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Alias: Echoes

Sydney: "She can have the blouse."

A couple of episodes back, I complained that it felt like the real story hadn't begun yet. I think it just did.

Rambaldi is back (I keep thinking the guy himself will show up sooner or later), and we're again in prophecy territory. While under the influence of the Rambaldi fluid, Nadia hallucinated about killing Sydney, and now the Rambaldi devotee Anna Espinosa is trying to set them against each other... although how she could do that by shooting Nadia is beyond me.

The writers are clearly setting up a future showdown between Sydney and Nadia – or they're making us think that they are. What could possibly come between them, and set them at each other's throats? Irina, of course. And we still don't know what's up with Irina. Sydney said at one point, about Anna: "She's supposed to be dead." And Jack replied, "So are a lot of people." Was he hinting that Irina is alive? I really want Irina to be alive, but I also don't want Sydney to kill Nadia, or (certainly) vice versa.

Jack and Sloane exchanged several meaningful looks in this episode. And there was that interesting opening shot of the two of them walking together that was set up just like the sister shot of Sydney and Nadia last week. ("Spy dads ... spy dads ... there were never such confusing spy dads ...") That can't be a coincidence. Not that Jack and Sloane are secretly brothers or anything, but the two of them are cahooting like mad and we still don't know why.

Poor Weiss is so in love, and it's delightful and worrisome at the same time. Sydney and Vaughn both think that Nadia is going to hurt him, and I agree, even though I don't think she'd do it on purpose. I'm also worried that Weiss is going to get killed; he's got that red shirt feel about him this season.



And Sark is finally back, and as nasty as ever. Vaughn has gotten so dark and is no longer the idealistic, upright boy scout; their latest
debate was such fun to watch. Did Sark truly love Lauren? Can someone that evil truly love anyone? As despicable as he is, I can't help liking Sark. When they were talking about bringing in a surgical team, I kept thinking, no! Don't hurt him! He's so cute!

For the first time, we learned what the Rambaldi symbol supposedly means. The surrounding pieces are Irina's two daughters, Sydney and Nadia: the circle in the center is what they will fight for, to the death. Nadia said, "We were both together, scared and upset, holding guns aimed at each other, and I remember my hands were shaking, and I pulled the trigger."



As interesting as this episode was, I found a couple of things disappointing. One: It's way too soon for Nadia to bite the dust, and the preview for next week showed her in a hospital bed: this ruined the suspense about her possible death in this episode. And two: Sark evaded an internal homing device once before. I knew it wouldn't work this time, and son of a gun.

Bits and pieces:

— Anna Espinosa was in several season one episodes. ("Give her the dough, she'll give you the show.") Nice to have Gina Torres back.

— I wonder if Sloane is hoping Nadia will fulfill the prophecy and kill Sydney. I noticed that Sloane didn't say if he still believes in the Rambaldi stuff... only that he knew Anna did.

— Sounds like the Covenant has mutated into the Cadmus Revolutionary Front.

— Goody, more amputation. Branding, too. Yum.

— The wonderful "Making Whoopee" fight scene took place at Koran Donna, or Donna Koran, which probably makes more sense. Isn't that a designer's name? It sure looked like Rodeo Drive to me.

— The Dante Compound sounded like Black Thorine or Ice Five: a little like a spy novel device, in other words.

— It's funny: Vaughn is darker and more interesting than he ever was, and the Sydney/Vaughn romance is clearly tanking. Could we please bring back Will Tippin now?

Quotes:

Sydney: "Dad, please tell me Rambaldi is not dictating procedures."

Sark: (to Vaughn) "I see your bargaining skills have gone the way of your manhood."

This week's...

... itinerary: Brussels, Johannesburg, Estonia.

... hot look: Sydney's one-minute hooker makeover, which reminded me strongly of Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies.



Good episode. Three out of four spies,

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

7 comments:

  1. A couple of episodes back, I complained that it felt like the real story hadn't begun yet. I think it just did.

    Yes!

    [T]he two of them are cahooting like mad and we still don't know why.

    Cahoots as a verb! May I steal that? I'd like to see if I can work it into every review I write this week.

    Such a pleasure to see Sark again.

    I'm glad this season took its time to get going and re-establish some of the relationships. Doing that made the mythological stuff more fascinating and welcome, and made the stakes of the possible Nadia/Sydney showdown more interesting.

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  2. Josie, you have my blanket permission to use "cahoots" as a verb whenever and wherever. :)

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  3. Billie, why do you think “the Sydney / Vaughn romance is clearly tanking”? I think that I missed a detail that you noticed.

    It always seemed to me that they loved each other but I never saw the passion that we can find between Nikita and Michael in La Femme Nikita.
    I think that Vaughn's character is not strong enough for an overwhelming woman like Sidney. Michael Vaughn is not Michael Samuelle. Or is it that Michael Vartan is not Roy Dupuis?

    Billie, it seems to me that you saw a detail in Sidney / Vaughn romance that I was not able to detect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Marime, it's been a long time since I saw this episode, so I don't think I have a ready answer for you. Sorry about that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Billie, don´t worry! Yes, it's been a long time. I am watching old series. I discovered Alias thanks to you. I'm looking for series similar to La Femme Nikita.
    Anyway, thank you very much. I really like your reviews!

    ReplyDelete

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