Alias review, Star Wars links
May. 23rd, 2005 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakBeck from Dresden, en route to Bamberg via overnight in Munich. Met ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
k_julia who was fun; we rehashed starting life as fangirls with Star Trek, talked a bit about Babylon 5, and indulged in Roslin and BSG love. Then I had my eternally long journey back to Munich (lotsa' babies in the train, which is not fun), where I found the latest two Alias eps. (Why did no one tell me this was a two-parter? Yay!)
Jeffrey Bell, who wrote The Orphan this season, continues to import the Angel flashback technique to good measure. I suppose it says something about my priorities that as much as I loved the Jack and FauxIrina one, the flashbacks dearest to my heart were the Sloane and Nadia ones. We've been wondering what happened between them going off together at the end of season 2 and Nadia being in Argentina at the start of season 4. Another Mr. Sloane gave us hints about Siena, and I honestly assumed that would be it. But no, we get flashbacks. Sloane at his most Rambaldi-obsessed, and yet also with the growing love for Nadia. The question from "Legacy" last season continued - is she his daughter or a device, the living embodiment of Rambaldism to him?
The Siena visuals with the glass floor were an excellent choice. And I had immediate Hans Christian Andersen flashbacks. Rambaldi is the Snow Queen; post-Jacquelyn, her fateful bit of glass entered into Sloane's/Kay's heart. The flashback only made it visual as well. Nadia is Gerda, who takes the glass splitter out. I maintain that the finale will either have Sloane dying or Nadia. In either case, I'm willing to bet anything that Sloane is currently doing just what he said he would - taking care of the mess that is (to a great deal) his fault. (And I'm somewhat insulted this didn't occur to anyone in the SpyFamily at least as a possibility, but hey.) Again, if Sloane dies, it will be saving the day, with Nadia getting the Luke lines. If Nadia dies, it will be what sends Sloane back to the Dark Side after the current mess is taken care of (during which he'll be a good guy), in a final tag scene that the loss of Nadia made redemption pointless for him.
These episodes also could be called The Derevko Sisters. Elena was suitably dastardly. Katya was great and her bratty mischievous self (and dead on about a part of Jack wanting to be manipulated, because a part of him really wanted to kill Irina - as much as he loved her, the hate has always been real, too), though her part in the season 3 finale makes less sense than ever. Irina's comeback was glorious. Now see, here's the strange thing. Alias, like Star Wars, gets a big deal of handwaving from me. Clunky lines (SW) - pff. Trademark of all the SW films. Irina looking way too good for someone who has been kept prisoner and tortured for nearly a year? (Obviously Elena allowed her a manucurist, hair stylist, and borrowed her some lipstick.) Who cares. It's SpyMommy!
And it really is. I so loved she smacked Jack a good one. Seriously, if she and Jack had just embraced tearfully, (some) fanfic-style, it wouldn't have nearly felt as true. Her interactions with Sydney were great, and the realisation scene with Nadia touched my heart. Now could we please have a scene with Sloane (other than a shoot-out) which tells us a bit more about what that "indiscretion" (loved the word) was all about?
Dixon/Chase had me grinning in approval. Since I saw UST in The Index. (Speaking of same, thanks for the continuity use of the Blackwell Index and the fact Jack 'n Arvin pilfered it at the end of the ep in question.)
Vaughn proposing: was cute. This season is really the first in which I like Syd/Vaughn, and the ties back to the pilot, with Jack's reaction, made me smile. Mind you, given what happened with Danny and given that there is a big red ball of doom in the air, Vaughn just might have signed his death warrant. Despite my season 4 sympathy, I still can't imagine grieving the way I would for either Sloane or Nadia.
Oh, and my not so secret fetish for Sloane/Sydney got indulged as well by that little trip. It's a neat illustration of Sydney's more ambiguous than she likes to admit feelings about Sloane: she goes with him because she distrusts him in the grand scheme of things, but she also trusts him (subconciously or consciously) with her physical safety. I don't think she'd have let Sark or Anna ever at her back.
