Dark Angel: Brainiac

When Asha's S1W cell is captured by the police, it seems an oversized kid has somehow worked out their plans and turned them in. However, the kid is actually an X series transgenic, using probabilities to make unerring predictions, and he knows one of S1W is a traitor. That and Max is about to die…

What could have been the story played for laughs of a fat kid who just happens to be a transgenic is actually far better than the premise might suggest. Okay, so the ending is pretty obvious, but before that there's plenty of intrigue as we wonder who the traitor is in the S1W group. If anything the person responsible is made clear a little too soon, but for the end sequence to work he has to be really. It's almost a shame that it isn't Asha, as it would lend her character more depth and give her something to do beyond swooning over Logan.

Meanwhile, this week's transgenic is a general, a kid who somehow manages to be unnoticed and works out what will happen from the likeliest probabilities. It's stretching credibility a bit in places, but his abilities make for a great story, especially with the addition of him admiring Max from afar but never being noticed. The story is very well written to give the kid, named Brain, maximum heartstring-pulling ability and sympathy, with even Alec realizing in the end that he's something pretty special. The actor playing him is very good too, demonstrating the pain of never being noticed by the world around you while demonstrating a heroic ability as well. He's one of the nicest Manticore escapees we've seen yet. Okay, so the Asha/Logan thing has been done to death a bit now and a sub-plot would be good to have, but it's pacey enough to keep the interest and Brain is a great creation. Shame he ends up dying at the end as he could have been a useful ally.

****

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