Hourglass

Season 3, Episode 19, Aired

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9.3
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After finding out that Lauren is working for the Covenant, Vaughn is told to keep up the faade of a happy marriage in order to keep tabs on his wife's activities. But he's in for a shock when he uncovers the truth about Lauren's mother, Olivia. Meanwhile, Jack refuses to help exonerate Sloane of his crimes and put in motion a stay of execution, and a monk discloses the identity of the Rambaldi "Passenger" to Sydney.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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  • Sloane:"Sydney,you have to help me." Sydney:"Your execution cannot come fast enough."

    10
    "Perfect"
    By alias004, Sep 21, 2008
    Sloane:"Sydney,you have to help me."
    Sydney:"Your execution cannot come fast enough."

    Full of surprising developments,razor-edged suspense and,above all,strong performances and touching moments,"Hourglass" is an episode that leaves you breathless more than once in 45 minutes.While watching it,one thing comes to mind:this is Alias at its best...

    I have to say that I was literally stunned by Rifkin's performance here.I'm not exaggerating when I say that his words at his death chamber about his daughter gave me the thrill of a lifetime.I think it's great that we had the chance to see him at his most vulnerable.That's the most fascinating thing with Sloane.We can both hate and love him at the same time.I've never felt like this for another bad guy...

    With a shocking revelation,we finally learnt the identity of the Passeger who is none other than Sloane's daughter and Syd's stepsister.How exactly is she Syd's destiny?Should Syd be afraid of her or vice versa?Given that everyone's trying to protect the Passeger(even Irina does so),it seems that Syd has the upper hand.However,we shouldn't overlook the fact that the Passenger is,somehow,a bioweapon,so Syd might be the one in trouble,after all.Who knows?I guess we'll have to wait until the Rambaldi hourglass reveals the Passenger's location to Sloane.The only thing we can be sure of is that with this amazing,unexpected plot twist,there's a lot of ground for some fascinating,new storylines.

    What I enjoyed the most here was watching the entire CIA play Lauren and Olivia.Even Barnett was in on the whole manipulation thing.The scenes at Olivia's home in which Vaughn was rushing against time to retrieve the manuscript before Lauren came in were very skilfully shot,with the suspense and tension reaching unimaginable heights.Seriously,when Lauren entered the room and said "Honey,what are you doing here?",I lost ten pounds.But,fortunately,Vaughn found a way out of this.And speaking of Vaughn,I wasn't expecting him to act so professionally,to tell the truth,even go to such lenghts as to have sex with the woman he had just found out to be a traitor.I guess his boy-scout nature prevailed...again.

    All in all,this episode rewards the fans of the show who haven't lost faith in this season.This is an episode that can be watched again and again.Definitely,among my favourite...

    Miscellaneous:

    --Lauren and Olivia now know about their being manipulated."That will be his last mistake",said Olivia.Even though I hate them,the evil spy mother-and-daughter duo scare the hell out of me.I'm worried about Vaughn.

    --"I had no intention of missing the execution of this traitor."You have lots of nerve,Lauren.You know that?

    --Marshall was unhappy with Sloane's execution.In fact,he seems to have a deep respect for him and there were several times in the past when he called him "genious".It's interesting,taking into consideration that Sloane didn't give a damn when Marshall was abducted,not to mention that he had been lying to him about SD-6 for years.

    --So that's what the whole Omnifam thing was about;to give Sloane the chance to search for his daughter.Humanitarian,eh?Give me a break...

    --It's a pity they killed Conrad off cause he was a significantly interesting character.

    --Who do I like more?The "innocent" Syd or the one who takes ten guys down with her guns?Definitely the badass Syd.

    --This episode's locations:Thar Desert and Nepal.

    --This episode's disguises:First,we had the gaucho-like costumes for Syd and Vaughn on their mission to Thar Desert and then we had the amazingly sexy pale red-violet dress for Syd,complete with a black leather jacket,equally black leather boots and a black wig.Oh,I forgot the two Uzis which accompanied the ensemble!

    Notable Quotes:

    Sydney:"After thirty years you still live with your wife's betrayal.Will he?"
    Jack:"Absolutely."

    Jack:"You will act like nothing has changed."
    Vaughn:"Ok,what's plan B,because that's not going to happen."

    Vaughn:"My wife betrayed me.She betrayed all of us.You can't expect me to pretend that never happened."
    Jack:"I'm not sure you have a choice."
    Vaughn:"Why is that?"
    Jack:"Because you're the one that married her."

    Sydney:"She could be an innocent victim."
    Jack:"With Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane as her parents?I don't think so."

    Marshall to Vaughn:"She's good.If you had to fall in love with someone who's evil,I would see why it'd be her."

    Jack to Marshall:"You have to act completely normal..."

    Alias47moreless

  • An amazingly powerful episode that delivers on every level.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By PabloExobar, Aug 03, 2008
    Definitely one of my favourite episodes of season 3; Hourglass was (almost) sheer perfection. It took a season but we finally learn what Arvin learned from the monk. That he has a daughter who is none other than the passenger, who's been mentioned on the show before. IT was a very climatic reveal ,and while it did take a very long time(so it had a fat chance to be anticlimatic) I felt this was the best time to come out.

    Loved the opening too. The look on Sydney's face when she learns she has a sister;priceless.

