Doux News: January 20, 2013

This week: Walking Dead finds new showrunner -- Ron Moore has another show in the works -- The Killing returns from the dead (but not the one I love) -- Alphas is now omega -- And has the CW found its Wonder Woman?

Alphas: God's Eye

Rosen: “What the hell am I doing? I’ve never stolen anything in my life.”

Seriously?! Seriously?! Well talk about your cliff hangers. When I got to the end of this episode I really couldn’t believe that it was the last one of the season. I actually went and checked several sources just to make sure.

Alphas: Need to Know

Kat: “The glasses, the messy hair, the cardigans. He seemed like such a nice old dude.”

This was a hard review for me to write, because I am finding the episodes difficult to watch. Not because they are not up to snuff, but because they are so well acted and work so hard to stick to “reality” while dealing in science fiction. I’m not a fan of watching people unravel.

Alphas: If Memory Serves

Hicks: “Well, I know who you are. You are the girl who can drive a rig and pick a lock under water.”

This episode was about the importance of memories, especially painful ones: the ones that teach us what it is to be human and give us meaning. On the one side, we have Kat, smart, talented and without memories. On the other, we have Mitchell, sweet and a bit stunned but full of memories from everyone.

Alphas: Life After Death

Nina: “She was holding my hand.”
Rachel: “What?”
Nina: “I felt everything she felt, how precious it all is, how fast.”

So how do you follow up an episode like last week? With awesome acting and a baby. Bookending the death with a baby was a bit trite as a device but it worked because these actors give it their all.

Alphas: The Devil Will Drag You Under

Dani: “I’m junkie and a liar. This is my chance to do something good.”

Damn. This is not how I wanted it to go down.

Alphas: Falling

Nina: “You can’t keep blaming a screwed up family life forever.”

Wow. Really, really wow. One episode can make up for several lackluster ones, especially if it is an episode like this. The calibre of the actors on this show made it possible for the writers to include several emotionally-charged situations in this one episode, interconnecting them and building from one to the other. Hicks' relationship with his son was mirrored the relationship of Dani and Rosen. And it may be that Dylan’s abusive hold on Kat mirrors Dani’s relationship with Parrish. It has sometimes felt like a really slow build this season, but tonight we got to the top of the rollercoaster and we are now speeding through the twists and the turns. I was a wreck by the end, and in particular awe of David Strathairn and Erin Way.

Alphas: Gods and Monsters

Jason: “Have you ever looked at somebody who’s supposed to love you and you know that they don’t even like you?”

What would it be like to be shunned by everyone because of something you couldn’t control? How tempted would you be if you could make people “like” you? This week’s episode was a twist on the classic “loser becomes popular” story. It was heartbreaking to watch Jason finally realize that what he was creating with his power was not true friendship or love. Because he was a basically decent young man, he couldn’t continue to exploit Lisa and in the end, even gave up his new “friends”. What teen doesn’t want to be popular? The whole idea was an interesting comment on the operation of popularity in high schools. Popularity there is often as hollow as it was for Jason. The decent teens who can think for themselves often have to fight the cult mentality that is popularity.

Alphas: Alphaville

It was so nice to see Skylar back this week not just because I am a Summer Glau fan but also because I like her character. Nina and Rachel both have fairly “feminine” powers but Skylar is a gadget wizard and her daughter is not only a girl who likes math, but probably the best mathematician in the world. Unfortunately, being found again is not a good thing for Skylar and Zoe. It is sad that Dr. Rosen, in his pursuit of what he thinks is right, endangers, and even stoops to use those he claims to care for. To quote an old saying, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Alphas: Gaslight

Last week's was such a good episode. I wasn’t happy to get back to the disjointed, not sure what’s happening or why, mode of this season. Even the title, which refers to a classic trope in movies, didn’t really fit.

Alphas: When Push Comes to Shove

Nina (pushing herself): “You’re happy, this is everything you always wanted.”

We knew Nina was off the rails but we didn’t know how far or why. The scenes with Nina as a child were heart-breaking. When your parents are fighting nastily and your father finally decides to leave, what little girl wouldn’t want to make him stay? Nina could and her ability to do so ended in tragedy. He needed to leave and when he couldn’t he took the only way out left to him. I love how this show doesn’t sanitize the super powers that people have. People with super powers are still going to be people.

Alphas: Alpha Dogs

Kat: “You’re Alpha secret agents, right?”

Sometimes I can’t decide whether I love or hate this show. As soon as I saw the “fight club” premise, I groaned. Not that I don’t like Fight Club, it’s an interesting movie with deep questions about the nature of modern masculinity and the problems with “civilization” but I am getting pretty sick of seeing it everywhere. And it often loses the subtleties and subversiveness that came with the book and the movie. That was certainly the case here although perhaps the writers just hoped that the audience brought those pieces with them. I’m just not a fan of people beating the crap out of each other for fun and enjoyment especially if it means people get killed. In any case, the fights do bring Bill and Kat together and consequently Bill learns to let go and let his ability become a part of him. I’m not sure this is necessarily a good thing as an overabundance of testosterone hasn’t really ended up producing good things. Isn’t there some other way that Bill and Kat could have met?

