Alias 5.14, 5.15, 5.16, 5.17
Ah so it's "I See Dead People" where Vaughn's location was suddenly switched to Nepal from Bhutan. I thought I had missed it! I can tell that they're really not caring that much anymore and frankly, it made it hard for me to care too much about these final four episodes. I like Sloane playing games with Fred to bring Sark into the mix. Hell, I even liked Vaughn finding the soopr sekrit bunker o' Mosaic and knowing Anna wasn't really Sydney all along. I've got to say, I'm glad Anna got killed off because her presence kept taking me out of the story. I couldn't help but think it was all just an excuse for Garner to show off acting chops, though maybe less blatant than Amy Archer's Illyria.
But all throughout the episode I was plagued with an uneasy feeling about the pending explanation for Vaughn being alive. So when it was revealed in "No Hard Feelings" that both Sydney and Jack knew all along I thought it was cheap and easy. There are times when an in-show retcon works in such a sublime way you can't believe they didn't mean it all along - like Changling Bashir or Sinclair's Valen. However. This was not one of those times. It was bullshit. But I just don't care enough anymore to get worked up about it, which was for the best since then I could sit back and enjoy the ludicrous prison plot. Was the old man supposed to actually be Rambaldi himself? Are we supposed to give a damn?
"Reprisal" really felt like the beginning of a series finale to me with the individual photo gathering ops and opening focus on quiet home life. I actually liked how Carrie got involved and how she was allowed to show some bitterness about being kept from all the APO goings on all this time. I don't know that I believe Marshall would be quick enough on his feet to come up with a message for his wife but I definitely bought that she knew how thinks well enough to crack his codes so quickly.
The little failed coffee date between Tom and Rachel was a nice way to wrap up their whole auto theft caper. Honestly, all their scenes the previous two episodes just kept reminding me TOS's "Assignment: Earth" more than anything. Like, there was already an episode written for their spin-off series and they didn't want it to go to waste so they just chopped it up and started shoving the scenes in wily nily. Don't tell me they couldn't have found ways for them to be involved in the BhutaNepal and Rambaldi Rose hijinks! Anyway, I actually quite enjoyed their characters and totally would have been happy to move on to their show at this point in my DVD watch-through. I was honestly sad that Tom let his emo self get blown up at the end.
But that's where I stopped feeling any emotional attachment. They lost me on top of Mount Subasio because Oh My God those were the absolute worst "location" effects I have seen in any modern television show. Seriously. The Alpine scene in Auntie Mame when Beau falls off the Matterhorn was just as good as that - and that was intentionally a soundstage! I could literally see the line where the backdrop of the mountain footage (it wasn't even focused properly!) fell behind the stage props they were standing on. Holy crap and the ice! When Sydney started rapelling down the cliff I nearly lost it. It was so obviously just a bunch of crumpled paper. Dude. Frickin' the BBC did better with their non-existant budget in the last days of Doctor Who in the 80s. Pathetic. So I really wasn't invested at all for Sloane's Raider's moment with the amulet.
And the idiocy just continued with "All The Time In The World". I couldn't feel any concern for Vaughn reviving blue-lipped Sydney since he didn't feel any concern for, you know, hypothermia. What. Ever. OK I did like the use of flashbacks to fill in key moments in Sydney's life; it was nice to see Francie again. I think my favorite one was Jack's anguish when he learns that his daughter is working for Credit Dauphine. I wanted so much for them to be able to speak freely about it but obviously it was too soon for that point in their relationship.
Normally all the jetsetting doesn't bother me. This show at least paid lip-service to time spent in-flight by setting scenes onboard various planes and talking about flight plans and whatnot. But this just got to be excessive. It felt like a bad thriller you grab off the novel rack at the airport and don't remember anything about once you land. Again, I couldn't muster to energy to be more than vaguely annoyed as I sat back and watched the end unfold.
Sloane! Irina! Fred hates snakes! Sloane shoots Jack! Sydney shoots Sloane! Mommy/Daughter Fight to the Death! Here's the thing. I actually like that Sydney got to personally kill Sloane. She doesn't know he came back to life. It was good for her to do that. And I actually like that Jack got to doom Sloane to an enternity trapped in an underground vault. It was the most appropriate ending for them both. But if you think about it any harder than that it all falls apart. First of all, Sydney and Vaughn called for a rescue copter. So when they got there, aren't they going to look for the body they're supposed to be rescuing? Or are they going to assume that since it was Jack Bristow that he's just that awesome that he magically healed himself and galloped away and forgot to tell them he didn't need them anymore? And secondly, ignoring the fact that Vaughn survived the hail of 47 bullets and Jack isn't going to make it after 3, he could barely stand up to wave goodbye to his daughter. But we're supposed to believe that he then went and rummaged around for some explosives and hiked back down into the tomb on the off-chance that Sloane had been resurrected by the mystical nonsense he never personally believed in to begin with? And that his self-sacrifice would remain because the rescue squad wouldn't say, hey look! A bomb went off, we'd better dig through this rubble to find the survivor we've been called in to look for. Not to mention his daughter would want to know the status of her father and wouldn't take "he wasn't there anymore" for an answer. Right.
