Alias 4.9: "A Man of His Word"
Written by Breen Frazier
Directed by Marita Grabiak
In which APO must cut a deal with Sark to derail Anna’s terrorist plans, putting Vaughn in a personally difficult position, while Jack and Sloane vie over Nadia’s fate…
Status Report
In the previous episode, the writers took familiar images and concepts from the first three seasons and used them as a means to place this season in a broader context. With the relationships more or less established in the first several episodes (with only one episode really dropping the ball), the time was right for the plot to kick into gear. Even so, the action revolved more around the implications of the Rambaldi prophecies, which finally made a comeback after being ignored since the end of the third season.
In the review of the previous episode, one concept came to mind, upon reflection: what if the whole APO setup, at least from the point of view of Jack and Sloane (and possibly Irina, if she is Sentinel), is meant to shield Sydney and Nadia from the threat of Rambaldi’s followers? What if the goal was to keep them, as much as possible, assigned to missions that kept them out of old circles, thus preventing the Rambaldi prophecies from coming true?
This episode also seems to align with the speculation in the review for the previous episode in terms of the pact between Jack and Sloane. This episode confirms the earlier suspicion about such a deal, and also links that deal to Sloane’s agreement with the CIA. Perhaps the CIA wanted to ensure that Jack, as the one person who has consistently opposed Sloane in the past, would get to evaluate Sloane’s cooperation.
Whatever the case, Sloane’s motivations are still almost impossible to understand. In the previous episode, he seemed to have perfect faith in Rambaldi’s prediction about Sydney and Nadia, to the point of stepping around the stipulation that he keep his nose out of the current mission to warn Sydney that the prophecy might come true. This episode clearly demonstrates that Sloane places Nadia’s life above the fulfillment of Rambaldi’s vision, which lends more support to the idea that his deal with the CIA is meant to overcome what he believes will happen in the near future.
If Jack and Sloane did make an agreement (possibly with Irina as well) to guide and protect the two daughters from some outside threat, then the threat must be associated with the Magnific Order of Rambaldi or (depending on what Sloane discovered after “Resurrection”) Rambaldi himself. This would, by virtue of the end of the third season, place Vaughn’s family history in the equation, since his father was secretly a member of the Order and he was killed by Irina in her effort to keep Nadia out of the Order’s hands. (Yes, this violates the timeline established in the first season, but it’s on the table now, so it needs to be addressed.)
As already seen in “Ice”, Vaughn’s psychology is a matter of serious consideration, because he is still working through the aftermath of killing his own wife, regardless of the justifications involved. This episode deftly picks up that plot thread and attaches another layer to it. The previous episode revealed that Sark was in love with Lauren (something that built upon his infatuation for her in the third season), and prison has taken those emotions to a new plateau.
It’s that dynamic between Vaughn and Sark that drives the episode, with Sydney caught in the middle. This continues the theme of the two-part story, which essentially took some of the major plot and character elements of the last three seasons and pulled them into one story. In this case, the story feels like much of the third season, where Sydney was reacting to conflicts outside of her immediate control. Sure, she’s directly involved with the capture of Anna, in the name of saving her sister’s life, but the real drama exists between Vaughn and Sark.
The mausoleum scene was incredibly tense, and simply one of the best of the season. Sark could have been entirely sincere about his motivations, but it’s also a good bet that he was trying to undermine Vaughn’s resolve and concentration in a bid to gain advantage. Vaughn didn’t really budge, going what was necessary rather than breaking the deal, and that says a lot about where his character has gone since “Resurrection”. If anything, Vaughn and Sark are moving closer to the same shade of grey: Vaughn’s moral righteousness has given way to moral equivocation, while Sark wants nothing more than to follow in Sloane’s footsteps. Given that both loved the same woman twice over (Sark has always been fascinated with Sydney as well), this is entirely appropriate.
