Alias

This is actually the first episode of Alias I've seen on first airing while all caught up on the show--I discovered the show several months ago, and have no finally watched all the S1+2 dvds and downloaded the first 12 episodes of this season on the internet, so I was able to finally watch one of these episodes. Woot! Anyways...



Melissa George was totally amazingly hot in that opening scene. More Mellisa George in garters is my vote for this show.



I don't get why Sark continues to whine about how it's his money that's financing the Covenant. a)You only got out of jail and received the money because of the Covenant and b)they stole it from you!!! And don't go starting with "stealing's not fair" Mr. Criminal.



Eep, Vivica Fox was pretty awful. That was some bad acting. Her performance as a security expert very much reminded me of Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist in that Bond movie a few years back.



And is Sloane injecting himself with kryptonite or what? I assume he's not supposed to be getting high right? Or at least not with a normal drug. Weird.



Sloane and the psychiatrist was totally bizarre. I totally hadn't caught that they were meeting in Zurich until all of a sudden Sloane says "I'm sorry you came so far." Wha? Why didn't a)Sloane go to the US if he really wanted to see this therapist or b)talk to someone who was actually in the same country as Sloane? I mean, I'm sure she's good at her job and all, but I'm bet there might be a few patients in America she needs to tend to, and also there are perhaps other psychiatrists in the world.



Why is Syd telling Vaughan she won't be the other woman? I thought Vaughan blowing her off for the wifey when they got back from North Korea fairly well established that.



Why don't they ever abort a mission when things start to go wrong and they could easily retry it again in a bit with much less risk of death? And they sure weren't moving like they had 5 minutes. Bah.



Sark and Ms. Vaughan making out? I'm sorry, but just because she's evil shouldn't mean she's necessarily a slut as well. I know they want us to hate her, but come on, being a traitor is sufficient. And I don't see why two attractive people, good or evil, cannot work together for more than a week without knockin boots.



Oh I forgot Quentin Tarantino was supposed to be in this episode. I also forgot he's not a very good actor either. Tho he does have an amusingly wacky screen-presence. And Sark's first name is Julian??? I totally missed that. I thought it was "Mister."



Hmm, why does Cole/Covenant care about Syd and Vaughan making out? Were those photos he gave MG, and if so where'd they come from? Did that old dirt dungeon they were housed in have video cameras in it to? Maybe I missed something...

Lauren:"Which color do you think my husband would prefer?"

Sark:"I prefer the black."

Lauren:"Red it is..."



This one had a lot of Judy Barnett and we saw several characters opening up to her and revealing their deepest feelings.First was Syd who told her Vaughn's her soulmate.This is why it's so hard for her to get over him,while she was able to do so with Danny and his death.Next,we watched Sloane try to manipulate Barnett until he realized he couldn't do so and decided to start talking.There seems to be an ease between the two of them and maybe in the next few episodes he will reveal his big secret to her.



The couple which stole the show here was definitely Sark and Lauren like Jack and Katya in the previous episode.The scene I liked the most was the one with the two of them flerting each other in the dressing room.I also liked the one with Lauren seducing and then killing the first Covenant cell leader.This is the first time we see her in her most evil form as she seemed to enjoy killing him.And Sark definitely likes that.



There were two missions here.The first one was somewhat boring,perhaps the only interesting there was the fact that it took place in my country,Greece(it was just a shot of Parthenone actually).On the contrary,the second mission was fun,cool and kept me on the edge of my seat.The whole Carrie and Marshall's marriage and baby thing added up to the suspense instead of lightening it.Unfortunately,all Syd and Vaughn's efforts went in vain 'cause the Covenant won this battle.Not the war,I hope..



The big mystery of this episode apart from Sloane's secret was McKenas Cole.He's not the head of the Covenant as he said,so who does he work for?Bomani?And how did he manage to escape from CIA custody?The CIA never mentioned anything about that.



Notable Quotes:



Sark:"Would you like to put sth on?"

Lauren:"No,I'm rather comfortable like this.Would you like me to put sth on?"



Toni:"Give me one good reason why I would ever risk my ass for you.."

Weiss(showing the diamonds):"I believe we can give you 2 million reasons."



Miscellaneous:



--The music accompaniment playing during Lauren and Sark's scenes resembles those used in several 60's horror movies.



--Did the Covenant have any hidden cameras in that North Korean prison,cause there seems to be no other way they could find out about Syd and Vaughn's kiss.



--Vivica A. Fox is the third person here who has played in Kill Bill.Is this intentional or what?



--What exactly was that green liquid Sloane injected himself with?It looked like kryptonite:)



--This episode's aliasses:Syd with a leopard dress and a black wig.



--This episode's locations:Athens,Greece;Chamonix,France;Berlin,Germany;Salzburg,Austria;St.Petersburg,Russia;Zurich,Switzerland



--This episode's gadgets:Marshall's inflatable Kevlar ball,a suit which offsets the electrified vault and the sealant that Syd and Vaughn shoot over the acid spouts.



Alias47

I enjoyed watching the interactions between Lauren and Sark, including the scene where they kissed after they had fufilled their role and killed all of the Cvenent Cell Leaders and had obtained all of the watches. I also liked the scene when Cole made his grand re-apperance onto the show and told Lauren and Sark that they were going to be the leaders of the enw North American cell. I dont know if that means that all of the other cells are dead or not, but it certinaly is interesting.



The scenes with Micheal and Sydney seemed rather boring and repeated. It always seems to be the same filler type of stuff between the two. The mission they were sent on was cool, other then the way they got past the second stage of the alarm system - i thought that was a coup-out. Carrie and Marshalls storyline was a great attempt to be comical, but lacked the reality. Arvins scenes werent even that great and overall pointless to this episode. Sark and Lauren stole the show.

Though I am a huge Alias fan, I enjoyed the first two seasons much more than seasons three and four. Season 3 started well and showed some major promise, of which there was little follow through. While the premise for this season made it seem there would be drastic changes Alias continues to deliver much of the same. Since Alias is a great show this isn't a bad thing, but it isn't a good thing either...



This episode features many things we've come to expect from Alias, but without the freshness it once had. The opening scene offers an unexciting and visually uninteresting parachute jump which is completely pointless to the episode and I must admit that I was tuned out for most the exposition, which offered nothing new of any interest.



One of the few ways Alias does keep itself fresh is through changes to the cast. Bringing Melissa George in as Vaughn's wife presented interesting dilemmas for the character of Sydney and Vaughn, which I felt was cheapened when it was revealed that Lauren was, in fact, working for the covenant. The audience would no longer sympathize with her and the thing keeping Sydney and Vaughn apart no longer held the same weight with the audience once her deception had been revealed. (I also feel that when a character's true alliances are revealed we should be able to look back and see clues pointing towards it. There were none in this case.)



However, Lauren's story is by far the most exciting thing to be found in this episode. Her and Sark forming a partnership was a great idea, it harnessed Alias' strengths of being action packed and looking hot.



The other storylines offer less. Sloane's brief sessions with Dr. Barnett offer some slight character development which had been lacking of late. Whereas Sydney and Vaughn continued to toe around each other as they have for most of the show.



This weeks mission was not a particularly exciting one there was little action, and what there was, was cheapened by inappropriate attempt of humor made by Marshall’s 'wedding.' It's not that this didn't deliver on the great action sequences Alias has to offer, it just didn't offer anythign new.



This episode had a few interesting things to offer, unfortunately they were in the wrong places. But Alias is still a well written show with fantastic production values.