Alias did not (so far) into it - self-irony. Remember, ME spoofed the Buffy/Angel romance as early as The Zeppo, which does not mean they didn't take the characters or their feelings seriously, just that they were aware of how it could look, and had a healthy sense of humour about it. Welcome to Liberty Village, with the "cold", "boring" and lack of spontaneity cracks, was the very first time Alias showed it can have a sense of humour about Syd/Vaughn. Which removes the relationship from the annoying Soulmates ™ territory and makes it human and likable again

Great point -- that was really it for me too, not just that it was funny and had great dialogue and was a refreshing bit of a change, but esp after the Angstathon of Vaughn's Guilt (which I, er, didn't like no). And the continuity porn was just sheer gravy.

the child in the photo isn't Katya's kid, it's Elena's. For the record, I still like the Elena Derevko = Olivia Reed speculation, which would make the kid Lauren. If Elena is someone else entirely, the child is still alive, and this would bring up a surplus of relatives for the season

I hope so too -- I wanted to see Syd and Lauren linked in a way other than Vaughn, and just assumed they were both Project Xmas kids esp given Lauren's words to Sydney that they were both puppets -- Lauren just knew who was pulling her strings (paraphrasing). I think (not spoiled) they're probably going to bring on a new character, tho, to mix things up a bit.

But on the whole it was like a really cheering marker -- I hope it indicates good things for the rest of the season.