Alias

I loved how the writers did the beginning of the episode - showing us the scene eighteen months earlier when Jack put a bullet in between Irinas eyes. It took all of the possibilty that somehow Jack had covered up her death and made sure the viewers knew that he really thought that he had killed her. The episode couldnt have started off with a better scene. From there the episode improved, with a random assortment of things going on to set up the finale episode. Vaughn proposing to Sydney on the plane was awesome and her reaction was also very well written. I like how she didnt say yes, but I like how she makes everyone know that she is going to marry him.



The seacrh and rescue of Irina was a good scene - I liked the chnage it up in the dark jungle theme that they had going on there. Sometimes I thought they were making way too much noise to pass it off as believeable, but....still a good scene nonetheless. The next episode looks really good - with five people going into the city to have a showdown with Arvin / Elena. Seven major forces going to battle, I dont think everyone is coming out alive. Cannot wait for the next epsiode.

At the start of season 4, I swore off ALIAS upon learning that my favourite character, Irina, had apparently been killed. But as the season progressed, and we found out that Lena Olin had agreed to come back for a few episodes, the action got too good to pass up.



This is one of my favourite episodes of the entire series, never mind S4. Everything crackles - the rescue of Irina, the scenes on the plane, Yelena's endgame, even Vaughn and Chase are great. And oh, when Jack and Irina finally get to talk. There are no words for how great Victor and Lena's chemistry is.



I wish I had more coherent things to say - Jack and Irina are very much my OTP and watching them be thrown apart by crap writing in the series finale destroyed any respect I had for JJ Abrams. I just love this ep because it's a prime example of what can happen when a fantastic cast gets to work with an equally fabulous guest star. A personal favourite.

Lena Olin was kind enough to drop by and give us some sort of a closure on the show. Though the explanation of her supposed 'death' was not as satistifying as one would expect, it was sufficient. This episode is the only one that would be even remotely close to the first two seasons. I guess, Lena Olin really is the magic cure for Alias if given a quality script. Lena's stunning beauty and her chemistry with Victor Garber makes every Alias fan go swoon. It gave me hope for the next, and probably the last season of this groundbreaking show.

She's baacckk!!! Spy mommy crashes into the show and raises this episode from "excellent" to "mind-blowing-ly amazing!" Ladies and gentlemen, Irina Derevko has returned. It's surprising how much Lena Olin's departure hurt the show and it was so fun seeing her back and kicking ass.



Search and Rescue has APO searching for the very-much alive Irina as she is the only one that can disarm an enormous Mueller device, which has been placed over Sovogda, Russia, turning everybody in the city into psychotic monsters.



The dark turn of the apocalypse reaches Alias and what an apocalypse it is! The shots of panic erupting through Russia's streets and the camera panning up to reveal the giant Mueller device is shocking and is easily one of the greatest moments in Alias history. This is the biggest crisis which has been featured in Alias and I sat watching the episode with my jaw hanging to the floor.



Irina's return is well handled and Lena Olin is amazing. I was worried that the writers would explain her apparent death with a handy cop-out but it was a good explanation. It was slightly obvious that the writers would bring up the Helix storyline from season two again but frankly, I didn't care how they explained her "murder", as long as spy mommy's back in the building, I'm happy! Her tearful reunion with Sydney was brilliant and the scene where she realised that Nadia was her daughter was beautifully written. The scenes at the beginning of the episode, where we see in flashback Jack killing Irina, were very fun and the imagery of Irina sinking to the bottom of the pool with a bullet in her head was extremely shocking. The chemistry between Jack and Irina is brilliant in this episode and you realise how much you missed Lena Olin.



The final moments, where Syd, Irina, Jack, Vaughn and Nadia parachute into Russia are stunning and the image of the camera flying toward the city, completely covered by the Mueller device, is apocalyptic stuff.



I loved how many plotlines from the past were all brought together in this episode. They didn't forget about Nadia believing Martin Bishop killed Irina and it was nice seeing them mentioning the Covenant once again. Sydney's mission in Ibiza was awesome, she and Vaughn luring Covenant member Nisard into a kinky threesome in the bathroom before revealing their truth allegiances and torturing him for information. Though most episodes stick to a routine formula nowadays on Alias... what a formula it is!



