SummaryA group of everyday people who possess uncanny neurological abnormalities is working for a secret government agency. This elite group is able to uncover what the CIA, FBI and Pentagon cannot or will not solve.
SummaryA group of everyday people who possess uncanny neurological abnormalities is working for a secret government agency. This elite group is able to uncover what the CIA, FBI and Pentagon cannot or will not solve.
The soul of the show, though, is its conflicted "heroes," truly tortured, in palpable ways, recalling the best, early days of NBC's ill-fated Monday comic book. There's no cartoonery here. Just adult adventure and angst.
The premiere drops enough intriguing hints about the players' pasts without distracting from the main plot. You can't have a team without conflict, and every character seems to carry a quirk that rubs the others the wrong way.
At first blush, though, give Alphas high marks for effort and ingenuity, demonstrating a TV show needn't provide major pyrotechnics or a reinvented wheel to lay the groundwork for solid summer entertainment where the characters, somewhat refreshingly, are only sort-of super.
Of course, it's a coup for SyFy to snag Strathairn for the new series, but this is very much an ensemble piece. The other performers are all great at being unlikely and, at times, downright cranky heroes. Still, while their crankiness is initially appealing, it could wear thin pretty quickly unless they are given really smart crimes to solve.