A Very JJ Wednesday
Last night was 3 of the best hours of TV I’ve seen in a long, long time.
First,
Lost
I can't even put into words how much I loved last night's show, so I'm not even going to try. There was so much character-y goodness, and the whole scene with the launching of the raft nearly made me cry. That was just awesome. Especially, with Michael Giacchino's score playing in the background.
A couple of comments will make right now are that, first, I squealed when I realized Michelle Rodriguez was Ana Lucia. She has my undying love 4-eva for Girlfight. Second, Shirtless Sawyer and "Look At My Guns" Jack make me want to write all kinds of naughty slash fic. A lot of it. I stopped squealing over the hotness, however, when Sawyer started telling Jack about the encounter with Jack’s father. That was freakin' fabulous. And Matthew Fox totally rocked Jack’s reaction. Flove.
Then,
Alias
I could write a novel on my reactions to last night’s show, but I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible, which really isn’t very brief at all.
First, the obvious, a little bit of SpyMommy makes this show 10 trillion times better. Who knew? I mean, I liked Irina in Season 2, and I was disappointed that she wasn’t around in Season 3, but I had no idea how much I missed Lena Olin, until she walked into that party wearing that dress. Jesus. She rocks. I don’t even know how to express it other than that.
I loved each of her “reunions” with the rest of her family. The look on her face when she saw Sydney nearly ripped my heart out. She and Jack - well, have two people better conveyed the utter complexity of their relationship with nothing more than a few looks at each other? I’ve never been a SpyRent shipper, though, and I’m still not. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching them together; I’d watch them watch paint dry together. I just prefer it when they have tension in their relationship, which is why their early season 2 scenes together rocked my world. (Their first scene with each other in “Cipher” is still one of my favorite things ever.) I think too much has happened between them to see them all lovey-dovey with each other, so even though I’m down for a SpyRent roll in the hay every now and then, I hope they don’t ever really get back together-together. If that makes any sense at all.
In non-SpyMommy related matters, is it too much to hope that Sloane has returned to the dark side? I’m really, really afraid that he’s only pretending to be bad again to stop Elena. And while I agree that the bitch needs to be stopped, I don’t want him to be the one to do it. Unless he has some even bigger endgame of his own, in which case, it’s okay. I prefer my Sloaney as a black hat with occasional flashes of humanity. Good Sloane would wig me out, for sure.
Dixon, Dixon, Dixon. *shakes head* How could he get caught with no vest on? Jeebus. I spent a good five minutes after he got shot thinking, “hell no, they are not killing him off. Are they? Are they? Those were some tense moments. I guess it’s good the writers can still draw that reaction out of me after four years. Anyway, YAY! to the revelation that he and Director Chase have been gettin’ it onnnnnnn. BOO! to the fact that this alleged hookup took place off-screen! Arrrrrgh. I wanted to see it, you bastards.
And now, a few words about my two favorite ships on this show:
Jack/Vaughn - every since a certain lovely person shared the details of their first scene with me a couple of months ago, I’ve been playing it out in my mind, so I was great to see it play out exactly how I imagined it would. I loved it that Jack was all friendly to Vaughn until Vaughn mentioned the big “M” word, then he was back to his usual a “don’t fuck with me” self. Perfect, although I think his reactions to both Danny and Vaughn asking for his blessing had more to do with his feelings about his relationship with Sydney than with either of the guys in question. It seemed like once he had his conversation with Sydney and realized their relationship was on solid footing, he was able to give Vaughn his blessing. Interesting.
I can’t wait to see what effect the engagement has on Jack and Vaughn’s relationship. They’re going to need something to bond over, now that Jack’s had to resign his membership in the “I Killed My Lying, Duplicitous Wife” club. Rats!
Sydney/Vaughn - I absolutely love and adore it when they get to have fun with each other, especially while they’re working. And what was more fun than that convo in the Ibiza club? Well, nothing, that’s what. Did I mention I love it when they get to be playful with each other? And when we get glimpses into what their relationship is like “outside” the show? ‘Cause I do. And that one shot of them when Vaughn spots French guy in the club and he and Syd are cheek to cheek reminded me that there are criminally pretty next to each other.
As for the proposal, it would have been nice if we had seen some actual attention paid to their relationship since “Tuesday.” Because even though I can fanwank in my head all the reasons why Vaughn decided to pop the question now, it would have been nice to have seen this building for a while before last night’s first hour. (Considering how few S/V scenes there have been lately, seeing Vaughn with a ring seemed to come out of nowhere, on a certain level, even though I was spoilered for it.) That said, Vaughn’s thinking during the first, aborted proposal was obvious - he and Sydney live in this crazy, complicated world in which nothing really makes sense but the two of them together. And his absolute faith that they would get through all the craziness because they love each other was so sweet.
