk of this Avengers team. Whenever his adrenaline spikes he is strong enough to lift a car (within reason) but his power is not without a downside. If his rage or excitement goes down he crashes hard and is practically worthless. Bill starts off very obnoxious, he eats people’s food, he interrupts, he’s a former FBI and he practically rubs everyone the wrong way. When Bill and Gary bond however, the two developing an understanding where they both help one another fit in better with the team and it is probably one of the best relationships I have ever seen on television.
Nina Theroux (Laura Mennel)
Nina “pushes” people with her mind, she tells you what to do and you will do it. As great and powerful as her power sounds, the writers really struggled with her relevance and the actress did nothing to help better the role. I am about to be really harsh on Nina because of all the members if she was not around, I would not have missed her. Nina is Hick’s counterpart in that she is meant to be the sexy on the show for us guys… that was a failure. They make the woman wear heels yet she walks like someone that just learnt how to wear them (comment came from my girlfriend). She becomes involved in a romance at one point and it comes off as forced and unnatural so that did nothing for her either. Nina, Nina, Nina… I am hoping that like Rachel, she will get a better deal for season 2.
The team works closely with the FBI who helps them lock away all the naughty Alphas in a prison known as Binghamton. The agent assigned to helping out Rosen is Nathan Clay (Mahershala Ali). Clay is a hard ass but his heart is in the right place, although he and his organization isn’t shown much, we do get an idea of who they are, what they represent and why they and agents of Red Flag are doing what they do.
This show has a huge heart, a massive heart actually and with a shoe-string budget it manages to bring across a well-written premise, played out by some very interesting individuals. While I will argue that Nina is about as interesting as pocket lint, she doesn’t take away from the other spectacular players such as Gary, Bill and Rosen. With each rogue Alpha that is discovered, comes a well thought out back story, some apathy and a resolution that is always surprising. By the way the season finale was amazing, and it sets up season 2 quite well – which has been given the green light to film.
Alphas uses television’s winning formula to a tee. You have to have a grand scheme (Red Flag in this instance), one or a few very likable and identifiable players for us audience members, a ton of character development and more than a few surprises. Alphas managed to nail all of these points throughout the first season and it did so without it feeling forced or irrelevant. Characters that were boring at first became interesting, personalities that I once disliked became understandable. You care if the main team members get hurt and the finale was much more than a cliffhanger.
If you get a chance to pick up the first season of Alphas on demand, on video or however, make sure you do so. This isn’t like the X-Men rips of the past which suffered from shoddy writing, no real direction and immortal cheerleaders. THIS is the real deal.
Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.
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