Welcome back Alphas fans,
All in all, our grade for Alphas is a solid “A Plus” and what follows in our analysis here on why we believe that is so!
Subsequent to eight months of imprisonment, and after Doctor Lee Rosen (David Strathairn) unexpectedly announced to the world the existence of Alphas, the government classified him as a “psychologically unstable” as an excuse to keep him captive subsequent to his outburst.
Our Alphas leader Doctor Rosen was kept secreted away under the influence of drugs in an effort to make him docile and cooperative.
Thankfully, at the end of episode one of season two, our Alphas team were liberated to work together once again.
The primary factors the Alphas must consider are the challenges they will face including internal discord, team suspicions, forbidden romance, hidden agendas and what makes the series so fun, Alphas humor! 
In the series season opener two of our favorite characters with extraordinary human powers, Dr. Rosen and Gary (Ryan Cartwright) were imprisoned at a secret government research facility known as Binghamton “hospital” where all known suspected Alphas are being imprisoned for their own good, so say the authorities.
Like most Alphas fans, we were quite pleased that Danielle “Dani” Rosen (Kathleen Munroe) had returned in season one to help free her father.
However as we have learned, “Dani” is working with Stanton Parrish (John Pyper-Ferguson) who has his own “Alphas” agenda. In the meantime, Dani becomes romantically involved with Cameron Hicks (Warren Christie) to the distain of Nina Theroux (Laura Mennell) after her relationship with Hicks fizzles from her “pushing” him into an intimate involvement in the first place.
The tension between Hicks and Theroux and the true nature of their involvement is left for a reveal in this episode, but it is clear that this tension will play a central role in the teams interaction in “The Quick and the Dead” as well as during season two.
In “Wake Up Call”, when Agent Nathan Clay’s (Mahershala Ali) hand is forced due to “an (Alphas) incident”, Doctor Rosen’s team is reassembled to thwart the criminal Alphas. Bill Harken (Malik Yoba) distrusts Clay who has “orders” from higher up the chain of command to reconstitute Doctor Rosen’s Alphas team. Good on you Malik, errr Bill!
Doctor Rosen informs Agent Clay he is in agreement so long as he, Rosen, has control of the Alphas team, including recruitment of any needed Alphas to accomplish the tasks required. This sequence effectively sets up the second season sure to be filled with action, mystery, suspense, adventure and romance!
Before continuing our analysis of “The Quick and the Dead”, courtesy of Syfy we include the promotional trailers for the next great Alphas episode, “Alpha Dogs” including a great guest star, a new Alpha named “Kat” portrayed by the lovely Erin Way!
The Quick and the Dead:
The second episode opens with a murderous Alpha named Eli Aquino (C. Thomas Howell) on the streets loose.
We are unaware of his back story for the present, however in a few quick sequences we learn that Aquino is an Alpha with the ability to utilize “super speed” to accomplish his goals that are yet to be revealed.
We observe Aquino entering a restaurant targeting a Doctor Jay Westman (Brian Kaulback) whom is having dinner with his wife. Aquino uses his super speed and removed Doctor Westman from the restaurant against his will.
As Doctor Westman’s wife is left with a puzzled look on her face prior to the introduction, we return to find Cameron Hicks and Doctor Rosen’s daughter Danielle making love.
Dani has been using her powers during the sex act to influence Hicks. Dani informs Hicks “No ex-girlfriends in the bed” when Hicks mentions his former relationship with Nina.
Dani’s influence over Hicks extends to an apparent agreement between the two to not reveal their intimate status to others on the Alphas team. This secretiveness is disconcerting for this reviewer who had hoped that Dani Rosen was not a double agent so to speak after the heartwarming, yet friction filled reunion between Rosen and his daughter Dani in season one.
One must ask is she doing this to help her father? Or does Dani Rosen have an agenda of her own? The hidden aspects of her character are superbly performed by Kathleen Munroe whom we have come to admire from her recent roles in Haven, Stargate Universe, Nikita and Supernatural.
Next is a nice segue to one of our most favorite characters, Gary, brilliantly played by Ryan Cartwright. His eccentric behavior provides comic relief to the series as we learn that someone has messed with “his” shelf in the Alphas HQ refrigerator located in the lunch room.
