In the fourth episode of the third season of Alias, there are too many tense scenes in this script! Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Alias.Â
Trigger Warning: For talk of consent, mind control, and emotional manipulation.Â
SERIOUSLY. I had a lot of fun watching this episode, and you know what? It’s clear the writers had a lot of fun plotting this. While there are certainly emotional moments in this episode—particularly between Vaughn and Sydney—I found this to be a more plot-heavy episode. Which isn’t bad at all! Sydney’s mystery is advanced alongside the Covenant’s objectives, AND I WAS NOT READY FOR ANY OF IT.
Sloane
But I wanted to start with one of the quieter elements of this episode. I love it when writers pair existing characters together who are otherwise not seen with one another. For example: this season has done WONDERS in showing us how Weiss has turned into Sydney’s closest friend. I genuinely want to see more of that! In “A Missing Link,†we get TWO scenes in which Lauren Reed is alone with Arvin, and they’re both unexpected. Arvin had already taunted Sydney with the existence of Lauren, so I should have known he’d be gross and cruel with Lauren, too. I absolutely consider his behavior toward her as evidence that he hasn’t really changed at all, that this is all part of some ruse of his. If he claims to not want to hurt others, then what the hell is he doing teasing Lauren with Sydney’s return? Or remarking how close Sydney once was with Vaughn? Or claiming that nepotism is the only reason Lauren got her current job?
Arvin Sloane loves manipulating other people. He loves to dig the knife a little bit deeper in and watch people squirm. HE IS NOT A GOOD PERSON. So yeah, I love that Lauren calls him out on this while he is actively trying to manipulate her. Y’all, I would love it if Vaughn and Sydney got back together, but I don’t want this at the expense of Lauren. I understood why they were initially pitted against one another, but I have no desire to see that sustained. I am much more interested in how they can work together, you know?
The Secret
I really, really need to start assuming that Alias is simply not going to follow normal conventions for some of the tropes it uses. I literally JUST wrote a whole bit about how the writers needed to keep Sydney’s video a secret to build long-term tension, AND THEN JACK GOES AND TELLS DIXON THE TRUTH RIGHT IN THE MIDST OF THIS. What the fuck, y’all??? Yet I now can’t deny how wrong I got that and how thrilling this new reality is. Vaughn and Dixon know that Sydney was somehow programmed to be an assassin and that the Covenant was likely responsible. She has a new kind of scrutiny on her life, and that complicates matters just as much—if not more—as the keeping of the secret. They know she’s got a personal investment in this that could backfire, too. It makes this ongoing plot all the more precarious. Is she a sleeper agent? Was she programmed to do anything else? And in Vaughn’s case, this new twist creates an uncomfortable complication in his own life: he has now been mandated to keep a secret from his wife, one that may make her feel insecure about Vaughn’s relationship with Sydney. THERE IS SO MUCH POTENTIAL HERE, Y’ALL.
The Heists
We get TWO of them in the same episode!!! And the first one is an impromptu “test†that Simon provides Sydney in order for her to be allowed to be part of his team. Now, I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to jump from that high into a fairly shallow pool and survive, but hey: that shit was EXCITING. Of course, half the terror of these scenes comes from the unknown: Why does Simon know Sydney as Julia, and what exactly did they do together? Will she say something that doesn’t vibe with reality, and will it expose her amnesia? WHY ARE YOU TORMENTING ME SO COMPLETELY? All of these scenes are expertly plotted and staged for MAXIMUM stress, so when we finally got to the big cliffhanger, I was exhausted. WHY IS THIS SHOW LIKE THIS? It clearly cares not for my delicate sensibilities. (I know I’ve said that a lot lately about pretty much everything I’ve seen for Mark Watches in the last year, but come on. This is PARTICULARLY INTENSE.)
My theory is that Sydney stabbed Vaughn in a manner that would seem believable, yet would allow him to survive as long as he pretended to be dead. Of course, the writers had to add that extra bit of pain by having Sydney tell Vaughn that he shouldn’t have betrayed her. Again: why does this show keep doing this to me???
So, ultimately, this was yet another strong entry in season three, and I can’t wait to watch more.
The video for “A Missing Link†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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