In terms of set-up, the fact he anaesthizes her just when she hears Elena (on the security recording) say "he threw it all away, and for what? For the girl - " was a bit obvious, but well done.
So, I'll try to prepare myself for either my favourite Alias character or Nadia, whom I love dearly and truly as well, dying a noble tv death. If they should both survive the next episode and I was wrong, I might not learn it for a while, for on Wednesday, I'm leaving Germany and might not have email access at all for a while, or only sporadically.
In other news, because you surely did not think I was done with my Sith reawakened Star Wars bent:
fernwithy brings up her pet peeve in SW fanon. Original trilogy fans, this one is for you.
More RotS inspired fanfic: another Obi-Wan on Tatooine vignette, reflecting mainly on what Anakin did, and what he himself did, and a pov from one of the killed padawans, this later byinlovewithnight.
If you need a break from all the angst, here's the perfect thing: a hilarious recap of Return of the Jedi, complete with screencaps.
k_julia who was fun; we rehashed starting life as fangirls with Star Trek, talked a bit about Babylon 5, and indulged in Roslin and BSG love. Then I had my eternally long journey back to Munich (lotsa' babies in the train, which is not fun), where I found the latest two Alias eps. (Why did no one tell me this was a two-parter? Yay!) Jeffrey Bell, who wrote The Orphan this season, continues to import the Angel flashback technique to good measure. I suppose it says something about my priorities that as much as I loved the Jack and FauxIrina one, the flashbacks dearest to my heart were the Sloane and Nadia ones. We've been wondering what happened between them going off together at the end of season 2 and Nadia being in Argentina at the start of season 4. Another Mr. Sloane gave us hints about Siena, and I honestly assumed that would be it. But no, we get flashbacks. Sloane at his most Rambaldi-obsessed, and yet also with the growing love for Nadia. The question from "Legacy" last season continued - is she his daughter or a device, the living embodiment of Rambaldism to him?
The Siena visuals with the glass floor were an excellent choice. And I had immediate Hans Christian Andersen flashbacks. Rambaldi is the Snow Queen; post-Jacquelyn, her fateful bit of glass entered into Sloane's/Kay's heart. The flashback only made it visual as well. Nadia is Gerda, who takes the glass splitter out. I maintain that the finale will either have Sloane dying or Nadia. In either case, I'm willing to bet anything that Sloane is currently doing just what he said he would - taking care of the mess that is (to a great deal) his fault. (And I'm somewhat insulted this didn't occur to anyone in the SpyFamily at least as a possibility, but hey.) Again, if Sloane dies, it will be saving the day, with Nadia getting the Luke lines. If Nadia dies, it will be what sends Sloane back to the Dark Side after the current mess is taken care of (during which he'll be a good guy), in a final tag scene that the loss of Nadia made redemption pointless for him.
These episodes also could be called The Derevko Sisters. Elena was suitably dastardly. Katya was great and her bratty mischievous self (and dead on about a part of Jack wanting to be manipulated, because a part of him really wanted to kill Irina - as much as he loved her, the hate has always been real, too), though her part in the season 3 finale makes less sense than ever. Irina's comeback was glorious. Now see, here's the strange thing. Alias, like Star Wars, gets a big deal of handwaving from me. Clunky lines (SW) - pff. Trademark of all the SW films. Irina looking way too good for someone who has been kept prisoner and tortured for nearly a year? (Obviously Elena allowed her a manucurist, hair stylist, and borrowed her some lipstick.) Who cares. It's SpyMommy!
And it really is. I so loved she smacked Jack a good one. Seriously, if she and Jack had just embraced tearfully, (some) fanfic-style, it wouldn't have nearly felt as true. Her interactions with Sydney were great, and the realisation scene with Nadia touched my heart. Now could we please have a scene with Sloane (other than a shoot-out) which tells us a bit more about what that "indiscretion" (loved the word) was all about?
