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Alias: Mea Culpa

Jack: "I know how Sloane works. He's bluffing."

That chess game between Sloane and Jack was just riveting.

More interesting info from the past: Sloane knew Laura, and went to Jack and Laura's wedding. "I always thought of you as my daughter. Even from the beginning." Sloane has said this before; it looks like he truly has a weakness for Sydney, something her own father doesn't seem to show. Wouldn't a father who really loved his daughter be ready to pull her out of a dangerous situation, not risk her life? It's impossible to tell what Jack's ultimate agenda is, and that's part of what makes him so fascinating.

Will provided the comic relief this week, sitting in a bathroom stall talking to a brooch. Was he talking to Jack? Why would Jack be playing spy games with Will? When Will's cell phone actually did ring, I jumped out of my chair. I'm starting to become intrigued with this subplot instead of annoyed.

Cliffhanger! A second transmission out of Geneva? Sloane has her taken. Now what?

Bits and pieces:

— Dixon's condition is an unknown. If he recovers, will he remember Sydney referring to herself as "Freelancer?"



— Marshall is too good. He should be working for the good guys.

— Francie is shopping for a wedding dress. I just get the feeling it isn't gonna happen.

— Francie to Will: "Leave her alone, or I will kick your ass. I'm not kidding."

— Weiss: "Oy. I just lost thirty pounds. I'm not kidding."



— SD-4 has an office in Rome.

— How many times has Sydney been ambushed in a parking garage?

This week's...

... hot look: That amazing tiny dress and boots she wore in Tuscany.

... cool gadgets: a computer sucker, and a latex fingerprint copier.

... itinerary: Argentina, Tuscany, Geneva.

Three out of four spies,

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

6 comments:

  1. Sloane is so creepy: I still can't decide if he wants to feel like Sydney's dad, or if he's using Sydney as a pawn in his chess mind games with Jack. Probably both.

    My favorite part of this episode was the fractured narrative. I wonder if the decision to break up the "plot" with Sydney's conversations with Vaughn was made in the script, by the director, or in the editing room: either way, it was extremely well done. Vaughn's role as shrink/friend/handler allows Sydney to really open up, which makes some of the actiony sequences so much more interesting.

    It's interesting, too, to think of this as an early iteration of Lost's cutting the narrative up into jigsaw puzzle pieces. That the past haunts the future is such a J.J. Abrams theme, both in terms of narrative structures like this and in the parent/child mythologies that I mentioned in my last post. I'm always so delighted when narrative structure dovetails with themes. (What an absurd thing to be delighted by, eh? I'm also delighted by flowers and massages, but those are less relevant for this comment.)

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  2. Oh, forgot to mention our first nod to 9/11: Sydney's line to the bank manager about the "current political climate" affecting client privacy.

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  3. Even though we all know that Sydney is not going to die in that park, my goodness it is tense.

    I've been baking Christmas cookies all afternoon and the kitchen timer went off exactly at the moment that Will's phone rang. I dropped green sprinkles all over the kitchen floor...

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  4. LOL,Chris. I'm picturing an explosion of green sprinkles.

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  5. ChrisB, I would have screamed! Aren't you Christmas-y this week! Want to do my baking for me? That's my Thursday. Grumble.

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  6. Through this whole episode, I wondered what Sloane is up to. Everything points to Sydney as the mole, yet he refuses to see it. Is he blinded by some "fatherly" (ick) devotion to Syd? I have a hard time believing that - he's too evil. He's up to something though.

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