Alphas: The Quick and the Dead

Hicks: “When he asked me to check up on you, I don’t think this is what he had in mind.”
Danielle: “Oh, I don’t know. He did grow up in the sixties.”

This episode actually felt disjointed and not particularly effective, but I guess that reflected our team. I hope it was just one of those necessary set-up episodes for future events.

Alphas: Wake Up Call

Rosen: “People fear what they do not understand or what they cannot control.”
Scipio: “I’m not human, I’m an Alpha.”

What happens when you put everything on the line, expose a government cover-up and beam it out over the internet? The answer, it appears, is absolutely nothing. Rosen really did try to take over the chess board (see episode 1.2) but it is important to remember that governments don’t give up so easy. You can easily be put on the shelf and discredited as a lunatic by your own government. A government run by fear and responding with an intense need to control. Sound familiar? But this approach doesn’t really work for anything, and Rosen just has to wait until things become unmanageable. A well-executed prison break from Binghamton breaks everything open again. I was strangely disappointed by the ease with which the breaking apart of the team was resolved.

Alphas: Catch and Release

Skylar: “Run, idiots.”

What a treat to see Summer Glau on the show and as usual, playing a kick-ass young woman.

Of course, Alphas are like everyone else in many respects. They want a good job, a happy family, a job that is fulfilling and challenging. Working for the NSA if you are an Alpha is probably not the best choice, but I bet they pay well. And where else would you get the kinds of materials you need to build whatever you want? The downside is, it is very difficult to quit. Skylar has decided to leave the employ of the NSA and they aren’t too happy about it. They are even using the machine she created, “Bob”, to track her. They don’t want her to quit, they want to lock her up in a room and coerce her into making things. As Sullivan says, they will compensate her very well. Does the government have the right to take away someone’s liberty just because they need them? Not much of a free country if you ask me. The Alpha team seems to agree with me.

Alphas: Bill and Gary's Excellent Adventure

Gary: “Everyone’s calling me Agent Bell.”

This episode was a lot of fun in many ways. The focus was on character development rather than moving the plot along. There was no new superpower because the enemies were “normal” humans after a quick buck. (Something many “normal” and Alpha humans seem to be about.)

Alphas: Never Let Me Go

Sheriff Handell: “I should have listened. I should have stopped it.”

You know that special bond between a newborn baby and its mother? It’s fueled by oxytocin, which is the same chemical that makes you feel head over heels when you are first in love. What would happen if there was someone who could mainline that drug for people? We found out this week. Anyone they touched would immediately fall in love and feel wonderful, at least for a little while. Once they lose that contact they go into withdrawal, and it is pretty horrible.

Alphas: Rosetta

Red Flag: “True neurodiversity cannot be limited by their small minds.”

This show does not screw around. We are only at episode four and I am attached to the Alpha team and they have a “terrorist” antagonist headed by an Alpha that can speak any language and run a movement while looking helpless. Anna played into Rosen’s ableist assumptions about people who look different than what we call the “norm”. And unfortunately, the “normal” humans are also playing out our xenophobia and trying any way we can to wipe the Alphas out of existence. Creating a drug to suppress the birth of Alphas is genetic cleansing, and as usual we end up creating what we fear: that is, Alphas who are at war with “normal” humans. It appears that they have little other choice.

Alphas: Anger Management

Gary: “Bill, you need to shoot it.”
Bill: “I’m not shooting anything, okay? Look, I’ll call them again.”
Gary: “No, Bill, no more talking, it’s time for action.”
Gary: “Give me the gun, I’ll shoot it.”
Bill: “Gary, I’m not giving you my gun.”
Gary: “Yeah give me...no, you’re right, give me a grenade.”
Bill: “Gary-out.”
Gary: “Bill, give me the grenade.”
Bill: “Gary, good-bye.”
Gary: “You don’t even have a grenade.”

Alphas: Cause and Effect

Dr. Rosen: “I’m calling people like you Alphas.”
Marcus: “Alpha, acceleration, the first variable. I like that.”

In the last episode, we met the team. In this week’s episode, we meet the conspiracy. We found out a little bit about who the Alphas are and their mission: to find other Alphas and, if they are “bad” Alphas, turn them over to the government. The definition of “bad” is an Alpha who is a danger to themselves or others, but the real questions are, who gets to define bad? And then, what do you do about it? In classic sci-fi style, you can’t trust the government to deal with these issues, because the government is made up of “normal” people who are terrified by anything new and different.