(S05E12) I really like the fact that ABC
actually told J.J. Abrams that the show was not going to be renewed earlier instead of later. It really does, as Abrams
has said, give the show a chance to end things correctly, to bring old characters back, and explain what all this
Rambaldi/Prophet 5 plot is all about. How good was it to see Will tonight? I also like the fact that even if you don't
know what's going on with the mythology, this was a pretty entertaining standalone spy mission as well, and you could
enjoy it as a casual viewer.But Will, when people come knocking on your door and just say, yeah, I'm with the CIA, here's a quick look at my badge, just don't invite them in for coffee and danish.
Peyton (I know, I know, I've been calling her Kelly this season, but some readers aren't happy with it so I'll go with her last name now) gets baddie Anna Espinosa out of her hidden jail with the promise of getting revenge on Sydney. Anna poses as a CIA agent and kidnaps Will, who is still in witness protection. This does exactly what Prophet 5 would hope it would do when it told Sloane to get Syd back to work from her baby break: she agrees to come back and help find Will (who gets a small bomb placed in his head via needle). I like the fact that Jack gets two CIA agents/expert babysitters to keep an eye on Isabelle.
The team goes into old skool Alias action: they find out Will is being held upstairs from a nightclub, with the pulsating industrial music and lights. Syd is in her slinky tight disguise, while Thomas and Rachel are on backup and Marshall controls things via hidden camera and mic back at APO. Syd rushes upstairs to help Will, only to be greeted by Anna. Anna cuts Syd's arm, and Prophet 5 zeroes in on the wound and collects "data" for some evil purpose. Will gets out of the chair and beats the hell out of Anna. But Anna escapes through a window. The bad guys let Will and Syd go because they have the information they need. Hmmm...I wonder what that's all about (though I guess the episode title might be a clue). P5 calls Sloane and says they'll give him a signal when they want him to do the next phase of the plan, and tell him that this is the only way he'll see Nadia back to the way she used to be.
Later, Will tells Syd he's engaged. Syd tells him about the baby but lies that Vaughn is dead.
A sensor picks up Will's head bomb, but Marshall says that if they try to operate it might explode (it will be a small explosion, but when there's a bomb in your head, size doesn't matter). Anna calls Will's phone and tells Syd to bring her page 47 of the Rambaldi manuscript and to meet her some place alone. If she brings the page, she'll give the deactivation codes for the mindbomb.
And this gives the show a chance to explain Rambaldi! Sloane talks about the history, and that manuscript page is flashed on all the monitors. Rachel doesn't know what the hell this is all about (ha!). Will just wants the damn bomb out of his head. Marshall says he might be able to crack the code, but Will will have to be near the detonator to for the initialization. Will joins the gang on the mission, posing as Syd's hubby.
Will asks Syd to be his best man, in a funny scene where Syd thought he was asking her if he's going to die.
Syd meets Anna on the train, and the initialization is working. Anna says she has to leave to get the detonator, but they know it's on her because they can detect it. Syd has to fight Anna to keep her in the room. Will's head starts beeping, but it stops. Anna tells Syd she doesn't understand "the game." She grabs the suitcase with the page, slams the door on Syd, as a red liquid chemical comes out of the sprinklers and covers Syd.
Oh, this is creepy: they are collecting Syd's DNA underneath the train! Yeesh.
Will knocks out Anna, but she comes to and throws the detonator out of the train. Syd and Will jump after it and get it just in time.
Sloane meets with Peyton. Sloane says he doesn't want Syd hurt, but Peyton won't tell him why they are doing what they are doing. Peyton says that Sloane has fulfilled his end of the contract, and she gives him the cure for Nadia.
Meanwhile, Prophet 5 is doing some odd experiment on Anna. She's in a cage and surrounded by red liquid, which makes her scream in pain.
Syd and Will take Isabelle for a walk in the park, and Syd apologizes for everything that is happened to him. He wouldn't have been hurt or tortured or almost killed if he didn't know her. Will tells her that's ridiculous, that he's better for knowing her and that he wouldn't change it for anything.
At the end, we see that Anna has been turned into ...Sydney! Now that title really does make sense.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-26-2006 @ 9:58PM
Dorv said...
Ok, so I guess I missed something last week. The bit this week, "I hated lying to him that Vaughn is dead" (or, paraphrased)... Does Sydney know that Vaughn is alive?
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4-26-2006 @ 10:01PM
Bob Sassone said...
Yup, Jack and Syd faked Vaughn's death.
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4-26-2006 @ 10:19PM
Mike K said...
Was what was used on Anna the same procedure used to make the Faux Francie?
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4-26-2006 @ 11:29PM
Tammy said...
At the end last week, when Sydney was holding the baby she looked at her Dad an said "you know" (or something like that) and he said "taken care of" She was saying "we have to tell Vaughn he has a daughter" and Jack was saying "I already have." The next scene is the guy bringing the news to Vaughn.
which if you think about it, whenever Syd was talking just to her Dad she would say things like "I really miss him" so those two never said he was dead, just everyone else.
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4-26-2006 @ 11:37PM
JB said...
I think I missed that too....when was that revealed??
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4-27-2006 @ 12:55AM
Andy said...
It was revealed at the very end of the second episode last week. Tonite's episode was very, very entertaining, probably one of the best this season. It brought back Will, Rambaldi, and Anna, and old skool Alias style with the club scene and finally Syd is back in action with her disguuise, with the wig, and of course, the fake accent. I am really going to miss this show but i am happy for them to end it this way, because i know that it's going to leave with a big finish that we won't ever forget.
