Alphas recaps: Now with more Summer Glau pictures!
Looks like we'll have to wait at least one more week for that Red Flag/Binghamton storyline we got all excited about early on. Alphas gave us another standalone episode in the appropriately named "Catch and Release." But this segment asked and answered a very important question essential to the core of the show: What to do with non-threatening Alphas that don't have any interest in using their abilities for good, evil, or anything?
The main chunk of "Catch and Release" saw the team tracking down Skylar Adams (played by sci-fi It Girl Summer Glau), an Alpha (Glaupha?) with the slightly-less-than-impressive ability to be really good with a toolbox and electronics. She'd been working with the NSA and helped create a gizmo that can find anyone in the world with the help of the cloud of spy satellites orbiting our giant rock. Long story short, she has a kid, didn't want to help the government anymore, and has been running from the NSA for some time now. Since she's an Alpha, the Department of Defense, led by
Nathan Cley (who always makes things more interesting), was also after with the intention of locking her up like they do with all of those freaks of the week. With the "DCIS," NSA, and DoD all after Summer Skylar, most of the episode was spent either chasing her, looking for her, or catching her. This episode put on a lot of miles.
One problem with this is that there's not a lot of time for a witty exchange of dialogue when running down the street, so "Catch and Release" didn't give us our usual dose of amusing discourse. Rosen had a fun chat with Sullivan about spicy food to open the program, Cam and Nina flirted over a toaster, and Gary's demands for purple soda at the end were great (as pretty much everything out of Gary's mouth is), but aside from that, "Catch and Release" had a slightly different feel from the rest of the series.
Instead, we got a breakthrough moment for Dr. Rosen who held the power to turn in Summer Skylar to Cley and those other people who are technically his boss, but in the end he made his stance clear and let her go free. It's a direct violation of his orders, and for kicks he destroys the processor for the machine that Skylar made that can find anyone in the world. Guess the NSA will have to rely on Foursquare. Personally, I had hoped that Alphas would have made Rosen's stance a little more ambiguous. I know that by him letting Summer Skylar go, we get the happy ending. Yay! Alphas should be set free! Yipee! But if Rosen were to struggle with the moral conundrum, Alphas may have gotten a little more out of it and give us some meaty episodes down the stretch.
In the episode's B story, Gary's mom was a total ho-bag, and not in that short-skirt tramp-stamp appletini sort of way. Scared her precious snowflake was going to get hurt (just because he almost got shot to death in the last episode), she made a not-so-clever plan to tell Gary he had the day off and Rosen that Gary was sick. Gary didn't take to that and went off on his own adventure to rejoin the gang and save their lives, making up the most entertaining portion of the episode. It was an odd tangent, but when most of the episode is a bunch of people running after someone else, what's one more person joining the chase?
And in a B-minus story, Bill and his wife discussed having kids. Bill's not into it, at first fearing he'll have an Alpha kid. Then he sees Summer's Skylar's kid Zoe, and she's like this brilliant whiz child, a toddler Good Will Hunting. After seeing Zoe, apparently having an Alpha kid is okay with him now and he buys a Fathering for Dummies book. I've always wondered how Alphas really come into existence and if Alpha parents can pop out an Alpha baby. Looking forward to Cam and Nina's incredibly athletic and persuasive tot.
I only have one more thing to note. It seems Nina got the shaft, as "Catch and Release" appears to be her coming out episode. Rachel, Gary, Bill, Rosen, and Cam (if you count the pilot ep, which I do) all got their episodes where they were front-and-center, but this didn't really get us any closer to knowing Nina. We got a little about her background as a street urchin hustling with Summer Skylar, but we still don't know what makes her tick.
Overall, not one of Alphas strongest episodes, but perfectly capable. Now let's get back to Red Flag, writers. Momentum is dwindling ever so slightly!
Notes:
–Loved the sports "Highlights" graphic. ATTENTION: We are about to show you highlights and just so you know we're going to show you highlights here's some gigantic block text that reads highlights overlayed over the actual highlight!
–If Sullivan doesn't like the bills for take-out, what's she going to say about Gary's $800-plus cab ride?
–Speaking of money, exactly how much does Nina make? Her apartment is P-H-A-T! Maybe she just stands by an ATM and pushes people into handing her stacks of cash? That's what I'd do.
–Zoe's child song featuring calculus lyrics is the worst thing I have ever heard in my entire life. If I were Summer Skylar, I would have totally smacked that kid.
–Bittersweet moment with Gary and his mom at the end. That was a tough "I love you."
