The ultimate sacrifice was made in "The Devil Will Drag You Under."

Dani.

I’ve worried at times that Alphas hasn’t progressed as quickly as it should to begin crafting Stanton Parish into less of a cartoon character villain and more into the Magneto-esque antagonist that Dr. Rosen and our Alphas need to elevate the story trying to be told.

In order to really drive the message home, and elevate Parish from this murky middle he's been occupying for the past two seasons, something had to be done that shocked the characters to their cores and sent Parish on to a route with a clear goal.

Dani was the right way to remedy that, and in watching her heroically save a city and sacrifice her own life we learned just where Stanton stood and right where the Alphas wanted to be.

Stanton has finally morphed into the man we all want to despise: not only is Dani’s blood on his hands, but he’s willing to cover them in far more if it means he can enact genocides over entire areas of the human population. Stanton believes that Alphas are the new world order, that Alphas are the future, and that only Alphas can cure a sickened world of its overpopulation and dwindling resources. If he was willing to murder the one woman who stood by him when all he had was blind ambition, imagine what he’s willing to do to those he doesn’t know.

Perhaps the strongest moment of the episode was the final, somber scene as the team hovered over Dani’s quickly failing body after the EMP. No matter how super human they are, and the amazing things they can do, death is still knocking on all of their doorsteps. It’s the one great equalizer, and the one thing they can't hop, skip, or push out of the way (unless you're Stanton Parrish).

Other thoughts:

• What feeling did Dani transfer to Nina near the end?
• The small moments are truly some of the better things to watch on Alphas, and the tonight was no exception. Bill and Gary, Nina and Gary, Nina and Cameron all had nice, small moments between them.
• I was happy to finally see Nina be given something other than Dr. Rosen’s role in the group. Hopefully that continues as the season comes to a close.
• Stanton didn't seem worried that his EMP didn't go off as planned, and I wonder if all he really wanted to do with rattle the Alpha team. Forcing them to make rash decisions and allow him to further his own cause.

What did you think of tonight’s Alphas?