Alphas (Syfy) [** Spoilers **]

tvnutz

Really enjoyed that episode. I agree they could wind up the parish storyline anyway,doesn't mean they need to wind up the show, start with a new storyline next season, many shows have done that.

Richard Dower

Looks EPIC!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgFxX9NFMHY

But.....

Nina kissing Hicks

:rolleyes: ....would they have the balls to kill off some regular characters?

Richard Dower

Season 2 finale tonight, hopefully out with a bang and not a meh whimper, hoping for some deaths besides a season long predictable one. Season long the ratings have been poor.

I am unsure what SyFy will do, the conventional wisdom says cancellation...but i'm not calling that myself, it's an unknown.

pixelburp

I think the climax has been dragged out a little, not by much mind you, but it feels like we've know of Parishs grand plan for a while now without anything happening. Plus at this stage I'd be glad if they just parked the continual emotional battering they give Rosen. Throughout Season 2 there has been a constant thread of making Rosen suffer; whether its emotionally through guilt & events, or just writing him to look like a manipulative douche. And now they've shot the poor fella! It's a bit too easy to make everyone hate Rosen, just to eek out a bit more conflict.

Generally though, I've been quietly enjoying Alphas over its two seasons without ever passing comment on it around these parts: it's a competent, well put together drama that plays around with the now-tired superhero genre just enough to keep things interesting. It's nothing special, but given how quickly similar shows like Heroes went completely off the rails, consistency isn't a bad thing. Grounding the empowered characters, and giving them a distinct physical or psychological limitation was a smart move, made things a bit more interesting - and the human drama more convincing - than the standard melodrama you get with this genre.

+1 on the love for Kat though; by all accounts she should be extremely irritating, but she straddles the line between spunky & annoying without falling over to the latter; a bit more of her, Harken & Gary would be nice. Ninas arc has been surprisingly strong, they did good things with her character, but Rachel has turned into a drip & dull bore. Hicks I could take or leave.

Richard Dower

The end.......:eek:

Jaysus....i think one poster might have called it, Rosen dead!...? :eek:
It was a great character study and showed the acting prowess of David Strathairn, some pretty excellent acting.

I actually liked it focused alot on one character, dieing, delusional, seeing hallucinations of Dani etc. it was rather well done. While overall it was a good episode it wasn't superb or even great. But it did have a corker of a cliffhanger/finale....i still think the Nina episode was the best of the entire series, let alone this season.

Parish was a great big bad, he was played and acted very well...he wasn't a cartoon villian, he was thoughtful and surprisingly....human.
So Nina kissed Hicks but thankfully he was totally cold on her so they didn't "go there" per se....maybe slow build next season?...if it gets one that is.

Overall i think season 2 was much better, more thought out and had an overall season arc and direction, better plotted and deeper character study for a few of the team, notably Nina and Rosen. Rachel got a bit at the start but fizzled out, Cameron....i suppose you could call his post Dani death and revenge arc a plot of sorts. New addition Kat....she's pretty good, alot of sass and she kicked butt again in the finale.

It's not the greatest show ever but has enough to keep you entertained and invested and coming back. Yeah i'd like to see a third season and see how things pan out re; that ending....but im not sure what SyFy will do
I think Gary being uneffected was due to him being autistic....his brain works different, like he is resistent to being pushed.

3.5/5

Richard Dower

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

Agreed, the show seems to be getting stronger but feel like it's getting ready to wind up. I could definitely see

Rosen not surviving

for some reason.

Well done mate!....it certainly looks like that! :eek:

Mr E

Average episode, but very good ending. I thought the photo-stims were supposed to kill humans and enhance Alphas? So are all the Alphas just going to wake up with extra/enhanced abilities?

And what was that conversation with Parish and Rosen?
"We couldn't find him."
"Well we should have looked harder."
"That's what she would have wanted."

My money is on a latent Alpha ability in Rosen - he'll wake up with the rest of them.

Richard Dower

Mr E wrote: »

Average episode, but very good ending. I thought the photo-stims were supposed to kill humans and enhance Alphas? So are all the Alphas just going to wake up with extra/enhanced abilities?

