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Alias: A Man of His Word

Vaughn: "You have my permission to kill him if you like."

This episode had a definite theme: laying the ghost of Lauren Reed to rest. It even started in a permanent CIA morgue for people whose deaths are kept secret (how creepy), and ended with a fight in a cemetery. Death, death, death. Not subtle at all.

We even got to see Sydney masquerade as Lauren, as well as Lauren's actual, frozen body. I thought for a moment that they would avoid showing her face in order to avoid paying Melissa George residuals... but no. I think it was a digital image, though, since she wasn't in the credits.

Wearing black, acting muy tough (especially around Lauren's lover, Sark), Vaughn appeared determined to show everyone that Lauren meant nothing to him. He even looked at Sydney, all dressed up as Lauren and mimicking Lauren's voice, and he was cold as ice. Protesting too much, I dare say. I wonder if Vaughn is headed for a major emotional crack-up?

It was interesting to see Jack and Sloane finally butting heads about – what else? – their daughters. ("I would have appreciated, as a father, to be apprised of your decision to put my daughter's life at risk." "As you do mine every day.") For each of them, their daughter is their number one priority, and in this episode, those priorities conflicted. Sloane understood what Jack did... this time. He appears to care deeply for Nadia; when it comes to Sloane, though, appearances can be deceptive. The issue of his "faith" in Rambaldi came up several times in this episode; does Sloane care for Nadia only in the context of her role in the prophecy?



For me, the highlight of this episode was our deliciously evil Sark, who may not be all that evil any more. A couple of years ago, Anna Espinosa would have been a dream partner for him... and yet, he turned her in. Did he actually plan to keep his word this time? Has he really changed? Did he really love Lauren? Or was he pretending that Lauren's death devastated him in order to give Vaughn a hard time?

Good, evil, I don't care. More Sark, please.

Bits and pieces:

— I absolutely loved Sark's Silence of the Lambs entrance.

— Like double-crossing enemy agent wives, Sark escaping from custody has gotten deeply repetitious. How many times has he done it?

— The triangular pattern of Lauren's death wounds were symbolic of the Lauren Vaughn Sark love triangle.

— Marshall and Jack had another Laurel and Hardy moment. There's something so funny about Marshall trying to joke with Jack, and Jack's deadpan non-reaction.



— Anna Espinosa is now in custody, and will probably stay there until Gina Torres can guest star again.

Quotes:

Nadia: "And hey, we didn't kill each other."
Sydney: "Nope."
For now, anyway. But it's a-coming. We're getting hint anvils.

Sanko: "Mr. Sark has told me about your... predilections. I have a room above this club; I'd like to watch that for myself."
Vaughn: "You have my permission to kill him if you like."
Geez. Watch what? Something sadistic, probably. Goes with the way Sydney actually bit Sark.

Speaking of which, Sydney and Sark and tequila and lime and kissing and biting. Was that hot or what?

This week's...

... itinerary: Whole lotta Venice going on.

... hot look: I didn't like Sydney as Lauren's doppelganger, but I thought she looked terrific in that black dress when the blonde wig came off.



As much as I liked parts of this episode, it wasn't a slam dunk. But I could watch Sark and Vaughn in a pissing contest all day. Three out of four spies,

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

1 comment:

  1. "Like double-crossing enemy agent wives, Sark escaping from custody has gotten deeply repetitious. How many times has he done it?"

    He must do it! It is his trickster nature.

    I wonder if the CIA keeps dead agents around in case anyone calls them on Rule #10. It's like they know they're on a TV show. And we all know the CIA are sticklers for rules: http://billiedoux.blogspot.com/2011/01/billies-ten-rules-of-television.html

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