Syfy Alphas Review: 1.10 The Unusual Suspects

Seriable’s Robert L. reviews Alphas 1.10 “The Unusual Suspects.”

The episode begins with the words, “Previously on Alphas …” highlighting some of the best moments of the series so far, involving character flaws and Red Flag. So we know we’re in for something a little more special than the last few okay, but not great, standalone episodes.

The plot begins with all of our heroes getting shot with tranquilizer guns in various settings, but they all end up in Binghamton, waking up in individual “Alpha-proof” holding cells. That’s when we learn that one of them is a traitor — a very compelling premise.

Like all procedurals, though, there is a danger with such a game-changing premise. And that’s the chance that it might not pay off, because they want to keep all of the “regulars” on for as long as this show’s going. You can’t have a traitor and then justify their actions and keep them on as a good guy, because that shows that actions have no consequences. However, you also can’t make the traitor someone else, because you’ve already promised the audience that it’s someone we know and maybe even care about. Otherwise, you’re just leaving the audience with an empty feeling at the end, knowing that the writers are in the habit of making promises they won’t keep.

What happened is the last members of MK Ultra — the only three remaining scientists from a Cold War program — all died, with freaky looking veins. And only our heroes had access to the member’s locations (which begs the question of how the government knew that they were the scientists in the first place).

Right off the bat, it seems very unlikely that one of our heroes is the actual traitor, but they plant some probable cause after a series of interrogation scenes. The gentleman watching them — named Eric — is an Alpha, able to read people (giving him a good indication of whether or not they’re being honest).

Here’s the probable cause for our four suspects (Rachel is far too annoying to be a suspect, and we trust Dr. Rosen): (1) Hicks might be being mind-controlled like he was in the Pilot episode, (2) Nina has a grudge against the government, (3) Gary may have naively given information to his “friend,” and (4) Bill seems like the most likely to turn.

We’re also given a rather groan-inducing plot point in the middle of all this. It turns out that Eric has an inexplicable crush on Rachel.

Overall, I got the feeling that this was a “budget” episode. Meaning, they probably did this one cheaper to allow more money to be spent on other episodes. They’re in close-quarters for most of it, not on location, and there seems to be minimal visual effects along with our action sequences.

Eventually, they’re all put together to talk it out, and they’re threatened with “Building 7,” which sounds like an even more secretive prison than the rest of Binghamton. In fact, with Eric as a character, the better part of Binghamton seems like a rehab.

Our heroes escape in a subdued, but well done, action sequence. It seemed a bit too obvious in coming, and perhaps a bit too easy, but the plot has to move along somehow!

They go to a warehouse where Dr. Rosen informs everyone that he knows who the traitor is. After a few minutes of bickering, we learn that it’s supposedly Hicks, who has been receiving secret funds in his bank account. He doesn’t really do anything to maintain his innocence, and promptly punches the good doctor to the ground.

But Rachel freaks out as soon as Bill starts fighting Hicks, and Nina insists that he’s innocent well before Hicks does, himself.

Gary and Dr. Rosen escape in the middle of the action, and only then does Rachel realize that the blood that came from Dr. Rosen isn’t a match. We have a shapeshifter Alpha, and that’s our mole … a cop-out, but considering how I was expecting a very big letdown, I’ll forgive the show this time around.

The Alphas show off their simultaneous hands on hips.. powers.

The imposter has a difficult time maintaining his form (how he kept it while tranquilized is an even better question), but he gets himself and Gary to the office, telling Gary that they need to erase the MK Ultra files.

The real Dr. Rosen shows up, followed by the rest of his team (who save the day!), and determines that there’s something really important in these files if they’re wanted destroyed, although the episode doesn’t get around to telling us what.

We wrap up the episode by learning that Eric is getting out of Binghamton on work release, and the moral ambiguity is much lessened. We end with a bang, though, when Bill’s ability goes haywire and he passes out.

Here is my hope. I hope that the season finale is a direct continuation of this episode, and that we’re left with an even bigger cliffhanger to tease us until season two comes next year. I hope that the threads that have been set up so far in this season will be further nurtured.

The absolute worst thing this show could do is make the season finale mostly unrelated to this episode, and unrelated to the previously introduced mythology. What I’m worried about is that we’ll have a first season that is almost entirely a procedural, losing audience members frustrated with nothing of consequence happening. Then season two will roll along, the writers will finally get the guts to serialize it, but the numbers won’t be there anymore, and the show will be cancelled and cited as an example of why serializing a show doesn’t work.

In the meantime, I’m going to remain optimistic, and give this week’s episode: 8/10 Seriable Stars.