RESPECT THE BADGE! comments on Alphas

[backstept]

I still think Gary is the best thing about the show.

/tangent - it was silly seeing Ryan Cartwright on Mad Men :P

[Locutus of Bored]

Is there a quota scifi shows have to fulfill where a high percentage of them are required to have a boxing/MMA/fight club episode?

ETA: Found this, apparently it's not just scifi:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...eBoxingEpisode

[stj]

That list at TV Tropes was depressingly long.

I think that old nonsense about "conflict is drama" confuses incompetent writers. Since you don't get much more openly conflicted than boxing/martial arts/gladiatorial contests, they think it must be drama. It's like the boy who got a box of horse manure for Christmas: "There must be a pony!"

[auntiehill]

This last episode wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, the whole "Fight Club" thing is so, SO very tired but I liked the character development bits they threw in and thought, as a whole, the episode was better than the last one.

And, frankly, I think the show is better without Anna. The other characters are far more interesting---well, to me, anyway.

[JD]

Yeah, I could have done without the fight club element. I do like the new girl though, and it did give us all of the stuff Bill and his powers, so for me those were more than enough to make up for the fight club stuff.

[Guy Gardener]

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.)?

[PsychoPere]

auntiehill wrote:

---

I think the show is better without Anna. The other characters are far more interesting---well, to me, anyway.

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?

[Guy Gardener]

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.

[auntiehill]

PsychoPere wrote:

---

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?

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

[PsychoPere]

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.

[backstept]

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

[PsychoPere]

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:

Anna's death will be addressed in a major way in episode 2x05, "Gaslight."

[backstept]

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.

[intrinsical]

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.

[Psion]

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].