I’m on the fence about superhero shows. On one hand, there’s something inherently cool about the concept that can’t be dismissed; on the other hand, I’m kind of thinking “Ugh, another superhero show.”
“Alphas” (9 p.m. Central Mondays on SyFy) follows in the footsteps of — to merely cite shows from the past year — “No Ordinary Family,” “The Cape,” “Teen Wolf” and “The Nine Lives of Chloe King.”
None of the shows mentioned above did anything new with the superhero genre. “No Ordinary Family” was a cute guilty pleasure, and “The Cape” tried to be but wasn’t. “Teen Wolf” is too slow and brooding and “Chloe King” started off fun but has dragged lately.
“Alphas” (2011)
Mondays, SyFy
Creators: Michael Karnow, Zak Penn
Stars: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie
Not new, but not boring either
“Alphas” doesn’t do anything new, either, nor does it reinvigorate my love for superheroes; still, I wasn’t bored by the pilot and I suspect this show will be better than the batch mentioned above. Smartly, the first episode isn’t an origin story; rather a group of four Alphas (this show’s equivalent of X-Men) and their leader, Dr. Rosen (this show’s equivalent of Professor X, played by David Strathairn) has already been working together for some time as crime-solvers and crime-stoppers.
It’s a similar to the launch of “Millennium” — of which I’ve been watching the DVDs lately — where Frank and the Millennium Group are already doing their thing when we first meet them. Also, no one questions Frank’s supernatural visions; it’s the same thing with “Alphas” — this quartet has powers that their family and friends and mainstream law-enforcement partners know about.
The fifth and newest member of the group, Cameron Hicks (Warren Christie from “Happy Town” and “October Road”), is the one character who does get an origin story of sorts. Hicks has the gift of pinpoint accuracy — as a baseball pitcher, presumably at a semipro level, he threw back-to-back perfect games — but, whoops, he’s been brainwashed by the pilot episode’s antagonist to do his bidding. The nemesis (Jeff Seymour, who played Thomas Friedken on “Being Erica”) is known as a Ghost — that’s what they call Rogue Alphas, as I understand it.
It’s too soon to say whether the overarching mythology will be engaging. This is something all of the above superhero franchises struggle(d) with, so perhaps it’s the hardest thing to do well. Yet it’s crucial to a series’ long-term success: I ended up despising “Heroes” because there seemed to be no point to what was going on, yet I did like the characters and style at first.
The group sticks together
“Alphas” has earned a spot on my viewing schedule for another week because I like the characters and the way they work together. Strathairn, the main reason why “Good Night, and Good Luck” is an excellent film, adds a lot of legitimacy to “Alphas,” as does Callum Keith Rennie as Dr. Rosen’s New York police contact. Rennie, who was good but underused in the first season of “The Killing,” always wears a smirk that hints at depth.
Rosen’s charges include Bill (Malik Yoba), who has super strength like “No Ordinary Family’s” Jim Powell; Nina (Laura Mennell), who can use Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi mind trick; Rachel (Azita Ghanizada), who can enhance her senses; and Gary (Ryan Cartwright), who can see electromagnetic waves.
Weaknesses are built into these strengths: Bill gets dangerously high blood pressure from using his super strength too much; Nina can only use her trick if she’s making eye contact with the person; and when Rachel enhances one sense, her other senses shut off. These weaknesses are intriguingly built into the briskly paced first episode; there is no “Boo-hoo, I have a superpower” whining, nor is the danger lessened just because the quartet has powers.
Clear personalities
Furthermore, everyone has human personalities. Gary is autistic, unfortunately in kind of an annoying, cliched way so far (at one point, he starts listing sports); Nina fancies herself a mean girl, but might secretly be rather nice; and Bill is hyper and, weirdly, has a habit of absentmindedly eating other people’s food.
Rachel, a 20-something who lives with her folks, has low self-esteem; as the group piles into the van for a mission, she says “I’ll take the back seat.” Rachel’s superpower comes easily to her, but life does not, and I think she could potentially be a standout character.
“Alphas” operates with a level of confidence that I never sensed from “Heroes” or “The Cape,” and it seems to be aiming for more than the throwaway fun of “No Ordinary Family” and “Chloe King” — or at least a higher-end brand of throwaway fun. It has a lot of work to do in establishing a wider mythology we’ll care about, but the building blocks are in place, and I’ll be tuning in for a while to see if it comes together.
What did you think of the pilot episode of “Alphas?” Share your thoughts below.