{"id":6849,"date":"2018-05-31T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T20:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6849"},"modified":"2018-05-11T13:00:15","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T20:00:15","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s05e12-theres-only-one-sydney-bristow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/05\/mark-watches-alias-s05e12-theres-only-one-sydney-bristow\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S05E12 – There’s Only One Sydney Bristow"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twelfth episode of the fifth season of Alias, oh. OH NO. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, I should have seen that coming. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have appreciated that this final season of Alias has had so many references to what has transpired over the course of this show. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Horizon\u00e2\u20ac\u009d analyzed Vaughn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relationship with Sydney, and this episode brings back Will Tippin to reflect on how far these two have come as well. Look, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: I MISS THEM BEING ON MISSIONS. Granted, they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t on many together, but whenever they were, they were so FUN. We get to see a glimpse of that here as Will gets to ham up his performance as a demanding train patron, and y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all… I miss Will. I really do!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the whole point. I now see just how expertly designed this manipulation was. Prophet Five, with just the slightest nudge from Arvin Sloane, helped Sydney believe that Anna had kidnapped Will in order to hurt her. But the goal wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really to cause her any direct harm. Oh, Anna was petty enough to do so ANYWAY, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because it was her way to get back at Sydney for having her locked up. Aside from drawing her blood once, Anna just had to provide a believable misdirection. AND WHAT A MISDIRECTION THAT WAS. This was all an attempt to steal Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s genetic material!!! PROPHET FIVE ACTUALLY WANTS TO FULFILL RAMBALDI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S PROPHECY!!! Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I genuinely thought that stuff was completed. (And bless Rachel for being the sole voice in this episode to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, what the fuck are y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all talking about???) But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an interesting take on the prophecy. If Sydney herself won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take part in it\u00e2\u20ac\u201dif she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refused her place within it all\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthen Prophet Five is just going to double her, and Anna AS Sydney will just do it anyway. Do I know what that actually entails? Nope. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what this changes, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the next steps are. Is the end of this season going to be an even bigger apocalyptic nightmare than last season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finale???<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested, then, to see if Arvin feels this has all been worth it. Kelly hands over Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cure, but is it really permanent??? I AM WORRIED IT IS NOT. But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say it is, that in the coming episodes, Nadia is finally cured. Arvin still paid a terrible cost to get this, and you better believe that Nadia isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gonna be cool with that. And exactly how long is he gonna be able to keep it a secret from here? Oh, Arvin, you may have saved Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, but I suspect this\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll backfire on you. AGAIN.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get to the single quietest reveal in the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve now convinced myself that I did NOT mishear that bit of dialogue between Jack and Sydney while they discussed Will. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: Sydney has known the whole time that Vaughn was alive and in hiding??? My memory might be shaky on this, but it would explain a large component of this story. Yeah, I was so worried that Sydney would be furious at Vaughn for orchestrating this and making her suffer. But he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t! Well, sort of, and I can see how all the lonely moments of grief aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t negated by this reveal, but merely re-contextualized. Because that was my first gripe with this: why would Sydney be upset PRIVATELY if no one was around? She had no reason to sell this performance! (I am just now realizing that this is easily the greatest alias of the whole show. She has convinced everyone but her father that she is a widowed mother-to-be.) Well, I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still an easy explanation for this: she is still sad that Vaughn has to miss out on all of this. They might have mutually agreed on this plan, but that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that Sydney can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss him or wish he was still around for all these milestone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in her life and Isabelle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested to see what the next step is, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll either justify this technique or make me angry. I DO NOT KNOW YET.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Only One Sydney Bristow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/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":"