    There are basically 2 things dragging this episode down a little preventing me from giving a 10. One would be the sometimes bit too long Lauren / Olivia / Vaughn scenes. While it was damn suspensful, it could've been a little shorter. Afterall, we all cared about Arvin Sloane. He's about to be executed and it is up to Jack to stop it. He does not.

    Arvin Sloane is dead.

    I have to say that his death was just.... incredible . His speech before his death.... and the entire scene... The editing... the synchronized showing of Sydney's badass gun combat and Arvin arriving to his final destination was just mindblowing. Also the music to accompany this - Deftones-Changes was PERFECT. This has to be one of my favourite overall scenes of the show and my favourite musical moment. Simply amazing. So what is the other reason this is not a 10? It was really anticlimatic to reveal 2 minutes after Arvin died that he did not and his death was only set up by Jack. Sure, it made sense, and redeemed Jack for not doing anything earlier, but.... if they postponed the revelation to the next episode, Arvin's "death" would've been one of the most shocking event in the show thus far.

    But, unfortunately, the relief came too soon. Still, amazing piece of television.moreless

  • Review

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By cavanagh15, Aug 14, 2007
    I don't think the episode is as good as everyone built it up to being saying it was the best episode of Season 3. However, it was still a very strong episode and one that does make a mark on the show. The main plot revolving around the faked death of Arvin Sloane. How this will play out is anyones game. It may be Jacks plan to free Arvin back into the real world, to accomplish some mission that we have no idea what Jack is planning yet. The fake death of Arvin makes me think he won't be killed in the show until possibly the very last episode of the show. The music score that was given was perfect if the show really did decide to write him off. The next time he really died could never be as powerful because they tried to kill him off this time.

    The other scenes were good too with no filler scenes for the most part clogging up the episode. Sydney and Vaughns interactions were interesting as both of them seemingly are waiting for Lauren to be caught and taken into custody. Vaughns mission in Richmond was very well done and I liked the pulse pounding intensity in his scene as he scanned the rmaining pages of the Rambaldi document. Lauren knows that Vaughn knows now, so the remainder of there scenes together should be very good. Sydney going after her father was also good wonder how she will respond when she learns he didn't really betray her. Overall, great episode couldn't ask for much else. The flashbacks in the beginning revealing what was on the paper Arvin got in The Telling was also very insightful.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (4)

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  • QUOTES (13)

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    • Lauren: Sloane is dead. We can now locate The Passenger without his interference. Olivia: Not quite. The code key you retrieved from the CIA is unusable; I can only assume that was deliberate on their part. Vaughn played you. He's likely to try again, but that will be his last mistake.

    • Sloane: For you who pay witness, I can only believe there is a common thought amongst you all: "This is as it should be." I do not disagree. My only request: that if my daughter is in fact found alive, that she understand my actions, she understand that this day's events are the net result of her father's passion to find her, to know her, to love her.

    • Jack (To Sloane): You're right. I'm not going to help you. Since this is the last conversation we will ever have, I want to make this perfectly clear. What you have done to my daughter is nothing compared to what I will do when I find yours. Salut.

    • Sloane: Irina betrayed both of us Jack. She sought me out for information the same way she did you. Jack: She was my wife. Sloane: She was a KGB spy who cared nothing about you or me. I've always thought that you understood your relationship with Irina was nothing more than that. But now that your schoolboy crush on the woman who destroyed you life is preventing you from saving mine, I will have to revise that assessment.

    • Vaughn: Listen, about what happened in Richmond... Sydney: You were doing your job. And she is your wife. Vaughn: Not for long.

    • Sydney: You know she is The Passenger. Sloane: I know. I know. I also know The Covenant is after her. Sydney, I want to protect my child.

    • Sydney: Before he died he told me my mother was not The Passenger. He said my sister was. Jack: Who was this man? Sydney: A monk, a cleric, a Rambaldi scholar - Dad, what difference does it make? Do I have a sister?

    • (Watching Vaughn with Lauren) Sydney: After thirty years you still live with your wife's betrayal. Will he? Jack: Absolutely.

    • Vaughn: My wife betrayed me. She betrayed all of us. You can't expect me to pretend that never happened. Jack: I'm not sure you have a choice. Vaughn: Why is that? Jack: Because you're the one that married her.

    • Sydney (About Sloane's child): She could be an innocent victim. Jack: With Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane as her parents? I don't think so.

    • Marshall (To Vaughn): She is good. I mean if you had to fall in love with someone who's evil, I could see why it'd be her.

    • Vaughn: How are you? Olivia: I'm doing surprisingly well for a pariah. I never liked politics. You never know who your friends are. At least now that I'm the wife of a traitor, I know the answer. I have none.

    • (Upon discovering Lauren is the mole) Jack: You will act like nothing has changed. Vaughn: Okay, what's plan B, because that's not going to happen.

  • NOTES (5)

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    • This episode was nominated for the 2004 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series".

    • Peggy Lipton was billed as Special Guest Star in this episode.

    • Music from this episode includes: "Change (in the House of Files)" by Deftones

    • Extremely prolific character actor Glenn Morshower, who appears in this episode as a government agent, also plays one on FOX's 24 (which is frequently viewed as a companion piece to Alias). Morshower is one of many actors to appear in both series. And not only does he play on both Alias and 24 but these two shows went against each other on 4/18/04.

    • David Carradine reprises his role as Conrad from "Countdown."

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