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Alias: Dead Drop

Sydney: "You heard me tell her I was a turkey?"

Sydney managed to escape from the ice with Dixon's help, and didn't suffer any lasting effects, which is just miraculous. Personally, I'm surprised that she was able to grip the gun and the mouthpiece.

And she retrieved the map with Irina's help, and in the process fielded a very interesting job offer from Sark. Irina even decoded the map – she's incredibly helpful, huh? – but when Sydney and Vaughn went to retrieve it in Madagascar, Jack managed to have a friend blow up the building it was in and make it appear that Irina had tried to kill Sydney. A confused Irina was taken away for questioning, and Jack did the happy dance of triumph. Well, okay, he didn't dance, but he almost smiled.

This was like the Dysfunctional Spy Parent Superbowl, which makes poor Sydney the football. Irina makes a move, Jack makes a move; this week, Jack won. But Jack just made a serious mistake. Sydney is eventually going to find out that Jack set Irina up, and it's going to blow up in his face, so to speak. When it does, he's going to lose whatever ground he's gained with Sydney; how could she ever trust him again? Even though my sympathies are with Jack, it's hard to tell which of them is the worst parent.

On the home front, Will did an absolutely fabulous job coping with an SD-6 agent sent undercover at an NA meeting to try and trip him up. Will is certainly finding the cup half full; he's happy that his new exploded failure of a life has brought him closer to Sydney. He's got it bad.

On the supernatural front, it is starting to look like Emily is haunting her killer. Or someone is making a serious effort to make it appear so. Personally, I hope it is Emily and I hope she makes Sloane miserable. It occurred to me that Sloane could be faking all this for some unknown reason. That would probably be too devious, even for Sloane.

Bits and pieces:

— Jack is a frightening man. It was cool that he gave Richter morphine instead of torturing him. Just a tad more sympathetic than usual, huh?

— Conspiracychick.com. :)

— Okay, why did Irina want the earrings? Really?



— Loved the scene where Vaughn reassured Sydney that while parental craziness was surrounding her, he was there for her, and always her ally. They looked like they were dying to fall into each other's arms.

— I'm sorry, but I'm a librarian; a first edition of War and Peace would not be that easy to retrieve from ANY library, and they certainly wouldn't allow a machine to drop it into a chute. It would be in Special Collections under lock and key and temperature control.

— Does the explosion at the end mean that the Operations Manual is now toast?

This week's...

... itinerary: Siberia; Moscow; Madagascar. Plus we got a short bit on Sark in the Falklands.

... cool look: short, black wig and Russian military uniform with lockpicks posing as service medals.



... impressive language skill: Russian!

Very good. Three out of four spies,

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

23 comments:

  1. Jack: "That's the kind of hopeful thinking that will get you killed." And the Pessimist Society of America has a new slogan.

    I love Sark's magical ability to get out of trouble, sneak away, and generally avoid capture or detention. He is like the cute boy who can't imagine being told "no."

    I hope Dixon took his wife to Sonoma. They could call it "cover," and get some much needed couple time.

    My sympathies are with Jack, mostly because I feel like the only time he's genuine is with Sydney, and Irina still seems like she's playing a massive spy game. The earrings, for instance: either they're tech that can be used somehow, or that story was meant to make Sydney feel a connection with her maternal line. Irina tends to lie, whereas Jack tends to withhold and fail to disclose. Somehow, the second one seems more forgivable.

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  2. I laughed out loud at your comment about War and Peace. When I win the lottery or marry for money, I will collect first editions. I sometimes go to book auctions just to look at them. They are always, always, always handled with kid gloves -- literally.

    As for your comment about whether Jack or Irina is the worse parent, it's a toss-up. My hackles always rise when people, no matter who they are, take decisions away from others "for their own good." It always fails and it's always ugly.

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  3. I shall collect first editions too! As it is, all I have is a second edition of Gone with the Wind that is FALLING APART.

    Irina wins for worst parent. Jack does things I don't agree with constantly, but his first concern is always Sydney. Irina loves Sydney too, but she generally puts herself and her quest for power/Rambaldi before anything else.

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  4. sunbunny,
    ChrisB,

    you ALREADY own first editions : simply look into the mirror !

    Watching/reading your comments reminds me how much fun I had when I "marathoned" this show 2 winters ago. And the music is great. Well, everything about it is great.

    If you have the chance of watching the DVD extras and watch/listen to Jennifer's weird/awesome/totally unique laughter, it's a must.

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  5. I have a few, mostly newer books as they are easier to find and within my limited budget.

    My pride and joy is a first edition of A Clockwork Orange signed by Anthony Burgess to my father. I once saw a first edition of Pride and Prejudice at an antiques fair. In three volumes, it was behind glass, but the dealer let me hold it. I literally got tears in my eyes I was so excited. I tired to convince him to sell it to me for about a fifth of what he asking, but for some reason he didn't bite.

