{"id":6828,"date":"2018-05-09T13:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T20:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6828"},"modified":"2018-04-29T10:28:05","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T17:28:05","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s04e19-in-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/05\/mark-watches-alias-s04e19-in-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S04E19 – In Dreams…"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the nineteenth episode of the fourth season of Alias<\/i>, this was too much back-to-back with the last episode. HELP ME. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of death of a child<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to try to actually<\/i> redeem Arvin Sloane, I guess that this is where you start. <\/b>I say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I guess\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel that bad for him. If anyone deserves more sympathy, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably Emily. Unfortunately, she exists here to be tragic so that the audience can feel sorry for Arvin. The death of her newborn daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jacqueline\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d heard of in an earlier episode\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis not explored through her eyes. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying that this makes it less sad because LORD, this is devastating to watch.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a matter of degrees. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In Dreams\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reveals three major secrets, all of them tragic, but one of them is directly Arvin Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fault. When the team finally captures Arvin Clone, they come to discover that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lying about who he is. He is<\/i> Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 as much as he can be, that is. The Brainstorm Project, continued by McCullough after the dissolution of SD-6, is responsible for the creation of Arvin Clone, whose brain fully believes it is<\/i> Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brain. (When I told y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all that I loved this show leaning into the more bizarre forms of science fiction, I had no idea just how far this show would go.) So, one of Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secrets comes back to haunt, and the form it manifests in is eerie. And what a brilliant way for the writers to give us this metaphorical nightmare! Arvin must see himself for who he is through the body of someone who resembles him, but is still slightly off<\/i>. But that image still represents what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d consider the body of his work: his obsession with Rambaldi. His need to be in control. His ruthless treatment of people who he sees as collateral damage. All of that is on display here, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all undeniable. Arvin saw himself as someone who sought redemption and tried to do good in the world. Arvin Clone, therefore, is the path he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take. And look where that led everyone, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Did it matter?<\/p>\n

Even worse, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say that Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt at redemption was still<\/i> deeply flawed because of how he went about it. I KNEW OMNIFAM WAS FUCKED UP. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter what Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent was. Yes, maybe he wanted a more peaceful world, but you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go about that by SECRETLY ADDING SOMETHING TO THE WATER SUPPLY IN ORDER TO QUIETLY MANIPULATE PEOPLE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S GENETICS. The whole thing is paternalistic and creepy, and it instantly undermines any attempt at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153redemption.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It has tones of eugenics. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a violation of consent. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO GROSS IN EVERY RESPECT. And because he failed at it, Arvin Clone was able to take advantage of Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt, and he ACTUALLY found the one ingredient Arvin was always missing. He set up this disaster in the first place, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s with this in mind that the third secret finally unfolds. Like the events of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mirage,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I was a little skeptical to the set-up of this episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big sequence. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 how exactly could they get inside Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head? How was this supposed to work? WHO CARES ABOUT THE SCIENCE WHEN THE DRAMATIC EFFECT IS SO DEVASTATING? So yes, I was able to put aside any scientific doubt I had once I saw what the show was trying to do for us. Again, most of sympathy is for Emily. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horrific that these two lost a child, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to accept that in the face of all the other things that Arvin has done. Which I suspect is the point! The show didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to isolate this one tragedy, to say that it existed outside the scope of Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life. Hell, if anything, his life makes more sense because of it. No wonder<\/i> he latched on to Nadia as quickly and as fiercely as he did! He saw her as a sign that he could get to be a father, even though he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been denied that.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most important for his arc is what he does next<\/i>. As Jack notes, Arvin has claimed that he has wanted to reinvent himself many times before. How is this any different? He says he wants to clean up the mess he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made, but why should I believe him this time? Also, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mess.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d YOU ARE ABOUT A DAY FROM CONTRIBUTING TO THE EXECUTION OF A FEW HUNDRED MILLION<\/i> PEOPLE. It is a little more than a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mess,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you know???\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, Arvin Sloane.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In Dreams\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\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":"