{"id":6850,"date":"2018-06-01T13:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T20:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6850"},"modified":"2018-05-11T13:02:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T20:02:14","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s05e13-30-seconds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/06\/mark-watches-alias-s05e13-30-seconds\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S05E13 – 30 Seconds"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of Alias<\/i>, I AM SO ANGRY. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Alias<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I get it. I really<\/i> do. From a storytelling standpoint, there is a justification for what happens here. I still dislike it, especially<\/i> for Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s character. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK.<\/p>\n

Mistaken<\/b><\/p>\n

I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really think about the uncomfortable optics of having Anna become Sydney, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more glaring within an episode that kills off Nadia. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also viewing this through the long history of Alias<\/i> really not treating their non-white characters as well as their white ones. So, on the one hand, it makes me angry. Gina Torres won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t appear in these final episodes because of this, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge negative for me. At the same time, I have the same issue as I do with Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story. I can recognize why someone wrote this. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an unbelievable tension in there being two<\/i> Sydney Bristows, and \u00e2\u20ac\u015330 Seconds\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does not waste a bit of the potential. The entire final scene is astounding because we aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure if Anna is going to step out of that car and accidentally reveal that she is now Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s double. And with a second Sydney in the world, Rambaldi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s endgame is now possible. They can bring about the ruin and devastation he predicted by\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 yeah, I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that part. BUT IT COULD HAPPEN.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll miss Gina Torres, and I expect the show to continue to mess with the audience now that Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s double is out in the world.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Complicity and Desperation<\/b><\/p>\n

The bulk of this episode deals with Arvin Sloane, and as I anticipated, his efforts to save Nadia backfired on him. Initially, I was very happy with this story. Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discomfort with Arvin was given space; she was allowed to be angry at him for causing the events that took a year of her life from her. When she chose to stay with Sydney, she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t demonized for that, either. Of course, Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrangement with Prophet Five hung over everything, and it became an inevitability: When would they all learn the truth? When would the team (and especially Nadia) discover that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been manipulated again<\/i>, that he was directly responsible for Prophet Five\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought that Jack and Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s investigation into Arvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions would reveal the truth, and I braced myself for that. I now understand that, aside from page 47, he had nothing to hide. He really must<\/i> have funded alternative routes to cure Nadia, and that storage room supported his story because it was the truth. Still, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like I can give him credit for being honest; he still had major secrets to hide. Hell, how can I even determine which of them is the worst? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all so terrible<\/i>, from his private allegiance with Prophet Five to the fact that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued his obsession with Rambaldi. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that second one that unravels all of this, though, that pushes Arvin towards a decision that was upsetting but\u00e2\u20ac\u201dunfortunately\u00e2\u20ac\u201dincredibly expected.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the thing: like I felt about Anna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story, I get why<\/i> this happened. The only thing that kept Arvin from pursuing a fully selfish path, from chasing his terrible indulgences, was Nadia. For the entirety of this season, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had a singular goal, one that motivated him to secretly turn on APO out of desperation. So when Nadia discovers that he still has Page 47, that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still going after Rambaldi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secret, SHE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO GET PISSED OFF. That obsession took both of them to a dark place at the end of season 3. It nearly killed Nadia and ended the world in season 4. And Nadia suffered for a year<\/i> while in a coma, and for what? So that Arvin could devote himself to Rambaldi again<\/i>?<\/p>\n

If the show wanted to push Arvin to openly working with Prophet Five, then he had to lose Nadia. She was the only thing that stopped him from his Rambaldi obsession. So, yes, I recognize this. In order for his characterization at the end of the episode to make sense, this was necessary. At the same time: wow, I hate it. I HATE IT SO MUCH. Nadia has been unconscious for the whole season except for ONE EPISODE. In the episode where she comes back, where we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re given the tiniest sliver of hope that she might rejoin APO and help stop Prophet Five, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s killed off. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to suggest that it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sad that Renee was murdered, either. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it, despite that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a means to show us just what Anna is capable of during these final episodes. But this show has killed off every<\/i> person of color but Dixon at this point, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s barely contributing to the overall show. UGH, KNOCK IT OFF, ALIAS<\/i> WRITERS. Yes, I know this criticism can literally affect ZERO THINGS on the show, but I felt I had to say something. I really looked forward to Nadia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s return, and this upsets me a lot<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u015330 Seconds\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":"