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Alias: Countdown

Carrie: "The last thing I need is some fifteenth century dork telling me I got a day and a half to live."

The title of this episode should probably be "Dixon loses it."

Dixon was understandably upset about his wife's brutal murder; out of control, self-medicating, rigging a required drug test, and refusing to talk to Dr. Barnett. Except it seems that Dixon really was in control, since he made things work out in Cartagena. He's on the edge, but still functioning. I think.

Jack and Sydney were ready to bend over backward to keep Dixon on duty, while Vaughn pushed hard to make Dixon to stay home. And herein lies the conflict in our little episode. Sydney now has a tragic life experience (Danny) in common with Dixon, which will only bring them closer, and she barely hesitated to lie for Dixon. (How could she not stand up for Dixon, after all the time that she hated lying to him about SD-6?) Interestingly, she lied to Vaughn. This does not bode well for the Sydney/Vaughn relationship.

Okay, so let me get this straight. Rambaldi drew pictures of DNA strands on his documents; they point toward one specific guy, an art restorer in Panama City named Proteo di Regno, who had a machine in place of his heart. That heart is now in a briefcase, and it looks like an alien artifact.

Di Regno's DNA fingerprint also allowed the decryption of page 94 of the Rambaldi manuscript that gives the dates of past apocalypses, along with a final apocalyptic date that actually occurs in this episode. Does the apocalyptic date refer to the removal of the machine heart thing, or to Sloane's strange pilgrimage into an episode of Kung Fu?



We learned that David Carradine's character, Conrad, is the one who set Sloane on this pilgrimage thirty years ago. And Sloane's journey has just begun? Does he have to lift a large brazier with dragons on it to leave Nepal?

Bits and pieces:

— Will, Francie, and Irina did not appear in this episode. Kendall appears to be gone, and now we have Jonathan Banks (Wiseguy) as NSA Deputy Director Frederick Brandon, who is the head of the interagency Rambaldi task force.

— New character Carrie Bowman seems to be warm for Marshall's form. She's very cute, with the nose stud, and crying over Joni Mitchell ("I shouldn't bring her to work; it just makes me fatalistic.") We even got a small glimpse into Marshall's logical, agnostic childhood.

— Sydney to Vaughn: "It makes me insane when you patronize me."

— Sloane said, "I killed the wrong person." Somehow, I don't think he meant killing Dixon instead of Diane.

This week's...

... hair report: Dr. Barnett lost about a foot of it. The shorter do looks good on her.

... itinerary: Panama City, Guadalajara, Cartagena, and Nepal.

... hot look: Sydney dressed as a flamenco dancer, although it seemed like a caricature costume to me.



Good Dixon episode, but the whole Nepal thing just seemed weird. Two out of four spies. And we're getting a two-hour finale next week. I'm not ready for this season to be over,

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

7 comments:

  1. I agree with everything you said. Dixon deserved an episode, and his story about being on the bridge was very touching.

    Nepal was odd.

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  2. Alias is easily one of the best shows of all time. I hope jj Abrams makes another project about Alias.

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  3. Another great one. When Dixon starts crying, I lose it.

    And, I just melt at the idea of a Marshall romance. He’s a good guy and deserves a good woman. Besides, Carrie is in Mensa. What else could we ask for?

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  4. I am not sure if anyone is even reading this, but I though Pt I would add an interesting "Felicity" tidbit here about the actress who plays Carrie Bowman (Amanda Foreman) and the actor who plays Marshall. Amanda Foreman was a regular on Felicity and her character was good friends with a character played by the actor who plays Marshall. He had a small role, but it was memorable. Even more interesting, Greg Grunberg (Weiss) was on Felicity, too, and his interactions with Amanda Foreman's character were very memorable, too. I was really hoping Weiss would be in this one and walk past her desk while giving her the eye.

    I am watching Alias for the first time ever (can't believe I never watched it at the time) and enjoying it. The reviews are great, too! Felicity is a very different show, but I adore it, especially the first two seasons, and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. It is known for being a soap, but there is a lot of humor in it. Great acting, too.

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  5. Suzanne, Josie and I and several of the writers read every comment posted on the site, so it's never too late. In fact, I think I enjoy the comments on the older reviews the most because I love it when people have just discovered an old favorite of mine.

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  6. Billie, that shouldn't surprise me since you and the other writers always do such an awesome job with this site.

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  7. Oooo...I'd forgotten about Dixon's supposed "flip-out." I love that he disconnected whatever and claims, "I'm not that desperate." Good for him.

    Interesting that Syd would lie to Vaughn. What happened to that trust? Then again, I'm not surprised that she felt such strong loyalty to Dixon in this scenario. They are the only ones who can truly understand what each has been through, losing a loved one to Sloane/SD-6. I'm glad that Vaughn forgave her. They balance each other out. When she gets driven by emotion, he has to balance that out with reason. He keeps Sydney grounded and she has to work at allowing him to do so. She never had someone looking after her like that (although Jack does, she doesn't really see it the same way) Vaughn has to be willing to share her emotional burdens, including Danny's murder, and Sydney has to figure out how to share those burdens with Vaughn. Also, I found it interesting that she claims that she never had anyone to disappoint until now. What about Danny? Then again, Danny seemed to have more of a puppy dog love for Sydney and, let's face it, Vaughn knows her way better than Danny ever did.

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