Search and Rescue is a classic episode in many ways and definitely up there with Phase One in terms of brilliance. Wow.

There's a common belief that season 3 was Alias's bad season and this season has meant a come back to form. I think this consensus is insane, this season has been, well, dreadful; the only reason I still watch it is because of how hooked I was on the earlier seasons. This season has lost any remnance of suspense, at least once an episode someone dies- or at least it seems that way- miraculously they survive. This means there is absolutely NO suspense because we there is no real threat. The writing in this series has turned into utter dribble, with some of the characters, Vaughn, Nadia and Sydney mainly, their dialogue has become poor and ; almost as if the prerogative for the writers was to have them speak no matter how stupid or useless what they said was.

That being said the last episode is quite marvellous and is a real return to form, the only episode so far this season that has gripped me for the entire 45 minutes. The cliffhanger was cliche, certainly not as good as season 3's, but, inevitably, I will be watching on the 29th.

I’m glad that Lena Olin came back. She’s brilliant. And as always her performance in this episode was overwhelming. Her talent and beauty filed up the screen.

All of the actors did an amazing job. This is definitely one of this series best episode.



One other thing I liked was the chemistry that Lena Olin and Victor Garber have. It’s great. I’m glad to see it again.



Vaughn proposed to Syd. Loved it. So romantic and lovely. It came only to show that you can be a tough guy, an agent and still have a romantic side.



The scene that Irina recognized Nadia was very emotional and well interpreted.



Oh, what can I say? This episode was wonderful. I’m looking forward to see the conclusion, seeing that this episode ended with our “heroes” descending on the infected city. They only have four hours to save the world. What will happen? Great cliffhanger.



This episode had everything: Great acting, it was well written, amazing special effects and a really emotional and romantic side.

Apparently, Lena Olin is the Miracle Whip on the sandwich which is Alias. Fantastic episode, the best I have seen since "The Telling" and, considering it has been two years, that's something unique.



Great writing, acting, directing and everything (well, almost everything) was put together in this spetacular hour of television.



Two thumbs up.

The Descent and Search and Rescue – Floored



As soon as I had finished watching both these episodes of Alias, I got kicked off my computer, so I didn’t get the chance to write the review right away as I usually do.



The episode itself was in my opinion so good, everything was swirling around in my head, I was ecstatic, the stories that came through in these episodes were by far the best ever. I have been overly obsessed with Alias ever since Season 1 yet I don’t remember feeling this pleased, amazed by an episode before. I have watched an episode and thought it great found myself thinking about it, but never have I felt the way I did this morning. In my opinion (many people will disagree with me here) these two episodes have been better than Phase One, Almost Thirty Years, The Telling or The Pilot; all these episodes have been among people’s favourites, among mine, but none of them lived up to everything this episode presented.



I went onto the exercise equipment, as I always do, half an hour a day and started writing the review in my head, for some reason time passed much quicker than ever, my mind was lost in everything Alias, there was the buzz around me for about an hour. Right now, I feel as if the experience was almost a dream, I have no idea why, but I plan on watching it all again tomorrow, just to relive it and not have to worry this time about my review notes.



My new policy is that I may read the spoilers, as I always do but I won’t read the forums or the reviews of an episode before I watch it, I’m beginning to enjoy the thrill of the little surprises that add to an episode, thing I don’t know about it.

To me, during the entirety of these episodes there were so many of these surprises, these floored moments, it was a theme, the writers were throwing all these awesome surprises in our face and I loved every minute of it! So what were the sort of things that had us floored? I’ve decided to do both episodes in one review but I’ll separate each part by episode.



The Descent – Running Theme (Floored)



Someone Breaking Into The CIA



When we saw, in the first few moments of the episode, some enemy jump onto a CIA agent I literally jumped out of my chair, the noise and the action gave me such a fright! I had a reminiscent feeling to the time Lauren broke in, in last season’s finale, but it was also intriguing to see them stealing all of the Rambaldi artefacts that were in the DSR’s facility, I was shocked and worried how it would all turn out, but apart from being baaaad, it was good because it lead us to this great story.



