Détente
8.0
"Great"
Détente – Moving On
I wasn’t actually aware of the meaning of détente until I looked up, but now I understand what it means and why it would be a choice for the episode name. In this episode there were strong tensions between certain people, ones that may effect later stories or later parts of their lives.
All in all the episode was one about moving on, or not moving on as the case may be, some of it was about overcoming differences and some of it was about just trying.
Sloane Eating in Sydney’s House
The first symbol that she’s clearly still very angry at Sloane for everything he’s done in the past, was of course when Sydney returned from a mission to discover Sloane sitting in her house. Given that he is the father of her half-sister, her reaction could be taken as surprising, especially as these angry feeling have been left dormant for the last few episodes. I’m glad that Sydney’s hatred has not gone ignored, it is clear that she has her issues with this man and now was the time to show them. This scene was simply an introduction into what was to come, clearly Sydney’s hatred for Sloane.
Francie and Danny
It’s sometimes hard to tell whether Sydney has moved on form the deaths of her best friend and fiancé at the hand of Sloane. Sometimes we can see that she is living her life and there seems to be no problems but the time come and she begins once again too feel the grief for these two important people. Nadia knowing about them was a nice touch, a sisterly kinda thing brought into the mix, but imagine knowing it was your father that killed these people, those closest to your sister. It was good continuity to bring these characters back into the story as we have not heard a mention of these people in quite a while, it really shows Alias is once again becoming more about what being a spy does to your life rather than just being a spy.
Dixon Dreaming About Dianne
Once again we get the return of a character, killed at the hands of Sloane. Dixon’s speech about Dianne was very moving, knowing that almost each night he dreams of his wife, who tells him to do the right thing, it make it much easier for him to work for Sloane, knowing that Dianne sees it as the right thing, a way to keep an eye on Sloane and to protect his country. It’s clear that as much as he tries Dixon has not yet moved on from the death of Dianne 3 years ago but that maybe there is a chance he can make it through, maybe even getting over it in the end.
Sydney Talking About Irina
Nadia had heard very little about her mother, and when Sydney came to talk to her, trying to explain she was sorry and that Nadia was right to want to get to know her father, hearing that little bit about Irina must have been sweet. One question that has to be asked is if Sydney herself has gotten over her mother’s “death”. She may get the feeling that her dying was just, given she had put a hit on Sydney’s life but to me that would tear me apart more, know you were the reason your mother had to die. Reminiscing to Nadia about Irina may have been hard for Sydney, remembering her mother but it would have been one of the first times Nadia had heard a little bit more about Irina.
Nadia Accepting Sydney’s Dislike
So you’re half sister hates your father, at least Nadia can move on, what a sweet sister. It goes to show how these sisters want to be able to get along, be sisters, despite years of separation things are finally coming around for them.
Sloane Not Moving On – Sydney and Nadia Disobeying Orders
You gotta admit, aside from the fact that they disobeyed orders there mission was pretty cool, girl power style, it was an awesome touch to have Weiss and Vaughn in awe of their girlfriends’ skill in getting the information they wanted.
Unfortunately Sloane did not see it the same way and got all pissed off and would not move on from the fact they didn’t do what he said, so much so that he almost didn’t let them be the ones to go on the final mission onto the ship. Come on Sloane, accept their I told you so and just move on :p
Sydney Getting Angry at Sloane
So we’ve established she hasn’t quite moved on from the whole you-killed-my-best-friend-and-my-fiancé-thing and when she told him so it was pretty cool, getting the chance to blast Sloane like that must have been fun :P Nadia stood there at the same time and heard what Sydney had to say, giving her some perspective on her sister’s feelings, her grieving for these lost people. Maybe what I wonder is if Sydney, like Dixon ever feared for her job during these exchanges, meh, it didn’t seem to be an issue.
Sloane Preventing Sydney and Nadia From Working Together
I didn’t really see it until Jack mentioned it, but for some reason Sloane wont move on from something and doesn’t want Sydney and Nadia to work together. The only reasons I can find behind this plot would either be to prevent the Rambaldi Prophecy (The Chosen One and The Passenger will fight and only one will survive) from coming true or he’s worried Nadia will see Sydney’s side of the story and get all pissed off at him. From what I’ve seen it’s not a storyline that is pursued, mysterious….