As interesting as this should prove for Vaughn’s future development, it’s also quite an interesting shift of focus for Sark. Rather than having him on the cast with relatively nothing to do, the writers have returned to the rationale that Sark is best used in small and highly effective doses. It definitely works here, because he plays everyone while still maintaining a basic sincerity. He never lied to Anna (having never promised to be her partner), and he stayed well within the boundaries of his agreement with the CIA, so far as it worked for his own best interests. His honesty is still somewhat situational (he did escape, after all), but in an overall sense, he is trying to be a man of his word. If anything, that makes him more dangerous, because now he’s likely to be less flexible with his loyalties.
Getting back to the mausoleum scene, it had some of the best acting of the season. Michael Vartan communicates an amazing spectrum of emotions when staring at Lauren’s body, expressing satisfaction and regret in subtle facial movements. David Anders lingers over the bullet holes with an almost fetishistic purpose, giving Sark an intensity that only comes from such a warped conception of love. (It’s easy to forgive the fact that the shot of Melissa George, fleeting as it was, didn’t match the close-ups at all.)
This is such a powerful scene that the rest of the episode pales in comparison. It informs the game that Sark plays for the rest of the caper, placing Vaughn in the position of watching his current love interest recast herself as Sark’s version of Lauren. For the sake of her sister and stopping Anna, Sydney must play along, and it’s hard to know if Vaughn is more excited or disgusted at the prospect.
All of which gets swept away in the excitement when Sark is effectively kidnapped by Anna. Sark’s interaction with Anna is very strong, but Anna’s overall motivation in this episode doesn’t make sense. Why try to kill Nadia when the point is to force Sydney and Nadia into the massive conflict that the Order wants and needs? Perhaps it’s a question of faith; perhaps Anna is under the impression that Nadia can’t die (at least not permanently) since Rambaldi said it wouldn’t happen that way. If that’s the case, however, it wasn’t clearly communicated, and the reasons given in the episode made no sense in conjunction with the previous episode.
On the other hand, Jack’s rationale is perfectly logical. He takes the authority granted by Sloane and the CIA and calls Sloane’s bluff regarding his faith in Rambaldi’s prophecies. He takes the chance of reviving Nadia to get the information he needs to apprehend Anna, and while he takes no pleasure in it, he doesn’t back down when Sloane demonstrates his personal conflict over the whole situation. Although, when Sloane objects to having Nadia’s life placed in jeopardy, Jack could have easily produced dozens of moments where Sydney’s life was contingent on Sloane’s mercy. But then, Jack and Sloane have an agenda, and it was in his best interest to keep the debate within certain boundaries.
Beyond the fact that Anna’s motivations are hard to fathom, Sloane’s continual participation in something that he is supposed to be banned from even discussing is impossible to reconcile. Yes, it is necessary to the drama that Sloane’s faith be tested against the reality of Nadia’s survival, but if the writers are going to create a plot device to remove Sloane from power, however temporarily, they should stick with it. By not being consistent, the writers turn something momentous and revealing into a contrivance.
In between the strong Vaughn/Sark interactions and Jack/Sloane intrigues and the weak motivations ascribed to Anna, there’s the information given regarding the Covenant. It’s finally revealed that after the end of the third season, the Covenant fell apart without adequate leadership. This strongly suggests that Irina was the secret head of the Covenant, perhaps intending to bring about the Rambaldi endgame without fully understanding the cost. One can easily imagine Irina faking her death, with the help of Jack and Sloane, upon realizing that the three of them could protect their daughters. It’s merely speculation, but since the Covenant was all about Rambaldi, it fits.
While this wasn’t as strong as strong as the first half, it really focused on a different aspect of the overall series mythology. The first half was all about Rambaldi and the role that Sydney and Nadia might play in his endgame; the second half was about the lingering issues between Vaughn and Sark. While too many episodes focusing away from Sydney can be a detriment, it works when appropriate, and this is one such case. Now that old plot threads have been successfully resurrected, hopefully the writers can continue to move forward with the old “Alias” flavor intact.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode wasn’t quite as strong as the first half of the story, largely due to Anna’s odd shift in motivation. The Vaughn/Sark interaction was stellar, including some strong acting on the part of both actors, and the hints and portents regarding Jack and Sloane keep coming. This is definitely closer to the direction that the writers should be taking for this season, though it’s hard to tell if the season is back on track just yet.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.9): 7.4
Directed by Marita Grabiak
In which APO must cut a deal with Sark to derail Anna’s terrorist plans, putting Vaughn in a personally difficult position, while Jack and Sloane vie over Nadia’s fate…
Status Report
In the previous episode, the writers took familiar images and concepts from the first three seasons and used them as a means to place this season in a broader context. With the relationships more or less established in the first several episodes (with only one episode really dropping the ball), the time was right for the plot to kick into gear. Even so, the action revolved more around the implications of the Rambaldi prophecies, which finally made a comeback after being ignored since the end of the third season.
