Sylar - Gabriel Gray

I was very disappointed when Heroes was canceled. Sure the show had more faults than San Francisco, but I still loved it. So when I heard about Alphas I jumped right past skeptical to excited. There was a nagging little voice in my head telling me not to be, but I couldn’t help myself. I was getting mutant quasi-superheroes on TV, and that made me happy. Since the show was being produced by SyFy aka Universal aka NBC, I had hopes that they’d learned from their mistakes with Heroes, and that Alphas would be a better show. Being on SyFy I also was prepared for it to be high on the silly scale like Eureka, and I knew if it was, that I’d have to take it off my DVR list.

The pilot episode introduced us to the Alphas a group of humans with amazing abilities who had been put together by Dr. Lee Rosen to help solve crimes and to help other Alphas lead a better life. In a lot of ways Rosen’s group is what the Company might have been if it hadn’t turned into Angela and Arthur’s personal playground, and the Heroes writers had been able to make up their minds on a central mythology instead of flipping a coin every other week on plot and characterization.

Rosen is a wonderful character. He isn’t superpowered, but he is extremely compassionate and brilliant without being too smart. He’s not afraid to make the hard choices, which we find out in later episodes as we learn about Binghamton, a facility where dangerous Alphas, who are unwilling to adapt, are sent to live. He is the mentor of the group, but he’s not an over the top guru type speaking about how to save the world. He’s a very real human character.

The team of Alphas is made up of five people. Nina’s powers are much like Eden’s in Heroes. In fact her intro in the pilot was almost a copy of Eden’s scene from Six Months Ago when she tells Parkman to eat a dozen donuts, only Nina tells the cop to eat the ticket. This set off all kinds of warning shots in my head. I hated that they couldn’t write her an intro that was unique, and I’m surprised that no one called them on the similarities.

I don’t have any real affinity for Bill or Cameron yet. They’re a little one dimensional, but I have faith that they’ll become more interesting. I do enjoy both of their interactions with the rest of the team, including Gary who I’ll talk about in a little bit.

Rachel Pirzad has a pretty amazing ability where she can focus on one of her senses to the point where she can see on a microscopic level or hear a pin drop miles away. When she uses one the others fade away, which gives her a lovely disadvantage. She’s also got very protective parents who worry about her being unmarried. I have enjoyed watching her grow as a character in just the few weeks the show has been on the air.

And then there’s Gary. I was afraid of Gary’s character. I was worried they’d turn him into some Rain Man freak and treat him like a pet, the quirky sidekick with Asperberger’s or high functioning autism. They haven’t really said which, but I’m going with Asperberger’s.

In last night’s episode Rosetta, Gary is the character presented with the moral dilemma. Without going into too many details, Gary finds out more about the real world, and he steps up to take a little more control of his fate after meeting a very surprising villain.

Being disabled I was so happy to see Gary’s issues dealt with respect. He’s not coddled. He’s not tortured. Bill teases him, but it’s not to be cruel. It’s because Gary is part of the team, and that really made me feel good about this show.

Over the next few weeks I’m expecting more good stuff from Alphas instead of cringing. I’m sure there will be weak episodes, but if the over all mythology and the chemistry between the characters keeps up the way it’s going, I will continue to watch faithfully. Hell, I like it enough that I’ve been buying the episodes weekly instead of stealing them.