And what was that conversation with Parish and Rosen?
"We couldn't find him."
"Well we should have looked harder."
"That's what she would have wanted."

My money is on a latent Alpha ability in Rosen - he'll wake up with the rest of them.

I'd think Rosen would know if he was an Alpha or not....dunno how he'll survive. Maybe he closed his eyes right before the flash?

Skylar said if the flash dosen't kill you it makes you an enhanced Alpha...so some might die.

stevenmu

Mr E wrote: »

And what was that conversation with Parish and Rosen?
"We couldn't find him."
"Well we should have looked harder."
"That's what she would have wanted."

I think he said "We couldn't find it", Rosen had just said something about finding a better way.

My money is on a latent Alpha ability in Rosen - he'll wake up with the rest of them.

+1, that seems to be what happened to the homeless guy at the start. I'd bet they introduced that concept just to keep Rosen alive. Also it means a lot of people from the station might wake up as alphas too which could lead to next season's story, or at least something for an episode or two.

FreudianSlippers

Following on my possibly correct prediction from earlier, I picked up on something else in the episode - I wonder if Rosen is somehow related to Parish and he doesn't know it yet. Parish seems to have an interest in Rosen and Dani that goes beyond where we are. There is something extra there, and with Parish still alive it will be interesting to see what happens if they decide to go another season.

What's the bet that Gary's mum is in an area of Manhattan where the lights went out again just before the photostim went off?

pixelburp

Is Rosen an Alpha? Well that entirely depends on whether David Strathairn will sign up for another contract, doesn't it? I mean let's face it, it's a classic TV season cliffhanger - most of the main cast in limbo (even it's a fair guess that the Alphas in the team will be fine), pending new scripts & contracts.

Unless they're intent on killing the character off - in which case American TV dictates he would have been given a proper send-off - I'd be fairly confident he'll be back, and grappling with whatever ability the writers give him, and with the fallout from Grand Central.

For what it's worth I agree about the theorising though about Stanton & Rosen: I think there's a connection allright, mostly likely familial. Is Stanton a great-great-great uncle, or grand-father of some kind?

Something else I liked about season 2 that was in the finale - the music. I digged the retro, synth-style music they used throughout the episodes; it had a nice darkness to it, and gave the show more of a personality, it was a nice touch

I hope there's a season 3 anyway, enjoyed it all told.

FreudianSlippers

You don't think Rosen's last few episodes were a good send off?! I could definitely see that being the end of Rosen

pixelburp

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

You don't think Rosen's last few episodes were a good send off?! I could definitely see that being the end of Rosen

Well I meant 'send off' in the sense that mainstream drama just can't let a major character (the lynchpin of the team at that) die without a goodbye, or at least last-words with some amount of potency. Plus if he is dead they killed him off-screen, which is also unlike mainstream TV.

Besides, it would seem passing strange that for all his ranting about humanity, Stanton would then chose an ordinary human as his successor (even if he did offer Rosen a convenient cupboard to hide in). That, and the weird undertones of a connection between the two - that Parish is keeping back something he knows about Rosen - suggests shenanigans!

In any case, it's all academic if Alphas doesn't get a third season.

Corkfeen

Paul Simon song was a rather perfect choice.

Rhavin

Definitely thought they chickened out with Rosen. After all that build up making him cold and remorseless (torturing the fire starter) he has Parish where he wants him. Then he goes on about this isn't what she would have wanted!

They really could have killed off Rosen then. Now if it returns I think they will bring Rosen back again.

CastorTroy

Good episode. Assuming we have a new season, we'll get a lot of new Alphas from Grand Central.
At least we'll get to see how that story will play out unlike another series with a similiar premise where something similar happened just before cancellation. Won't say the show since would be spoiler for those who haven't seen it

Richard Dower

Syfy has cancelled Alphas

http://tvline.com/2013/01/16/alphas-cancelled-syfy/

YET another nail in the coffin for "SyFy"...SciFi me arse! :mad: they cancelled every bleedin science fiction show they have and replaced it with wrestling and reality ghost crap :mad:

SyFy is like TLC or Discovery....a total farce and nothing close to what the channel SHOULD be showing.

pixelburp

So it's the Blakes 7 scenario then: we can assume those lying on the platform in Grand Central were all dead. One hell of a downer to end a series on...

