The Usual Suspects (110)

[GateWorld]

ALPHAS SEASON ONE THE USUAL SUSPECTS EPISODE NUMBER - 110 The Alphas are detained at the Binghamton facility after one of them is suspected of being a Red Flag agent. (TV Guide) VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >

[Gollumpus]

Well, first off, big gold stars to Perelandra and ZeroPoint who suggested over a week ago that there might be future problems with Bill and his ability (http://forum.gateworld.net/threads/8...s-new-and-used).

I had a vague sense of annoyance with this episode. I'll post more when I think about it some more...

regards,
D.

[Perelandra]

Thanks Gollumpus!

I didn't care as much for this ep as I have the previous ones: started out strong but the ending was I thought a bit weak. How was it that the alpha/morpher who could take on different facial shapes was able to hold on to looking like Rosen when they were knocked out at Binghampton?(So Nate, ect wouldn't suspect) Wouldn't he have relaxed back into his natural looks when he was out?
Also, we see Dr. Rosen wake up in a room with drawings and measurments,ect showing that the morpher(can't remember his name) spent a lot of time studying his facial structure, ect, then we see him take on the indentity of Gary so quickly? Can someone explain these points to me. Hope Bill is going to be OK he and Gary are my favorite charactars.
did think the charactar that could read faces was interesting-I'll bet we see him in upcoming eps.

[Giantevilhead]

The plan to erase those files didn't really make any sense. Are we supposed to believe that they had no offline back up?

Plus Rosen was an idiot for warning Gary about the shapeshifter when he should have used the element of surprise to knock the guy out.

[Galileo_Galilee]

Yeah. Those files have public access. So the only thing I can think of is some sort of encryption and embedding techniques that are used to hide some information. If this is true this was a poor decision on Red Flag's side.

[RJLCyberPunk]

This was obviously a"filler" episode and as such kind of lackluster as many others pointed out out first of all they had some top secret classified files that everyone in the group had access too! I mean WTF? Rosen should have knocked the morpher out. And I wish they would have shown who the morpher really was either. Hopefully the next ep. will do better...

[dtheories]

I give top marks to this ep. Ok, rabid fan here, but the action and drama were excellent. Trap amped up, independent, scared and confused people together, and then proceed to throw accusations in an attempt to divide and distract...well, I was riveted!

I would have liked to know how that killer ALPHA called up his powers cause to go through life being unable to touch someone, well, Rogue started wearing gloves as a teen, but it appeared this character had to draw on his abilities like Bill usually does.

Gary was awesome as always. His pain while they were fighting and screaming in that warehouse was chillingly real - and who knows what additional danger he might have been placed in should real Rosen have attempted to use violence (which would have been very uncharacteristic) to neutralize faux Rosen. That effect of him 'un' morphing was cool and Gary was obviously fascinated! But his interaction with faux Rosen with the puking, bad hair and the Philodendron was so funny!

To answer one of the criticisms above, I think there were detailed pics of all the team members in the room, not just Rosen. So, the morph probably had studied all of them as a contingency.

Anyway, I liked it a lot!! Very sad it's ending soon. :-(

***How much do you suppose they spent licensing Barbra Streisand's "Don't Rain On My Parade"? I was impressed!

[Commander Zelix]

Great episode. I'm becoming a fan of this show. I'm mad it's only 13 episodes. I like the fact that the tone is more serious than Warehouse 13 while still keeping some humor. I've rewatch many episodes because of the good writing.

The scene at the beginning when each Alphas are hunted down and caged like animals was great. It was creepy to watch Dr Rosen walk in the aisle while each Alphas looked at him from their cell like caged animals. It was funny to see Gary carefully place his shoes (like he learned) beside the bed before testing for signal by stepping over it.

