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Alias: Passage, Part 2

"You know, some people go miniature golfing with their parents. We go to India and look for nukes."

I liked this one a lot, even though I felt a bit let down when it ended and the status was once again quo. But I guess things have changed a little: Irina may be back in the slammer, but she gained a pillow and blanket, as well as serious ground with both Sydney and Jack.

I enjoyed the Jack/Irina interaction; Garber and Olin did darned well with conveying the anger and the sexual tension. The two of them have found a place where they connect – their daughter, of course – and they're allowing themselves to remember and even reminisce about their marriage. The extremely cute toaster story was one of the few glimpses we've gotten into Jack and Irina's past relationship; it implied that they had a passionate connection. I also enjoyed seeing Sydney lecture the two of them about dealing with their "issues" later. I certainly want to see the two of them work out their issues; bring it on.

Even with Irina's tearful explanation to Sydney about why she had to shoot her in the season opener, and the fact that Irina could have gotten Jack dead more than once in this episode without consequences to herself, I still can't quite believe she's sincere. Maybe she needs Jack alive for some reason. Maybe she wants to sleep with him again before she kills him, or some twisted thing like that. And hey, we didn't actually see Irina getting caught in the prison, now did we? What really went on with Irina and Cuvee, who was her KGB supervisor as well as her lover? Are the two of them and Sark all playing some kind of complex game with the CIA and SD-6?

All that carrying on about a possible India-Pakistan nuclear exchange and the PRF rebels having the SD-6 launch codes, and it turns out not to be about the nukes at all – it's a 600 year old flower that is proof of Rambaldi's theory of self-sustaining cell regeneration. (I hope you all appreciate that I have to take notes in order to get the plot points straight in these Alias reviews, you know.)

On the Emily front, I'm not at all surprised that Sloane went right to the Alliance with the ransom demand. If he was evil enough to kill her in the first place, why would he hesitate to make certain she dies again? And hey, is Emily finally dead now, or were the photos a fake-out?



Will and Francie only showed up for a few minutes of miniature golf at the end of the episode. There was also very little Sark. He just stopped by to mispronounce the word "nuclear" as "nucular," which is one of my pet peeves.

Bits and pieces:

— Jack is indiscreet enough to brag about Sydney to associates? I don't believe it.

— We learned that Vaughn was stationed in India for two years, and he has a contact who knew his father. I'm willing to bet that real secret agents don't have quite so many family connections in the workplace.

— Sloane: "This is about money?" Kidnapper: "Everything is about money."

— Irina to Sydney, in the minefield: "So Sydney. How is school?"

This week's...

... itinerary: New Delhi and Srinagar.

... cool gadget: Marshall's invisible liquid tracer. Too bad it didn't keep working. I wonder why? Marshall's gadgets always work. Hmmm.

... cool look: Sydney and Irina both in Indian garb. Jack didn't look quite so hot in that bushy beard and turban, though.



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. Jack is indiscreet enough to brag about Sydney to associates? I don't believe it.

    While I agree that it stretches the limits of credulity, part of me wonders if that might be exactly who he'd confide in: some random guy that he trusts, halfway across the world from his daughter and his "real" life.

    As much fun as it was to watch the Bristow family walk minefields (literally and metaphorically!), I'm still having a hard time trusting Irina. Her interactions with Cuvee show her m.o. pretty clearly: she plays the long emotional con, getting people (mostly men) to assume they can trust her because she values them more than she values her other associates. How can we know she's not doing the same thing to Sydney and Jack? On the other hand, how do we know that her entire relationship with Jack was a lie?

    The India/Pakistan border looks an awful lot like the deserts outside of LA, doesn't it?

    And that's Principal Figgins and Abed's dad! Vaughn's dad knew Abed's dad!

    And, finally: Dixon? You still out there?

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  2. I really like this one. A great two parter.

    One small quibble is that I don't like the bit of Vaughn watching Sydney playing miniature golf at the end. Always seems a bit stalkerish to me. At least Netflix played the correct song over that scene!

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  3. ChrisB, I see you've made several comments about the music - has the music changed from the original airings to the versions that are now on Netflix (and DVD)? Just curious.

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  4. Sooze -- yes! For whatever reason, the songs that Netflix uses are not necessarily the ones that were used during the original show and then the DVDs. I know this show so well that when the song is wrong, the whole scene feels wrong.

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  5. I still don't trust Irina. She has something going on, possibly with Sark. She may actually care about Jack and Sydney, but I think her plans are still her first priority.

    I love that Vaughn bought Sydney the miniature golf tickets. I agree that it was bit weird that he was watching them/her. But, it was a nice reminder that she still has a normal life somewhere, and a family that isn't going to India to look for nukes, even if he can't really be a part of it.

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