Alias: There is only one Sydney Bristow...

[selenak]

Waiting for bimo in today's hotel (Krefeld), I had the chance to watch the new Alias episode.



Ultimate Drew did really well with that one, and so did the actors. Will is really the most adorable male friend ever, and I thought what I thought in Remnants and many a time before that - Sydney is just so happy when being with him. They're so comfortable with each other that your really believe the best friends deal. I'm endlessly torn - on the one hand, were I Sydney, I'd have taken Will over Vaughn any time, on the other, I do like m/f friendships that manage to survive a sexual interlude and don't see it as the end of all things.

Anna Espinosa is the kind of one dimensional villain that would be dull in the hands of a lesser actress but is great fun since Gina Torres plays her, and as with Anna's appearances in s4, you can see the slashiness between her and Syd got pushed to the fore. (Sydney otherwise strikes me as eminently straight and slash-vibe free, but not with Anna.) (Also, as in s4, I had this vision of J.J. contemplating what those Jossverse scribes he hired could add to his shows, and immediately concluding: SLASHY SUBTEXT.) I could see Anna being turned into Sydney at the end miles away, but it made thematic sense and was a good tie back to her first appearance in s1 when she's introduced as Sydney's counterpart.

Regretful sidenote: does that mean we get no more Gina? Alas. Though I bet Jennifer Garner must be happy that she finally gets a shot at playing an evil double, since almost every other lead of a tv show was allowed to!

(Is it too much to ask that Anna-as-Syd has spectacular Bad Wrong Scenes with... yeah, it probably is.)

(Though come on, JJ LIKES that sort of thing.)

Sloane had more to do this week, and colour me honestly surprised that they actually gave him the cure for Nadia. There must be a catch. I mean, they have to know that as soon as Nadia is cured, they have one revengeful sociopath on their heel? The cure either is temporary again or makes Nadia dependent on regular supplies or something. Has to be something like that.

That said: Sloane handing What'shisname the coat? Loved it. Also loved the way he got Sydney to go on the mission. He knows his Sydney, he does.

Peyton continues to be great. And now she had a scene with Sloane, which pleases me for fm related reasons as well.

Jack's idea of babysitters cracks me up each time I think of it.

Comments

[searose.livejournal.com]

I think all the internets heard about Jack's idea for babysitters. Near immediately.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's so him. I'm convinced he personally trained them during those nine months, too.

[searose.livejournal.com]

I wonder what kind of babysitters Sydney (didn't know she) had when SpyDaddy had to go out of town?

I'm surprised Jack Bristow didn't blackmail Jack Bauer into the job, even though that kind of crossover would be impossible.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

One assumes Jack Bristow met Kim Bauer and concluded that Jack Bauer has an intelligence-lessening effect on children he can't expose his granddaughter to?

Sydney: said she had a variety of nannies in season 1, I think.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I don't know why Drew Goddard is called Ultimate Drew, but I have to conclude it's for work he did outside Alias; his best script for this show has been "Mockingbird," which was very solid and enjoyable, but I found this one a let-down. The pacing was weird, the spy plotting badly done even by the admittedly loose Alias standards (97 thousand years of anvilicious foreshadowing of the doubling, and yet still the kool-aid shower car sequence is inexplicable) and even the Syd/Will a letdown until the bomb in his brain was discovered.

That said, there were a number of delightful moments and scenes in this, and once Will had the bomb in his brain, his performance and his interaction with Sydney picked up nicely. I enjoyed seeing him on another mission, and I liked the fact that Isabelle's first-ever security alert situation intrigued her highly. And the moment when Sloane gave Ehrmann his coat was extraordinary. They've very subtly, over the course of this season, built up the fact that Sloane's carrying two heavy burdens: his terror and grief for his daughter and the slow grinding down of his pride. I am interested to see what happens next.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Drew Goddard: picked up the nickname pretty soon after he debuted on BTVS with Selfless in season 7 (the Anya background episode) and followed this up by co-writing Conversations with Dead People and writing Never Leave Me, all highly regarded episodes, as were his AtS s5 episodes (Lineage, Damage and Origin, most of all). Aside from being meant as an accolade, it's also a way to distinguish him from fellow BTVS writer Drew Greenberg (I think it was David Fury who asked upon hearing this whether this made Drew Greenberg Silver Age Drew?).

Goddard on Alias: you rate Mockingbird highter than Tuesday? But... that is the ultimate (no pun intended) Marshall episode!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I had a feeling you'd like Sloane's scenes here, especially that he had one with Peyton. (And speaking of fm-reasons, I think I'm finally going to be able to overcome the combination of work, technology disasters, and my own short attention span -- Babylon 5! shiny! -- and catch up with FM this weekend. I have an email out to the other player involved and should be able to tell Sloane something soon -- Babylon 5 is still shiny, of course :)).

More on this episode, I'm sure you can guess which parts I liked. And I hear you on Will/Syd vs. Will & Syd. I actually didn't ship them at all before "Remnants," but they worked so marvelously there, that I now like the idea of the 'ship, but can see it working either way. Though I do feel sorry for Will's possible-potential-fiancee, as he's going to have to tell her SOMETHING about where he was -- in my world, he gives up on the lame-ass witness protection thing (that never made any sense, and makes LESS now that he's walking around the park with Syd and baby Isabel) and comes back to the agency, where he falls back into his role as The Only Person of his Generation in the Agency with the Slightest Bit of Common Sense. (And maybe wears that professorial-looking jacket with the patches on the elbows again? /superficial) But probably the last look we'll get of him and Syd will be her acting as his "best man."

BTW, I never really thought Will's life was in danger (narratively speaking), but Goddard IS a Jossverse alum, so I was sort of biting my nails in a "OK, they're walking through the park, and then his head explodes? You need to be prepared for that" kind of way.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Though I do feel sorry for Will's possible-potential-fiancee, as he's going to have to tell her SOMETHING about where he was

Pfff. That's nothing. andrastewhite and self have been wondering since eons what on earth Sloane told Emily in season 1 about why his finger was cut off and reattached after a day at the bank (since he thought she didn't know he wasn't really managing Credit Dauphine).

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Pshaww!

Paper-cutter accident. They happen all the time, I can show you statistics!

[eirena.livejournal.com]

I got Irina over at fandom_muses :) Just a heads' up!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! I have Lilah Morgan (freelilah), and will be on the lookout.

[eirena.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks. Selena talked me into taking Irina out of a desire to play more with first-gen spies...

And I can totally see Wolfram and Hart having crossed paths with Irina. Heh.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! Also, yay for your Irina on fm! Mind you, I think any interactin this week will have be set before Sloane gets the cure for Nadia, as we don't know yet whether it works or not.

[eirena.livejournal.com]

*nods* Absolutely. And if you wanted to set something up today, I'll dive in after work.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

As I've just returned to Munich and am able to get online for longer, we can do that. I'll mail you about the particulars.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

(Is it too much to ask that Anna-as-Syd has spectacular Bad Wrong Scenes with... yeah, it probably is.)

I was hoping for the same thing. You know, the Alias writers do like that. *crosses fingers* I bet Garner has great fun with the role, and I know I'll have great fun with the inevitable Syd vs. Syd fight.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*crosses fingers as well*

And yes, a Syd vs Syd fight will clearly be this year's action climax.