{"id":6766,"date":"2018-03-06T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T21:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6766"},"modified":"2018-02-26T17:25:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T01:25:01","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s02e19-endgame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/03\/mark-watches-alias-s02e19-endgame\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S02E19 – Endgame"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the nineteenth episode of the second season of Alias<\/i>, HELP. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For talk of racism (specifically anti-blackness) and fridging\/misogyny<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Goddamn it, I WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T READY AGAIN<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I have a thing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna get to at the end that made me upset (and not in the entertaining), but I do want to say that, for the vast, vast majority of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Endgame,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I was thrilled and entertained. This episode deals with the fallout from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truth Takes Time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all know I LOVE when fiction addresses consequences, complicity and the complexities that come with that. WHICH IS THIS WHOLE EPISODE. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s framed both as a revenge story for Arvin Sloane as well as a story of Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dedication to saving Caplan from Sloane.<\/p>\n

So, where the hell do I start with all of this? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard for me to care on any level what Sloane actually feels about anything. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sad that a complicated character is gone, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll touch on the implications of that at the end of this. But am I sad for Sloane? Not in the slightest. The dude is reaping what he sowed for LITERAL years. Sloane is only interesting in the way he affects the plot. Here, he temporarily (and I assume it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a temporary thing, as I see no reason for him not to continue his pursuit) abandons his obsession with Rambaldi in order to find out which member of the CIA shot his wife. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to me that Sloane views this through such a singular lens, though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprising at all. He still finds ways to justify his life and his choices, and thus, he<\/i> is the one who has been wronged here. He divides the world into that kind of binary understanding because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always worked for him.<\/p>\n

Plus, his dedication and pettiness fuels this revenge quest of his. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious if Irina or Sark will blame their loss of Caplan on this exact aspect of Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personality. Was he distracted? Do they see that as a possible explanation for how the CIA was able to find the facility they were working in? Or does it even matter anymore? Did they get the specific person they were looking for? (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m operating under the assumption that Irina wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lying when she said that they needed access to the database in order to find one person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s DNA.)<\/p>\n

While the revenge plot unfolds, I kept hoping that something would distract Sloane so that he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t discover that Dixon was the one who shot his wife. BECAUSE HASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T DIXON BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH LATELY. For a moment there, I thought Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relentless pursuit of Irina, Sloane, Sark, and Caplan was going to keep Sloane away. It was convincing enough! Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to suggest that this is the only reason that this plot existed. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important examination of the dynamic between Sydney and her father within the workplace. A good part of the conflict is between the two of them. AND OH LORD, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO RICH AND DENSE. Look, I was surprised that Caplan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wife, Elena, was revealed to be a KGB agent much like Irina. Sent to infiltrate America through Caplan and to pass along what she learned of his research, she hit way<\/i> too close to home for Sydney and especially<\/i> Jack.<\/p>\n

It made a lot of sense that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have a far more brutal and conservative take on Elena. He was just<\/i> tricked and betrayed by Irina, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even like this brought up old wounds. THE WOUND IS STILL FRESH. But Alias<\/i> constantly deals with emotional bias, especially since this job is so intensely tied to these people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives. Jack and Sydney can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever<\/i> separate the two, you know? So, earlier this season, the writers explored Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s connection to her mother and her strange journey towards a possible reconciliation. That meant that we saw both Jack and Sydney having to acknowledge how difficult it was for either<\/i> of them to interact with her.<\/p>\n

CUE THIS EPISODE, WHICH FEATURES JACK BEING ALL STUBBORN AGAIN<\/i> EXCEPT\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6. oh god, what if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right? <\/i>What if Elena is a plant? What if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all a trick? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even like Elena is a mystery like Irina; she flat-out admitted who she was and what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done. Therefore, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really not that hard to see why Jack reacts as he does, why he refuses to let Sydney pursue Caplan to save him. At the same time, I absolutely get why Sydney behaves as she does. EXTRA BONUS: Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own stubbornness leads to perhaps my favorite alias of hers EVER. She changed in the BACKROOM STORAGE ROOM OF A RITE AID AND TURNED HERSELF INTO A SORORITY GIRL. I just!!!! HOW DID WE GET BLESSED WITH SUCH PERFECTION!<\/p>\n

So, look. This episode was incredibly<\/i> tense throughout, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a huge fan of how tightly plotted \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Endgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was. In that context, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brilliant. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not easy to have a character-dense episode also<\/i> feature an exciting plot, so bravo on that front. However, the tragic ending of this episode isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just cruel. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have nearly the same problem with Diane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death without some history\/context. It makes sense from the perspective of Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization. That man is precisely<\/i> as evil as he is presented here, and I did not doubt that he would have Diane murdered because Dixon fired the shot that killed Emily.<\/p>\n

However, this is now the second<\/i> black woman killed off on this show, and she was killed by the other<\/i> black woman left on the show, who isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even the same character anymore either! At this count, that also means we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got three women murdered in order to advance the stories of men: Francie (for development around Will), Emily (for Arvin Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s development), and now Diane, who will inevitably be tied to Dixon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role in Alias<\/i>. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not trying to present myself as an expert on this specific phenomenon. I had to have this sort of pattern pointed out to me years and years ago, and now that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m aware of it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard not<\/i> to see it. One of the reasons Dixon was so compelling as a character was BECAUSE he had a family. Plus, we were finally getting to explore Diane in depth!<\/p>\n

Seriously, though: Arvin Sloane is THE WORST.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Endgame\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":"