Gary is quite perturbed about someone having taken not only his shelf space in the refrigerator, but someone has “stolen” his pudding!
To accentuate the comic relief we learn that Bill Harken has apparently been referring to Gary’s powers as “pudding vision”! Gary is not pleased with the theft of his pudding, let alone this characterization of his abilities. In no uncertain terms, Gary tells Harken that it is NOT “pudding vision” as Bill is left with a quizzical look on his face. Well done Malik and Ryan, well done!
The investigation focus into the abduction seems tied to the season opener train crash as we observed with both Stanton Parrish and Dani Rosen on the scene.
Doctor Rosen is discussing the matter with Agent Clay suspecting foul play beyond the wonton destruction of the train itself. Doctor Rosen is certain that Stanton Parrish is involved and asks Agent Clay “who might have benefited”.
Agent Clay indicates that officially the FBI believes the train incident was an accident, not a deliberate act. Doctor Rosen is not in accord with this theory. He informs Clay that Stanton Parrish is somehow involved. We are left to wonder; to what ultimate purpose to achieve what specific goal?
The investigation begins in earnest concerning the abduction of Doctor Westman with Gary using his “pudding vision” to provide an answer. Gary has identified a blur on a surveillance video from outside the restaurant. With some humorous quips about the quality of the video frame rate by Gary, Doctor Rosen realizes that they are looking for somebody who has an ability to move at “ten times normal human speed” resulting in the need for a huge caloric intake to sustain the “super speed” of Eli Aquino.
The abduction of Doctor Westman takes the attention of our focus as Gary locates a clue a few blocks away. Eli Aquino must require the services of a doctor to offset his need to consume calories at an accelerated rate in order to survive. Rachel Pirzad (Azita Ghanizada) using her heightened sense of smell tracks an odor from the restaurant to an abandoned fish processing plant.
The Alphas quest to locate Doctor Westman succeeds, but with troubling results. Doctor Westman is found dead. However his limp lifeless body offers a clue to locate the perpetrator in the form of fingerprints tied to an Alpha named Eli Aquino. 
Gary accesses a “drop box” of data containing Eli Aquino’s records which confirms Eli is aging at an accelerated rate. Further examination of his records indicates that Eli does not have a history of violence leaving the team puzzled at the findings.
We then move to more great Gary lines. The little imp has been using his “electromagnetic” powers to read Hicks’ text messages to Dani Rosen about the wonderful delicious “yummy” that Hicks and Dani shared during making love. Not realizing it is sex being discussed, our innocent young Alpha Gary thinks it is all about pancakes or something edible for breakfast!
Cameron Hicks rolls his eyes because Gary indicates that Hicks has yet to respond to the “yummy” text messages just as Nina enters the room. Nevertheless, Gary almost reveals the personal message he got from Dani “This morning was yummy”!
With a contrived threat of death from Cameron Hicks to Gary if he reveals who he was with, Ryan Cartwright blithely and quite superbly acts out the sequence informing Hicks he cannot kill him or he would face charges of premeditated criminal homicide charges! Hicks once again bites his tongue knowing that Gary has not put it all together… yet!
Doctor Rosen finds Nina hanging a Vincent van Gogh painting he suspects she has “pushed” someone to give to her. Concerned, Doctor Rosen informs tells Nina that her life is a mess because of her own doings she needs to get her life back in order, starting with her not “pushing” people unless in the line of duty and that showing up to work on time would be nice as well!
The scene is nicely interrupted when Rachel enters the room to ask for Nina’s help to interview Doctor Westman’s wife (Naomi Snifckus). Nina “pushes” Mrs. Westman to reveal what she has been “hiding”?
In another great light moment of adult Alphas humor, Mrs. Westman confesses she masturbates every day after her husband leaves for work! Unfortunately, Mrs. Westman does not recognize Eli Aquino.
Next up on the enjoyable humor in Alphas is when Gary informs Nina that she is late for work and she needs to be there at 9 AM like everyone else! Nina is the next to roll her eyes at Gary as Doctor Rosen smirks at the comments from our young genius.
Doctor Rosen inquires of Gary if any other incidents have occurred that match the abduction of Doctor Westman? After a bit of nudging by Rosen, Gary informs him that an incident has indeed occurred only eight minutes earlier indicating that Eli Aquino has likely kidnapped another person!
