ALIAS - impressions of season II
I've started watching season II of ALIAS yesterday and am up to episode 4 right now.
- Irina Derevko is a fascinating character. To me she's also the most scary character we've met so far.
It really shocked me that during the first encounter with her daughter she shoots her in the arm.
When I thought about this I was reminded of Vader's first encounter with Luke where he cuts off Luke's hand. I'm less angry about Vader though than about Irina. Fact is Luke loses his hand during a fight with his father. Irina on the other hand, shoots her daughter when Sydney has no chance to defend herself. Whereas Vader's actions are driven by his emotions, Irina is cool and collected when she hurts her daughter. Now I'm not saying that Vader's behaviour is okay, but Irina's callousness scares me way more.
I think we also have the deeply ingrained view (from fairy tales, stories, etc.) that mothers are caring, soft and loving whereas father can be hard and menacing. The portrayal of a cruel mother is much more rare than the portrayal of a cruel father.
When I saw more of Irina I got the impression that she might care for her daughter after all. But I don't think Sydney should trust her *ever*. IMO, Irina is even better at compartmentalizing her emotions than Arvin Sloane. She may be proud of her daughter, but I don't believe she would hesitate to sacrifice her if it suited her goals.
She's also *very* good in playing little psychological games with everyone, e.g. mentioning Vauhgn's father to Vauhgn every time she meets him. In this regard she reminds me a little bit of Hannibal Lector. :-)
- Jack Bristow
He's in a very difficult position: His wife who has betrayed him in the worst way possible has returned. He doesn't believe a word of what she's saying, but everybody else - including his daughter - seems to trust her.
So yes, I can totally understand why he tries to set up his wife with the explosives in Madagaskar. His motives may also be selfish, of course: He wants to protect his daughter *and* he's scared of losing his daughter's affection to Irina.
- Michael Vaughn
So he's alive. Not surprised about this. :-)
His first meeting with Will made me smile. Will is definitely surprised Vauhgn isn't an ancient CIA agent, but young and handsome.
- Will Tippin
I didn't care much for him in the beginning of the series, but he has grown on me. It must be very hard for him to have lost his career and the respect of nearly everyone who knows him.
His relationship with Sydney could become romantic now that he knows about her secret, but I don't think it will. They are more interesting in a brother-sister relationship, IMO.
And for some odd reason I think a fríendship developping between Jack Bristow and Will would be very interesting to watch.
- Arvin Sloane & Emily Sloane
A brilliant subplot! It has such a gothic feeling to it!
Now there are several explanations for what's going on:
- Emily haunting him: only makes sense in an X-Files or Twilight Zone plot :-))
- Arvin losing his mind: not very likely either
- Someone trying to scare Arvin: possible
- Emily having faked her own death: My favorite option. Of course, this would mean that Emily is a lot more aware of what's going on than we were told so far. It would mean that she knows that Arvin will try to poison her and knows what counter measures to take. Which would be cool! Yes, we see Emily as the perfect wife of a successful businessman in season 1. She seems to be beautiful, kind and overprotected. But I think behind that soft exterior she has a core of steel. I also feel that she would forgive Arvin *anything* - even that he tried to poison her.
All in all there is great character interaction so far in season II:
Sydney and her mom, Jack meeting Irina again for the first time, Arvin asking Jack to investigate the odd things that are happening after Emily's death. One of my favorite moments is Arvin talking to Syd about Emily's death and her response: "It's not your fault." The look on Arvin's face after this comment is priceless. :-))
On another note, I got my Firefly DVD last week, but decided to go on with watching ALIAS and then move on to Firefly. Of course, there's also Dr Who waiting for me. And I'm curious about Battlestar Galactica. And I want to finish watching the first season of Carnivale. Also haven't seen Batman Begins or War of the Worlds yet.
I don't think I need work to keep me busy. :-)
- Irina Derevko is a fascinating character. To me she's also the most scary character we've met so far.
It really shocked me that during the first encounter with her daughter she shoots her in the arm.
When I thought about this I was reminded of Vader's first encounter with Luke where he cuts off Luke's hand. I'm less angry about Vader though than about Irina. Fact is Luke loses his hand during a fight with his father. Irina on the other hand, shoots her daughter when Sydney has no chance to defend herself. Whereas Vader's actions are driven by his emotions, Irina is cool and collected when she hurts her daughter. Now I'm not saying that Vader's behaviour is okay, but Irina's callousness scares me way more.
I think we also have the deeply ingrained view (from fairy tales, stories, etc.) that mothers are caring, soft and loving whereas father can be hard and menacing. The portrayal of a cruel mother is much more rare than the portrayal of a cruel father.
When I saw more of Irina I got the impression that she might care for her daughter after all. But I don't think Sydney should trust her *ever*. IMO, Irina is even better at compartmentalizing her emotions than Arvin Sloane. She may be proud of her daughter, but I don't believe she would hesitate to sacrifice her if it suited her goals.
She's also *very* good in playing little psychological games with everyone, e.g. mentioning Vauhgn's father to Vauhgn every time she meets him. In this regard she reminds me a little bit of Hannibal Lector. :-)
- Jack Bristow
He's in a very difficult position: His wife who has betrayed him in the worst way possible has returned. He doesn't believe a word of what she's saying, but everybody else - including his daughter - seems to trust her.
So yes, I can totally understand why he tries to set up his wife with the explosives in Madagaskar. His motives may also be selfish, of course: He wants to protect his daughter *and* he's scared of losing his daughter's affection to Irina.
- Michael Vaughn
So he's alive. Not surprised about this. :-)
His first meeting with Will made me smile. Will is definitely surprised Vauhgn isn't an ancient CIA agent, but young and handsome.
- Will Tippin
I didn't care much for him in the beginning of the series, but he has grown on me. It must be very hard for him to have lost his career and the respect of nearly everyone who knows him.
His relationship with Sydney could become romantic now that he knows about her secret, but I don't think it will. They are more interesting in a brother-sister relationship, IMO.
And for some odd reason I think a fríendship developping between Jack Bristow and Will would be very interesting to watch.
- Arvin Sloane & Emily Sloane
A brilliant subplot! It has such a gothic feeling to it!
Now there are several explanations for what's going on:
- Emily haunting him: only makes sense in an X-Files or Twilight Zone plot :-))
- Arvin losing his mind: not very likely either
- Someone trying to scare Arvin: possible
- Emily having faked her own death: My favorite option. Of course, this would mean that Emily is a lot more aware of what's going on than we were told so far. It would mean that she knows that Arvin will try to poison her and knows what counter measures to take. Which would be cool! Yes, we see Emily as the perfect wife of a successful businessman in season 1. She seems to be beautiful, kind and overprotected. But I think behind that soft exterior she has a core of steel. I also feel that she would forgive Arvin *anything* - even that he tried to poison her.
All in all there is great character interaction so far in season II:
Sydney and her mom, Jack meeting Irina again for the first time, Arvin asking Jack to investigate the odd things that are happening after Emily's death. One of my favorite moments is Arvin talking to Syd about Emily's death and her response: "It's not your fault." The look on Arvin's face after this comment is priceless. :-))
On another note, I got my Firefly DVD last week, but decided to go on with watching ALIAS and then move on to Firefly. Of course, there's also Dr Who waiting for me. And I'm curious about Battlestar Galactica. And I want to finish watching the first season of Carnivale. Also haven't seen Batman Begins or War of the Worlds yet.
I don't think I need work to keep me busy. :-)