    Thanks for the compliment, Marc. That's very sweet.

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  6. My pleasure.

    I'm very good with compliments ! LOL

    I do not have any first editions, yell, maybe I have (20th century anyway), but my point is that my living room looks very cool with my 2 000 titles personal library !

    Books, ONE of my many passions.

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  7. What is it about old books that make us so emotional? Every time I'm in Special Collections, I get all weepy.

    ChrisB - I do not have your restraint. I would have mortgaged my nonexistent house to get my hands on that book.

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  8. sunbunny -- the price would have bought you two houses which is why I had to pass.

    Josie -- you got me! Often the literal kid gloves are made from white cotton. But, I must admit that I often groan when others misuse literally.

    :-)

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  9. Oh, Chris, I wasn't making fun of your use of "literally"! (Didn't even notice it until your more recent comment, in fact.)

    Although it does literally drive me crazy when people use it to emphasize. Literally drives me, in a little car.

    I think I make fun of JJ Abrams's use of "literally" that way in a comment on a later episode of Alias, so you've got that to look forward to.

    I think "kid gloves" refers to baby goat-skin originally, anyway, so it's correct (and therefore literal). The phrase has just always made me think of skinned toddlers rather than goats.

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  10. Perhaps that should have been "baby-goat skin" rather than "baby goat-skin."

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  11. Josie -- no harm done. Made me laugh.

    There is the best thing flying around Facebook today about the top ten grammar and spelling mistakes. Five of my friends, all of whom are as pedantic as I, have shared it. It's (NOT its) hilarious.

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  12. Ooh, I'm not on Facebook! What are the top ten grammar mistakes?

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  13. 1. "Your" and "you're" are not the same word.
    2. Apostrophes don't form plural nouns.
    3. "There," "they're," and "their" are completely different words.
    4. The contraction of "could have" is not spelled "could of."
    5. "To," "too," and "two" are also completely different words.
    6. "Its" is the possessive form of "it." "It's" is the contraction of "it is."
    7. "Then" shows sequence of events. "Than" is used to compare nouns.
    8. "Affect" is a verb and "effect" is a noun.
    9. "Irony" does not mean "anything that is unexpected."
    10. Your pants are "loose." You "lose" your keys.

    List was put together by Grammarly.com.

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  14. Apostrophe's don't form plural nouns? I'm about to loose my mind. I could of believed anything but that. How ironic!

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  15. Wow

    I'm a bilingual French Canadian and I have noticed that I write and talk a better English sometimes that some people born in Shakespeare's tongue. Eerie.

    And Josie has quite a literal sense of humour : one of the MANY reasons why I'm such a fan.

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  16. Love the grammar list! #9 made me chuckle, and reminded me of how much I hate that Alanis Morrisette song. Although I am somewhat amused by how ironic it is that she wrote an entire song about irony but doesn't seem to know what it actually is.

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  17. Jess -- LOL, but now I'm going to have that damn song stuck in my head for the rest of the day! :-)

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  18. For some reason Sydney posing as a Russian army Major really bothered me. As if she could speak Russian well enough to pass for a native Russian speaker... I'm finding Jennifer Garner to be very annoying on this watch through. I'm also not a fan of Bradley Cooper (what do people see in him? He's so NOT hot). I used to like Vartan too, but nope, this go around he's bugging me too. I've never made it all the way through season two (or beyond) so I'm hanging in there for Jack, Irina and Sloane, easily the best characters being portrayed by the best actors on the show.

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  19. Anon: it's so funny how different people see things differently! I find Bradley Cooper super cute, although his hair in the early seasons of Alias does present a bit of an issue for me. I also love Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan, but you're so right about Jack, Irina, and Sloane. They're all fantastic.

    I watched the series with a friend of mine who speaks Russian (and studied over there for a semester) and he was constantly complaining about Sydney's Russian. I've heard her Czech is pretty bad too.

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  20. Oh Jack...what do you think is going to happen here? You are playing a game with Irina and you made a seriously bad move here. I have now accepted that he sometimes does bad things to protect Sydney, but I'm not sure this one was warranted.

    Once again, how cute is Sark? Love him!

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  21. I really liked this episode. I agree that Vaughn reassuring Sydney that he will always be her ally and; the tears gathering in Sydney’s eyes as she heard this was a highlight! Also, I agree that, they looked like they were dying to fall into each other's arms. I think they would have, if not for the other agent who interrupted to inform Sydney that her plane was ready. Another highlight, was Jack shouting at Vaughn “ do not talk to me about that woman’s value” and then following that up with ( in a calmer tone) “of all people you should know better”. It’s not often that you hear Jack losing his temper. Jack usually outwardly shows much control over his emotions which makes me think it was deliberately done by Jack as part of his manipulation of Vaughn, Sydney, Kendall and the situation as a whole. Love Jack! even when he is seemly out of control - he is actually the one who is in control the whole time.

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