SyFy's Alphas - Page 2

Because when you have a show that there's always a (sort of) science-based explanation such as Eureka, and then introduce the idea that in this same universe, things can happen because a mystical artifact is doing it, you're sort of undermining the core concept a little.

Same in this show. By combining the the two, you introduce the idea that it isn't an Alpha causing whenever weird stuff is happening. It could be some object magically making it happen. That's not what the show is, but by saying the shows are in the same universe it automatically enters into the realm of possibility.

I realize it's just a TV show, but when you base the entire show on a certain logic and then ruin that logic just for a crossover, it doesn't really make sense to me. I like Eureka, like Warehouse 13, and already stated my feels on this show, but I still like to think of them as separate. Maybe that's too much thought put into a bunch of fun summer shows, but it's just how my mind thinks of it.

I enjoyed last night's episode. They're doing a good job of developing these people as people first and powers second. Except for pin-point accuracy man and the pusher, I remember all of the main characters' names -- which is remarkable for me this early into a series.

I have no problems mixing religion with science, so having crossovers between the mystical and science-based doesn't bother me.

I'm becoming more invested every week. I love that each alpha of the week challenges the whole team -- Rosen included -- on a personal level. All of the characters have evolved since the pilot, and none of them are stupid for the plot's sake. I love the direction they seem to be headed in, evolving the team from a government unit on a tight leash to a sort of renegade X-Men, with Rosen as a non-mutant Professor X.

Even though the scenes between Bill and his wife at the beginning always tie in thematically with the main story of the episode, I was still blind sided by the reveal that Summer Glau's character was a mom. With the whole series about the Alphas as pawns on a very large chessboard, it was nice to see a reveal that was counter to that -- a mother trying to protect her daughter, by any means necessary. I would also LOVE a spin-off with Glau's Über-MacGyver and her math genius daughter on the run, caught between the alphabet soup government agencies on one side and nasty mercenaries/terrorists on the other.

Even though Gary is TV/"Rain Man" autistic instead of anything in the realm of realistic autistic, they established the boundaries of his character early on and have been consistent with them. He had the potential to get very annoying very fast, but they walk the line well by keeping his schtick from getting too broad.

Yes, it was another good episode and I had absolutely no suspicion who Z was until the reveal. I was thinking that she might have some Red Flag connection, but that was another red herring. They did leave the door wide open for her return in a future episode when they will really need her. I'm looking forward to that.

That's good to hear.

This show reminds me so much of X-Men/Mutant-X.

Dr. Rosen's Group= X-men
Red Hand (is that it?)= Brotherhood of Mutants

Dr. Rosen= Charles Xavier
Mute Girl= Magneto

I like the show just fine, just that it's nothing new. I like Eureka better, too bad SyFy cancelled it.

It's definitely the X-Men, without all of the Marvel Universe baggage. That being said, I find that the characterization is richer and deeper here than we've gotten from any of the on-screen X-Men adaptations.

David Strathairn is one of the greatest actors alive today, and he makes really interesting choices as Rosen. He's both warmer and less intimidating than Professor X. Seeing him grow closer and closer to his team while the government tries to pull them in a very undesirable direction is fascinating.

Brent Spiner's character was fun. He reminded me a bit of his Area 51 character from Independence Day. I liked how they were setting him up to be basically the Magneto to Strathairn's Professor X, which made it a bit more shocking when Rebecca Mader's character killed him.

Ahh, I dunno. The first season of "Heroes" was AWEsome....and this first season for "Alphas" is kind of hit--and-miss for me.

Last night's episode had its good points, but it's recycling plotlines that have long since become stale: Why is it that any show about someone with powers -- and in this case, a group of folks with distinctive powers -- always has episodes where they encounter singular beings who can defeat them all?

I mean...REALLY!?! Was it not forseeable? Halfway through and I knew the truth of it.

Looking back on the season after just watching the finale, it struck me how deliberate everything has been. Most shows spend their first season struggling to find their voice. This show started slow in the pilot, and just kept building and building and building until this finale was pulse-pounding from beginning to end. I am SO happy we're getting a season two, because I can't wait to see where they take it from here.

This whole season was about a choice that Rosen had to make: to side with his brain or side with his heart. The Rosen of the pilot would have unquestionably sided his his head. The season was the journey that brought Rosen to side with his heart.

Normally the reveal at the end that Rosen's daughter was working for the Big Bad the whole time would have felt like a cheap gimmick. Not here. We understand what drove her to Stanton Parish; nothing we've been shown or told would indicate that Rosen was the kind of father a scared little girl who's not like everybody else would need. She probably was an addict and all of the things Rosen thought she was until Parish saved her, and a lot of that is down to the childhood she had with her father.

But the emotional journey Rosen and his daughter went on over the course of the finale is undermined by the surprise reveal, it's enriched by it. Everything we saw happen really happened. We thought it was about Rosen getting to know his daughter, but really it was about his daughter getting to know him. By the end, Danielle realized that she underestimated his father -- who he is and what he's capable of. In spite of herself, she got to know him as a human being. That moment by the pool when she let him feel what she's felt all of these years was real, and the fact that he needed to know was such a fatherly impulse that it turned everything she'd assumed about him upside down. If he could see her as a human being, that meant he could see all Alphas as human beings. She took the measure of the man she now saw her father to be, and realized that Stanton's manipulation was no match for him.

