In the eleventh episode of the third season of Alias, I feel personally attacked by this. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Alias.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent, nonconsensual medical procedures.
What the hell am I supposed to do with this??? I JUST GOT MY BIG ANSWER AND EVERYTHING GOT UPSET AGAIN, AND NOW I HAVE TO RE-CONTEXTUALIZE THE FIRST HALF OF THIS SEASON ALL OVER AGAIN I AM VERY UPSET.Â
Let’s chat.
The Answer
Look, it’s hard not to want to compare events here to Abrams next major show, LOST, which dealt with multi-season arcs and mysteries. You always risk disappointing people the longer a mystery goes unanswered. And to the credit of the Alias team, the truth of Sydney’s missing years last only half a season, which is BRILLIANT. It was long enough for the show to seed all kinds of hints and clues, but short enough that “Full Disclosure†came entirely by surprise. I expected this mystery to last all of season three, and it’s clear by the two major reveals at the end of the episode that there’s a bigger issue to be resolved.
As it stands, though, I’m satisfied. I feel like the pieces fit together in a way that doesn’t defy established characterization, particularly since this episode doesn’t ignore that Sydney went through Project Christmas. Thus, despite that Sydney’s consent and agency was horrifically violated by the Covenant, she ultimately chooses what happens to her. Her decision to have her own memory removed is a means of protecting information, and it’s something that I would see Sydney doing. It doesn’t negate her experience, either, and… lord, do I ever hate the Covenant for what they put this woman through. They tortured her and stole part of her body to fulfill a prophecy, and it’s upsetting to think about. MEN ARE CONTINUALLY THE WORST!!! The lengths these people went to in order to advance their fucked up agenda is UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE.
I did enjoy (as much as I could enjoy PURE PAIN AND TERROR) the means by which all of this information was given to both Sydney and the audience. The reveal that Kendall wasn’t ever FBI? EXPLAINS A LOT ABOUT HIS BEHAVIOR LAST SEASON. But there was a bigger hurdle the show had to overcome: we had to believe that Kendall and Sydney had, over the course of the missing two years, gotten closer. It’s a weird thought because I wouldn’t have ever described their relationship in season 2 as “friendly.†And yet? Through flashbacks and the scenes on board that plane, we really do get a sense for how much Sydney had come to trust Kendall while working as a double agent against the Covenant. Plus, the whole thing is a massive parallel to her time at SD-6, so Kendall provided an important outlet for Sydney. He was the only person she had in her life that she could be honest with, which she NEEDED SO BADLY once she realized how much her life had fallen apart. Y’all: she watched her ashes spread in the ocean. SHE SAW THAT VAUGHN HAD MOVED ON. She suffered through an unreal brainwashing attempt, and then was tasked with stealing a Rambaldi device while pretending that the brainwashing had worked. Thus, Kendall was her only form of normalcy left.
It’s a weird thought, isn’t it?
So now we know. We know what happened those two years, and despite that I’d been able to piece together much of it, I was still left shocked, namely because of the reveal that the Covenant was trying to force the prophecy to come true by creating a child with that shred of Rambaldi’s DNA. It’s a disturbing twist, one that relegates women’s bodies to collateral damage in the effort to pursue domination. Again, it’s no WONDER that Sydney didn’t really want to remember a bunch of her trauma and horror! At the same time, I despise the Covenant even more, especially since we also found out that they’d manipulated her (and her lost memory) so that she would lead them to Rambaldi’s DNA cube. UGH. If there’s any consolation here, it’s that Dixon allows Sydney to destroy her own eggs rather than hand them over to the CIA. It’s a remarkably raw moment, and it shows that even though Dixon considers himself a patriot, he knew that no one should own part of Sydney’s DNA. It was hers and hers alone.
Somehow, though, I don’t think this chapter is over. At all.
The Passenger
I figured that Lazarey wouldn’t survive this episode, but I had hoped we would get at least something to further understand this Rambaldi disaster. Instead, he utters a phrase that opens up a new mystery: He asks if Sydney if she knows about “the passenger.†Which… goddamn it, it’s VAGUE and CREEPY and COMPELLING ENOUGH that I am 100% on board for another fucking mystery on this show to ruin my life. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN.
The Truth
I was fine. I was happy with the conclusion of this arc and the hint of future possibilities. I was fine. NO ONE ASKED THIS SHOW TO FUCK ME UP EVEN MORE THAN I WAS FUCKED UP. Except Alias gives not one single fuck about me because
LAUREN.
REED.
IS.
NOT.
WHO.
SHE.
SAYS.
SHE.
IS.
Has she been working for The Covenant this entire time? OH MY GOD, IS HER RELATIONSHIP WITH VAUGHN A SHAM, TOO? Or was she turned in the interim? WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THIS TO ME.
The video for “Full Disclosure†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
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