{"id":6808,"date":"2018-04-16T13:00:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6808"},"modified":"2018-04-09T06:28:19","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T13:28:19","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s04e02-authorized-personnel-only-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/04\/mark-watches-alias-s04e02-authorized-personnel-only-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S04E02 – Authorized Personnel Only, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the fourth season of Alias<\/i>, Sydney reveals her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secret, only to have it upended. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow, this opener really is<\/i> a re-invention of the show as a whole, and I really am enjoying it! LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK ABOUT THIS.<\/p>\n

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

At the very least, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a purity to this re-invention, and it comes in the form of secretive, ridiculous heists. Since APO is an off-the-books, black ops production, it means that they get to do ALL KINDS OF SHIT they hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been able to in past seasons. Thus, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how we get a mission where the team is just straight-up stealing a samurai sword. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I guess they were going to give it back at some point? (To the wrong people, for the record, because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no way the British Museum acquired that sword by ethical means.) Regardless, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fun to watch because it feels unfiltered and ridiculous. Granted, it was also stressful for other reasons, some of them artificial, others much more emotional and intense. For example: a good heist has<\/i> to have logistical concerns that make it difficult to pull off. Otherwise, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no fun, right?<\/p>\n

But throughout this episode, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re forced to deal with the specter of Jack\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past deeds (which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to in its own section), the presence of Nadia, and Tomazaki\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shocking reveal, all of which add a texture to these heists. It makes them so much more intense<\/i> than usual, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one reason I enjoyed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Authorized Personnel Only, Part II\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as much as I did. Everything is interconnected, and it makes for compelling television.<\/p>\n

Nadia<\/b><\/p>\n

I figured that the show wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to just ignore her or her potential role in the adventure, so it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly surprising that the writers used that whole trope of putting someone in danger so that the character who refused to come back to the job was suddenly compelled to return. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just too much potential for her, both in that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daughter and in her relation to the cast of characters. At times, I even got flashes of Irina in Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face, as if she really was<\/i> her daughter, and it allowed me to believe the fiction.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I still want to know what she found with Sloane after the end of last season. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hesitation, a reluctance, in Nadia that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just related to her desire to stop being a spy. I suspect that she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be around Sloane anymore. WHO CAN BLAME HER, HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S THE WORST. And something<\/i> happened to keep her away from Sloane, right? On top of it all, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dedication to finding her mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s killer, who is actually<\/i> Jack, and THIS SEASON IS GONNA BE A MESS, I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WAIT.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Secret<\/b><\/p>\n

I admit that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strange that one of the series\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest moments happened completely off-screen. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just the event itself; the assassination of Irina Derevko was planned<\/i>, and not one moment of this story\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom Jack\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discovery that Irina took out a contract on Sydney, that he somehow tracked her down and successfully assassinated her with the explicit approval of the U.S. government\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwas seen on screen. I\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 kind of get it? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only real way for this to be a secret, one that the writers can tease us with and then reveal like a brick to the chest. But the shock of that reveal only works to a certain extent. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m then left feeling cheated. Exactly when<\/i> did Jack execute this plan? During the events of the season three finale? Earlier than that? The timeline makes no sense to me. It could<\/i>, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re given such little information that I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even construct one that would resemble the truth. And why the fuck<\/i> would Irina take a contract out on her own daughter??? Sydney didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pose a threat to her, did she???<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very strange, and I suspect there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a possible explanation to this that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being kept from me. For the moment, the one part of this reveal that does<\/i> work is Jack. Because of course<\/i> he would allow Sydney to believe that he did something awful for no reason at all so that she could direct her ire at him. Once again, he tries to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153protect\u00e2\u20ac\u009d her, even though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a misguided act. (Like most acts of fatherly love from Jack, for that matter. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a great father, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also trying really, really hard. Even I can admit that his relationship with Sydney is practically unrecognizable from where they started at in the pilot episode.) He decides what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to tolerate, despite that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shown the resolve and power to handle pretty much anything life has thrown at her.<\/p>\n

So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what the fuck happened, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all?<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Authorized Personnel Only, Part II\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":"