Then, what he said on the plane was even sweeter, and Michael Vartan totally sold the emotion of that scene. A cargo plane isn’t really the most romantic place for a proposal, but when a man tells you he watches you sleep and marvels at how amazing you are, well, that’s all the romance you need - unless you’re Sydney, I guess. Hee! When I first heard about the “Ask me at the beach” line a while back, I was thinking, “Syd, you stupid girl!” But in the context of the episode, it worked beautifully. We saw at the beginning that Sydney was feeling a sense of dread and wasn’t totally believing Vaughn when he said they’d get through this mission on the other side. Yet, after Vaughn’s proposal, she knows it, and suddenly, she’s the one reassuring his doubts that they’re going to live through this. I loved that. But more than anything - maybe more than anything I’ve seen on this show, ever - I loved the look on Jack’s face when he realized what was going on and was happy for his little girl. With that one reaction shot, it was like his relationship with Sydney (and the whole show, in a way) has come full circle from the pilot. Phenomenal.
Anyway, that was ridiculously long, so I’ll boil this down to a few last random thoughts:
Are we to believe there was only one guard watching over all of those DSR and CIA artifacts? Um, okay.
Does Nadia normally carry weapons into the shower with her? Seeing her in a towel with a gun cracked my shit up.
It wasn't until Sydney mentioned Bill Vaughn's journal that I remembered we never did see any evidence that Vaughn and Elena met. That was a cheap cop-out on the writers' part.
Nadia is a living embodiment of Rambaldi? Only she can retrieve the Sphere of Life? She’s the Most Specialest Girl in the World! And I’m not even saying that sarcastically, since I love her.
Holy shit! Every time I think this show can't surprise me, they do something like have Sloane tranquilize Sydney. Dayum.
That Katya/Jack scene was awesome. I’m not really a Katya lover, but sometimes, she can be so much fun. She’s always fun when she’s flirting with Jack or teasing him about her sexual prowess.
Weiss! I loved seeing him for the 10 seconds he was on screen. And I loved it that he and Vaughn apparently have discussed the proposal. It makes me insanely happy when the writers remember they are best friends.
Do you suppose Vaughn is immune to the Rambaldi red juice after swimming in Lake Mueller in Season 1?
Good show, JJ & Co.
First,
Lost
I can't even put into words how much I loved last night's show, so I'm not even going to try. There was so much character-y goodness, and the whole scene with the launching of the raft nearly made me cry. That was just awesome. Especially, with Michael Giacchino's score playing in the background.
A couple of comments will make right now are that, first, I squealed when I realized Michelle Rodriguez was Ana Lucia. She has my undying love 4-eva for Girlfight. Second, Shirtless Sawyer and "Look At My Guns" Jack make me want to write all kinds of naughty slash fic. A lot of it. I stopped squealing over the hotness, however, when Sawyer started telling Jack about the encounter with Jack’s father. That was freakin' fabulous. And Matthew Fox totally rocked Jack’s reaction. Flove.
Then,
Alias
I could write a novel on my reactions to last night’s show, but I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible, which really isn’t very brief at all.
First, the obvious, a little bit of SpyMommy makes this show 10 trillion times better. Who knew? I mean, I liked Irina in Season 2, and I was disappointed that she wasn’t around in Season 3, but I had no idea how much I missed Lena Olin, until she walked into that party wearing that dress. Jesus. She rocks. I don’t even know how to express it other than that.
I loved each of her “reunions” with the rest of her family. The look on her face when she saw Sydney nearly ripped my heart out. She and Jack - well, have two people better conveyed the utter complexity of their relationship with nothing more than a few looks at each other? I’ve never been a SpyRent shipper, though, and I’m still not. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching them together; I’d watch them watch paint dry together. I just prefer it when they have tension in their relationship, which is why their early season 2 scenes together rocked my world. (Their first scene with each other in “Cipher” is still one of my favorite things ever.) I think too much has happened between them to see them all lovey-dovey with each other, so even though I’m down for a SpyRent roll in the hay every now and then, I hope they don’t ever really get back together-together. If that makes any sense at all.
In non-SpyMommy related matters, is it too much to hope that Sloane has returned to the dark side? I’m really, really afraid that he’s only pretending to be bad again to stop Elena. And while I agree that the bitch needs to be stopped, I don’t want him to be the one to do it. Unless he has some even bigger endgame of his own, in which case, it’s okay. I prefer my Sloaney as a black hat with occasional flashes of humanity. Good Sloane would wig me out, for sure.