Vaughn Talking With Marshall and Jack in APO



Of course, I knew it was coming, I guessed weeks ago in a non-descriptive brief said Vaughn asked Jack a surprising and momentous question, I somehow knew it was that he would ask for Sydney’s hand in marriage, call it shipper intuition. SO I have been, for the last three months or so, been building up to this moment where I knew lots of my Alias dreams would come true. Even though I knew it was coming, I consider it a floored moment.

I was kinda surprised when Vaughn was so open about the fact he was going to propose with Marshall, I wouldn’t trust that guy not to tell Sydney, but anyhoo, it was really sweet, I especially loved Marshall’s reaction.

When Vaughn spoke to Jack I was proud of the continuity, not only of how we were reminded of Jack’s dislike for Vaughn but how it was not unlike the way he spoke to Danny when he too asked for Sydney’s hand almost 6 years ago (in Alias time) The scene was well played out, I liked how the question was left open and hoped that there was more to come.



The Raid on APO and Sydney and Nadia’s House



When those agents first stormed into APO I thought they were the bad guys, faking an order from Chase, a continuation of the raid at the very beginning in an attempt to get an artefact that may not have been at the DSR. Of course when we saw Chase storming into Sydney and Nadia’s house we knew it was for real. It surprised me at first but it all fell into place, the leak Ylena had created had been discovered. Some of the raid, namely the scene between Sydney and the guy that had searched her room for weapons was quite funny, and despite being worried that Nadia was about to be carted off to jail alongside Katya, I enjoyed the scene.



Finally Figured It Out About Ylena



I wasn’t shocked that they finally figured it out, just that it took them weeks with her being right under their noses for them to catch on. Them knowing allowed the story to be furthered and finally for Jack and Sloane’s agenda to be partially fulfilled with the discovery of Ylena.



Someone Who Finally Has Rambaldi Answers



After 4 years of chasing it turns out there is a man with lots of answers when it comes to Rambaldi, this Drake guy seemed to come in at the right time, but why only now, I feel that he could have been used for answers earlier in this whole quest. It was nice that we were no longer solely relying on some Rambaldi text but a guy who claims to know what’s going on.



Nadia like the Virgin Mary, a Living Embodiment of Rambaldi



Okay, huh? Like the Virgin Mary… that was err... extreme but anyhoo apart from being kinda peeved that this guy cared more about Nadia than Sydney (not that he had to chance to express his feelings towards the Chosen One, just the fact that he didn’t at all) I thought it was slightly weird with his over obsession with Nadia because she was almost like a relative of Rambaldi. It’s surprising to see just how important the likes of Sydney and Nadia are in the world of these warper Rambaldi followers, they’re almost celebrities by today’s standards, I really wish Drake had the chance to meet Sydney, he might have gone into cardiac arrest.



We’ve Seen The Sphere Of Life At Last



Floored, literally, we finally get to see it, and this time only 20 episodes after it was first brought up. The way Sloane exclaimed they were the first people in there since Rambaldi was eerie but true.

When we first heard of the Sphere of Life it was supposedly to hold Rambaldi’s essence… well from what I saw there was none of is Mojo in there, all we got to see was that when Nadia touched it, she got to see a little piece of what Rambaldi really wanted, maybe I’m missing something, maybe that was it… maybe.

When I first heard about it I expected it to be hugenormus, just coz it contained Rambaldi’s “essence” apparently not…

I could go on over analysing getting to see the Sphere of Life and what it was all about, but honestly I don’t see the point, it was awesome, end of story.



Nadia Going To Get The Sphere



The fact that it was Nadia that had to get the Sphere was weird, shocking, why not the Chosen One, being the one chosen by Rambaldi? But anyhoo, her walking across was cool and then what she saw when she touched it had me shocked. Rambaldi always seemed a good guy, you know? I never felt at any point in four years of religiously watching the story that by any means he was a 500 year old Sloane, sure he’s made some badass weapons but so have the American Government. The second Nadia touched it I thought it might have something to do with the prophecy between her and Sydney, in the clip that Nadia sees you watch as someone (most likely Nadia herself) hurts her, then throws a knife into her chest… is this the prophecy being played out? And then when Nadia knew the Rambaldi endgame was the apocalypse I knew the whole thing was an evil scheme. When Sloane then fell through the glass after trying to retrieve the Sphere for himself it was quite dramatic and the noise made me jump, the fact that Nadia stayed not only surprised Slone but me as well.



