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Alias: Cipher

"Did you enjoy the launch?"
"It was a thrill."

So, let me recap.

Sark, who is now in control of Irina's organization, planned to use a special camera launched by the Asiatic Space Agency to find yet another weirdo Rambaldi artifact – a music box. Vaughn used induced regression to take Will back to his near-death experience; Will came up with the combination to the music box from Sark's laptop. Irina decoded the combination for Sydney, and Sydney (1) played the music box for the CIA; (2) destroyed it before SD-6 or Sark could get to it, and (3) ended up trapped under the ice in this season's first whopping cliffhanger.

Irina continued to manipulate away, and I think she's making progress with Sydney. But she certainly isn't getting anywhere with Jack, at least not yet; whatever Irina was trying to sell Jack with that speech about their marriage, he wasn't buying. I was sorta hoping for more fireworks. Ah, well; the season is young.

The whole Sloane grieving for Emily thing made my skin crawl. How dared he elicit sympathy from Jack and Sydney? One can only hope that he is experiencing crippling guilt. I found it amazing that Sydney was able to say to him, "It's not your fault," with a straight face. (Wow, Rifkin is good, isn't he? He hits all my buttons.) We may be moving into supernatural weirdness, too. That call from the bed and breakfast certainly had a Twilight Zone feel to it, and her "dead" garden is now blooming; looks like Emily isn't "gone." I hope she haunts the holy hell out of him.

Vaughn and Will finally met, and Will almost instantly picked up on Vaughn's feelings for Sydney. Will seems to be handling the complete obliteration of his former life with humor and aplomb. He's also bunking with Sydney and Francie. That's a situation fraught with possible peril.

The big unanswered question, other than how Sydney will escape from the ice, is: Sydney has gaps in her childhood memories, and Irina knows that Jack "did something" to Sydney after Irina disappeared. Jack even tried unsuccessfully to enlist the CIA shrink to help him cover it up. What did Jack do to Sydney all those years ago, and how will it affect this dysfunctional family circle?

Bits and pieces:

— The Thanksgiving play thing was exceptionally cute and made me laugh out loud. Jack almost smiled. I saw it.

— When talking to the shrink, Jack at first referred to Irina as Laura. Very interesting.

— It sounds like Will and Vaughn aren't the only ones with a thing for Sydney. Marshall cares for her, too.

This week's...

... majorly cool gadget: Sydney rocketing through the exhaust ducts on her portable suitcase luge. I want one of those. It might be the perfect way to beat the L.A. freeways. Of course, I would have crashed into the sides of the exhaust ducts and died a fiery death.

... itinerary: Sri Lanka and Siberia. And they even rhyme.

... hot looks: A curly red professional do, and a Siberian snow jumpsuit with a snazzy fur-lined hood.



Pretty good episode, but somehow it wasn't what I wanted.

Two out of four spies,

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

3 comments:

  1. Siberia looks miserable! I would have spent that entire mission complaining about how cold I was.

    I wasn't sure how to take the rose garden: Sloane looked shocked, but he's so untrustworthy that my first thought was that he had lied to Sydney. I think you're right, that it's growing again and he didn't know. The ghostly phone call, though, is a puzzler.

    I wonder if Irina is manipulating Jack through Sydney. Did she know Sydney would ask Jack about the Thanksgiving play? It seems crazy, but she is the master of the long con. And she seems to want Sydney to remember whatever it was that Jack "did" to her after Laura's/Irina's death.

    Vaughn and Will meeting was hilarious. Every time we get a parking garage scene, I think I've been there before. I guess there are only three or four different parking garage "looks" in LA, huh?

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  2. I, too, like the Vaughn and Will meeting for the first time. The tension was palpable. Not bad to have two such great guys fancy you; although, I think Will is now heading towards Francie.

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  3. I was not a big fan of the James Bond-like suitcase trip under the rocket. Oh well.

    I actually like the fact that there aren't fireworks between Jack and Irina. They are both so very much in control of their emotions (they would have to be) that it will be fun to see who cracks first.

    Will and Vaughn. I've been doing this re-watch with a focus on relationships and it's been interesting to really pay attention to how they have all developed throughout the series. I accept that Will is Sydney's friend and she wants to protect him. However, even though he now knows the truth about what Sydney does for a living, he will never become the confidante that Vaughn has. Will will be the guy who can try to take Sydney's mind off her spy life, but Vaughn is the one who can help her through it. As her spy life becomes more and more a part of her identity, which guy will she need more?

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