Episode Title: "Alpha Dogs"
Writer: Eric Tuchman
Director: Nick Copus
Previously on “Alphas”:
Episode 2.02 “The Quick and the Dead”
Story:
Both Bill (Malik Yoba) and Gary's (Ryan Cartwright) morning gets off to a rough start, with Bill struggling on his meds and Gary still haunted by the traumas of Building 7.
At the office, Rachel's (Azita Ghanizada) super sense of smell leads her to John Bennett (Steve Byers), the team's new tactical lead. As she reprimands him for wearing an offensive body spray, Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn) interrupts to let the team know that an Alpha named Jack Duffy has been killed.
The team examines Duffy's body and determines that he was killed by a mix of acid spray and saliva. Material found under his nails suggests he was in a fight. Bill calls a phone number written on Duffy's hand. It turns out to a message about a delivery.
The team arrives at the address from the message to find a warehouse with people cheering and yelling inside. Bill and Hicks (Warren Christie) enter the warehouse, where they find an Alpha fight club. Outside, Rachel encounters a man with the same kind of acid burns Duffy had. He tells her the man who burned him is named Bazevich. Meanwhile, Bill is made to fight inside the warehouse and he loses badly. Afterwards, a teen girl named Kat (Erin Way) offers to train him.
Back at the office, Gary and Rosen do research on Stanton Parish. Rosen asks about Gary about his morning screaming sessions. He tells Rosen that his friend, Anna was shot in the head in Building 7. The next day, Rosen talks to Gary's mother, Sandra about his condition. Gary says he wants to move out, but Rosen tells him to take the day off.
At the warehouse, Kat trains Bill for his next fight, teaching him to focus on his ability and embrace it. Moments later, Bill stands amid the decay of the room he just destroyed.
Rosen reads over the Civil War-era diary of the doctor who treated Parish. Hicks stops by to tell Rosen the truth about his relationship with Danny. Rosen says he has no problem with it as long as his daughter is happy.
Gary, Rosen and Sandra discuss Gary moving into the office while Bill and Kat stop for hot dogs on the street. Cat tells Bill about her ability to rapidly learn and absorb new information. However, her memory suffers as a result.
As his research continues, Rosen learns that Parish killed the doctor when he decided to go pubic about Parish's ability to heal himself. At the warehouse, Bill takes another fight, knocking his opponent out with one punch. To his surprise, Kat steps up to fight him next. Using her speed and new knowledge of key pressure points, she manages to knock Bill unconscious. As Hicks takes Bill back to the car, Rachel spots Kat leaving in the same car as Bazevitch.
The team follows the car to another warehouse with hospital equipment inside. Bill rushes in and shots are fired. After taking out the gunman, he finds Kat hooked up to a machine and Bazevitch dead. Rosen arrives to examine Kat, who tells him she wants to be part of the team.
Back at the office, Rachel asks John out, but he declines, for fear it would interfere with their working relationship. Rosen is sitting at a diner counter when Parish (John Pyper-Ferguson) arrives. He tells him about his history in the military and why he killed the doctor. Rosen brings up the coming war Parish warned him about and Parish tells him that ordinary men only react with fear and violence. He then gets up and leaves.
As Gary's mother helps him settle into bed at the office, Bill returns to the warehouse for another fight.
Breakdown:
An underground fight club where Alphas come to flex their superhuman muscles? With more civilized methods of treating his condition failing him, it's just what Bill needed to get in touch with his inner Hulk.
“Alpha Dog's” was a particularly personal episode for both Bill and Gary, each struggling with their own Alpha demons. While Bill learned to focus and embrace his abilities with help from Kat, Gary decided that he and his morning scream sessions are better off in the Alpha offices, giving his mother some much needed relief.
As the two most developed characters on the show, Bill and Gary storylines always make for good episodes. Meanwhile, Hicks is floundering around without Nina and Rachel's making goo-goo eyes at team noob, John, who inadvertently wooed her with an assortment of soaps. And Hicks finally broke the news to Rosen about Danny. He doesn't care and neither do I.
Another point of frustration in this episode was Rosen's impromptu coffee klatch with Stanton Parish. After each related metaphorical anecdotes to get their respective points across, Parish abruptly took off. We learned that the diner makes a great tuna melt but what he wants with Rosen or when the "war is coming" is anyone's guess. There was already enough intrigue surrounding Parish and his Alpha army without this frustrating episode-ending scene.
On a positive note, we learned more about Parish's backstory as a centuries old super soldier. But why he's so hellbent on going to war is still unclear. Perhaps because he's knows he'll be the only survivor? We're also left wondering how humanity is dealing with the Alpha revelation. If we did, perhaps Parish's agenda would be clearer.
“Alphas” still has plenty of time left in the season to make good on all these mysteries. In the meantime, this third episode provided insight into Parish's past and Bill learned to take his ability to the next level. Now I can't wait to see what he does with it.
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