Alphas Recap: Episode 2.06 – Alphaville
If last season is anything to go by, this puts us at the halfway mark of the season. Already! It’s gone by so fast it just doesn’t seem possible. Summer Glau reprises her role as the tech-savvy alpha, Skylar. I really liked her role last season and was very happy that they brought her back. Things are starting to heat up and I have a feeling it’s going to be an all out sprint to the finale, which will most likely end in a cliffhanger. My only complaint in cliffhangers, especially with this show and Being Human, is the wait is just too damned long between seasons. Enough about all that though…..let’s get on with the recap to this week’s episode, Alphaville.
The episode kicks off with Rosen telling Bill about experiments conducted using methods similar to what the Photic Stimulator does. Rosen is convinced that Stanton Parish’s motives for their use are evil and he’s determined to find out what exactly they’re being used for. Bill, being the voice of reason, tells Rosen that they’re going to have to hand the device over to Cley, but Rosen disagrees. He informs Bill that the device isn’t going to be on Cley’s desk, it’s going to be on Skylar’s desk. Rosen starts to round-up the troops for a road trip to find Skylar, but it takes some convincing to get Gary to go.
Rachel and John finally have their breakfast date, but Rachel is too distracted by all the noises and germs. John reaches out and touches her hand and she sort of freaks out. She tells him she has to go, but can’t tell him where. He replies that as the head of security, Rosen is making it hard to do his job when he’s kept in the dark. A very flustered Rachel apologizes and all but runs out of the restaurant.
Back at the office everyone is getting ready to leave when Nina finally shows up. They give her a little bit of grief about it, but she says the subway was running late. She’s keeping to her word about not pushing, and as a result, she’s lost her car. Cameron makes a quick call to Dani to let her know he’ll be unreachable, but doesn’t tell her where they’re going. Once they hang up, Dani sends a text to Stanton Parish to let him know the team is on the move.
The trip takes the team into the middle of nowhere and Gary starts to freak a little when he discovers that the area is a dead zone as far as signals go. The van is stopped when a few people come out of the forest and start to give them a little trouble. Rosen tells one of the men that he’s looking for Skylar, but he told that they need to turn around. Things start to get ugly when Skylar emerges from the trees asking what Rosen wants. He tells her that he needs her help and she begrudgingly agrees.
The team follows Skylar and finds that she’s living in a sort of compound. Actually it’s a deserted summer camp that has been restored and taken over by alphas who want to live off grid. Skylar takes Rosen to her cabin and begins to examine the Photic Stimulator. She tells Rosen that’s exactly what it is, but he asks her to dig a little deeper. Rosen asks her about living at the compound and she says she’s only doing it for her daughter Zoe. Speak of the devil, Zoe runs in and seems to be a bit of a handful. Skylar tells Rosen that Zoe never stops and he steps in and occupies Zoe by having her draw for him. This seems to relax the tension between Skylar and Rosen.
Bill and Gary are wandering around the compound when Gary stumbles into a swarm of bees. He starts to freak out, but another alpha approaches and is able to send the bees away. He introduces himself as Claude, the founder of the compound. Claude tells Bill that he created the compound because of Rosen outing them to the public. Gary is still bitching about not getting any signals and Bill explains to Claude his ability. Claude tells Gary that nature gives off its own signals and all he has to do is listen. Gary discovers that everything around him has some sort of signal associated with it.
Dinnertime approaches and Rosen packs up the device for safekeeping. Skylar tells him it will be safe, but he doesn’t take the chance. As he’s on his way to dinner, he’s attacked by a couple of men from the compound who blame him for the path their lives have taken. The rest of the team shows up just in time, but damage to the device has already been done. After dinner, Rachel works with Skylar to repair the device.
With the help of her keen sight, Rachel discovers that there is more to the device that what was originally thought. When questioned about staying there, Skylar tells them that every morning she wakes up and wants to leave but she stays for Zoe. She makes an off-handed comment about how it was easier when she was alone, and Zoe hears it. Zoe takes off and Skylar goes to follow. In the confusion the device gets turned on and Rachel happened to be in the cross-hairs. She suffers a seizure and is overwhelmed when her senses go into overdrive. Rosen realizes then that the purpose is to heighten alpha abilities.
Skylar chases Zoe into the forest, only to be confronted by Cornell Scipio, the alpha that Rosen had a run in with in Building 7 and Parish’s right hand man. He wants the device and when she delivers, he’ll give her Zoe back. Skylar agrees and gets the device, but Rosen tries to stop her. Rosen ends up using the device on Scipio, which incapacitates him momentarily. Rosen and Skylar get away and they all pile into the van…except Gary who’s decided he wants to live there.
Rachel’s enhanced abilities allows her to find where Zoe is being held and Bill and Cameron go in to get her out. Skylar refuses to sit idly by and joins them in the search. They find her in the basement, but have to rumble with two other alphas from Parish’s team. Cameron takes a saw blade to the leg, but between he and Bill, the other two are dispatched. As they leave the basement, Scipio shows up and sets fire to the stairwell. The device enhanced his ability as well and soon the house is filling with smoke….and the forest is on fire. Thankfully Skylar has serious skills and manages to throw together a make shift fire extinguisher to clear the stairwell. It works and they manage to make it back to the road. However, the van is gone because the rest of the team went back to compound to collect Gary and help evacuate. As the caravan of cars leave the compound, the van shows up. Bill and Cameron hop in, but Skylar and Zoe are nowhere to be found.
Skylar and Zoe head to a restaurant to grab a bite to eat when Skylar is approached by Stanton Parish. He tells her that she’s meant for more as is her daughter. He wants her to join him, but we’re left wondering if she will or not.
Dani is mortified about Cameron’s injury and realizes that it’s all because of her that he was hurt to begin with. Rachel is recuperating when John walks in to see how she’s doing. She tells him that Rosen isn’t sure if her abilities will go back to how they were or if her situation is permanent. For some reason, the heightened abilities have made it easier for her to focus so she takes advantage of it and decides to make a move on John. Rosen tells Bill that they must have a leak in the team somewhere and puts Bill in charge of finding out who it is. He tells Bill to keep it to himself and to vet everyone involved. What’s going to happen when he finds out it’s his own daughter?
My biggest disappointment with this episode came with the fact that nowhere was the song “Forever Young” used*. They really missed an opportunity with that. I really hope there are others out there who had the same thought and I’m not just showing my age.
I really like Summer Glau’s character and this twist with Stanton Parish leaves it open for her to return again. I don’t think it’s in the cards for her to be a regular, but I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea. There is no new episode next week due to the Labor Day holiday, so I’ll be back with another recap in two weeks.
*Not really.
Tags: Alphas, Alphas Alphaville, Alphas recap, Alphas Season 2 Episode 6, Azita Ghanizada, David Strathairn, John Pyper-Ferguson, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Ryan Cartwright, Summer Glau, Warren Christie
