Alphas Pilot [HD]

The Best show of its kind since the first season of HEROES.
For quite some time, I've considered Zak Penn to be an extraordinary hack. He's co-written or co-plotted some of the most embarrassing failures of the Superhero genre to date, such as ELEKTRA, and X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. He also wrote original drafts of both the first and second HULK films and what is widely considered the greatest superhero film of all time, THE AVENGERS. However the success of the second HULK film was largely due to star Edward Norton almost completely rewriting the script (under the name Edward Harrison, but was denied any credit by the Writer's Guild), and the gargantuan success of THE AVENGERS, script-wise, is credited wholly to the brilliant Joss Whedon (and rightfully so, since Penn was actually relegated to a co-plotter). So from this resume', one might assume that while Penn may be a fan of the Superhero genre, he's certainly no expert at it.

With his series ALPHAS, co-created with Michael Karnow, Penn has proved that not only can he craft a really...

Neurodiversity as super-powers!
Two of the most compelling characters in this show are autistic. In fact, autism is really the basis of this entire show: a group of folks whose brains and bodies work in slightly different ways than the rest of us. There are some things they can do with remarkable--even super-human--ability. But the trade-off is often severe.

This show renders the idea of neurodiversity--that autism and other "mental disorders" are not diseases so much as they are completely different sets of wiring--through the lens of the super-hero narrative. I'm totally hooked. The characters are complicated and the whole setup is just so smart.

This is not the X-Men: nobody can shoot lasers out of their faces. The powers themselves are much more subtle: incredible aim, heightened senses, almost-prescient ability to predict cause and effect. But the show itself is all the more powerful because it doesn't try to pull out the "big guns." Highly recommended.

There are over six billion people on planet Earth
There seem to have been a lot of movies and TV shows in recent years that try to depict more "realistic" superhero stories. You know, less spandex and magical powers, more "regular" people.

The latest example is "Alphas," a TV series that focuses on otherwise ordinary people with strange evolutionary quirks like supersenses, influencing minds and "seeing" electronic signals. It's one of those series that is solid and fun, but it feels like it hasn't fully grown into itself just yet -- but the last episode does imply that big things are coming.

The CIA is stumped when a key witness is shot... in an empty room with no windows. The case is handed over to Dr. Rosen (David Strathairn), a scientist who has a special team of "Alphas" -- and they soon determine that the shooter is also an Alpha, Cameron Hicks (Warren Christie), who is being controlled by someone else.

Among the problems the team encounters are: a kid with rage pheromones, a bunch of mystery...

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