{"id":6812,"date":"2018-04-20T13:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T20:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6812"},"modified":"2018-04-09T17:58:19","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T00:58:19","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s04e06-nocturne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/04\/mark-watches-alias-s04e06-nocturne\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S04E06 – Nocturne"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixth episode of the fourth season of Alias<\/i>, NOPE. NO, THANK YOU. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For talk of phobias (specifically arachnophobia), paranoia, unreality, suicide and drugging<\/b>.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine??? This was fine??? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m definitely okay???<\/p>\n

The Set-Up<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely interesting to me that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m basically watching J.J. Abrams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work in reverse. In doing so, I can see how future properties or series may have either been inspired by his past projects, or<\/i> he was merely testing ideas out. Now, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to discredit Jeff Pinkner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role in writing the script for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nocturne,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to note that Pinkner would later writer for other Abrams projects, too. But this episode, while firmly in the tradition of Alias<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s twisting of contemporary spy thrillers with science fiction, could have easily<\/i> been an episode of Fringe<\/i> with a few key changes. SERIOUSLY, JUST SWAP OUT SYDNEY AND VAUGHN WITH PETER AND OLIVIA AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO PERFECT, RIGHT? Thank you, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re welcome, write that crossover fanfiction as soon as you can.<\/p>\n

I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 look. The companion scenes that set up the world of the drug Nocturne are just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not okay??? The script manages to combine body horror with paranoia and a healthy dose of phobia scares and JESUS, WHY WAS THIS EPISODE SO RELENTLESSLY INTENSE. And it tricks you with two huge scenes\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe death of both<\/i> CIA agents due to Nocturne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s influence\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand then quietly eats away at the audience through Sydney. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given a clean bill of health, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a goddamn red herring. Meanwhile, all we are left with is the disturbing imagery of Nancy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suicide and Jason\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vampire-like rampage. (Seriously, the visuals on that sequence alone felt ripped straight out of a horror movie. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m having a lot of fun with the fluidity of genre within this show. This episode can exist alongside heists and the Rambaldi plot, and it all still feels<\/i> like the same show. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty damn special.) Even if Sydney hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been affected by the Nocturne, she still<\/i> would have been haunted by Jason\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attack, you know?<\/p>\n

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

So, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fascinated by stories where reader\/watcher perception is integral to the narrative. We know that Sydney is being poisoned by Nocturne from that very first scene where she spots a spider on sink that seemingly disappears. Though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna pitch a theory that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just conjecture: Sydney knew the whole time, but chose to actively deny it the first few instances she hallucinated something. Regardless, the audience operates on a different level of understanding than the characters. We know everything upfront; then Sydney does; then Jack suspects next, until everyone<\/i> is aware that Nocturne is busy infecting Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind. Each falling domino in this sequence is an important story beat, so just from a craft perspective, this was so, so thrilling to watch. This was not an immediate nightmare; it was a slow burn that we always saw coming.<\/p>\n

Thus, on the one hand, this is an experience, the type of episode where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mostly about how a character deals with a very specific predicament. (Spoiler alert: SYDNEY DEALS WITH IT VERY BADLY.) But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an extra layer of meaning to all of this, and I appreciated that Pinkner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s script allowed the audience to fill in some of the spaces between what was stated on screen. For example: it is astounding<\/i> that Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scenes work so well as an overstated and exaggerated use of her paranoia towards her father. He has betrayed her quite recently, and their relationship is prickly at best<\/i>. Thus, as she turns against him, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just a matter of Nocturne changing her brain chemistry. Her existing trauma and mistrust is merely dialed up a notch, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost a catharsis in watching her act out her feelings.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more emotional (and stunning) to see how she deals with Vaughn. Her sense of distrust manifests as an expression of betrayal: How dare<\/i> Vaughn go off and marry Lauren in her absence! She might tell<\/i> Vaughn that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine and that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moved on, but that accusation was so damn raw<\/i>, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. YET LET US ALL APPRECIATE THAT VAUGHN DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T RISE TO THE BAIT AND HE SUPPORTS SYDNEY THROUGHOUT IT AND HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO SWEET AND????? Hi, everyone, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not shipped a het pairing this hard since Lee Adama and Roslin. My god, I just love that hospital scene in the end. (Well, minus Vaughn handling the spider, what the HELL are you doing!!!!!!!!) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so tender and loving, and my heart BURSTS at how supportive he is.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dixon<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, I still think the show is under-utilizing him, but I am going to call it right now: Dixon utterly rejecting Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apology and then verbally decimating him is going to be amongst the greatest scenes of this whole damn show. I am thankful that the writers haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pushed these characters towards an unwarranted and unearned forgiveness of Sloane. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve commented multiple times on video that Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rejections of Sloane continue to add years to my life. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something particularly brutal and cathartic in watching Dixon refuse to accept that it is his<\/i> fault that he never suspected that SD-6 wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really CIA. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shitty, victim-blaming bit of logic from Sloane, and Dixon beautifully reverses it on him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my eternal mood, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: rejecting horrible people to their face.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nocturne\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":"