Thursday, August 25, 2011

What I’m Watching: Alphas


Alphas: Season 1, Episode 7 “Catch and Release” (B+)

Could this show ask for a better guest star than Summer Glau? I don’t think so. I’m happy to report that, after the horrific disappointment that was “The Cape,” Glau is perfectly at home here as a predictably brilliant but socially incompatible nerd who also happens to have some superpowers that allow her to create the coolest and most useful inventions ever. Throwing out those bugs at the guys pursuing her was only the firs of her superb moves, and there’s no beating that makeshift stun device that she built in under ten minutes using materials that just happened to be around the office. The fact that Nina was her friend made her presence quite interesting, though having a three-year-old daughter with the ability to do complex equations definitely qualifies as making her memorable enough. I love how everyone gets into the van that Dr. Rosen is driving, and seeing how each member of the team tracks people and helps out with the missions never seems to get old. My favorite part of the episode was Gary’s $812.90 cab ride that didn’t involve streets starting with certain letters or numbers. It’s a shame that Gary’s mother doesn’t support his work, but good for Gary for standing up for himself and sticking to his secret agent work. I’m most impressed with Dr. Rosen for acquiring Skylar’s Cerebro device and then triumphantly and highly symbolically smashing it so that he can prove that he actually does care about the well-being and free living of the Alphas.

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