{"id":6734,"date":"2018-01-31T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6734"},"modified":"2018-01-23T18:17:35","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T02:17:35","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s01e18-masquerade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/01\/mark-watches-alias-s01e18-masquerade\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches &#8216;Alias&#8217;: S01E18 &#8211; Masquerade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the eighteenth episode of the first season of <i>Alias<\/i>, Sydney discovers that someone she dated is undercover on a mission. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch <i>Alias<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I liked this one! I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the strongest episode this season, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a solid exploration of the further complications of the Rambaldi manuscript, of loyalty, of living a double life. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a set-up for the tear down, and now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just waiting for the fall.<\/p>\n<p>BECAUSE THERE IS NO WAY THIS ENDS WELL. The introduction of Noah isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t nearly as annoying as it sounds on paper, and I say that because I tend not to like that whole trope of a romantic relationship being derailed by an old flame. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mostly for personal reasons, since I had this happen to me twice\u00e2\u20ac\u201dtwice!!!\u00e2\u20ac\u201din my twenties. And it sucks! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing quite like watching someone who has more history and more understanding of a person sweep said person away from you. How do you compete with that? How do you deal with the feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt that crop up because of it? IS ANYONE SURPRISED THAT I DEEPLY RELATE TO DOLLY PARTON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S \u00e2\u20ac\u0153JOLENE\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Because none of you should be, <i>I am a deeply bitter person<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see much of Vaughn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to Noah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrival aside from a few tiny facial expressions when he breeches the topic with her. I am guessing that if this is gonna be explored further (and it sure as hell seems necessary, after that final scene), it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be in the next episode. But for the time being, it was satisfying to watch because of <i>when<\/i> Noah showed up in her life again. Sydney is determined to find her mother after getting confirmation that she actually survived her accident. That reveal spills out into practically every facet of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Masquerade,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that this episode is more about interpersonal conflict than moving the plot forward. The story exists to get these people to interact with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Berg and Jennifer Garner do a fine job showing us that there once <i>was<\/i> chemistry between these two people. Their history is obvious, and then we watch as that chemistry returns again. But how risky is this? Can you <i>have<\/i> a romantic relationship while working in a job like this? Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure some people can manage this with people <i>outside<\/i> of the job. Dixon and Sloane both seem to have relatively happy marriages. However, Sydney and Noah parted on VOLATILE TERMS, given that he just DISAPPEARED when he got transferred. So, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s residual bitterness and anger here, and oh boy, does that ever just slide away once these two get sent on a dangerous mission together. Oh, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so trope-y, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HELP BUT ENJOY IT. They used to be lovers!!! They parted on bad terms!!! But some danger has made them rekindle their feelings so they have really irresponsible sex AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME. Seriously, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my main bit of evidence that agents shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t develop relationships. YOU WILL MAKE TERRIBLE DECISIONS.<\/p>\n<p>Amidst this is Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contentious relationship with her father. As I said on video, I keep getting close to liking Jack, and then he has to go and be a complete fucking jerk AGAIN. I truly understand why he is upset with Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pursuit of her mother! That woman <i>must<\/i> have broken Jack\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heart, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a lot of resentment towards her. Sydney risks dredging all of this up if her mother is alive! On top of that, Jack expresses concern that Sydney is going to find nothing but disappointment, which is a fair concern, but&#8230; look. I agree with Sloane (I HATE THAT I AM TYPING THAT) that Sydney is an adult who has to make her own decisions. Plus, her relationship with her mother is different! What might disappoint Jack could be rewarding for Sydney. That being said, I fully expect this to be a disaster. OKAY. It can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t end well.<\/p>\n<p>The same goes for Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mistake. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, she left evidence that she lied in one of her coat pockets. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an amateur mistake, but also: SHE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BEEN SO TIRED LATELY. Plus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like she expected this could happen. My worry is that <i>both<\/i> Francie and Will have recent history with being lied to. Will in particular is very nosy and <i>very<\/i> curious. This detail does not add up to the story that Sydney told them, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all gonna unravel soon. I FEEL LIKE THIS IS GONNA HAPPEN. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m worried what that will mean for these characters! Do they accept Sydney? What if the means by which they learn the truth is terrible? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M AFRAID.<\/p>\n<p>The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Masquerade\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded <a href=\"https:\/\/markdoesstuff.com\/products\/mark-watches-alias\">here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>My YA contemporary debut, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2017\/9\/22\/i-am-proud-to-announce-my-ya-contemporary-debut-anger-is-a-gift\">ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><strong>If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the eighteenth episode of the first season of Alias, Sydney discovers that someone she dated is undercover on a mission. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[681],"tags":[682],"class_list":["post-6734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alias","tag-mark-watches-alias"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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