Photo Credit: SyFy
“Life after death” is a phrase that typically refers to an out-of-body experience or resurrection of the soul upon the death of a person. With the demise of Dani Rosen (Kathleen Munroe) in last week’s episode, one may think this title is referring to Dani. But, it’s not, and instead, tonight’s episode focuses on the rest of the team and their attempts to move on and find something positive out of such a terrible tragedy – their own “life” after the death of someone who was actually a part of their alpha family, even if only for a short while.
While fully expecting this to be a very somber episode, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was one of the funniest of the season. Let’s start with Rachel. Rachel’s boyfriend, John (Steve Byers), shows up at Alpha headquarters to console Rachel (Azita Ghanizada), and Rachel is so touched by the gesture that she invites John to her place. I’ve been cheering this couple on since the beginning of the season, and so, I was ecstatic to see this happen. But, then, I remembered Rachel describing her last sexual encounter, and how she had to get completely wasted just so she wouldn’t feel anything. Oh, crap… Well, this time around with John was about as bad, with Rachel freezing up and John refusing to take off his shirt, and from where we’re standing, it appears that this cute couple may be heading for trouble. And, just when you think it can’t get any worse, Rachel’s Dad walks through the door, with Rachel and John just standing there in only their skimpies. After Rachel runs out of the room from embarrassment, her Dad blurts out the best quote of the entire night:
“I’m going shopping. I’ll be gone for two hours”
Mr. Prasad, going shopping? What guy would do something like that for his daughter! Rachel, you have a super-cool Dad! I really thought I was going to laugh my ass off, and apparently, Rachel and John did too, because it was enough to break through the awkwardness to where they could make those 2 hours count J
“I think I’ve figured out your Alpha ability” – Rachel to John
I bet you have, Rachel!
While Rachel may have left the office, Bill (Malik Yoba), Nina (Laura Mennell), and Gary (Ryan Cartwright) stayed behind, still hard at work on the Stanton Parish (John Pyper-Ferguson) case. This turned out to be a good thing too, because a frantic woman shows up with a baby, insists that Gary take it, and then, just takes off. She doesn’t say anything except the baby is “special”, which in our world probably means he’s an Alpha. Gary is put in charge of watching the baby (which he is not a happy camper about at all), while Bill and Nina interview the couple that quickly comes forward to claim the baby. Then, the impossible happens – Gary becomes attached to the baby and refuses to let anyone near him. Suspecting that Gary may be under the influence of some Alpha ability, possibly belonging to the baby, Bill takes a closer look at the couple. Everyone really should have listened to Gary, because they discover the baby had come from some kind of genetics lab, and the couple’s only mission was to get the baby back. Can we take a wild guess who is probably behind the lab?
These two storylines were fun and helped to lighten the mood, but in the end, we have to face the big elephant in the room – the grief over Dani’s death. Cameron is just pissed off and wants to punch everything, while Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn) nearly falls apart upon realizing that Stanton Parish may have killed his daughter, but he is responsible. We have already had the heavy-duty emotional episode with “Falling” and so, I thought this was drawn out a little too much. Even so, in the end, the result is what I predicted last week – prison is too good for Stanton Parish, and the only option is death.
So, now Cameron and Dr. Rosen have this “Kill Stanton” pact, and from what we can tell, the plan is to use Clay (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) and the Department of Defense to track down Parish and ferret him out, only to be lying in wait and ready to kill him (boy, Dr. Rosen really loves to piss Clay off!). The only question is will the rest of the team approve and join Dr. Rosen and Cameron in their Moby Dick quest. At the end of season 1, the team united and supported Dr. Rosen in his decision to reveal the truth about Alphas, and some felt the harsh consequences of that decision. But, will they support their leader again, even if it means killing a man? With only 3 episodes left in the season and heading towards the season finale, I suspect we’ll find out soon enough.
Memorable quotes and observations
