Alias: Salvation

"If you hadn't been so gullible, I never would have been born."

This episode was heavy on the plot twists and the emotion, and light on the spy stuff. I loved it.

Jack and Sydney went undercover at a hospital in Geneva to obtain data on Sark's virus and a blood sample from patient zero. Their cover, ironically enough, was as a loving father and daughter. That was fun to see, because they were both too professional not to do it well. I also loved the cool shoot-out in the corridor. It was chilling, hearing patient zero call Sydney "Irina," and discovering that Irina had deliberately ordered Sark to infect her own operatives.

I completely believed Jack's take on Irina, by the way. I think she did indeed plead guilty so that Sydney wouldn't hear the details of all of the terrible things she has done. But I also think that Jack, by confessing to Devlin and testifying as he did at the Joint Intelligence Committee hearing, was continuing to manipulate Sydney as well. This is still the parental manipulation Superbowl, Alias fans. Who will win?

These strong emotions are what I love to see in this show – Sydney and Jack, who really do love each other, clashing at such an intimate level. And Sydney and Vaughn are continuing to project a strong connection and attraction to each other without ever referring to it directly. (Although when they were in quarantine, what was Sydney going to tell him when they were interrupted?)

Ron Rifkin, as Sloane, is also doing a bang-up job with the Emily subplot, which advanced quite a bit here as Sloane glimpsed a woman who could have been Emily on the street, and went to the extreme step of disinterring her body. The fact that it wasn't in her coffin isn't conclusive, though, because if someone is indeed doing this to bring down Sloane and SD-6, they could have removed her body. I certainly do hope that Emily is alive, because it would serve Sloane right. Whatever is happening is certainly having its desired effect on Sloane, because he's losing it. I love it.

We now know that Jack taught Sydney the "Project Christmas" techniques, hoping she would join the CIA out of college. And as we all know, Sloane got to her, first. This contradicts my earlier impression that Jack didn't want Sydney to be a spy. I'm confused.

Vaughn wanted to investigate the possibility that a KGB "Project Christmas" test for first graders was administered in the U.S., but Devlin didn't seem to care. In a nice little plot twist, Will was desperate enough for money to ask Vaughn for work, and now he'll be researching the test for Vaughn on the sly. I'll bet Will, with his background, will do a bang-up job, and what a great way to bring him back into the story.

Sydney, by lying to Senator Douglas, managed to save Jack from a prison sentence and Irina from lethal injection. Wouldn't it be ironic if her lie about a senator in SD-6's pocket turned out to be true? (And what if it were Senator Douglas himself?)

We got a cliffhanger this time: Vaughn has the virus. Somehow, I get the feeling that in the next episode, Sydney will be doing anything she can to get Irina to help her save Vaughn. Do you think?

Bits and pieces:

— Sydney talks in her sleep ("Don't frost the pie"). Isn't that a dangerous characteristic for a spy?

This week's...

... itinerary: Geneva and Washington, D.C.

... cool gadget: Marshall's anti-anesthesia with synthetic caffeine.

... hot look: Sydney in fluffy Harlow-blonde hair and giggles. And Jack looked damned good in that dark suit and red tie.

Four out of four spies,

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

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