ALPHAS: All’s Not Well in “AlphaVille”

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When Dr. Rosen took the liberty of revealing the existence of Alphas to the world at large in the Season 1 finale, I’m sure he had all manner of good intentions. But unfortunately, nothing good has really come from what he did. He was locked up for eight months, and his team suffered greatly without his leadership. The world did not, as he had hoped, accept Alphas and unite against Stanton Parish, but instead the existence of evolved humans was hushed up as best as it could be. What we haven’t seen is the reaction other Alphas have had to Rosen’s rash decision to expose them, until now that is. “Alphaville” introduces us to a hidden village where Alphas attempt to live peacefully, keeping their distance from Parish and Rosen’s war. It’s an interesting truth to learn that most Alphas do not wish to fight – they just want to be left alone.

It’s intriguing that Rosen seems genuinely put off when he first encounters the leader of the little settlement, Claude. He really thought he was acting in everyone’s best interests, but really he was just perpetuating a war only a few people wanted any part in. What’s worse is he brings the war to the doorstep of these Alphas who have chosen to walk away from this way of living. He’s overstepped his boundaries by believing he alone has to protect these people. The lesson learned here is they don’t need protecting. They are Alphas. They are genetically superior to humans, so why should they need the help of Rosen? Because he’s sympathetic toward them? Sorry Rosen, but your sympathy puts them in danger. This idea is the strongest of all the strung together ideas of “Alphaville.” Without it, this episode would have truly struggled under the other story points that just don’t add up to much.

The stories of Gary searching for signals to read – he eventually becomes enraptured by the energies given off by the sun – and Skyler’s messy relationship with her daughter Zoe don’t cause much excitement. It’s not until the bad guys show up and the purpose of photic stimulator is revealed that things pick up in an exciting way. It’s the continuing of the season’s overarching storyline that keeps me interested, especially when you spend two-thirds of the episode doing basically nothing. But now we know the stimulator actually enhances Alphas’ abilities – increasing the Rachel’s sensitivities and giving that one Alpha the ability to start fires like a maniac – which could yield all kinds of fun results later in the season.

Summer Glau gives her absolute best as Skyler, returning from last season. She’s as prickly as ever, but I can’t help but feel she’d be of more use on a permanent level. She’s damn useful and while I find her “it’s so difficult being a parent” storyline more than a little grating, I find her struggle to trust anyone a very interesting one. She’d be great to have along to remind Rosen of just how badly he’s messed up – not that he doesn’t already realize this on his own. Speaking of Rosen, he’s at least realized someone is spreading information about the inner workings of his unit. It won’t be long before he figures out its his own daughter, but seeing as she’s romantically involved with Hicks, Rosen might think Hicks is the leak for a while. All that would have to happen is for Hicks to tell Danielle something important, and she would feed that info to Stanton, then BOOM the team is compromised and all fingers point to Hicks. Hicks would then realize Danielle is the only other person who knew and would have to try and prove her guilt.

I’m disappointed “Alphaville” couldn’t keep the moment going from last week’s stellar episode, but at the very least it did not ignore Rosen’s emotional journey of feeling responsible for all the trouble he’s caused. That through line was enough to hold the episode together, even though it didn’t quite stand out in all aspects. Alphas is taking a break next week, so there won’t be a new episode until September 10. It’ll be a tough couple of weeks for me to get through. As much as I lament when things don’t work the way I would like them to, Alphas has shown such a great improvement of its storytelling overall. It’s almost hard to believe we’re only halfway through Season 2. It feels like a lot of story has been told in these first six episodes. That keeps the hope alive in my heart that things are moving toward something big and wonderful. The episodes don’t feel nearly as disconnected as they did last season, allowing the season-long storyline to properly arc throughout all episodes. This method is much preferable. I’d take “Alphaville” over almost any of last seasons stand-alone episodes any day.