Dixon/Chase had me grinning in approval. Since I saw UST in The Index. (Speaking of same, thanks for the continuity use of the Blackwell Index and the fact Jack 'n Arvin pilfered it at the end of the ep in question.)
Vaughn proposing: was cute. This season is really the first in which I like Syd/Vaughn, and the ties back to the pilot, with Jack's reaction, made me smile. Mind you, given what happened with Danny and given that there is a big red ball of doom in the air, Vaughn just might have signed his death warrant. Despite my season 4 sympathy, I still can't imagine grieving the way I would for either Sloane or Nadia.
Oh, and my not so secret fetish for Sloane/Sydney got indulged as well by that little trip. It's a neat illustration of Sydney's more ambiguous than she likes to admit feelings about Sloane: she goes with him because she distrusts him in the grand scheme of things, but she also trusts him (subconciously or consciously) with her physical safety. I don't think she'd have let Sark or Anna ever at her back.
In terms of set-up, the fact he anaesthizes her just when she hears Elena (on the security recording) say "he threw it all away, and for what? For the girl - " was a bit obvious, but well done.
So, I'll try to prepare myself for either my favourite Alias character or Nadia, whom I love dearly and truly as well, dying a noble tv death. If they should both survive the next episode and I was wrong, I might not learn it for a while, for on Wednesday, I'm leaving Germany and might not have email access at all for a while, or only sporadically.
In other news, because you surely did not think I was done with my Sith reawakened Star Wars bent:
fernwithy brings up her pet peeve in SW fanon. Original trilogy fans, this one is for you. More RotS inspired fanfic: another Obi-Wan on Tatooine vignette, reflecting mainly on what Anakin did, and what he himself did, and a pov from one of the killed padawans, this later by
inlovewithnight. If you need a break from all the angst, here's the perfect thing: a hilarious recap of Return of the Jedi, complete with screencaps.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 06:55 pm (UTC)Admit it, you've read my thoughts posted last night (http://www.livejournal.com/users/monanotlisa/290190.html#cutid1)! Or maybe we share a piece of our brains. Or maybe it's in the German Collective Unconscious? *g*
See, I watched it and just *knew* you'd adore the Siena scenes-- I was hoping for something more visually impressive, especially regarding the Sphere of Life, but the characters more than made up for it.
Interestingly enough, his reaction to Lazlo Drake's Virgin Mary simile is to take the man's hand away-- the jealousy of a fellow worshipper or the act of a protective father? His murder of the Arvin Cloane henchman implies the former, but everything else makes me believe it's the latter.
You know I have the greatest respect for your story analyses, but I pray you're wrong...
BRB!
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 07:07 pm (UTC)Taking Lazlo Drake's hand away: it occurs to me that this is the first time we see Sloane disturbed by someone touching Nadia so far. He's just amused by Weiss, and he was the one who asked Jack to test Nadia, but here he's definitely creeped out. (And when did we ever see HIM creeped out?) And yes, there, too, are two viable explanations. Especially since this is early in their relationship. (If it had happened this late in the season, I'd be 100% sure he was just reacting as Nadia's father, but one year ago he was till at the hight of Rambaldi obsession. The glass splitter firmly in his heart, as it were.)
Believe me, I hope I'm wrong as well. I don't want either of them to die! Perhaps it will just be Vaughn. But in terms of storytelling, it really looks more ominous by the second...
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 08:31 pm (UTC)Oh, that almost calls for an icon... & ;-)
But wouldn't it have been quite beautiful? *g*
Good question, and one I couldn't answer. Fear we've seen-- Jack in Hourglass--, and horror we've seen-- Emily's death, the loss of Jaqueline--, but revulsion?
As I said, the Snowqueen parallel fits well. Hmm.
I know, I know. *pets*
Ha! I don't think so, although I could bear that despite deep sadness (especially seeing as the Sarkney fan in me immediately perks up. Oh, the OTPing, it ain't the way it's been when I first entered fandom...)
I agree. When I squinted, Nadia's shirt colour shifted to red...
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 05:06 am (UTC)