Sloane Knocking Sydney Out



A bunch of people probably saw this one coming, but I didn’t, I was too busy trying to figure out what Ylena was saying to Drake, and then wham! Sydney’s hit with a hypo in the back of the neck care of Sloane, it was right then I knew that Slone was baaad; and Rambaldi had once again eaten him alive. So did Sloane really hold these motives all along? Was that why he tried to convince Sydney not to come, so he wouldn’t have to harm her? The mind boggles.





Dixon and Chase Getting Together



Well after some flirting in past episodes Dixon got some well over due lovin’. I was surprised how it played out but glad with the end result. It did seem a little useless to the current storyline, but it was nice to see that Dixon has someone, after his wife dying 3 or 4 years ago.



Ylena The Head Of The Covenant



The second this was revealed I was so happy I almost cried. I paused the ep, ran through the house and hugged every member of my family and told them every single good thing about this episode so far. A mystery that has annoyed me for more than a year has finally been solved with a simple, logical answer. I was shocked to finally know who was behind the organisation, ecstatic of course but it also made me think about the various occurrences of Season 3… Wouldn’t it piss you off if your aunt was behind your two-year disappearance?

Well anyhoo it’s awesome to know J



Chase Ulterior Motive



Wad it only me who thought the reason Chase let Sloane go was so she could have him put on the shoot to kill watch list? She wanted him dead; it was her mistake introducing him into the CIA and it could easily be remedied of he died.

Maybe it was just me, but I found it was implied in what Chase said to Dixon when he confronted he about letting Sloane go. It was floored at the fact that even if it was just me, Chase may have a baaad side.



Dixon Shot!



Hearing the shots before we saw who was hurt was what actually caught me at first, was it Dixon or Sloane? Then we found out that Dixon was down and it was, in fact, Ylena who hurt him. So why have him shot in the finale? I just can’t understand why, was it so he wouldn’t be part of the mission at the end so it could be exclusively family (Irina, her 2 daughters, the father or one of her daughters and that daughter’s future-spouse-not-quite fiancé) or was there some other, less obvious reason... Was it just because they want someone to die in the finale (but why?) the questions go on…



The 2 Conversations



At the end of The Descent there were 3 scenes in succession that all managed to have me surprised

Sydney and Jack In The Hospital

Jack and Sydney realise that he always has Sydney’s best interests at heart, they talk about Irina’s death, all a little surprising about how their dysfunctional relationship is getting back on track.

Vaughn and Jack in APO

Jack gave Vaughn his blessing to marry Sydney because it would make her happy, surprising, I never thought Jack would actually give his blessing and it would go ahead against hi will.





Search and Rescue – Running Theme – Floored



Irina Doubled / The Return Of Helix



Well I knew that somehow although Jack killed her, Irina had to be alive and wondered how the writers would explain it. It was cool how Project Helix, which was destroyed mid-season 2 was behind the whole scam and despite how some people may not be happy with the return, for various reasons, I am. It was something that did have me floored because it all made sense, and incorporated something that we thought we had said goodbye to, well it goes to show nothing on Alias ever dies.



Nadia Reopening The Bishop Files



Well oopsie, it appears no one forgot that we have Nadia believing it was Martin Bishop who killed Irina and when she reopened the files I saw trouble coming. I was worried that it was Vaughn that told her to talk to Jack that somehow if Jack found out it was Vaughn that tipped Nadia off he might revoke his blessing for him to propose. When Jack finally admitted it, Nadia seemed as sad as I expected but not as pissed off. I was glad that someone finally sorted out the problem and that Jack wasn’t pumped full of lead for it.



The Big Red Ball and The Orchid



I was completely shocked when I saw that Big Red Ball hovering over the city and released that Orchid had in fact been put into the water and the Mueller device was activated. Like with the bees in “In Dreams” anarchy ensued, and basically a whole mass of terror, confusion and fear washed into the world of Alias. So this is Rambaldi’s endgame? The terror, something that has such a devastating effect on society, all coming together in the current day, put together by a man that lived half a century ago. The question I had to ask was: why only try it on with one city? It isn’t exactly an apocalypse if it’s only one city, why not a huge ball covering the world J Okay so that would have been worse for out heroes, but waaay more interesting. I just didn’t understand… Meh, the world’s gonna be destroyed by the air attacks in four hours anyhoo….



