ALPHAS Recap: When Push Comes to Shove

I started watching Alphas because of Ryan Cartwright’s performance on Bones and the fact that Warren Christie is so good looking I find my head involuntarily tilting to the side while I’m watching him.
That being said the rest of the cast keeps surprising me and really drawing me in so I’ve been looking forward to this episode since I saw the preview clip. Laura Mennell’s character has always has a slight problem with what the team was doing to other Alphas and was never quite okay being part of the group. Delving into her back story was great.

We start with Nina outside the house she grew up in. We flash back to her parents fighting and her Dad leaving them, he is moving out. She pushes him telling him he can’t leave. He obviously changes his mind and says he has to stay. In the present the guy she is with says this is ruining his buzz and they drive off.

In another part of town a guy is holding a baby and singing too him. He is leaving a building in his pajamas where the alarm is going off. Security gets there only it’s not a baby that they see it a bag of money.

Rachel is in the office talking to Bill about John turning her down for dinner. She is telling him that he said no but his pupils dilated and his heart rate increased. Bill can’t believe she lie detected the guy with her ability just because he turned her down for a date.
They come across Gary wet in a towel. He is behind in his routine because his alarm didn’t go off. It is chaos! Chaos! He needs to get dressed and tells them he is going to drop his towel and show them his fruit if they don’t get out of his room.

Thankfully John shows up and says he needs to talk to Dr. Rosen. Dr. Rosen is in with Kat. She is putting a carburetor together; she has done two in less than a minute after watching a video once yesterday. Rosen is impressed. She retains the skills even if she can’t remember how she learned it. Kat thinks that is great but she wants to do the fun stuff, like repel out of a helicopter. Rosen is more concerned with finding a way to counteract the memory loss she experiences.
John enters Rosen’s office with another case for them. Rosen gives Kat a video recorder. He wants her to start making memories and they will talk more at the next session.

The case is the guy in the pajamas from the beginning of the episode. He was a bank manager and he was carrying $500k of the banks money. Dr. Rosen says his symptoms are the same as the others. Two jewelry stores and a state trooper besides the bank all have been “hit” in 72 hours.
Rosen tells Rachel and Hicks he thinks it is Nina. Hicks tells Rosen at the end of their relationship Nina pushed him for ½ a day, Nina is getting stronger.

Gary and Rachel are going to try to track Nina’s last known whereabouts. Rosen tells Hicks to bring her in whatever it takes. They don’t want Clay to hear about this yet either so keep it quiet.

John is making eggs in the kitchen. Rachel finds him and says it is okay if he doesn’t want to go out with her but at least give her the real reason. He says the reason is they work together, just like he said. She says, he is lying to her, he is sweating and his heart rate is going up.
He says it isn’t her. She can’t believe that’s the reason he is going to go with. John says he never talks about this but two years ago he was in Kandahar when there was an explosion, he got out but just barely. He pulls his shirt collar aside and shows her a patch of skin (basically his whole shoulder) that was burned. She makes a face, because she can see it down to the cellular level. He doesn’t take that well and says he is going out for breakfast.

Later that night Rachel and Hicks are out at a club looking for Nina. The club goers all look like they are under a spell. Rachel finds Nina and tells her Dr. Rosen needs to see her. Nina tells Rachel to leave before she gets hurt. The guy from earlier is with Nina and he seems to know exactly who Rachel is and her ability. Nina tells her to enjoy who she is, what makes her special. She pushes Rachel to kiss her and kiss the do. Hicks shows up pulling Rachel off of Nina. Nina insists she is just showing Rachel some fun. The guy tries to intervene but Hicks easily puts him down. Nina “calls off” Rachel and tells Hicks to let the guy go before she makes him.
Tommy is the guy’s name. Nina says she doesn’t have to pretend with him, he lets her be herself. Hicks puts Rachel over his shoulder and carriers her out of the club. Rachel yells at him until he snaps out of it. Nina pushed him so she could get away.

At the office Rosen has Hicks hooked up to an IV while they look at his brain scan. Nina’s ability has grown quite a bit.
And it turns out Tommy is an old boyfriend from when Nina was a little girl. Rosen says they need to think of Nina as an addict, they need to find her and fast. Bill says he lied to Clay to keep him off Nina’s trail.

We get another flashback to Nina as a child. Her parents are going at it so she is sitting in the back yard listening to music really loud to drown them out. Tommy shows up and introduces himself, she doesn’t want to leave in case her parents fight gets out of control so goes and gets her pizza.
In present day Nina is talking to Tommy. He says everything is going to be okay. She thinks she screwed up. He tells her he loves her and she says she loves him too.

We see Hicks and Bill at a ladies house, a lady named Becky. She is Tommy’s wife. She doesn’t know where Tommy is. He didn’t want to be there so she let him leave. She is better off now without him.

Another flash back and Tommy is trying to buy beer. It isn’t working because he is like 12 so Nina pushes the guy behind the counter to sell it to her. She confides in Tommy what she can do. He thinks it is awesome.