If I have any complaint with the finale, it was the decision to kill Anna. I know why they did it, I even think it was necessary to push the characters into the places they needed to be to make such a bold decision, but it stings to lose such a great character. I've never seen one like her on television, and there's so much more they could have done with her.

To be honest, I was still really iffy on this show until this finale. I mean, yeah it entertained me, but I still didn't really care too much about it. That ending though was perfect, and now I really can't wait to see where they go from here.

Great analysis of the show and the finale in your message. It was a great finale there and I am very interested in seeing what happens from there.

There were a couple things in the finale that had me wondering a bit .... I wonder if Hicks is working with Parish as well.

First, Stanton Parish's plan wouldn't have worked if Hicks hadn't arrived in time to save Dr. Rosen and his daughter. Given it was Hicks, couldn't he have just wounded the guy enough to free the Rosens instead of killing him there? Was Hicks the backup to make sure Dr. Rosen got the information? Would Parish really have risked Danielle so much without a backup?

Then, during the assault we saw a weapon fly through the air with pin-point precision to kill one of the government which incited them to open fire. Was that Hicks who did that or the woman he had fought earlier there? Or someone else who Parish had there to make sure things went the way he wanted?

And anyone willing to bet whether Stanton Parish is going to meet the fate of all "immortals" - being buried alive?

^ In keeping with Alphas's more low key approach to superpowers, I'd hope that he isn't literally immortal. If he's get decapitated or brutally mauled, I'd like to think he'd be dead. It's just aging that he's immune to, and most viruses and diseases.

Ugh: Eureka head replaces Ira Steven Behr as Alphas showrunner

I know "Eureka" has fans here, but the cheesiness was always a huge turn off for me. I loved Behr on "The 4400" and he just turned in one of my favorite first seasons of a show in a long time here. "Alphas" has basically no budget, so the writing is everything. My enthusiasm for the next season has been dampened quite a bit with this news. I hope Bruce Miller proves me wrong.

I'm one of the people that enjoys Eureka, and part of that is because of the cheesiness of it.

That being said, just because he wrote like that for that show doesn't necessarily mean that he'll run Alphas the same way. I mean, Miller appears to have been coexecutive producer for a season of The 4400 as well.

Yeah, it's not that I have problem with Miller specifically as it is that I wished they hadn't messed with something that was firing on all cylinders the way it was. In other words, if it ain't broke, why fix it? Fortunately it looks like series creators Zak Penn and Michael Karnow are sticking around for season 2. Behr was hired to run the show because Penn was too busy and Karnow didn't have enough experience in TV. Penn wrote my favorite episode of the season, "Rosetta", and Karnow wrote my second favorite, "Catch and Release". I'd feel more comfortable with the switch if I knew what the breakdown of labor was behind the scenes. On some shows, the showrunner's main job is to keep the machinery running. On other shows, the showrunner substantially re-writes every episode before it goes in front of the cameras. If "Alphas" was a case of the later, the loss of Behr is going to hurt a lot more than if it was a case of the former.

The second season of Alphas will premiere on July 23 at 10 pm Eastern. The season one cast is all back, comprised of David Strathairn, Malik Yoba, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Ryan Cartwright and Laura Mennell. Erin Way has been added to the cast for season 2 as a new Alpha. Syfy chose to replace season one showrunner Ira Steven Behr with "Eureka's" Bruce Miller for season two. Executive producers Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun, Gene Stein and Zak Penn return from last season. Co-creator Michael Karnow also remains with the show as a co-executive producer.

Summary from Syfy: Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Looking forward to this one. Syfy's recent spots didn't specify exactly when the show would be back, but this is about where I was predicting.

Hadn't heard that about Ira Behr getting replaced at the network's call -- very interesting. From what I read last year, they were making it sound like a "mutual decision," a "one-year gig," etc. etc. Wonder if this will affect the series' writing/plotting very much...Behr's always a tough act to follow.

I don't have the full details. My understanding is that they filmed the pilot under Penn and Karnow's supervision without a showrunner in place, probably without any expectation of picking it up. Then, when they decided to take it to series, they signed Behr to a one-year contract as showrunner while creators Zak Penn and Michael Karnow stayed on as staff writers. By the end of the first season, they'd made the decision to cancel "Eureka" and got serious blowback from the fans. Whether to try to appease those fans and keep them/convert them to "Alphas" fans or because Bruce Miller was a talent they wanted to stay in business with, they opted to go with him as showrunner for season two instead of renewing Behr's contract. Another "Alphas" writer, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who worked with Behr on "Deep Space Nine", either was let go or chose to leave with Behr at the end of season 1.

The characterization and low-key storytelling on this show strikes such a delicate balance, that the switch up has left me more concerned than it would have on a show like "Smallville".