Is it just me but does it seems Bill's punches doesn't seem to land hard when they hit people but hard only with they hit very solid (or not solid) objects. A fight between Bill and Hicks or anybody else would probably involve Hicks avoiding all the punches (and charges, attacks, etc). I mean one punch from amped up Bill and anybody should be knocked out. It is his ability. While hitting Hicks should be near close to impossible. Also his ability. I like to see how each Alphas use their ability depending on the situation (Hicks ability is my favorite).

I like the alpha which can read people faces. I like the way he has his eyes on Rachel. That was funny. I like the way he put it : "You know what people don't realize? That ignorance of what other people are thinking is one of the keys to human happiness.". Then giving up some examples. I can understand how someone with his ability could say that.

At the end when Rosen was saying he knew which Alphas was the mole I was beginning to believe it (before he said Hicks would have been better off at Binghamton). I was thinking that maybe one of the Alphas was blackmailed into it and didn't know they would use the files to kill people.

The Alphas which can alter his physiology was a bit too good at imitating Rosen's personality though. Even in extreme situation like when the SWAT team capture him and Gary (he told Gary to duck to protect himself). He seemed genuinely concerned about the fate the Alphas on this team. I guess it could still have been faked. But it is clear he took time to study his subjects. It is possible that someone with a shape-shifting ability would get to know how important it is to fake the personality perfectly to make the illusion complete.

I think Gary has turned himself into the no 1 security threat with his exchanges and relationship with the red flag leader Anna. I'm sorry Gary you can't dine with the "devil" (those people are bad guys, right?) on the weekend and fight them during the weekdays.

Overall a very nice episode fun to rewatch.

[aretood2]

I think Gary has turned himself into the no 1 security threat with his exchanges and relationship with the red flag leader Anna. I'm sorry Gary you can't dine with the "devil" (those people are bad guys, right?) on the weekend and fight them during the weekdays.

If we are to believe that guy from the previous episode, then Red Flag has a few rogue elements but may be more grey....or not....or she's the black side of the organization.........

[blueray]

i liked this episode, not my fav but it was ok. i guessed that it was rossen, but i wasn't competely wrong . i'm glad that they didn't have it be any of the characters (unlike bones did). that would have sucked.

i really like hick's ability, i love how it took them a while to catch him and how bill needed a few shots.

gary is awesome as usual. and i knew that wasn't him at the end, he is someone that would be hard to mimic lol. as for his relationship with anna, yeah that is going to cause some problems down the road.

[ZeroPoint]

Thanks Gollumpus for the shout out.

I also was guessing Rosen. The whole deleting file idea was stupid on so many levels.

I would have preferred a non-alpha cosmetically/physically altered to take Rosen's place, than to have a morphing alpha. In the end, I was thinking that if the world of Alphas is half as complicated as they show, the security is quite stupid to think its Rosen just by appearance and not doing anything "normal" like fingerprints or blood test or ....well... anything.

Similar with the lock-down. Why was everything essentially unlocked until the alarm? If these people are half as potentially dangerous as portrayed, the lock-down state should be default.

[aretood2]

Similar with the lock-down. Why was everything essentially unlocked until the alarm? If these people are half as potentially dangerous as portrayed, the lock-down state should be default.

It's the US government, they aren't known for their common sense

[LtColCarter]

Interesting episode. Didn't see the shapeshifter twist coming...

[Galileo_Galilee]

Whenever you deal with superheroes, ALWAYS expect some sort of attempt of imitator who can look exactly like their intended target. It will eventually show up in some way. It's pretty much a staple.

Heroes may be the only exception that I know of. But if it hadn't been canceled, I'm sure there would've been one eventually and Skylar would've copied it.

[ZeroPoint]

That's pretty much what I mean. The people who deal with Alphas on a daily basis seem to forget often that they are Alphas.

And in regards to Heroes (first try at using spoiler tags):

Spoiler:

Shape shifting was in Heroes.
Character James Martin could shape shift. Skylar got it from him, and spent half a season looking like Nathan Patrelli.

Edit: Found character