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4-27-2006 @ 1:10AM
Batmanuel said...
this episode hit on every Alias cliche
Sloan evilly manipulated Sydney...Check
Badguys meeting in foreign nighclub...Check
Bad disguises and accents...Check
An 'exchange' on a train in Europe...Check
Hot girlfight with Sydney...Check
Incomprehensible Rambaldi intrigue...Check
Funny Marshall moment...Check
...and it was great...probably the best of the season. Glad to see they are kicking it old school again. Lets just hope they wrap up the Rambaldi thing and dont do an XFiles where the show ends and you are hanging
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4-27-2006 @ 1:28AM
Chris Arndt said...
I was actually kinda disapointed that Anna Espinosa, who is supposed to be so bad-ass... got her can kicked by an amateur and a woman who has spent months out of action.
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4-27-2006 @ 8:17AM
MM said...
It was hinted at LAST week (when Jack and Sydney were in the plane, post-pardom, and Sydney gave Jack a look, and he said he had it taken care of... and then the scene flashed to Vaughn in some hut being told that he has a daughter), and then confirmed THIS week (when Jack and Sydney were at APO, and Sydney flat out told her dad that she didn't like lying to Will and telling him Vaughn was dead).
In fact, the way they did it last week made you feel, okay, maybe it's editing trickery and IRINA'S the one that knows Vaughn's alive... and then this week, they didn't even hide it, just went all matter-of-fact, bluntly about it.
Ha!
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4-27-2006 @ 8:24AM
junger said...
Was anyone else's picture last night all screwy? I DVR'd the show to watch it a little later, but the picture was all messed up, and it wasn't my TV or cable box -- other channels were coming in OK.
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4-27-2006 @ 8:43AM
Paula said...
I guess I missed something also. I thought maybe they had done another show between last week and this. When did Sydney find out Vaughn wasn't dead. Did the screenwriters make a mistake.
This has been one of my favorites shows in the last 2 years. I'm really going to miss it!
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4-27-2006 @ 8:49AM
Chris W said...
I had never seen Alias before and, follwing Bob Sassone's advice, might check out the first season. I saw the episode last night and noticed (correct me if I'm wrong) that Sydney and Will have a very Buffy-Xander relationship? Also, has that genetic manipulation thing come up before?
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4-27-2006 @ 9:50AM
Tim said...
Chris Arndt: Syd hasn't been out of action all that long. She had the baby on a mission and Isabelle is now 5 weeks old so it hasn't been that long.
I thought this was a great episode. I can't wait to see how the series comes to a close. By far the best episode of the season!
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4-27-2006 @ 1:35PM
Joel said...
okay, I've got to admit a bit of annoyance here. now don't get me wrong, I'm a long time Alias fan and I'm as bummed as anyone that its ending... BUT... after everything that has happened are they seriously going to try and get us to buy that Syd and Jack faked Vaughn's death? Sydney mourned like someone whose love died. she even had a vision of him when under regression where he was dead and coming back to her. i'm sorry, but i'm not buying it. I need a better explanation.
another thing- Syd finds the detonator that fell out of an elevated moving train into a body of water in a few seconds? even a stretch by alias standards.
on the plus side though- some of the humor really humanized the show making it coolly layered. examples being not only the standby marshall quips, but the will/syd exchanges, the rachel/rambaldi thing and the CIA babysitters. the CIA babysitter thing was possibly one of the funniest things of the series... i'm thinking spinoff.
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4-27-2006 @ 2:07PM
drake said...
Aren't there any Angel/Joss Whedon fans out there who's spine tingled a bit seeing former Angel cast members face to face last night?
I'm sure at least Joss Whedon appreciateed seeing Amy Acker (as Peyton, or Fred on Angel) and Gina Torres (as Anna, or Jasmine on Angel) sharing a scene or two together.
Whedon and Abrams share a similar allegiance to their actors (using them in every series) so it's interesting to see the crossover.
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4-27-2006 @ 6:48PM
Shniblet said...
I still don't get the whole Syd and Jack now Vaughn is alive thing? They faked his death from the beggining??? So they sent Vaughn to Bhutan? I'm really confused, someone please help!!!
P.S. I loved seeing Will back in action and I can't wait to see Vaughn and Syd together on screen!!
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4-27-2006 @ 7:56PM
Siraris said...
I agree with the rest; knowing that Vaughn was alive was not only unimplied, it's ridiculous. If you want to fake something, do it, don't just use the power of writing and decide differently. With the huge break, I don't remember that much from the first half, but I do remember that Sydney was grieving as hard as anyone could, and even though she may be the master of Aliases, no one could fake that emotion. If she was stoic, tight lipped, I'd understand, but this is just ridiculous. Kill Vaughn or don't, I'm tired of the whole people die/dissapear and mysteriously come back after they are proven dead or missing or in an unimpenitrable government facility. Hell, even bringing Nadia back is ludicrous at this point.
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4-27-2006 @ 9:50PM
Joel said...
Uh huh, exactly, ditto Siraris.
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4-29-2006 @ 1:34AM
MM said...
SHE WAS stoic, go back and watch the episodes. At no time did she EVER say he was dead unless she was lying to other people. She'd tell her dad she missed him, or wishes he was there. Never that he was dead.
I thought it was brilliant. Go read my comment again #9 and you'll see (for some reason I didn't realize I had to approve it so it wasn't live until just now, as I post #19, sorry!)...
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4-29-2006 @ 2:57PM
Z.rene said...
And what about the chemical shower on the train. Nobody suspects anything ??? (Analyze the damn red chemical stuff).
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