Before The Mission With Sydney and Vaughn



Proposing at APO, not exactly the most romantic setting yet oh-so sweet. I was very very very pissed off when Marshall came in and he didn’t actually go for it… But it was nice, just a weird location… I’m so glad that Sydney and Vaughn are finally on track J



What Ylena Did To Irina



When Irina told Sydney the things that Ylena had done to her in order to find out what information had been on the Rambaldi Document was really baaad even by Alias standards, especially as they were sisters. What happened to Irina was a lot like what happened to Sydney during the time the Covenant were trying to break her, just as evil. I wonder what Irina will do to Ylena should she be given the chance to take her revenge…



Irina Discovering Who Nadia Was



It was so cute, I expected that Nadia would introduce herself somehow but Irina just knew, mother’s instinct I suppose. I guess it’s good that Irina finally gets to meet the daughter she’s not seen for years, just like he did with Sydney.

I must have been nice for Irina, after being tortured by her evil sister, to have all the people she loved around her, Jack, whom she still obviously hold feelings for and Sydney and Nadia her two daughters.



Irina Telling Jack She Wouldn’t Have Killed Him



When Irina was brought to APO, it was nice that she got to sit with Jack. What I did notice was that the terms of her assistance were that she was to go straight to prison after it was over, I’m assuming that somehow she will escape and evade going to jail, but I really would love for her to be a regular next season L

The Irina brought up the fact that if the situation had been reversed she would not have pulled the trigger on Jack., but searched for truth, found another way. It was a nice scene, surprising to know someone so ruthless wouldn’t kill someone she used, but it showed that she must still love him, somehow.



Finally, A Proposal!



The scene between Sydney and Vaughn on the plane had me even happier than know who the head of the Covenant was, this time I wasn’t close to tears, they were actually welling in my eyes, I was ecstatic. The interaction between the two in the scene was excellent, the acting was amazing and the writing was great. The fact that Sydney knew that no matter what they would get through the mission, and that despite what Vaughn had said, they were about to jump into god knows what, she had faith and knew that maybe the anticipation might be what keeps them both going on what could be the most important mission to date.

I can understand why Vaughn would be worried about what would happen on the mission, after all they were about to try to destroy something that almost killed him twice, by drowning and by disease.

I didn’t really mind that they weren’t officially engaged at the end of this ep, I just hope it comes in the next one and Vaughn doesn’t actually die or something even annoyinger and worse.





Notes-Ables



Weiss’s grandfather died

I sat back and watched a few of the scenes as apposed to my usual face right up at the screen, just so I could observe the greatness

Irina’s dead smiling face was eerie

The Blackwell Index Consists of:



Nicholas Marcotte – Tokyo – CZ03 – Case

Sophie Roland – Berlin – CQ04 – Stock

Jonathan Duberrie – Rome – CW04 – Case

Angela Tso – Taipei – CQ04 – Case

Josselyn Letieux – Paris – CS04 – Stock

Peter Anderson – Dubai – CQ03 – Stock

William Gurne – Oslo – CF03 – Active

Palmer Ranckhorst – Zagreb – CA02 – Case

Patricia Mozley – Dallas – CA04 – Case

Santo Korstrzena – Warsaw – CM03 – Active

Malcom Leilich – Munich – CJ01 – Case

Karine Rautiste – Monaco – CX03 – Case

Dominique Belluz – La Paz – CD03 – Case

Matthew Odea – Londn – CX02 – Active

Jamie Dockins – Perth – CS04 – Active

Karina Walberg – Seoul – CL04 – Case

Max Varnes – Cairo – CL04 – Case

Fernando Janousek – Bombay – CQ03 – Case

Lucien Nisard – Bombay – CD05 – Case



Quote-Ables



“It’s as if weapons grade anthrax grows on trees.” – Jack



“No, please, I’ve been dealing with that Chechnyan lunatic for the past couple of hours, whatever business you have will be a welcome relief.” – Jack