Whatever. I'm done. Sydney and Vaughn are living happily ever after with the kids on the beach and Syd freelances for Dixon from time to time and Sark is still out there making of fool of himself for profit and Isabelle can do the Project Christmas blocks just as good as her mother. Yes, it careened into crazy territory by the end. Still, a very good show. I enjoyed it.
The end.
But all throughout the episode I was plagued with an uneasy feeling about the pending explanation for Vaughn being alive. So when it was revealed in "No Hard Feelings" that both Sydney and Jack knew all along I thought it was cheap and easy. There are times when an in-show retcon works in such a sublime way you can't believe they didn't mean it all along - like Changling Bashir or Sinclair's Valen. However. This was not one of those times. It was bullshit. But I just don't care enough anymore to get worked up about it, which was for the best since then I could sit back and enjoy the ludicrous prison plot. Was the old man supposed to actually be Rambaldi himself? Are we supposed to give a damn?
"Reprisal" really felt like the beginning of a series finale to me with the individual photo gathering ops and opening focus on quiet home life. I actually liked how Carrie got involved and how she was allowed to show some bitterness about being kept from all the APO goings on all this time. I don't know that I believe Marshall would be quick enough on his feet to come up with a message for his wife but I definitely bought that she knew how thinks well enough to crack his codes so quickly.
The little failed coffee date between Tom and Rachel was a nice way to wrap up their whole auto theft caper. Honestly, all their scenes the previous two episodes just kept reminding me TOS's "Assignment: Earth" more than anything. Like, there was already an episode written for their spin-off series and they didn't want it to go to waste so they just chopped it up and started shoving the scenes in wily nily. Don't tell me they couldn't have found ways for them to be involved in the BhutaNepal and Rambaldi Rose hijinks! Anyway, I actually quite enjoyed their characters and totally would have been happy to move on to their show at this point in my DVD watch-through. I was honestly sad that Tom let his emo self get blown up at the end.
But that's where I stopped feeling any emotional attachment. They lost me on top of Mount Subasio because Oh My God those were the absolute worst "location" effects I have seen in any modern television show. Seriously. The Alpine scene in Auntie Mame when Beau falls off the Matterhorn was just as good as that - and that was intentionally a soundstage! I could literally see the line where the backdrop of the mountain footage (it wasn't even focused properly!) fell behind the stage props they were standing on. Holy crap and the ice! When Sydney started rapelling down the cliff I nearly lost it. It was so obviously just a bunch of crumpled paper. Dude. Frickin' the BBC did better with their non-existant budget in the last days of Doctor Who in the 80s. Pathetic. So I really wasn't invested at all for Sloane's Raider's moment with the amulet.
And the idiocy just continued with "All The Time In The World". I couldn't feel any concern for Vaughn reviving blue-lipped Sydney since he didn't feel any concern for, you know, hypothermia. What. Ever. OK I did like the use of flashbacks to fill in key moments in Sydney's life; it was nice to see Francie again. I think my favorite one was Jack's anguish when he learns that his daughter is working for Credit Dauphine. I wanted so much for them to be able to speak freely about it but obviously it was too soon for that point in their relationship.
Normally all the jetsetting doesn't bother me. This show at least paid lip-service to time spent in-flight by setting scenes onboard various planes and talking about flight plans and whatnot. But this just got to be excessive. It felt like a bad thriller you grab off the novel rack at the airport and don't remember anything about once you land. Again, I couldn't muster to energy to be more than vaguely annoyed as I sat back and watched the end unfold.
Sloane! Irina! Fred hates snakes! Sloane shoots Jack! Sydney shoots Sloane! Mommy/Daughter Fight to the Death! Here's the thing. I actually like that Sydney got to personally kill Sloane. She doesn't know he came back to life. It was good for her to do that. And I actually like that Jack got to doom Sloane to an enternity trapped in an underground vault. It was the most appropriate ending for them both. But if you think about it any harder than that it all falls apart. First of all, Sydney and Vaughn called for a rescue copter. So when they got there, aren't they going to look for the body they're supposed to be rescuing? Or are they going to assume that since it was Jack Bristow that he's just that awesome that he magically healed himself and galloped away and forgot to tell them he didn't need them anymore? And secondly, ignoring the fact that Vaughn survived the hail of 47 bullets and Jack isn't going to make it after 3, he could barely stand up to wave goodbye to his daughter. But we're supposed to believe that he then went and rummaged around for some explosives and hiked back down into the tomb on the off-chance that Sloane had been resurrected by the mystical nonsense he never personally believed in to begin with? And that his self-sacrifice would remain because the rescue squad wouldn't say, hey look! A bomb went off, we'd better dig through this rubble to find the survivor we've been called in to look for. Not to mention his daughter would want to know the status of her father and wouldn't take "he wasn't there anymore" for an answer. Right.
Whatever. I'm done. Sydney and Vaughn are living happily ever after with the kids on the beach and Syd freelances for Dixon from time to time and Sark is still out there making of fool of himself for profit and Isabelle can do the Project Christmas blocks just as good as her mother. Yes, it careened into crazy territory by the end. Still, a very good show. I enjoyed it.
The end.