Photo Credit: SyFy
One of my favorite Alphas episodes from season 1 was “Bill and Gary’s Excellent Adventure”. While it’s one of the episodes I am the most fond of, the irony is I really can’t remember the case from that episode. What I do remember is the immense character development and bonding of two characters who very few of us could see working together, let alone liking each other. I was doubtful that we would get an episode like that this season, but tonight’s episode proved me wrong.
“Falling” is all about relationships and the emotional issues of the various members of the team due to who they are and what they do. We haven’t seen much of Cameron’s (Warren Christie) son, but tonight we get a glimpse and discover that their relationship isn’t as strong as they thought (or had hoped). Cameron has become too focused on whether or not his son is an Alpha, to the point that Dani (Kathleen Munroe) has to intervene with her ability after Cameron’s lack of tact in “testing” his son. We also see Rachel (Azita Ghanizada) and John’s relationship heading for the rocks, after her hyper-sensitivity about John meeting her parents causes her to cancel the dinner altogether. And, Gary (Ryan Cartwright) and Bill (Malik Yoba) are heading for trouble when Gary becomes jealous with Bill taking Kat (Erin Way) under his wing. We all may think being an Alpha may be the perfect life and may have even picked out the Alpha we would love to be, but at the end of the day, Alphas have their share of problems (particularly in the relationship department!), and this episode showcased that very well.
While this episode had several side-stories, the main focus was Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn). With Rosen figuring out at the end of “Gods and Monsters” that Dani was the “mole” who was working with Stanton Parish (John Pyper-Ferguson), it was going to be interesting to see how he would handle it. We still don’t know a lot about Dr. Rosen and Dani’s early relationship, but we know that Dr. Rosen was distant and that the relationship was strained. I don’t think any of us were sure Dr. Rosen’s fatherly instinct to protect this daughter would kick in, but fortunately it did, and we get to see another side of Rosen, a more human one. Initially, Rosen’s first thought is to just get Dani as far away as possible before Clay (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) wises up and figures out Dani is the traitor. I’m not sure what exactly caused Rosen to change his mind, but in the end, he turns her in – and, those final scenes are just heart wrenching.
I have never really doubted that Dr. Rosen cares about this daughter or the people that work for him, but he certainly doesn’t show it much, and in some ways, comes off as “cold”. But, seeing him cry as Dani pleads to be put in Building 7 in Binghampton so that she would forget just rips your heart out. It must have crushed Rosen to know that his own daughter would rather have a chip put in her head than to have to remember the person she thought loved her the most. And, it must have been terrible to find out that a man like Stanton Parish was more of a father to your daughter than you ever were. This is some serious stuff, and David Strathairn did an excellent job in bringing those raw emotions to the surface. If anyone deserves an award on this show, it’s Strathairn for his performance in this episode(hint, hint, cough, cough, an Emmy).
Beside Dr. Rosen and Dani’s relationship, the other focus in this episode is on our newest alpha badass, Kat (Erin Way). Someone is cooking a new drug called “Jump” that pretty much makes you indestructible and thus, allows you to do things like jump off buildings and walk away without a scratch, and the trail leads back to a former acquaintance of Kat’s. While Dani may have been a traitor and made her share of mistakes, at the end I think most of us were rooting for Dr. Rosen and Dani. Not so much for Kat and this creepy Dylan. Dylan turns out to be the douchebag most of us saw, and fortunately, Kat figures that out in time – just in time to come back and kick his ass. Compared to past episodes, this was a pretty lame case, but it did get Bill on her side to help her get certified with the FBI, and she’s now officially a member of the team.
All in all, this was a decent episode. The only negative thing I can say about it is if you haven’t seen all of the past episodes and didn’t know about all of these relationships, you may be a little lost and not see the point. Beyond that, this episode highlighted very well the biggest challenge this team of superheroes has ever faced. It’s not the government. It’s not the dangerous, psychotic alphas that escaped from Building 7. It’s not even Stanton Parish. It’s the mystery of the human heart.
Some Memorable Quotes