In the present they are eating pizza together on a boat. He thinks they should sail away together, maybe to Bermuda. Nina says he doesn’t know anything about boats. He says he worked at a marina for two summers and that is how he met Becky. He drops the subject of Becky and says he wants to be with Nina. She says it sounds nice but Rosen will never stop looking for her.

In the office Rosen is watching old therapy tapes of Nina’s sessions. Kat shows up videotaping on her phone, which she has been doing for two days now.
Clay walks in and Kat covers for Rosen while he turns the TV off so Clay can’t see what he was watching. Clay needs updates on the bank robbery. Rosen says he is working on it.

Hicks tells Rosen he thinks he found Nina, but Rosen says they have to drop that for now. The higher ups want them to focus on the Building 7 escapees.

Becky shows up at the office. She is confused. She doesn’t know why she told him she wanted Tommy to leave. She didn’t want Tommy to leave. Rachel is listening to her and can see she has been pushed.

Rosen is insisting they drop this whole Nina thing. The team can’t figure out why he would want to stop looking for Nina. Rachel is listening to his heartbeat and she says he was pushed as well. Nina got to Dr. Rosen.

We are revisiting young Nina again. Her Dad is home in the middle of the day. He says he can’t leave the house, he isn’t supposed to leave. He looks pretty mentally messed up. Nina looks at him and tells him to go to work whenever he wants but to come back as soon as he is done. Tommy wants to know what the hell that was. She says nothing.

Nina now is at the marina. She is looking for what boat Tommy is on. She sees the team putting Tommy in cuffs and taking him in.
In custody Tommy says he loves Nina and always has. He didn’t want to exploit her gift unlike them.
Rosen opens the door and lets Tommy’s wife and child in to see him.

Bill goes to help an officer with the incident report leaving Hicks alone and who would show up but Nina. She pushes Hicks to help her, and by help she means Hicks holds a gun on Rachel and Rosen. Nina tells Rachel to go outside. Rosen says he isn’t going to try to stop her; he just wants Hicks to put the gun down.

Nina goes into Tommy’s room. She says they can still get out of there. He can’t believe Nina pushed him. Rosen tells Nina there is no relationship there, it isn’t real, she has been pushing Tommy the whole time. Nina says you want to be with me, you love me. Tommy says he doesn’t love her in fact he told her to stay away from him.

We see young Tommy telling Nina they should tell someone about her ability. What she is doing to her Dad isn’t right. Young Tommy says if she doesn’t tell someone he will. She pushes him without meaning to and even though she swears she is sorry he tells her to stay away from him.

Outside the room John and Bill come in guns drawn. Nina pushes Hicks to help her so he grabs the gun he set down earlier (in a fun flip it up off the ground with his feet kinda way) and shoots John in the shoulder before grabbing Nina’s arm and helping her escape.
Thankfully that bullet hit John’s vest.

Nina and Hicks run through the hospital towards the roof. Hicks is looking for a way out for them. Bill gets to the roof and Hicks shoots at him. Rosen is there too and he says he just wants to talk to Nina. She pushes Hicks to let Rosen through. She is standing awfully close to the edge of the building looking down while seeing her young self in flashbacks.
Rosen is talking to her trying to calm her down. Rosen says he knows she is feeling alone, she pushed Tommy to fill the void, so she could be happy.
Via flashbacks we see young Nina finding her Dad’s body with slit wrists on the kitchen floor of their house.

She says she is done hurting people. She “frees” Hicks from her control and jumps off the building. Except Hicks, in a great action sequence, uses his ability to shoot a cable free, jump off, catch her and grab the cable to keep from falling. Right before Hicks’s hand slips, Bill uses his ability to pull them up.

The next day Gary does his morning screams in the office. Kat and Bill are talking in the kitchen. Bill refers to Gary as a rooster. Kat wants to know if Nina is going to be okay. She wonders what she will find in her past if she keeps working with Rosen. Bill says it can’t all be bad; one good memory is worth all the bad.

Rachel finds John at a desk. She wants to know why he isn’t in the hospital. He says it’s just a bruise. He says getting shot makes him hungry, does she want to join him? She asks if this is a date and he says breakfast doesn’t really count. She didn’t know that she says while smiling.
Then he says that even though he doesn’t have her ability she isn’t the only one who is sensitive. He hasn’t been with anyone since his injury, so they have to go slow. She says slow is good.

Clay worked out a deal so Nina can be returned to Rosen’s custody, but that is the last time Rosen shuts him out.

Nina is in a hospital room, her eyes are covered in gauze and she is restrained to the bed. Rosen apologizes for the restraints. She says it’s okay she is dangerous, he can’t trust her. Rosen unwraps the bandages over her eyes and tells Nina to look at him. He takes his coat off and sits next to her.

And…I wasn’t disappointed. Laura Mennell was awesome in this episode. Her recovery should be great television to watch.

Alphas airs Monday 10/9c on SyFy