Last week, the Syfy Channel cancelled Alphas and the superhero series joined two of my other favorite series that were cancelled on cliffhangers.
The show ended the season with only one member of the Alphas team, Gary, certain of survival. Antagonist Stanton Parish had unleashed a weapon in Grand Central Station designed to kill normal humans and further enhance the abilities of Alphas or awaken latent abilities in those who possessed them.
Gary seems forever fated to wander among the bodies/survivors in Grand Central.
He has good company in never-resolved-land.
Sarah Connor of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ended up being stuck in the present, separated from her teenage son, John, who traveled to the future with an artificial intelligence that could be either ally or enemy.
At least the cancellation left Lena Headey free to move onto other things, such as her role as Cersei Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Headey is very good as Cersei, especially in the episodes with the city under siege in Season 2. But I miss her Sarah Connor.
A Terminator 5 script is being developed but that seems destined to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger and the movies are set in a different timeline, in any case.
The cast of Now & Again.
Then there’s Michael Wiseman and his family, perpetually on the run from government officials. If you’re asking “who?”, you’re likely not alone, as I seem to be one of the few people to remember Now & Again, which starred Eric Close as an artificially created and enhanced human who received the brain of the real Michael Wiseman (John Goodman) after he was killed by a train.
Putting John Goodman’s brain in the body of young Eric Close is an odd setup, one created by Glenn Gordon Caron of Moonlighting. Now & Again flipped many genre expectations, as it focused as much on Michael’s grieving wife and daughter, played by Margaret Colin and Heather Matarazzo, respectively, as it did on super-secret government missions.
The scientist who gave Michael his new life was played by Dennis Haysbert, later of 24 and various insurance commercials. Michael struggled with what to do with his new abilities and whether he should completely shut himself off from his family as well as his complicated relationships with the doctor who provided him with a second chance at life.
Michael finally decided on his family and Haysbert and government officials were in hot pursuit as Michael grabbed them and slipped into the night. Fade to black for the show.
