Alphas (SyFy)

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mine too. Gary sure has it in for him.

I do like the fact that Gary has few illusions about how people view him. It amused me to see him convince Rachel to confront her father about his cancer because "you should go and talk to him, because you care about him. I care about you, and that's why I'm not going to stop talking until you do it." He knows his speech patterns annoy people - and he's more than willing to use that fact...

It was also cool to see that the writers have done some research on autism. In this week's episode, the team members were being interrogated, while an Alpha who reads body language at a near-telepathic level watched through a number of cameras and advised the interrogator on whether or not they were being truthful. When it came to Gary, the watcher complained because none of Gary's body language made any sense to him, and there was no way to get a "read" on him.

I liked that part, too. His "expressions and inflections are all over the place".

I squeed a little at this part. I also like that Nina can't push Gary.

I also liked the vomit scene with Gary looking out for the philodendron. "Oh gross!"

I really like the show . Of course Garys character is not going to represent every autistics experience or personality but I like him and see enough of my own quirks to at least feel like the writers of the show "get" more of who I am then the average TV show . He may offer comic relief for some people to "laugh at" , but for me, any patronizing or belittling of Gary should be more embarrassing to NT's then auties . I think the show does a better job of illustrating neurodiversity then Monk, Bones, Rainman...which may have likable characters but are so heavy with literalism and clisha's that it can be painful to watch .

I'm really most interested in where they go with the Red Flag story line . So far, it is certainly leaning towards X.Men separatism/inclusion but I haven't given up hope that they will develop a more sympathetic understanding of the motivation of the Red Flag movement .

I think that could happen.
I don't see Dr Rosen being fully convinced of the things he's doing and probably more opposed to Red Flag because of assasination attempts, Gary already has a more sympathetic understanding, and it seems that Rachel and Nina know that the government's handling of things aren't that clean (but I don't think they sympathise with Red Flag). I'm not sure about the other two and the new member. Either way, I've got some hopes that it will develope towards more understanding rather than simple going on with their work regardless of any motivations and interests.

I'm expecting to see what happens in the last episode of this season where Red Flag will attack Department of Defense. I guess this will obviously reveal more about this storyline.

I don't like double-posting but ....
but has anybody seen the ending of season 1?
It was an overall intresting turn of events. So there are/were different Red Flag factions and there's one which is violent. And the governmental agencies don't really care about the well-being of any alpha and have another own agenda. This reminds me a little of X-Men:First Class where the government used some Mutants and add the end didn't care about them and not even about their own employees who were involved in this.

There does seem to be the "X-Men lite" thing going on, maybe with a bit of old-school "Doom-Patrol" thrown in. I think they're trying to tackle it in a more realistic vein with toned down powers. I'm looking forward to next season, do they start operating as good guys without government sanction? Does the government become the enemy?

After a rather slow start, the show picked up and became quite interesting. Of course I find Gary the most interesting character. I'm pleased with how he is portrayed. Gary understands that he is very different from the others, yet he works with his differences in positive ways, and demonstrates a lot of humanity. The actor who portrays him does a great job. I really like that Gary is not just the token "autistic guy" who is made fun of, or always has to be rescued from a situation. There's a lot of dignity in Gary, and he has a sly sense of humor.

In the cult episode, nina is fighting someone, and pushes him off of her and he goes flying across the room. I think they are going to be giving her telekinesis as well. That would be cool.

sooooooo

While we wait impatiently for the next season to begin, I would like to go off on a tangent.

I have in my travels met an autistic person that I considered to be a real alpha. His ability obviously wasn't something spectacular, like anyone on the show, but it is interesting
No mater how long ago it was, he could somehow calculate what day of the week a date was.

to clarify. You tell him you were born on october 4, 1997. he tells you almost immidiately that october 4, 1997 was a tuesday (I don't actually know that, but you get the point.)
I gave him my birthday, and I checked his answer on a calendar, and it was correct!

anyone else met a real(istic) alpha?

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just watched "Rosetta" for the first time, and when they were discussing Anna's "language," did anyone else wonder if the writers were influenced by this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc[/youtube]

That video was made by Amanda Baggs, who is autistic and actually posts on these forums.

I loved the part when they mentioned neurodiversity by the way! And when Anna said that "lots of things are considered birth defects," I was sure she was going to mention autism. Autism was clearly the subtext of that conflict.

Also, I love how Gary moves his hands! I've known autistic kids who have moved their hands in similar ways, and with one kid in particular, it looked so much like he was manipulating something, that I always wondering what he was experiencing. Was he somehow manipulating air currents or something? Or maybe the electromagnetic spectrum!

Yeah, I noticed the AB connection, too. That, and the word "neurodiversity" being used makes me think that the writers have spent time in the internet-autism world. And also, besides Gary there's the character with the hypersensitive senses and synesthesia -- and those subjects seem to come up on ASD forums a lot. It's all too much to be a coincidence, I think.

It's such an interesting and well-written show in so many ways. Can't wait for season two!

Season two will start next month! :D

I know I'm Excited

Season 2 has started and two episodes are out. What do you think?