Dixon, Dixon, Dixon. *shakes head* How could he get caught with no vest on? Jeebus. I spent a good five minutes after he got shot thinking, “hell no, they are not killing him off. Are they? Are they? Those were some tense moments. I guess it’s good the writers can still draw that reaction out of me after four years. Anyway, YAY! to the revelation that he and Director Chase have been gettin’ it onnnnnnn. BOO! to the fact that this alleged hookup took place off-screen! Arrrrrgh. I wanted to see it, you bastards.
And now, a few words about my two favorite ships on this show:
Jack/Vaughn - every since a certain lovely person shared the details of their first scene with me a couple of months ago, I’ve been playing it out in my mind, so I was great to see it play out exactly how I imagined it would. I loved it that Jack was all friendly to Vaughn until Vaughn mentioned the big “M” word, then he was back to his usual a “don’t fuck with me” self. Perfect, although I think his reactions to both Danny and Vaughn asking for his blessing had more to do with his feelings about his relationship with Sydney than with either of the guys in question. It seemed like once he had his conversation with Sydney and realized their relationship was on solid footing, he was able to give Vaughn his blessing. Interesting.
I can’t wait to see what effect the engagement has on Jack and Vaughn’s relationship. They’re going to need something to bond over, now that Jack’s had to resign his membership in the “I Killed My Lying, Duplicitous Wife” club. Rats!
Sydney/Vaughn - I absolutely love and adore it when they get to have fun with each other, especially while they’re working. And what was more fun than that convo in the Ibiza club? Well, nothing, that’s what. Did I mention I love it when they get to be playful with each other? And when we get glimpses into what their relationship is like “outside” the show? ‘Cause I do. And that one shot of them when Vaughn spots French guy in the club and he and Syd are cheek to cheek reminded me that there are criminally pretty next to each other.
As for the proposal, it would have been nice if we had seen some actual attention paid to their relationship since “Tuesday.” Because even though I can fanwank in my head all the reasons why Vaughn decided to pop the question now, it would have been nice to have seen this building for a while before last night’s first hour. (Considering how few S/V scenes there have been lately, seeing Vaughn with a ring seemed to come out of nowhere, on a certain level, even though I was spoilered for it.) That said, Vaughn’s thinking during the first, aborted proposal was obvious - he and Sydney live in this crazy, complicated world in which nothing really makes sense but the two of them together. And his absolute faith that they would get through all the craziness because they love each other was so sweet.
Then, what he said on the plane was even sweeter, and Michael Vartan totally sold the emotion of that scene. A cargo plane isn’t really the most romantic place for a proposal, but when a man tells you he watches you sleep and marvels at how amazing you are, well, that’s all the romance you need - unless you’re Sydney, I guess. Hee! When I first heard about the “Ask me at the beach” line a while back, I was thinking, “Syd, you stupid girl!” But in the context of the episode, it worked beautifully. We saw at the beginning that Sydney was feeling a sense of dread and wasn’t totally believing Vaughn when he said they’d get through this mission on the other side. Yet, after Vaughn’s proposal, she knows it, and suddenly, she’s the one reassuring his doubts that they’re going to live through this. I loved that. But more than anything - maybe more than anything I’ve seen on this show, ever - I loved the look on Jack’s face when he realized what was going on and was happy for his little girl. With that one reaction shot, it was like his relationship with Sydney (and the whole show, in a way) has come full circle from the pilot. Phenomenal.
Anyway, that was ridiculously long, so I’ll boil this down to a few last random thoughts:
Are we to believe there was only one guard watching over all of those DSR and CIA artifacts? Um, okay.
Does Nadia normally carry weapons into the shower with her? Seeing her in a towel with a gun cracked my shit up.
It wasn't until Sydney mentioned Bill Vaughn's journal that I remembered we never did see any evidence that Vaughn and Elena met. That was a cheap cop-out on the writers' part.
Nadia is a living embodiment of Rambaldi? Only she can retrieve the Sphere of Life? She’s the Most Specialest Girl in the World! And I’m not even saying that sarcastically, since I love her.
Holy shit! Every time I think this show can't surprise me, they do something like have Sloane tranquilize Sydney. Dayum.
That Katya/Jack scene was awesome. I’m not really a Katya lover, but sometimes, she can be so much fun. She’s always fun when she’s flirting with Jack or teasing him about her sexual prowess.
Weiss! I loved seeing him for the 10 seconds he was on screen. And I loved it that he and Vaughn apparently have discussed the proposal. It makes me insanely happy when the writers remember they are best friends.
Do you suppose Vaughn is immune to the Rambaldi red juice after swimming in Lake Mueller in Season 1?
Good show, JJ & Co.