Mr E

Ah it was disposable enough to be fair. Entertaining for what it was, but I won't really miss it. Shame they didn't do one more episode to wrap it all up.

Antar Bolaeisk

When will people learn, stop hiring Summer Glau:

Firefly
Terminator
The Hood
Dollhouse
Alphas

FreudianSlippers

Richard Dower wrote: »

Syfy has cancelled Alphas

http://tvline.com/2013/01/16/alphas-cancelled-syfy/

YET another nail in the coffin for "SyFy"...SciFi me arse! :mad: they cancelled every bleedin science fiction show they have and replaced it with wrestling and reality ghost crap :mad:

SyFy is like TLC or Discovery....a total farce and nothing close to what the channel SHOULD be showing.

It wasn't my favourite show, but SyFy was wrong to cancel it. I totally agree with your sentiments on the network. Totally FUBAR to be honest.

Welcome back btw

expectationlost

i think i can forgive them if robot fighting league is any good http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=97380 starts on the 26th

pixelburp

Mr E wrote: »

Ah it was disposable enough to be fair. Entertaining for what it was, but I won't really miss it. Shame they didn't do one more episode to wrap it all up.

I think it had potential, and was showing signs of it in series 2; in many respects it was already a superior show to its progenitor Heroes, which got a lot more public exposure & support.

Not an essential TV show, it definitely lacked that certain X factor that can make hit shows, but it could have easily run for another 2/3 series. ScyFys programming policies are truly baffling sometimes.

FreudianSlippers

I'm not surprised by any poor decisions SyFy makes. After seeing the BSG: Blood and Chrome show they passed on, I think the network runners know nothing and care nothing for SciFi shows.

CastorTroy

Ah no. I liked this show.
So is every series where a lot of people die at the same time that others get powers going to be cancelled before we see the outcome?

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

When will people learn, stop hiring Summer Glau:

Firefly
Terminator
The Hood
Dollhouse
Alphas

Ah but if they stopped hiring her, we wouldn't get to see her.

red dave

Godamnit!
I enjoyed the second season. There were some great eps. Burnt yet again by syfy.

Richard Dower

Tis the Summer....i miss Alphas

After finishing up Fringe I was in the mood for more off beat genre fare so decided to give Alphas a go.i watched most of the pilot when it aired but being a SyFy original series I opted to give it a series to find its feet as I expected it to be cancelled pretty fast.

Midway through series 2 and the show is one of those well made genre offerings that you could happily watch any time of the day. Unlike Heroes, Alphas is aware of what it wants to do and whom it's characters are. While the characters are cliches they gave a nice lived in feeling and by the end of the pilot you could easily believe that you'd known these characters for multiple series. It's a pleasant change of pace to not spend multiple episodes setting up the team and simply introducing them as people who've worked together for years means that we don't get bogged down in exposition.

Strathairn is the real star here and you have to wonder how they got him. When you hear that an actor of his calibre is doing a TV show you instantly imagine something on HBO or FX and not a cheap as hell genre show. Either those behind it have dirt on him or more likely he read the scripts and recognised how fun it was. There's no delusions of grandeur here, no attempts to try and pass the show off as worthy or high art. And thanks to this the show managers to be adult in a way that many HBO and Showtime series never manage. There's no gratuitous sex or violence on display and yet the show can explore some interesting and adult situations.

The shows biggest down fall is that it's made for peanuts. Series one spends 10 episodes building up to an all out Alpha war but the budget can't stretch far and instead we get a lot of fragmented moments that hint at epic. And yet it works, there's an eeriness to many of these moments that sets it apart from shows such as Heries which often went epic and felt empty.

Skerries

The new series Powers looks like a more adult version show than either this or Heroes, could one to watch when it airs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P02QmncDOzM

Skerries

Skerries wrote: »

The new series Powers looks like a more adult version show than either this or Heroes, could one to watch when it airs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P02QmncDOzM

The trailer doesn't really sell the show very well and it appears to be one of those shows which thinks gratuitous language makes it adult. I hope I'm wrong as I enjoy the comic though I think I'd much rather the old cast.