{"id":6749,"date":"2018-02-16T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T21:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6749"},"modified":"2018-02-05T17:00:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T01:00:14","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s02e07-the-counteragent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/02\/mark-watches-alias-s02e07-the-counteragent\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S02E07 – The Counteragent"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventh episode of the second season of Alias<\/i>, OH, NO, DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DO THAT AGAIN. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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

Oh, Alias<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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

I am really not sure what this is leading to. Will\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new job\u00e2\u20ac\u201das a research assistant to Vaughn\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhas led him down a bizarre path. Vaughn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suspicion about state testing have now been confirmed. In 1982, questions that could trigger a government agency to seek out specific students actually<\/i> appeared on tests and then were retroactively removed to cover-up evidence that they were ever there. And now that Vaughn was right\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what next?<\/p>\n

I see two possible storylines here. Either the KGB ran a recruitment effort in the states\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhich isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly relevant to the current storyline, since there is<\/i> no KGB anymore. Or: I suspect that the CIA<\/i> actually ran a program in the United States, and Vaughn is now uncovering that. If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, I feel like Will might be putting himself at risk again<\/i>. THAT POOR MAN. Is he gonna continue doing research for Vaughn, or will this grow into something else? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW.<\/p>\n

Countdown<\/b><\/p>\n

I never suspected that Vaughn would actually die on this episode. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the few characters I believe (at this point) to make it to the final episode. (Including Sydney, Jack, and Marshall. Will they survive the series finale? WHO KNOWS.) Thus, there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much tension in this threat. He feels like a safe character. (Lord, I hope I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t regret saying this later.) Most of the tension came from watching the first major heist in the episode. We know that the writers have allowed Sydney to fail at these, which means that at any time, she might not succeed on her mission. Case in point: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Counteragent\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shows us Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to take a major risk while trying to get an antidote for Vaughn. The cost of taking that risk, though, is that Sark nearly kills her and compels her to agree to work together\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 to hand him Arvin Sloane. Yet prior to this reveal, I was excited to see how Sydney would get out of that facility knowing<\/i> that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d tripped alarms. I CERTAINLY DID NOT EXPECT THIS RESOLUTION.<\/p>\n

Unlikely Allies<\/b><\/p>\n

Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all know I love that trope where enemies or rivals have to team up to fight an enemy they<\/i> share, so this was LIKE THE AIR I BREATHE. It was surreal, compelling, and exciting to watch how Sydney navigated this! I was glad she told the CIA the truth about what had happened because it allowed the writers to really dig into the possibilities here. If Sydney went along with Sark\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan, that meant they were handing over Arvin Sloane to the man who would kill him. Sydney would be directly responsible for the death of someone else. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s indirectly<\/i> caused deaths\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlike when Dixon had that secondary ignition last season\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut this was not ambiguous at all<\/i>. (I will say that while I am not really watching Alias<\/i> for realism, it does feel like a bit of a stretch that Sydney hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t killed anyone<\/i> in all those years. The CIA kills people all the time; why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a shadow organization merit murder even more than that?)<\/p>\n

Watching the debate over the worthiness of Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life was incredible, and seeing how they justified it\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhile keeping it under wraps from Kendall\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwas just as satisfying. And.<\/p>\n

Then.<\/p>\n

It.<\/p>\n

Happened.<\/p>\n

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

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s any possible value in dissecting this kind of nonsense because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all so terrible anyway<\/i>, but like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 this was a bad disguise!!! It was certainly intensely racist and gross and no amount of internal reasoning could justify something so appallingly horrific, but also SHE LITERALLY LOOKED LIKE A WHITE WOMAN IN YELLOWFACE. She looked like herself! Somehow, Arvin looked her in the face twice<\/i> and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recognize this haphazard make-up job. And even saying that<\/i> feels absurd because if the job had been good, it still wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t validate this choice. Oh my god, she couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been anyone<\/i> else? They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any Asian people working at the CIA? YOU DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HAVE<\/i> TO WRITE THESE PLOTS. YOU COULD HAVE SET THIS ANYWHERE ELSE AND GIVEN SYDNEY A REASON TO HIDE HER FACE FROM ARVIN. He could have gone to see a doctor instead\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthereby granting the scene the same awkwardness because Sydney would see him with little clothing on\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand NO YELLOWFACE HAS TO HAPPEN. Again, not a possible justification by any means, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an oversaturation of Asian women on this show. THERE AREN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T ANY AT ALL.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a redundant point, I know. But wow, that was\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 bad. SO BAD.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Counteragent\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":"