{"id":6707,"date":"2018-01-09T13:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T21:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6707"},"modified":"2018-01-01T11:46:15","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T19:46:15","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s01e02-so-it-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/01\/mark-watches-alias-s01e02-so-it-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S01E02 – So It Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the first season of Alias<\/i>, Sydney has her first double-agent mission, and it goes SPLENDIDLY, meaning EVERYTHING IS A MESS. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Oh, this was a great<\/i> way to give us an idea how this show is going to work. Obviously, that could change over the course of these five seasons. Lord knows I just finished watching a show whose story was wildly different by the time I got to the end of it. (I miss you so much, Person of Interest<\/i>.) But LOOK AT WHAT IS IN THIS EPISODE ALONE.<\/p>\n

Heists<\/b><\/p>\n

I feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no one who knows me who also doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I love heists SO VERY MUCH. They are my bread and butter, my oxygen, and I am deeply, deeply enamored with watching them executed. (Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know my joy over Ocean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 8<\/i>. DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN KNOW.) Now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going into this expecting that every episode will involve some sort of extraction, but holy shit, THERE ARE THREE OF THEM IN THIS EPISODE. And the structure of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So It Begins\u00e2\u20ac\u009d allows the story to leap from one thrilling moment to another! I love that because it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel<\/i> like what you would expect from a television show. Plots are resolved here, but they bleed right into another element of the story. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less episodic and self-contained, which means Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Dixon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to steal those files wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> the sole story here. We also get her disarming a nuclear bomb IN A GRAVE and<\/i> she infiltrates a secret base in Cairo. All in the same episode!<\/p>\n

Dualities<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh god, this story is so rich for potential. I can already barely deal with the tension that exists in all the SD-6 scenes because the audience knows the truth: Sydney is a double agent. So, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking for meaning and danger in everything<\/i>. Exactly who does SD-6 work with? Do they suspect anything? Is there any significant meaning to Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lingering gaze on Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father when he lies? Is Dixon gonna learn the truth? What about Marshall?<\/p>\n

But this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the only thing the writers have to exploit. Sydney is somehow<\/i> still trying to manage to have a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d life as a woman in her 20s, and even that<\/i> is already being stretched at the seams. Do her friends suspect anything? Maybe so, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only Will who inches towards the truth, only to pull away when he thinks he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hit a nerve. Well, he did<\/i>, but not in the way that he expected. Will is only interesting as a character as much as he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a way for the show to build up Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization. On his own, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not quite as compelling. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious he has a crush on Sydney, one that she does not reciprocate, and this fuels his need to do something for<\/i> her. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also how he discovers that Danny had a flight to Singapore booked for the same night. Yet it is in this moment that Sydney comes up with a compelling lie, which both deflects Will and<\/i> pushes him to stay away from investigating Danny. And this is what she has to do all the time! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so good at her job! She becomes a believable version of herself in a split-second, and she uses it to navigate a thorny situation.<\/p>\n

I somehow believe that this won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be the first time we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see this with people in her personal life.<\/p>\n

Politics<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a bold<\/i> choice for the resolution of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truth Be Told\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to be given to us, only to lead to a second plot\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe location of a seventh nuclear bomb hidden somewhere on US soil. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in this that once more, I was surprised because, in the eyes of the CIA, Sydney failed<\/i>. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to argue with that when we learn, along with Sydney, that because she called SD-6 to help diffuse the bomb, she alerted them to its existence, and they sold it to an arms dealer in Egypt. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also the first significant bit of evidence of what it is the SD-6 does that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so terrible. Given that we still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the Alliance is, it helps to know that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re telling their agents that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re stopping crime while actually causing<\/i> it. Thus, both Sydney and Vaughn, the CIA agent who she had previously reported to, are reprimanded for this. IN THE SECOND EPISODE. And I genuinely didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect that! Sydney has to navigate the internal politics and procedures at two<\/i> different organizations, and we just saw how that will forever be complicated. At times, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to have to make a choice, and that choice will have ramifications for the other side.<\/p>\n

Which is why I desperately<\/i> need to know more about Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father. His past is still a mystery to the audience and\u00e2\u20ac\u201dapparently!\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto Sydney herself. I understand why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been so secretive, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve now seen multiple instances in which he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been willing to do things to reach out to his daughter. Why not before? Did it take her life being threatened for him to finally become involved? Or\u00e2\u20ac\u201das I suspect\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhas he been involved in other parts of her life, but he never revealed him? Regardless, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad the show isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t having Sydney immediately and completely forgive the man, nor is she opening her arms to him either. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to take time and demonstrable acts of favor for Sydney to feel like she can trust him again. Is it possible? Maybe, but I also need to know more. SO MUCH MORE.<\/p>\n

Also WHO TOLD THIS SHOW IT COULD HAVE A CLIFFHANGER IN THE SECOND EPISODE. Rude!<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So It Begins\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"