Sloane and Orissa’s Past
Obviously Sloane wants everyone to believe he’s moved on from his baddie days, but when he spoke to Orissa he was almost revisiting them inside him to get what he wanted, to be honest what he said was really creepy, he painted such a nice imagery. To be honest I think there will be a lot of people out there that think Sloane is still a baddie, I’m sitting on the fence, but this may convince some that he might still be baaad, and to others, well it’s just another day in the life of Alias.
Arvin “Doing What He Had To Do”
Behind it all Sloane’s fatherly feelings for Sydney may not have entirely dished, imagine how hard it would be knowing you had to completely wreck whatever dynamic there was there (however small) in order to save that person’s mission (or life as the case may be, should the mission have gotten out of hand) Despite not knowing how to feel about his covert activities I felt sorry for the guy at this point. Thinking Sydney would want to transfer from APO would have been a suitable assumption, had he not known Sydney’s determination, of course we knew she wouldn’t give up something she started, come on Arvin – accept it was what you had to do, and you should know better than to assume Sydney would give up.
Sydney Talking To Sloane
She say’s she’ll never forgive hi for what he did to her and her friends, I guess I can understand her reasons for not moving on in this case, she can just accept what’s going on for now and then we can all sit back and see where this is going. Having Sydney despise Sloane is a vital plot in this show, I like it :)
Quote-Ables
Guard: “Who are you?”
Vaughn: “I’m not the one you need to worry about”
(Nicely done, Sydney clobbering the guy over the head right after the delivery :) )
Weiss: “This guys living my junior high fantasy”
Marshall: “Or my current one”
(Yah, I would have thought that Weiss would still dream about lots of cars)
Sydney: “I thought I could do this, work for Sloane again about now, I don’t know, I think I might have been kidding myself”
Dixon: “I dream about Dianne, which isn’t unusual I’ve been told, except for me it’s almost every night. These dreams are always the same, at some point I get to her and I hold her face and I can see it in her eyes, the disappointment, in me, that I couldn’t prevent what happened, then she tells me that she loves me and that she loves the kids and she asks me to do the right think – she doesn’t ask me to, she tells me to – and that’s how I make peace with Sloane, I don’t put the past away or compartmentalise it, I transmute it and make it the right decision today”
Sydney: “I hope I’m capable of that”
Dixon: “I know you are”
Weiss: “Gretchen, I don’t buy you as a Gretchen”
(Another alias, in Weiss’s opinion not fitting, yah I don’t buy her as a Gretchen either)
Marshall: “Uh hold on, let me check. Sorry I’m not much of a sports fan, I’m more of a Scrabble Club guy, Boggle Tournament if I’m feeling dangerous”
(Don’t ya just love him?)
Vaughn: “Maybe she’s a soccer fan”
Weiss: “Oh my god, this is the greatest girlfriend ever”
Weiss: “Would it be weird for you if we were dating sisters?”
(Vaughn shakes head, almost in pity of Weiss’s awe)
Nadia: “I couldn’t be compromised because I was alone, I always thought it was what made me a good spy”
Sydney: “And now?”
Nadia: “I might have been wrong”
Sydney: I wanna make something clear, I will never forgive you for what you have done to me, to the people I love, no amount of time or distance will ever change that. I’ll see you tomorrow”
(Girl Power!)
What’s In A Name?
Détente – The easing of tension
Most likely the easing of tension between Sydney and Nadia, Nadia and Sloane and Sydney and Sloane
Scene Of The Ep
When Sydney and Nadia became friends with the gf and copied the guys PDA and laptop, and when Weiss and Vaughn were in awe of them
Loathed
Yet another new bad guy, all rounded off at the end
Liked
Sloane being blasted by Dixon in one ep and Sydney in the next
Loved
Weiss and Vaughn in awe of their girlfriends
