RESPECT THE BADGE! comments on Alphas

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by stj, Jul 23, 2012.

  1. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    So is she a love interest for Gary or a really bad idea for Biil's marriage (shut up, IMDB says that she's 22.)?
     
  2. PsychoPere

    PsychoPere Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Are you actually referring to Anna, Gary's friend in Red Flag, who only appeared in two episodes last season (one of which included her death)? Or were you meaning to refer to Nina, Laura Mennell's character?
     
  3. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    OH? She buggered off for good?

    She gets to be the Tasha Yar of the show.

    Showing up once a year as a time traveler, mirror universe refugee or a villain.
     
  4. auntiehill

    auntiehill The Blooness Premium Member

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    Yeah, Nina. Nina, Anna, whatever. :lol: She's so unimportant to me that I can't even be bothered to remember her name.
     
  5. PsychoPere

    PsychoPere Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Heh, that's what I figured happened in that post.

    I imagine you were pretty disappointed by the most recent episode, then? ;)

    I don't find myself having an opinion one way or the other on Nina, which I suppose is an indictment of the character in and of itself, but I thought it would've been a much more interesting creative decision...

    ... to actually let her suicide attempt succeed.
     
  6. backstept

    backstept Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    OMG in the teaser for 2x04 there's graffiti in the background "ANNA LIVES"

    [​IMG]
     
  7. PsychoPere

    PsychoPere Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Someone at Syfy, or on the show's production, has been tweeting from an account titled "Anna Lives" too.

    Edited to add: Just found this on a recap of the Alphas panel from SDCC:
     
  8. backstept

    backstept Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    cool beans
    I never follow corporate accounts if I can help it . . . I have in the past, but I don't check twitter all that often and I'd rather read things from people I actually know

    aaaanyway
    I thought this was a great episode. It was fairly obvious that Nina would have a crisis like this. It's just the nature of her ability. I think they handled it pretty well.
     
  9. intrinsical

    intrinsical Commodore Commodore

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    I can't pin down exactly why but I'm not enjoying this season's episodes. Part of the problem is that the episodes just feel like more of the same instead of either moving the arc forward, upping the ante or showcasing the characters.

    Part of why I liked season 1 was because of the characters. Special abilities aside, they were all brilliantly conceived and you can't help but fall in love with them despite their flaws and self doubt. Nina's episode for example felt like fluff episode and a huge lost opportunity to showcase both Nina's flaws as well as her humanity. So she tried to commit suicide, but what has she learnt out of it? If she hasn't learn anything, then she is still stuck in the same self-reinforcing loop that all she does is manipulate people. Which means she is just going to attempt suicide again. I hope the producers are going somewhere with this, because if Nina just becomes normal next week I'm out.
     
  10. Psion

    Psion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'm not sure it was a lost opportunity, Intrinsical. The episode made a fairly deep exploration of her childhood along with her relationship with Tommy and its twisted nature. You're right, though, there shouldn't be a reset back to Normal Nina by next week. She's damaged her relationship with her co-workers and deeply alienated Rachel. Hicks is trying to help, but he's moved on. Only Rosen still seems solidly supportive. Normal Nina next week won't ruin the show for me, but it'll be ... disappointing. This should be the start of deeper development for her character as she rebuilds bridges and Rosen guides to back to being less manipulative.

    But we seem to have an arc here showing our primary Alphas getting stronger. First Bill learns to amp up without hurting his heart, now we see that Nina's pushes last longer and are deeper. I suspect Gary will learn to manipulate his streams, in addition to simply reading them. But I don't know what they'll do with Hicks and Rachel.

    And I suspect Rosen's an Alpha, too. He just doesn't know it. Or maybe he does and he's just very, very good at keeping it quiet. That'll work out during his confrontation with Stanton.

    I love this show. It's the best thing on Sci-- excuse me -- SyFy [cringe].
     
  11. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    Hicks and Rachel are already pretty powerful. We saw moments last season where Hicks took his ability way beyond "sharp shooter" and well into manipulating cause and effect to a high degree. Rachel has just been under utilized.

    Power creep is always a problem for these shows. The characters in Heroes got stronger with each season as well. It's just the nature of having more powerful villains show up to increase the stakes.
     
  12. nvek86

    nvek86 Commander Red Shirt

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    And regarding Rachel and her growing powers: As someone mentioned above, it seems that she no longer needs to tune out her other senses to amplify one.
     
  13. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I finally caught the Nina episode last night, and I really liked it. I've always thought Nina was an OK character, but I thought they did some outstanding stuff with her in this one. I really thought her back story was an interesting look at some of the after effects of her power.
     
  14. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    Thought I'd revive this thread a bit. So, in the last 2 weeks we had Kat on Castle, Hicks on Arrow, and Gary on Big Bang Theory. At ;east they are keeping busy until they get word of renewal.
     
  15. stj

    stj Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I haven't tracked the numbers for the series. But the season cliffhanger was pretty much designed to leave everyone but Gary left or dead depending upon contract negotiations, with plenty of room for new actors coming on.

    They didn't do it well, David Strathairn's character for example could have been unconscious when the mutation-inducing strobe light went off (if you've been watching, all that means is that the science on Alphas is badly written fiction.)

    Actually, this finale seems pretty much like a reworking of a season finale for The 4400, episode The Great Leap Forward was the title as I recall. That turned out to be the series finale as it happened. The extent to which Alphas is a reworking of The 4400 with characters who have less family and lower IQs and no standalone episodes is remarkable. The lack of standalone episodes deprives the series of any really strong stories that actually have a climax. I think therefore the series is much less engaging, despite some superficial improvements in naturalness of dialogue etc.
     
  16. John Clark

    John Clark Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've been pretty much avoiding this thread because of spoilers, but I am a fan of the show. Picked up the first series on dvd and managed to watch it all just in time for the second series to start here.
     
  17. Caliburn24

    Caliburn24 Commodore Commodore

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    Alphas is still interesting to me, but mostly because I still feel it has a lot of potential if SyFy will let it expand and become the X-Men wannabe it so longs to be.

    I did not like how they turned Parish into more of a mustache twirling villain as season two went on. I felt the ambiguity of Rosen's team not knowing if they were on the right or wrong side added much needed complexity to the show.

    I loved the "Throw me" line in the season finale. Give into that spirit and sense of fun more thoroughly and this show could still be great.