Because of Gary’s “pudding power”, Doctor Rosen quickly alerts Cameron Hicks and Bill Harken. Both arrive just in time to stop Eli him from making the poor man (Dwight Ireland) a victim as Hicks uses his precise targeting ability to shoot a knife out of Eli’s hand as he was about to cut the victims throat.
Eli Aquino, using super speed, darts off with Bill Harken in hot pursuit using his ability of super strength to nearly catch Eli. Bill slips as his heart pounds when he is within a few feet of Eli, but crashes into a dumpster as his heart fades reducing his speed.
Eli escapes, but they have a live witness, a medical analyst, who not only knows Doctor Weston, but worked with him at “The Yankee Medical Group” in Stamford Connecticut where they were studying “Pediatric Hyperactivity”.
We now have the link, effectively woven into the story arc by Zak Penn a
nd Michael Karnow. Not recognizing Eli at first because of the aging process affecting Aquino, the analyst informs Rosen and Harken that Eli complained often about his care at the “The Yankee Medical Group”.
Further investigation reveals that the medical analyst and Doctor Westman had been conducting controversial BWE (Brain Wave Entrainment) “therapy” on young children at “The Yankee Medical Group” facility.
With this information, the Alphas writers have provided a more than believable motive for Eli Aquino’s activities. Excellent work Alphas Writers!
The scene shifts to what appears to be a convalescent nursing facility where an elderly woman (Amanda Smith) appears to be dying. Stanton Parrish is there with Dani Rosen who uses her power to try and bring the woman to consciousness at her deathbed.
We are stunned to learn that the woman is actually the thirty-first grandchild of Parrish about to perish! Die from what? Obviously from the result of Stanton Parrish’s evil experiments!
As Parrish inquires from Dani about her father Doctor Rosen, we must ask what has caused this impending death of his “grandchild”? Dani reaches out her hand to impart a message to Parrish using her ability. Parrish senses Dani is anxious.
It is here that we learn that Dani has been appealing to Parrish to reach out to Doctor Rosen as he had indicated to her in a previous conversation to “explain how things (for Alphas) could be”.
Stanton Parrish is recalcitrant on this subject. Preferring to stick to his own agenda, Parrish indicates that Doctor Rosen “needs to get there on his own”, “at least part of the way”. Parrish also warns Dani about Hicks, that she should avoid becoming emotional about the relationship.
As Parrish says he “hopes that they will be able to remain friends” and “you know how you get when you are involved”. As Parrish stated “we all make sacrifices”, a worried look crosses Dani’s face because she feels Hicks “is a nice guy”.
We then segue to a scene with an excited Cameron Hicks meeting Dani Rosen on a rainy street. The setting is perfect by the creators. Dani is breaking up with Cameron Hicks as a “sacrifice” for her mutual cause with Stanton Parrish.
Cameron is stunned by this revelation when Dani (falsely) confesses what he feels is not real, but rather a “hyperlimbic feedback loop” from her ability. It is obvious to the viewers Dani has (sadly) decided to ally herself with Parrish despite her “real” feelings for Cameron Hicks. This reviewer is convinced that the real connection they developed will become a bond later in season two.
As the suspenseful episode continues, Doctor Rosen suggests to Bill Harken they should utilize the saved analyst from “The Yankee Medical Group” as bait to capture “super speed” Eli Aquino before more deaths occur.
Rosen is confident that the Alphas team will be able to catch Eli, but Harken is worried the Alphas are not a very effective team right now. In a well played sequence Bill Harken reminds Doctor Rosen that he was there the entire eight months time managing the team while he, Rosen was away at the government “hospital”.
Bill Harken reminds Rosen he has only been back a little over a week. A heated debate ensues about why the Alphas team broke apart in the past. Doctor Rosen thanks Bill for managing the team but infers that Harken is only saying Rosen was being selfish to cover his disappointment in no longer being in charge.
Bill retorts that Rosen was out of line when going on television revealing Alphas to the world without consulting the team, especially him. He further accuses Rosen of having an ego that is out of control “you only wanted to hear you own name”. Doctor Rosen says if he feels so strongly “he should leave” Bill Harken does just that.
In the next sequence, further delineating the tension between the Alphas team, we find Nina apologizing to Cameron Hicks for using her abilities on him.
