{"id":6736,"date":"2018-02-02T13:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T21:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6736"},"modified":"2018-01-23T18:22:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T02:22:33","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s01e20-the-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/02\/mark-watches-alias-s01e20-the-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S01E20 – The Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twentieth episode of the first season of Alias<\/i>, Sydney devises a means to flush out Khasinau, while Will makes an incredibly risky move. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of racism, specifically brownface.<\/b><\/p>\n

OH NO, ALIAS.<\/i> OH NO.<\/p>\n

Will<\/b><\/p>\n

I have not a single issue with the electrifying twists of Will\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot in this episode, and I think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re about to see some cool shit in the next two episodes. I think Jack\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory of the identity of Will\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s source is spot-on, and aside from HATING Haladki, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another hint here: desperation. After weeks of silence\u00e2\u20ac\u201dWill hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t made progress on the article in a long, long time\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe source makes a sudden decision to hand Will a name: Jack Bristow.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only now, thinking back on it, that I realize how obvious it is that someone is trying to ruin Jack. Jack isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the one who killed Danny<\/i>. Up to this point, the source\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s information hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been wrong, so why the change? IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S GOTTA BE A VENDETTA, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Not only that, but it feels so sloppy<\/i>, which leads me back to my desperation theory. Someone wants to bury these people, wants them to react poorly and mess up, and IT TOTALLY WORKS IF IT IS HALADKI.<\/p>\n

However\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 did they expect that Will would run to Jack and work with<\/i> them? Is that an expected outcome? If so, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see how that would benefit Haladki, unless Haladki hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realized it yet. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly an interesting twist for ME, and I loved watching Jack and Will interact. And for once, Will ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DOING THIS ALONE. Finally, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! Someone will ACTUALLY be able to verify the things he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experiencing and maybe help him??? Of course, this is Jack we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about, and he would not be above throwing Will under the bus to protect his cover OR to protect Sydney. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so excited for this. I literally can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t guess what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gonna happen.<\/p>\n

Cost<\/b><\/p>\n

You know, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like Sloane at all, but I still feel bad about his wife. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Solution\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reveals that Emily Sloane was<\/i> aware of SD-6 and had been for years\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 except that she also<\/i> believes that her husband is working for the government. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tragedy here in multiple parts, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. If Emily dies soon, she will never know the truth, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll die believing that her husband is worth being proud of. Perhaps ignorance is bliss in this case, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that I want her to be miserable in her final days or months. Rather, I see this as a tragedy of affection: Sloane has manipulated and deceived his wife so much that she has no qualms about loving him fully and completely. This hurts even more when you think about how he wants to be the exception. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want the security team to kill her for knowing about SD-6, despite that he ordered Danny Hecht to be killed. Thus, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hypocrite and<\/i> his wife will be the collateral damage in the end. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see a way out of this for him, you know? The security team can work independently of him, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only a matter of time before they take Emily out.<\/p>\n

Exchange<\/b><\/p>\n

I do love practically everything leading up to the exchange sequence in Bali. THERE ARE SO MANY HEISTS ON THIS SHOW AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO GODDAMN ENTERTAINING WATCHING THEM GO DOWN. I just??? Never get sick??? Of heists??? And this episode features a traditional heist with an odd twist: Sydney gets permission to rob a museum. Sort of<\/i>. She steals art in order to pass along the rumor that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something Khasinau might want. The theft legitimizes the rumor! And all art will be returned through back channels, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 aggressive borrowing? Very aggressive borrowing, indeed.<\/p>\n

(Though the episode does not address the fact that Sydney dropped a cell phone packed with plastic explosives in an elevator shaft, which surely damaged that museum TERRIBLY. Whoops?)<\/p>\n

And then we get to the trade scene.<\/p>\n

And then.<\/p>\n

And.<\/p>\n

then<\/i>.<\/p>\n

So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 look, I understand the logistics at work here. I do. She is a spy. She has to go undercover. She is trying to disguise herself. I am completely lost as to why she needed to darken her skin. Is the implication here that there are no lighter-skinned people in the Raslak Jihad? Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 wow, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unpack THAT nightmare, too! Because that name makes this even messier, right? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that the thought process for this is that the writers believed Sark would be suspicious of a white person showing up? So then the best solution was to have two white people\u00e2\u20ac\u201done in brownface!!!!\u00e2\u20ac\u201duse the weapons of another culture to prove themselves??? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so AGGRESSIVELY WHITE, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I wanted to immerse myself in the thrill of it, given that Dixon is seconds away from discovering that Sydney is a double agent, but the brownface is SO SO SO SO BAD.<\/p>\n

Do better, TV shows.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Solution\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/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":"