In the review of the previous episode, one concept came to mind, upon reflection: what if the whole APO setup, at least from the point of view of Jack and Sloane (and possibly Irina, if she is Sentinel), is meant to shield Sydney and Nadia from the threat of Rambaldi’s followers? What if the goal was to keep them, as much as possible, assigned to missions that kept them out of old circles, thus preventing the Rambaldi prophecies from coming true?
This episode also seems to align with the speculation in the review for the previous episode in terms of the pact between Jack and Sloane. This episode confirms the earlier suspicion about such a deal, and also links that deal to Sloane’s agreement with the CIA. Perhaps the CIA wanted to ensure that Jack, as the one person who has consistently opposed Sloane in the past, would get to evaluate Sloane’s cooperation.
Whatever the case, Sloane’s motivations are still almost impossible to understand. In the previous episode, he seemed to have perfect faith in Rambaldi’s prediction about Sydney and Nadia, to the point of stepping around the stipulation that he keep his nose out of the current mission to warn Sydney that the prophecy might come true. This episode clearly demonstrates that Sloane places Nadia’s life above the fulfillment of Rambaldi’s vision, which lends more support to the idea that his deal with the CIA is meant to overcome what he believes will happen in the near future.
If Jack and Sloane did make an agreement (possibly with Irina as well) to guide and protect the two daughters from some outside threat, then the threat must be associated with the Magnific Order of Rambaldi or (depending on what Sloane discovered after “Resurrection”) Rambaldi himself. This would, by virtue of the end of the third season, place Vaughn’s family history in the equation, since his father was secretly a member of the Order and he was killed by Irina in her effort to keep Nadia out of the Order’s hands. (Yes, this violates the timeline established in the first season, but it’s on the table now, so it needs to be addressed.)
As already seen in “Ice”, Vaughn’s psychology is a matter of serious consideration, because he is still working through the aftermath of killing his own wife, regardless of the justifications involved. This episode deftly picks up that plot thread and attaches another layer to it. The previous episode revealed that Sark was in love with Lauren (something that built upon his infatuation for her in the third season), and prison has taken those emotions to a new plateau.
It’s that dynamic between Vaughn and Sark that drives the episode, with Sydney caught in the middle. This continues the theme of the two-part story, which essentially took some of the major plot and character elements of the last three seasons and pulled them into one story. In this case, the story feels like much of the third season, where Sydney was reacting to conflicts outside of her immediate control. Sure, she’s directly involved with the capture of Anna, in the name of saving her sister’s life, but the real drama exists between Vaughn and Sark.
The mausoleum scene was incredibly tense, and simply one of the best of the season. Sark could have been entirely sincere about his motivations, but it’s also a good bet that he was trying to undermine Vaughn’s resolve and concentration in a bid to gain advantage. Vaughn didn’t really budge, going what was necessary rather than breaking the deal, and that says a lot about where his character has gone since “Resurrection”. If anything, Vaughn and Sark are moving closer to the same shade of grey: Vaughn’s moral righteousness has given way to moral equivocation, while Sark wants nothing more than to follow in Sloane’s footsteps. Given that both loved the same woman twice over (Sark has always been fascinated with Sydney as well), this is entirely appropriate.
As interesting as this should prove for Vaughn’s future development, it’s also quite an interesting shift of focus for Sark. Rather than having him on the cast with relatively nothing to do, the writers have returned to the rationale that Sark is best used in small and highly effective doses. It definitely works here, because he plays everyone while still maintaining a basic sincerity. He never lied to Anna (having never promised to be her partner), and he stayed well within the boundaries of his agreement with the CIA, so far as it worked for his own best interests. His honesty is still somewhat situational (he did escape, after all), but in an overall sense, he is trying to be a man of his word. If anything, that makes him more dangerous, because now he’s likely to be less flexible with his loyalties.
