Episode Title: 'Catch and Release'
Writer: Michael Karnow
Director: Kevin Hooks
Story:
Bill's wife confronts him about starting a family. Meanwhile, Gary's mom tells Rosen he won't be in today, due to a bout of the flu, but tells Gary he has the day off. At the office, Rosen (David Strathairn) confronts Nina (Laura Mennell) about her relationship with Hicks (Warren Christie), which she denies. He then tells Nina and Hicks that Alpha, Skylar Adams is missing.
Nina "pushes" a mechanic Skylar had dealings with and learns she's headed to a Brooklyn farmer's market. There a team of armed men spot her and she gives chase. After catching the girl, the Alpha team takes down the agents and apprehends Skylar (Summer Glau). Back at Alpha HQ, she refuses to talk about who's after her.
Bill (Malik Yoba) asks Hicks about his son, while at Gary's (Ryan Cartwright) place, he confronts his mother, who tells him he's not going to work for Dr. Rosen anymore. She insists Rosen is endangering Gary.
Sullivan tells Rosen her superiors want to take Skylar into protective custody. Rosen questions the move and is disturbed when he learns that Cley is on the case. Bill gets a text from Gary, who's tuned into the presence of a group of armed men outside the Alpha HQ. Cley (Mahershala Ali) and his team arrive and the men reveal themselves as NSA agents. Skylar uses a stun device she built to take everyone down and escapes.
Cley tells Rosen that Skylar was working for the NSA but was possibly sharing information with a foreign intelligence agency or perhaps even Red Flag. Nina finds Skylar in her apartment, building another device. Bill learns of Skylar's whereabouts just as the pair head to an NSA research facility to "kill Bob." There, Skylar explains that "Bob" is an advanced tracking system she developed but now doesn't want to see fall into the wrong hands.
The Alpha team and Cley find "Bob" destroyed and the processor gone. Meanwhile, Gary tracks down Skylar and Nina through one of her devices. Skylar uses another one of her self-made weapons to escape. She arrives at the location where her contact, "Z" is hiding out. With Gary's help, the team tracks her down at the house. Hicks finds "Z" inside, who he learns is Skylar's young daughter, Zoe, a mathematical genius. Skylar explains to Rosen and the team that she kept Zoe hidden to keep her safe from the NSA. Outside, Rosen tells Cley that Skylar is gone.
Back home, Gary tells his mother that he's going to continue working for Dr. Rosen, despite her protests. In Toronto, Rosen and Nina bid farewell to Skylar and her daughter. In exchange for his help, Skylar gives Rosen the processor, which he could use to find every Alpha on the planet. He smashes it against a garbage can. At home, Bill's wife discovers a book on fatherhood he just bought.
Breakdown:
Once again, we're back to the "Alpha of the week" format but 'Catch and Release' wasn't without some deeper threads running throughout.
There's been tension between Gary's mom, Sandra and Rosen from the start and now the divide between the two has grown wider. Rosen treats Gary with all the tenderness of a socially awkward, scientifically minded man who just wants the best for the boy wonder. Sandra is the alarmist mother who questions anyone looking to possibly exploit her son, who's equally exceptional and vulnerable. What's still gnawing at me, seven episodes in, is what exactly the origin story of these three? How did they meet in the first place? I'm hoping we get some resolution on that front before season's end.
Meanwhile, Bill's got drama at home with his wife, who's ready to start a family. Why Bill is hesitant to procreate, I'm not sure. Hicks has a son, who Bill asked about and obviously he and all his Alpha buddies came from somewhere. But with everyone's origin story mostly a mystery, we're left in the dark as to what Alpha genealogy looks like.
As for the case of the week, electrical engineering phenom, Skylar (played well by nerd bait, Summer Glau) and her Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions were fun to watch but I feel like this a story we've been told countless times, already this season. You've got the big bad government, that just wants to poke and prod these genetic mutants, Rosen and his team, who just wants to "understand" and "nurture" them and the Alphas themselves, who just want to be left alone. There's only so many variations on this this theme the show can get away with and it feels like we've already run through them all.
As we head into the later episodes of the season, perhaps this tired paradigm will be put aside for a return to the series' more serialized elements; Red Flag, Rosen's relationship with Gary and Sandra and Bill's contemplation of fatherhood. But please, no more of the groan worthy romance between Hicks and Nina.
Crave Online Rating: 6 out of 10.