Follow TV.com writer Tim Surette on Twitter: @TimAtTVDotCom
Wasn't there some mention in an early ep that Nina had pushed the owner of her apartment into letting her stay there rent free while he was off on a long-term trip? Even if there wasn't, that's definitely my theory and what I'd do if I had her powers!
rosen did struggle with the moral conundrum, all throughout the episode, it was only the final moment, when he was absolutely sure that skylar was not a danger to humanity by anymeans, and was only trying to protect her child, he let her go away.. he did not hesitate to hand out previous alphas when they were dangerous.. and btw, the number of comments to be made in a single news should be limited, as obviously some people are abusing threads.. and tim, I would like to read some stuff on Haven too..
Good news! Inside informations from NBC Universal (who owns Syfy) are leaning toward a renewal of Alphas. Expect informations mid September.
The Summer Glau effect?
Source : http://www.suite101.com
I love Summer. I have ever since Firefly
Who doesn't?
Great episode, loved Glau in this role, could be her own show!!!!!!
Given the good reviews for this episode (except at tv.com for some reason), the final scene where Skylar goes free and the rating bumps( Alphas went up a tenth to a 0.7 and gained viewers), i'm sure show creator Zak Penn seriously think to hire Summer Glau as a regular in season 2.
Ha holy crap, seems the pope joined tv.com. Jeez...
The Pope is a fan of Summer Glau too ?! That doesn't surprise me :)
Knowing you're a fan of Gary (M.Tim Surette) author of the article, i'm suprised you did not mention his funny lines; i quote you :"(as pretty much everything out of Gary's mouth is)", thus one more time misleading tv.com readers.
Gary had his usual funny lines, especially with the cab driver but also during the capucino scene at the end.
"Follow the bug. The bug better have money my friend"
Alphas is a cast heavy show but i think every cast members (main or guest) had a fair amount of screen time or lines in this episode (contrarily to the previous ones).
(M.Tim Surette) the author of this article say we don't have our dose of humour in this episode; he forgets the capucino machine scene at the end of the who was 100% made for fun btw.
My point is, your remark makes no sense because you can't say they're is not enough funny discourse and then give the (non exahaustive ) list of these fun moments.
The ewecutive producers have always said these serie will have funny moments and they've managed so far.
Wow...
@HumphreyBogart5
Are you serios?
How can you doubt?
I have only posted argumented opinions about Alphas's episode and why (M.Tim Surette) the author of this article made a bad review imo.
at Arch_Angel88 : i can't answer your last post directly so i will answer here instead. I'm surprised and to tell the truth shocked that you point out my detailed answers to Left4Ed whereas i was just correcting a mistake. But you don't tell a word about the fact that Left4Ed called me an "Overzealous bastard".
Even if i'm not english native, is suspect these words are closer to an insult than to a reasonable discussion.
Though if i refer to a previous post of (M.Tim Surette) author of the article about Alphas, it seems insulting people is allowed at tv.com.
28 and counting. If that's not being an overzealous bastard, I don't know what is.
"it seems insulting people is allowed at tv.com."
I was wrong; it IS allowed indeed.
Not the answer is was expecting but at least we have secured the top position in the 'Most Commented Posts' widget .
Thanks for helping!
(M.Tim Surette) author of this article, i'm suprised you mentioned Gary asking for a purple soda without taking the time to explain why this is interesting, thus misleading your readers.
When Gary demanded a Soda, Bill answered him by saying "i got you, Partner"; calling him partner is of course a continuation from episode 6 when the two of us were on a mission and shows the evolution of Gary among the team. This is details of course but this is what makes the difference between good and bad writing.
Alphas is a dark show with heavy mythology compared to Warehouse 13 who is light-hearted one; but the final images where we see Skylar driving away, with a smile on her face, while Zoe sings her maths are bringing something that we don't see that often in Alphas : moment of sweetness.
This is underlined by the uses of the bug (firefly ?), point of view.
You'll notice that the 2 other parent-child sub plots (Gary/mom and Bill/wife) also ends happily.
The writers did a great job making this episode consistent from A to Z.
One thing i liked about that episode was the way the discovery of Skylar motives were done : at the beginning, we learn that Skylar might selling someone secrets from the NSA facility she worked for (Chinese were mentioned as a potential contact), then the team realises that this someone could be an Alpha named Z, given the level of the encrypted code fearing a connexion between Skylar and Red Flag. This culminated when Skylar said she had to kill Bob.
I bet not many of the viewers had seen it coming when we discover that Z was in fact Skylar's daughter; this is not original but at least unexpected.
