Sci-Fi Storm

The Sci-Fi Storm time tunnel brought me back something from the near future – next Monday’s episode of Alphas, “Catch and Release”, with special guest star Summer Glau…no, I can’t let you watch it – blah, blah, causality violations, blah, blah, temporal police…but I can tell you a bit about it, hopefully at least major spoiler-free.

Summer Glau plays Skylar Adams, an Alpha who’s ability is to basically take apart anything and create something new rapidly out of whatever is available – like a device which incapacitates those near it, or highly complex electronics. Dr. Rosen and Nina know her, and she has been left alone as a non-threat – but now she is on the run and it seems like she may be working for someone, so the Alphas team needs to find her – and decided if they need to stop her – or protect her…in the meantime, Gary’s mother, after finding out what he’s been doing, tells Dr. Rosen Gary is sick, and keeps him home with the intention of never letting him go back.

In watching Glau the teaser act, I couldn’t help but think of The Cape, which she starred in, where she’s working in a high-tech makeshift lab she suddenly has to escape from. But although some parts of this role are similar to others (like the autistic detachment/intelligence of River in Firefly, and a bit of the coolness of a Terminator), I didn’t feel like I was just watching River again, waiting for the cool fight scene where she kicks everyone into oblivion. The style (and her looks – shorter blond streaked hair and tattoos) were different enough. I’d still like to see her in a radically different role.

As for the Alphas – we still see the interesting interactions with them, especially between Gary (Ryan Cartwright) and Bill (Malik Yoba). Bill’s audible reactions to the things Gary says seem quite genuine – in particular I noticed an off-screen sound like a minor chuckle (this was a rough cut so whether it makes it into the final version I’m not sure).

We do see Dr. Rosen having to make some moral decisions for the Alphas, caught between all the different government agencies. The results aren’t unexpected, so I wish they’d worked this part up a bit more.

Anyways, Alphas continues to be enjoyable to watch, and I think Ryan Cartwright might deserve some Emmy consideration next year.

Now, if I can fix that time machine again, you might get a glimpse from the future again in a few days…