Episode Title: "If Memory Serves"
Writers: Terri Hughes & Rom Milbauer
Director: Allan Kroeker
Previously on "Alphas":
Episode 2.10 "Life After Death"
Story:
As Clay's team makes a sweeping effort to take down Stanton Parish, Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn) questions his aggressive approach. When Clay (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) shows him a list of potential leads, Rosen makes note of an upstate New York farmhouse. He sends Hicks (Warren Christie) and Kat (Erin Way) to investigate without informing Clay.
Gary (Ryan Cartwright) gets a "ping" from the factory in China that manufactured the photo-stim. He tells Rosen they're sending a large shipment to New York. Just then, Gary reveals that mother has been in a car accident.
In upstate New York, Hicks and Kat watch an imposing figure leave the farmhouse. When they go inside, they find a man locked in a room watching cartoons. The man identifies himself as Mitchell (Sean Astin) and says that Stanton Parish locked him in the room.
Back at the office, Senator Burton informs Rosen that she'll be acting as a liaison on the Parish task force. Rosen is nervous about the senator recognizing Nina.
On the way back to the city, Kat brings up Dani in the car. Mitchell says he killed her which angers Hicks. But before he can confront Mitchell, his caretaker shoots at their car from the bridge above. He then jumps on the hood and is presumably killed when the car crashes into the guard rail.
Hicks confronts Mitchell about what he said in the car and he touches Hick's hand allowing him to see a memory of Dani talking to Parish. Meanwhile, Mitchell's caretaker untwists his body from the railing and walks off.
At the office, Rachel (Azita Ghanizada) tells Rosen she suspects Parish is using the shipment from China to build another device to amplify Alpha abilities. Elsewhere, Hicks and Kat realize Mitchell is holding Parish's memories.
The senator approaches Nina (Laura Mennell) in a restaurant and tells her she joined the task force to find out who "pushed" her. She then recognizes Nina. Meanwhile, Bill (Malik Yoba), Rachel and Rosen head to dock to look into the China shipment but when they open the container, it's empty. When she notices the patterns left by the boxes, Rachel says Parish already collected the shipment.
At the hospital, Gary tells his mother he'll return home to care for her. Moments later, she has another stroke. At the office, Senator Burton confronts Rosen in the elevator. He tells her that he chose to "push" her rather than blackmail her.
After they arrive in town, Hicks goes to rent a car while Kat hides out with Mitchell. Hicks is attacked by the caretaker, who calls Kat to make an exchange for Mitchell. Kat asks Mitchell to go into the caretaker's memory and learns that he needs to drink a large amount of milk to heal himself.
At the decided location, Mitchell approaches the caretaker. Kat races towards him in a stolen Mack truck and slams him into his own car, which sinks. Dragged down by his heavy bones, the caretaker drowns. Kat then realizes that Hicks is locked in the trunk and dives down to rescue him.
When they arrive back in New York, Rosen talks to Mitchell, who shows him a memory of Parish in which he shares his regret over killing Dani. Rosen tells Hicks he plans to use Parish's humanity against him. He places Mitchell in Building 7 and burns down Parish's farmhouse, awaiting the rogue Alpha leader's next move.
Breakdown:
Is Doc Rosen turning into the person he's trying to take down? It sure seemed that way as he referred to the innocent Mitchell as a "thread to be pulled" in his attempt to make Parish unravel. Rosen's little elevator chat with Senator Burton also seemed out of character as well as his scolding of Nina when she refused to push the senator again. Or maybe it's just the character Lee Rosen is becoming.
While Rosen toughened up, we learned that multiple lifetimes on this earth haven't hardened Stanton Parish's heart beyond feeling. He's got a soft spot for Dani Rosen, whom he regrets killing as well as his human memory bank, Mitchell.
The idea that Rosen could, in his fervent quest to take down the enemy, become the enemy is a great twist. And I kinda think "Alphas" needs a curve ball like this, as "Operation Stop Parish" is starting to drag on.
Aside from all the serious business in this episode, there were also some LOLs courtesy of Kat and her recent Quantico training. The scene where she needlessly somersault's into the farmhouse and waves Hicks in was fun stuff. More Kat, please.
Guest star, Sean Astin was also great as Mitchell, constantly regurgitating Parish and his caretaker's memories. I'm glad to see both he and Summer Glau will be back next week.
Unfortunately, there was no update on Alpha baby Adam, aside from the fact that he's keeping Bill and his wife up at night. Otherwise, "If Memory Serves" was one of the best episodes of the season. And if things are going in the direction Doc Rosen's behavior suggests, we should be in store an exciting finale.