But the perceptive viewers who had noticed previously the comic silent movie i mentioned earlier and the "Run idiots" warning had hints that Skylar was not that bad. Nothing is random in scripted tv shows
This is intelligent and ambitious writing imo.moreless
The scene with Gary walking up the stairs as he painfully tells his mom he loves her too... is the epitome; elevating this episode, the entire show even, to something a little bit more special than just supermen running around solving supercrimes.
great episode
Good episode. Glad to see that Gary and Bill are still pals. I really hope they get another episode together. Dont care much for nina though. Maybe shell get her very own episode in the future and that will change things. who knows. PS: Whats up with Summer Glau`s hair? She doesnt have the "head" for that type of hairstyle
Does this mean that alphas gets cancelled now? hihi couldnt resist ;D
ROTFLMAO!!!
Alphas rating up a tenth to a 0.7 adults 18-49. Summer Glau effect?
I love Gary and it was a good episode. I liked the kid B story line and I love how Gary was declaring his independence lol
Gary is hilarious! I could watch an outtakes reel of him all day. From the Grape soda to the "Special Agent" comments, he is non-stop fun.
Instead of imposing tv.com readers this useless "highlight" screencap, (M.Tim Surette) M.author of this article, you could have showed another tv screen image from the episode that brings an information to the your readers. The image i link above is from the very fisrt scene of the episode, when the squad team enters Skylar's lair : it's a comic silent movie where you see a guy throwing a custart tart in another guy's face. We see this movie twice just before Skylar set off the explosives.
This comic device added to the "run idiots" shouted by Skylar are there to indicate to the audience that Skylar is not the bad guy we think she is, as it will be proven later; few people see that kind of things when watching live but i like it personally because this intelligent writing.
http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/233210alphas.jpgmoreless
Humphrey, Tim does throw some editorial stuff in many of his recaps. You, however, are complaining about the lack of a reference to a minor detail that many probably did not pick on, and then implying that that singular item makes or breaks quality writing. Not true. You have almost posted more text on this page than Tim has. Not cool.
I see that tv.com has added the words ***s and *** to the list of forbidden words so that my post above look weird...i wonder why.
Is that because of the previous of (M.Tim Surette) author of this article about alphas where he annouced the guest line up; you know, the one where he insulted Summer Glau and her fans.
You know what i like best about your article (M. Tim Surette) M. author of this article, this is the "Glaupha" thing, not as good as the Glau***s they use on *** (maybe you've heard of it), but still good.
i wouldn't mind 'tracking her down'
I know you have a lot of tv shows to watch and review for tv.com (M.Tim Surette) M.author of the article but i suggest you watch 'Catch and Release' a 2nd time because you missed the point of the episode.
It is constructed around one idea, declined in one main plot and two sub-plots : this main idea is the love and the protection instinct that a parent feel toward his child. The main plot being Skylar fleeing to keep Zoe out of the governement hands, the sub-plots being Gary's mom sorrying for her son's safety and Bill wondering if it's a good idea to have a child that might be an alpha. The writers managed to build an entire episode around this, while sliding from one plot to another very smoothly; this performance alone allows to tell 'Catch and Release is one of the strongest episode (though i think the quality is persistent to tell the truth).moreless
Though cool, i'm glad that Skylar ability was not over the top, it allows to focus on interactions between characters and on the plot and sub plots.
Also remember the writers said the show is grounded; we're not going to see Tornado soon.
Nice to see a tech savyy on tv that is not played by a neck beard, kudos to the writers.
Rating news : Alphas rating up a tenth to a 0.7 adults 18-49. Summer Glau effect?
(M. Tim Surette) the author of this article seem to think that Nina took Skylar's side because they wanted to make a road trip between gals like in Thelma and Louise. Not exactly; it has more to do with Nina's fear to go to Binghamton (that she expressed in previous episodes) and the fact Skylat told her Dr Rosen team members are governemental flunkies : they track alphas and put them in Binghamton.
Nathan Cley, played by Ali Mahershala, is the one running Binghampton and one of those chasing Skylar in this episode; his presence throughout the episode is made to remind us that th alphas cought by the team are ultimately handed to him and to Bighamton.
The Red Flag/Binghamton/DOD/NSA plotline is all over this episode, even if it was not at the center. Skylar is running away because she don't want to work for a governemental agency, whichever it is. Also she doesn't want her or her daughter to be a lab rat like what they do in Binghamton. Red Flag was mentioned when Cley and Dr Rosen were wondering who Skylar was cryptedly communicating with; certainly an alpha with such ability wotking with Red Flag scared them.
Summer Glau had better powers when she was one of "The 4400", in fact I believe that she had Nina's power of suggestion but she could actually get large groups of people to do her bidding. The guy that is playing "Cley" was a 4400 as well. This is a decent show, when is this channel going to cancel it?
Thanks for the extra Summer Glau pictures (M Tim Surette) the author of this article. There is never enough Summer Glau on tv(.com)