Alias spoilers
OK, first and foremost, CRAP!!!! I thought this was the season finale. Next week I'll be in the UK. I beg of my friends list, please, could some kind soul send me a DVD or tape of the episode?
Loved it. I even loved the Syd/Vaughn stuff. They were cute, and it was cute to watch Jack watching them. "Not as useless as I'd previously suspected," indeed!. The first hour was stronger than the second, but the second had Lena Olin, which made up for it. God. I'm in a haze of Rambaldi-and-continuity induced pleasure.
How I love Jack, who put the pieces together so quickly, that Sonia was Elena. How I love Sloane, who I still think is planning to betray her.
My mind went to the slashy place when Vaughn showed Marshall the ring. I just wasn't sure whether he was planning to propose to Marshall or to Jack.
So many references: to Danny's conversation with Jack in the very first episode, to all the spyfamily hijinks (and watch how the family was reconfigured, as Irina in her daughters, and how my eyes teared up at the recognition scene between Irina and Nadia. So good. But also, tonight's episodes the nuclear family was displaced by the matrilineal family: Irina and her sisters, Irina and her daughters. The men were largely in the background, with only Jack and Arvin taking major roles.)
I am still giddy about seeing Irina again, but here are a few weaknesses I think these episodes made clear. They didn't interfere with my enjoyment, but I think they could be handled better:
As an aside, between the bees last week and all the stabbing in the neck that goes on in this show, I'm beginning to fear that the season will end with a tearful, "I'm pregnant." At least a missing Vaughn is, I think, unlikely.
I noticed in someone else's commentary on last week's episode (selenak, maybe) the suggestion that Sloane might die -- most likely in the act of redeeming himself. It isn't impossible, although presumably Irina is the most likely candidate, if anyone is to die -- unless they've arranged to keep Lena Olin for more than these episodes, of course. As an aside, the events of that episode put the house Arvin bought for Emily in Italy into a whole new light.
Ah. It's late, and I ought to go to bed. It really was Rambaldi-licious. I can't remember the last time I felt this energized after an episode of Alias. I'm such a sucker for mytharc.
Loved it. I even loved the Syd/Vaughn stuff. They were cute, and it was cute to watch Jack watching them. "Not as useless as I'd previously suspected," indeed!. The first hour was stronger than the second, but the second had Lena Olin, which made up for it. God. I'm in a haze of Rambaldi-and-continuity induced pleasure.
How I love Jack, who put the pieces together so quickly, that Sonia was Elena. How I love Sloane, who I still think is planning to betray her.
My mind went to the slashy place when Vaughn showed Marshall the ring. I just wasn't sure whether he was planning to propose to Marshall or to Jack.
So many references: to Danny's conversation with Jack in the very first episode, to all the spyfamily hijinks (and watch how the family was reconfigured, as Irina in her daughters, and how my eyes teared up at the recognition scene between Irina and Nadia. So good. But also, tonight's episodes the nuclear family was displaced by the matrilineal family: Irina and her sisters, Irina and her daughters. The men were largely in the background, with only Jack and Arvin taking major roles.)
I am still giddy about seeing Irina again, but here are a few weaknesses I think these episodes made clear. They didn't interfere with my enjoyment, but I think they could be handled better:
- The plot of a season of Alias only makes sense in retrospect, as the pieces are filled in via flashbacks and infodump. The flashbacks worked here (and was the Jack and Irina dance scene a shoutout to dagnylilytable? I thought so), but I think that this is a structural weakness -- the show doesn't build, it unveils.
- Too much character development happens off-screen. Case in point, the relationship between Dixon and Chase. Brazenly admitting that you didn't show any of that relationship does not constitute an excuse for just dumping it on our laps. I was happy to see it, but it would have been nice to have some build-up.
- Also, what with all the flying back and forth, this episode should have required about a week in real time.
As an aside, between the bees last week and all the stabbing in the neck that goes on in this show, I'm beginning to fear that the season will end with a tearful, "I'm pregnant." At least a missing Vaughn is, I think, unlikely.
I noticed in someone else's commentary on last week's episode (selenak, maybe) the suggestion that Sloane might die -- most likely in the act of redeeming himself. It isn't impossible, although presumably Irina is the most likely candidate, if anyone is to die -- unless they've arranged to keep Lena Olin for more than these episodes, of course. As an aside, the events of that episode put the house Arvin bought for Emily in Italy into a whole new light.
Ah. It's late, and I ought to go to bed. It really was Rambaldi-licious. I can't remember the last time I felt this energized after an episode of Alias. I'm such a sucker for mytharc.