The Bill Bixby TV version of ‘The Incredible Hulk’ used to say, “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” Well, this week’s episode of ‘Alphas’ has a whole lot of angry people in it, yet I liked it a lot. If every episode of the show can be this good, we’re really onto something here.

If I had any qualms about the show’s second episode looking a little cheaper than the pilot, those fears are dispensed with right away in ‘Anger Management’, which has very slick production values, some stylish directing, and more flashy visual effects. It’s definitely back on par with the pilot, and a decided step up from most Syfy network fare. (Although I still haven’t watched any of ‘Warehouse 13’, every clip shown in the ads makes it look ridiculously cheapjack.)

The episode is also incredibly intense and violent at times, which I wasn’t expecting at all. Things start off when, from out of the blue, a huge riot breaks out on a packed subway train, leading to a number of serious injuries and a few deaths. Afterwards, the remaining survivors have no idea what came over them or why they all went nuts.

Rosen’s team is brought in to investigate. Using her super senses, Rachel determines that a powerful pheromone had been released in the train car, which drove everyone to hyper-aggressive insanity. Security camera footage reveals one unaffected person, a girl with a toy stuffed monkey hanging from her backpack. She must be an Alpha, and they need to find her before anyone else dies. The clock is ticking.

The members of the team are already on edge due to their own personal issues. Cameron is having a fight with his ex over divorce and custody. Gary is bothered by a humming noise from a microwave antenna across from the office. Rachel’s pushy mother is trying to set her up with an arranged marriage she doesn’t want.

The girl’s trail leads them to a riot at a youth hostel. The girl is spotted running from the scene. This time, the only unaffected person is a boy who tells them that he’s her brother, and is immune to her power. They will need him to help bring her in.

Rosen brings the boy back to the office for some questions when Department of Defense handler Don Wilson shows up in a foul mood, demanding immediate action. As his temper intensifies, Rosen realizes that the boy was the Alpha all along. Unfortunately, he figures this out too late. The kid unleashes a full blast of his pheromones, and everyone goes berserk – Rosen, Gary, Nina, Rachel… everyone except Bill, who has already learned to suppress his fight-or-flight instinct due to his own power. But Bill isn’t enough to stop what’s happening. Extreme violence erupts in the office. Wilson is savagely beaten to death by his own assistant. The brutality of this scene is really shocking.

When things calm down, the team tracks the boy to a bus station, where he’d tried to meet up with the girl. We learn that she isn’t his sister. She’s his girlfriend, and isn’t affected by his pheromones because she’d built up a tolerance due to low-level exposure over a long period of time. However, she can’t take what he’s doing anymore, and just wants to get away, which only makes him angry again. Eventually, Bill manages to capture him, and Rosen has him shipped immediately off to Binghamton, where the guards will have to constantly dose with serotonin to avoid being affected by his power.

Rosen never likes sending anyone to Binghamton, and is even more skeptical of what’s going on at the place since what he learned last episode. Unfortunately, he has no other choice. The team was already on thin ice with the D.O.D., and Wilson’s death in their office isn’t going to endear them to those in charge.

If one good thing came out of these events, the office riot broke out while Rachel was on the phone, and caused her to scream awful, hateful things to her mother. That may not sound like a bright side, but it means that she’ll finally be moving away from home, and staying with Nina. Cameron also uses his power to chuck a baseball off the building roof and knock out that microwave antenna that had been bothering Gary. Although Cameron was reluctantly recruited, he’s a member of the team now.