Alias 5.11, 5.12, 5.13
Interesting that Amy Acker makes the main credits as of “Maternal Instinct” but Elodie Bloucher is demoted to guest star. For a moment I wondered if that meant Fred would be dying but then I remembered this isn’t Joss Whedon’s show. I loved all of Fred’s badass scenes, like blowing up the helicopter out the window. But it wasn’t much of a surprise to see her fingers move after Jack blew her right the fuck up.
I really enjoy Tom’s chemistry with Renee. I felt the same with about him with Rachel, too, so I guess he’s just one of those guys that works well with others.
I was so impressed with Irina delivering her grandchild when she told Sydney not to push yet and Sydney talking about how it was impossible not to push. That was such a biologically real moment and you never get those in television deliveries. But then Syd did the absolutely lamest pushing and I was disappointed again. Honestly. I mean, I know it’s not going to be like the real thing but it looked like she put barely any effort into it. And considering that Jennifer Garner had just gone through it herself… Still, second best Action Mom Birth Sequence behind the radiant Aeryn Sun.
Oh and Vaughn is alive in Bhutan? Why am I not surprised. *eyeroll*
I remember someone telling me that I’d get closure on the Anna Espinosa story line way back when I was still starting out with this show and that it would be awesome. I had totally forgotten about that until I saw Gina Torres on my screen in “There’s Only One Sydney Bristow”. And then I chuckled to myself about Fred and Jasmine working together. But honestly, perfect make-up and a bra in the soopr sekrit wimmin’s prison? Right. And then it turned out to be a Will Tippin episode? Awesome! I just saw The Hangover and was remarking to myself how smokin’ Bradley Cooper was in that movie. I didn’t remember Will being so delectable. And then seeing him here, he wasn’t. I found that dichotomy interesting.
But other than the fun Will and Syd interactions, this one was kind of lacking since it was basically just set up for the reveal of Second Sydney, which was obvious since, oh, the frickin’ title of the episode.
I didn’t understand the title “30 Seconds” until reviewing the episode synopsis and remembering Nadia had to be dead for that length of time for Sloane’s hard-earned cure to work. But I’ll come back to that.
I feel like the duplicate Syd storyline is just as much of an acting excuse for Garner as it is a legitimate storyline. It definitely feels like we’re working towards a series finale but that one element is a trifle much. Having Renee declare that she only trusts Sydney and then Anna Espinosa-as-Sydney is the one that slashes her throat was just over the top. It’s not even symbolism if it’s blatant.
The symbolism I do like is within the return to the Rambladi storyline. (And how awesome was it to have both Rachel and Tom giving their best WTF faces when dealing with the Page 47 bullshit?) Someone described the final season as having all the grey removed from the characters and revealing that they were evil all along. I was dreading fake mustache type cheap reveals but so far I really like what they’re doing. It was absolutely right and perfect to have Sloane be the instrument of his daughter’s death. Nadia was already dead. Arvin already killed her with his fanaticism. That he was able to revive her for a brief time was lovely but it was fleeting at best and unnatural at worst. (I am striving for Jacob’s ability to deconstruct the metaphysical and failing miserably.) Nadia was born of Rambaldi lust and killed by Rambaldi lust. She was then reborn by Rambaldi knowledge and destroyed by the quest for Rambaldi knowledge. Her role was to set her father upon a path, and his final steps could only be taken with her death. Rambaldi is his faith and as such, he had to make a suitable sacrifice.
I also like the knowledge that Irina made a conscious decision to be an agent for her country rather than be torn between Motherhood and Duty. That is very believable to me with what we’ve been shown of her character. She loves her daughter in her own way but is just plain not cut out of maternal cloth. Some women aren’t and I believe that she is one of them. I don’t see any retconning or revision in that but rather a fuller picture of the Irina we’ve known all this time.
Oh and one other thing: when the hell did Dixon get mini-dreads? I can’t remember when that started and if I wasn’t paying attention or if it was just piss poor continuity editing.
I really enjoy Tom’s chemistry with Renee. I felt the same with about him with Rachel, too, so I guess he’s just one of those guys that works well with others.
I was so impressed with Irina delivering her grandchild when she told Sydney not to push yet and Sydney talking about how it was impossible not to push. That was such a biologically real moment and you never get those in television deliveries. But then Syd did the absolutely lamest pushing and I was disappointed again. Honestly. I mean, I know it’s not going to be like the real thing but it looked like she put barely any effort into it. And considering that Jennifer Garner had just gone through it herself… Still, second best Action Mom Birth Sequence behind the radiant Aeryn Sun.
Oh and Vaughn is alive in Bhutan? Why am I not surprised. *eyeroll*
I remember someone telling me that I’d get closure on the Anna Espinosa story line way back when I was still starting out with this show and that it would be awesome. I had totally forgotten about that until I saw Gina Torres on my screen in “There’s Only One Sydney Bristow”. And then I chuckled to myself about Fred and Jasmine working together. But honestly, perfect make-up and a bra in the soopr sekrit wimmin’s prison? Right. And then it turned out to be a Will Tippin episode? Awesome! I just saw The Hangover and was remarking to myself how smokin’ Bradley Cooper was in that movie. I didn’t remember Will being so delectable. And then seeing him here, he wasn’t. I found that dichotomy interesting.
But other than the fun Will and Syd interactions, this one was kind of lacking since it was basically just set up for the reveal of Second Sydney, which was obvious since, oh, the frickin’ title of the episode.
I didn’t understand the title “30 Seconds” until reviewing the episode synopsis and remembering Nadia had to be dead for that length of time for Sloane’s hard-earned cure to work. But I’ll come back to that.
I feel like the duplicate Syd storyline is just as much of an acting excuse for Garner as it is a legitimate storyline. It definitely feels like we’re working towards a series finale but that one element is a trifle much. Having Renee declare that she only trusts Sydney and then Anna Espinosa-as-Sydney is the one that slashes her throat was just over the top. It’s not even symbolism if it’s blatant.
The symbolism I do like is within the return to the Rambladi storyline. (And how awesome was it to have both Rachel and Tom giving their best WTF faces when dealing with the Page 47 bullshit?) Someone described the final season as having all the grey removed from the characters and revealing that they were evil all along. I was dreading fake mustache type cheap reveals but so far I really like what they’re doing. It was absolutely right and perfect to have Sloane be the instrument of his daughter’s death. Nadia was already dead. Arvin already killed her with his fanaticism. That he was able to revive her for a brief time was lovely but it was fleeting at best and unnatural at worst. (I am striving for Jacob’s ability to deconstruct the metaphysical and failing miserably.) Nadia was born of Rambaldi lust and killed by Rambaldi lust. She was then reborn by Rambaldi knowledge and destroyed by the quest for Rambaldi knowledge. Her role was to set her father upon a path, and his final steps could only be taken with her death. Rambaldi is his faith and as such, he had to make a suitable sacrifice.
I also like the knowledge that Irina made a conscious decision to be an agent for her country rather than be torn between Motherhood and Duty. That is very believable to me with what we’ve been shown of her character. She loves her daughter in her own way but is just plain not cut out of maternal cloth. Some women aren’t and I believe that she is one of them. I don’t see any retconning or revision in that but rather a fuller picture of the Irina we’ve known all this time.
Oh and one other thing: when the hell did Dixon get mini-dreads? I can’t remember when that started and if I wasn’t paying attention or if it was just piss poor continuity editing.