Nina desires that the two of them pick up their relationship where they left of when Cameron confesses that he has been seeing somebody.
Against better judgment, Nina uses her power to “push” Cameron into revealing the truth. Bad girl Nina is not pleased with her discovery, leaving Cameron and slamming the door to her office and snapping for no good reason at Rachel “you know everything”. 
Rachel is justifiably confused by this outburst from Nina providing a smooth transition for the viewers to the next scene.
Bill Harken and Gary are watching the analyst doctor on a stakeout per Rosen’s instructions. In another great moment of humor, Gary confesses his “text findings” about Danielle and Cameron to Bill Harken and he has “broken the sex code” (from the texts). Harken smirks and Hicks grimaces in what may prove to be a critical clue for future consumption (pun intended).
In a nice plot twist, Rachel departs the Alphas office to join the stakeout where she probes Hicks about his involvement with Dani.
Suddenly Eli Aquino speeds into the Alphas office “I am not here to kill you, but I will if you do not do what I want” begging Doctor Rosen to help him. Rosen indicates that he will do whatever he can, but only if Eli trusts him.
In the episode reveal, Eli looks at a picture on the table informing Doctor Rosen that Stanton Parrish was the person he saw who was in charge of the “The Yankee Medical Group” clinic when he was a child.
The story arc is now complete. We know why Eli is so motivated to kill, he is only 22 years old, but looks closer to 60 as a result of the horrific experiments conducted on his person. But what does he want from Doctor Rosen, and critically can Doctor Rosen help poor age accelerated Eli?
As expected, Danielle arrives, calls Hicks, and uses her emotional soothing ability to help Eli calm down. As the episode winds down, Eli ties Dani up with duct tape and takes Doctor Rosen to the site of the “The Yankee Medical Group” clinic. 
Somewhat expected we learn that it no longer exists. The police find the location after freeing Dani and then quickly surround “The Yankee Medical Group” area.
In a panic Eli grabs Rosen and tries to take him away as Eli holds a knife to Doctor Rosen’s throat, then Dani’s. Dani tries successfully to calm Eli hoping that Eli will survive to inform the Alphas team of his knowledge, we are then confronted with a surprising gunshot that kills poor Eli on the spot.
Confusion ensues as nobody seems sure just who took the shot? We are left with a mystery, but suspect that Parrish must be behind the entire circumstance as well as Eli’s being shot and killed. No answers will be forthcoming from dead Eli Aquino.
In the final moments, Agent Clay is about to leave a post incident briefing meeting with Doctor Rosen. Clay still does not know who took the shot that killed Eli, frustrating both Rosen and Harken. In a moment of truth Doctor Rosen informs Bill Harken that he did let them down and that he (Rosen) will make it up to the team.
In a final series of reveals, Stanton Parrish is back at the convalescent hospital where he hugs his “granddaughter”. In a seemingly tender moment of mercy, but with selfish intent, Parrish smothers her to put her out of her misery and remove the clues she could provide.
Dani informs Parrish that it is her desire to be with Cameron Hicks. Parrish reluctantly gives his approval telling Dani to be careful with her emotions.
At a team meeting Gary calls the government “jerk asses” after telling Hicks that he will kill him (because he gets up earlier at 7:42 AM).
The group enjoys this humor as Rosen brings them back to reality when he informs them about the connection between Eli and Parrish. Rosen also informs his team he has arranged it so that the government will no longer be allowed access to “the inner workings of this office”.
We end with Doctor Rosen who sets out to find a missing Nina Theroux. She has been drinking alone at a local bar. Nina states “I’m done”, “that Rachel can have the Van Gogh” as she slugs down her drink telling Rosen “FYI… Hicks is nailing your daughter.”
In the final seconds, Nina uses her ability to “push” Doctor Rosen to accept the fact she is not coming back to the Alphas team with an “I’m gone” as Rosen regains consciousness in a bar empty of patrons, the screen fades to black, and we are left with an enigma to be discovered in the next great episode “Alpha Dogs”!
Thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency and reading our Alpha analysis, series back story and significance of the human interest of Alphas imparted for our pleasure by the creators!
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Thank you. 
Best Regards,
Kenn
been a while. i too enjoyed the pushing by nina with the wife of the doctor. too funny, nice review thanks