Alphas Series Premiere Review

Episode: 1x01 Pilot
Overall Season Rating: A-
Episode Rating: A-

Alphas is a nice new take on a very old theme. Regular people with amazing abilities. What's the difference between this and Heroes, or X-Men, or No Ordinary Family? Well that's simple, there's no "Origin Story". As the show begins they have their powers, are familiar with them, and even are on a team. Because of this, we don't have one a cliche'd "looks what I can do!!!!" scenes. There's no "I can't tell anyone, I'm a freak!" scenes either. This is refreshing, and allows the pilot episode to focus, not on them getting their powers, but on what they do with them.

I'll talk about the powers and the characters more in the spoiler section, but know that I like them a lot. There are some aspects of a couple of the characters that bother me, but I'm thinking those will be fleeting. What I mean by that is, certain characters may have said for behaved a certain way so we learn more about them a little faster. Again, more in the spoiler section. The plot of the episode perfectly sets up the rest of the series. It appears this show will be somewhat serialized, but also be a procedural crime show in the way Fringe is. Each week there will be a new case for them, and it probably will all connect to the central baddie of the series. Another fascinating thing about the show is that their powers don't always work. Sometimes they need a trigger; either emotional, or physical.  

Like I do for all premieres, I will simply list what I liked, and what I didn't like rather than a full on episode recap. For those wondering why I do the recaps, this is The Flashbacks Podcast Blog after all and recaps were our trademark. It's actually pretty non-spoilery below the fold this time.


There was a lot to like in this pilot episode. First and foremost...

DIRECTED BY JACK BENDER!!!!   That's right! The director of some of the very best Lost episodes directed this episode. I hope it was not a one off thing, and that he returns. He's so amazing, and I think the episode showed how brilliant he is.

The Cast: 

David Strathairn as Dr. Lee Rosen is the leader of the Alphas Team. He seems to be a psychiatrist by trade, and I really wonder how he got involved in all this. I have no doubt we will learn this in the future, but it's a good move for the show. It also appears that he himself is NOT an Alpha. Again, an interesting choice that makes it different from some of the "supers" stories before it. David Strathiarn is of course an accomplished actor and he certainly brings not only prestige to the show, but he's also a very fatherly figure for these people.

Malik Yoba as Bill Harken is an Ex-FBI agent whose ALPHA power is enhanced strength. On the show it said this power is derived from the Fight or Flight mechanism in the brain. For those who don't know "Fight or Flight" is a defense mechanism in our brains that informs us if we should remain, or run. So he only has the enhanced strength power when he feels threatened. Very interesting decision, and I hope they will stick to this like glue. He's not all there emotionally, and seems to have issues with boundaries, and manners. For example he takes someone else's food without even asking. Super Strength or not, that would get you punched out in my house.

Laura Mennell as Nina Theroux gets whatever she wants. Her power is to override willpower of others. I like that they said it this way, and not simple "control minds". We didn't get a lot of info about her, other than that she lives in luxury for free and never has to buy anything. There is a mysterious and troubled past that was discussed, and I'm sure we'll get more on that. I've got the feeling she was on the more negative side for a long time, and then Dr. Rosen helped her. Hicks makes the point that some people would use her power very differently. She could probably rule the World if she wanted to. Very dangerous, and very interesting.

Azita Ghanizada as Rachel Pirzad is a young often unhappy Alpha whose power is Synestisia. The show says this is the power to "enhance senses", but that's not really what that is. Synestisia is the ability to use senses differently and see the see the world differently. For example, someone with it might be able to assign colors to different words, and whenever they see or hear that word they will literally see that color. It's a VERY real thing, and does not give people the ability to "Read the New York Times from 10 blocks away". This really has nothing to do with the character, but it did bother me. If I'm wrong please do correct me, but I know people with this and I think they would have told me if they can do what Rachel could.

Ryan Cartwright as Gary Bell is a young boy who seems to be autistic. He also has an amazing power of being able to see electromagnetic signals. He can see radio waves, cell phone signals etc. I love the way this is portrayed in the show, and I'm guessing he can pick and choose which he wants to see. Cause if you saw ALL those at once it would be to intense for anyone to be able to function. I got a little frustrated with him because there were scenes where they were basically hitting us over the head with "he's autistic". We get it show, that's wonderful but I'm more interested in other parts of his character. I believe this will lessen as the show goes on. At least I hope it does. He also can't read signals from Nokia(it's a funny moment).

Warren Christie as Cameron Hicks is the bad guy at first but is found by the Alphas Team. He's been corrupted, and needs to decide if he wants to join them. His power is beyond excellent marksmanship. He's the best sharpshooter ever, and pitched two perfect games in a row in the minors. I may have missed it but they never revealed why he didn't make the majors, or why he left the military. Lots of story there. his one flaw is that he sometimes misses if the pressure is on. So he's like Lebron James in that respect.

I'm going to briefly talk about the plot of the episode now, so this will be much more spoilery.

The Plot: Basically the idea is that this Alpha Team are the people with powers who are on the side of good. They are lead by Dr. Rosen and their "patron" is Agent Don Wilson(played by Leoben from BSG). There are also people who use their powers for bad. The group behind this is called Red Flag.  In this episode the baddie is someone called The Ghost. He touches someone and he can control them. At the end of the episode it's determined that his whole plan was to infiltrate the Alphas. I wonder if he failed, or if he did what Red Flag needed him to do. I was a little disappointed he was killed at the end, he seemed like a very good villain. Maybe he didn't die though, it looked like he did but it wasn't confirmed 100%.

Well that's ALPHAS. I will definitely keep watching, and suggest you do too. I think TV finally found a way to tell an original story of people with super powers, and have it work.

What did you think?