Still, with only 11 episodes under its belt, I might be asking for too much from this very ambitious series, which is attempting to ground and normalize the concept of the X-Men and nestle them within a more accessible reality. That being said, this episode, "Wake Up Call," needed more Gary Bell. Yes, Gary was in it, and he was back to being "our Gary" by the end of the adventure, but Ryan Cartwright's performance was missed throughout (thanks to Birmingham measures of pacification). I suppose I can forgive this gross "lack of Gary" due to the fact that this episode made, at least at the outset, Gary be the emotional goal. And the rescuing of him is really what brings together all the moving parts.
The crisis in "Wake Up Call" is a prison break from Birmingham, where dangerous Alphas are held (including Gary who couldn't deal with non-regimented NSA work) and made docile thanks to an implanted chip. The brains behind this plan is named Scipio, an Alpha with the power to microwave people's faces. The brains behind his brains is Stanton Parish, the seemingly immortal Civil War-era villain who now wants to divide the country into more brother-against-brother turmoil. Parish isn't the greatest arch baddie (I still mourn the loss of Brent Spiner's Dr. Kern from "Blind Spot") and one sometimes hopes that someone more interesting will pop up and be revealed as the guy behind the guy. But perhaps Parish will get more watchable this year.
Even though the outcome of "Wake Up Call" was a bit inevitable (hero team reforms, new evil team established), it was still an exciting episode and a more-than-decent way to start off this Summer run.
Everyone was at a different place when we initially caught up with them; some being better off than others. Dr. Rosen had pretty much resigned to the fact that he was incarcerated for life and it's interesting to note that his daughter Dani, who's with Parish's crew, might have had something to do with creating the big incident that Rosen knew would get him out and working with his team again. And also, because Rachel had regressed so much without Rosen, their fates were interconnected as she wasn't going be able to come out of her room without the promise of his care.
Bill and Cameron were fun to watch as the active NSA-cooperators, working as a clumsy team while trying to stop a group of Alphas from robbing a store. One of the things that's unique about this show, and at times frustrating, is the establishment that not all Alphas are built alike. Some are more powerful than others - and that goes for our heroes too. Bill, the strong man of the gang, is still usually never able to match up to any other Alpha; never being quite strong enough. And Nina, while perhaps being the most dangerously powerful member of the team, has an ability that doesn't naturally lend itself to action-packed missions. In fact, Nina's big moment in this episode was helping Rachel use her power.
The guy who always helps bring this series back around, though, is David Strathairn. His performance as Rosen is always great, and he's always there to tether this show and give it a solid voice. His Alphas team will now probably have a new directive and direction, but he'll be there to rein them all in and make them feel like a family. I'm also looking forward to seeing just how antagonistic Rosen will be against his government handlers now, considering the fact that they just kept him doped up for eight months.
Source : feeds.ign.com
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