(If only he could know what Vaughn would ask next, tehe)



“An assault rifle, a 12 gauge shot gun, 4 hand guns, 2 tasers and a… secret drawer of knives… Let’s start with the knives.” – Search Guy

(Made me laugh, also made me realise how guarded Sydney is)



“She is a Derevko…” – Jack



“You do not know what it is like to be in your presence it is like meeting the Virgin Mary.” – Lazlo Drake (talking about Nadia)



“Do you have any idea how many lesser people have dreamed of this?” – Sloane



“Alright, you may touch the fur, once!” – Sydney

(Loved her alias)



“Well I know that will enjoyable for both of us.” – Katya

(Sounds Sark-worthy)



“If you pulled the trigger, part of you wanted to be manipulated.” – Katya



Ylena: “My men think you’re here to kill me”

Sloane: “You should hire smarter men.”

(Dun, dun, dun, and he’s evil again)



“I suppose I’ve been born again” – Sloane

(He’s a badass again)



Sydney: “Did you have any idea she and Dixon were…?”

Jack” No but I tend to miss those kind of details”

Sydney: “What are you kidding? You’re the master of details”



“Damn you” – Jack

(Wasn’t he pissed off with not-so-Irina?)



Marshall: “When you helped Sloane steal this thing you didn’t know he was gonna change sides, did you?”

Jack: “No!”

(Sounded grumpy, didn’t he?)



“What’s the point, apart from the weirdest terrorist attack of all time?” – Vaughn



“You’ve destroyed a Mueller Device before” – Vaughn

(The looks between Sydney and Vaughn were priceless)



Vaughn: “We have been tasked to rescue a woman who killed my father, your mother, who is supposed to be dead by the way and to disable a giant red ball flying over a Russian city”

Sydney: “Crazier things have happened.”

Vaughn: “That’s kinda my point, Syd without you, I’d be lost in this word, this job, everything, it would make me insane.”

Sydney: “I know”

Vaughn: “We’re gonna get through this”

Sydney: “How can you be sure?”

Vaughn: “How can I not be? We’re still here, Syd…”

Sydney: “What?”

Marshall: “Hey, sorry to interrupt, ready to roll?”

Vaughn: “Yeah”

Sydney: “Vaughn?”

Vaughn: “We should go”



Sydney: “You want me to be rough or you want me to be rough?”

Vaughn: “Oh you’re always rough”

Sydney: “No I’m not”

Vaughn: “Yes, you are”

Sydney: “That’s not true”

Vaughn: “Yes it is”

Sydney: “Are you talking about at home or on ops?”

Vaughn: “Oh both… Hey I’m not complaining!”

Sydney: “If I’m rough it’s because you like it when I’m rough… Are we on coms?”

Jack: “Yes! You’re both on coms right now”

(Weird, yes, but I fell out of my chair laughing, loved Jack’s tone)



“He’s French, I like the French, they’re tender.” - Sydney



Vaughn: “ I had it all planned out”

Sydney: “What?”

Vaughn: “ I was gonna take you to the beach, Santa Barbara, we’d go out for a walk, maybe when the sun what setting. But now we’re here and I don’t know what we’re jumping into and I may never get another chance to do this again. Sometimes I wake up before you do, and I watch you sleep and I am overwhelmed because you’re so amazing and I don’t know why I’m lucky enough to have you in my life, that you’re here with me and I know I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you make me”

Sydney: “My god Vaughn”

Vaughn: “Sydney Bristow, will you marry me?”

(They Kiss)

Sydney: “We’re gonna make it out of here”

Vaughn: Is that a yes?”

Sydney: “Ask me on the beach”

(So happy I cried)



What’s In a Name

The Descent – Could it have been Sloane’s descent into evil or maybe the descent of the Rambaldi endgame onto them, there are a few possibilities (I love it when we get a slightly cryptic ep name J)

Search and Rescue – The search for and rescue of Irina



Loathed

Absolutely nothing at all

Liked

Not Much

Loved

Everything about these episodes

Loved more than love itself

Vaughn proposing



Scene Of the Ep

Either something with Irina or the proposal