Getting back to the mausoleum scene, it had some of the best acting of the season. Michael Vartan communicates an amazing spectrum of emotions when staring at Lauren’s body, expressing satisfaction and regret in subtle facial movements. David Anders lingers over the bullet holes with an almost fetishistic purpose, giving Sark an intensity that only comes from such a warped conception of love. (It’s easy to forgive the fact that the shot of Melissa George, fleeting as it was, didn’t match the close-ups at all.)
This is such a powerful scene that the rest of the episode pales in comparison. It informs the game that Sark plays for the rest of the caper, placing Vaughn in the position of watching his current love interest recast herself as Sark’s version of Lauren. For the sake of her sister and stopping Anna, Sydney must play along, and it’s hard to know if Vaughn is more excited or disgusted at the prospect.
All of which gets swept away in the excitement when Sark is effectively kidnapped by Anna. Sark’s interaction with Anna is very strong, but Anna’s overall motivation in this episode doesn’t make sense. Why try to kill Nadia when the point is to force Sydney and Nadia into the massive conflict that the Order wants and needs? Perhaps it’s a question of faith; perhaps Anna is under the impression that Nadia can’t die (at least not permanently) since Rambaldi said it wouldn’t happen that way. If that’s the case, however, it wasn’t clearly communicated, and the reasons given in the episode made no sense in conjunction with the previous episode.
On the other hand, Jack’s rationale is perfectly logical. He takes the authority granted by Sloane and the CIA and calls Sloane’s bluff regarding his faith in Rambaldi’s prophecies. He takes the chance of reviving Nadia to get the information he needs to apprehend Anna, and while he takes no pleasure in it, he doesn’t back down when Sloane demonstrates his personal conflict over the whole situation. Although, when Sloane objects to having Nadia’s life placed in jeopardy, Jack could have easily produced dozens of moments where Sydney’s life was contingent on Sloane’s mercy. But then, Jack and Sloane have an agenda, and it was in his best interest to keep the debate within certain boundaries.
Beyond the fact that Anna’s motivations are hard to fathom, Sloane’s continual participation in something that he is supposed to be banned from even discussing is impossible to reconcile. Yes, it is necessary to the drama that Sloane’s faith be tested against the reality of Nadia’s survival, but if the writers are going to create a plot device to remove Sloane from power, however temporarily, they should stick with it. By not being consistent, the writers turn something momentous and revealing into a contrivance.
In between the strong Vaughn/Sark interactions and Jack/Sloane intrigues and the weak motivations ascribed to Anna, there’s the information given regarding the Covenant. It’s finally revealed that after the end of the third season, the Covenant fell apart without adequate leadership. This strongly suggests that Irina was the secret head of the Covenant, perhaps intending to bring about the Rambaldi endgame without fully understanding the cost. One can easily imagine Irina faking her death, with the help of Jack and Sloane, upon realizing that the three of them could protect their daughters. It’s merely speculation, but since the Covenant was all about Rambaldi, it fits.
While this wasn’t as strong as strong as the first half, it really focused on a different aspect of the overall series mythology. The first half was all about Rambaldi and the role that Sydney and Nadia might play in his endgame; the second half was about the lingering issues between Vaughn and Sark. While too many episodes focusing away from Sydney can be a detriment, it works when appropriate, and this is one such case. Now that old plot threads have been successfully resurrected, hopefully the writers can continue to move forward with the old “Alias” flavor intact.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode wasn’t quite as strong as the first half of the story, largely due to Anna’s odd shift in motivation. The Vaughn/Sark interaction was stellar, including some strong acting on the part of both actors, and the hints and portents regarding Jack and Sloane keep coming. This is definitely closer to the direction that the writers should be taking for this season, though it’s hard to tell if the season is back on track just yet.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.9): 7.4
posted by John Keegan | 17:04
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