Alias 5.15: "No Hard Feelings"

Written by Unavailable
Directed by Tucker Gates

In which Sydney poses as Anna to uncover Prophet Five’s plans to achieve the final Rambaldi endgame, while Rachel discovers that Tom has been following his own agenda…


Status Report

The writers are definitely pacing out the final episodes in discernable chunks, trying desperately to get to a reasonable conclusion in the time allowed. As mentioned previously, the time restrictions are forcing a lot of plot contrivance and more than a little plot simplification. It is now rather apparent that a lot of questions are going to be glossed over in the process of getting to a conclusion.

Once again, this is not the fault of the writing staff. They have restrictions that are simply crushing. The parallels to the “Roswell” situation are striking: how does one wrap up both a season and a series in half the anticipated episodes? It’s nearly impossible, especially with the oft-damned restrictions on references to past mythology. The writers are fighting a lost battle, and the fact that it’s hanging together relatively well is a testament to their creativity.

This particular episode is hampered by the time taken to wrap up the plot threads for Tom and Rachel. Rachel gets the short shrift, because she was supposed to be taking the field in Sydney’s place, and the truncated episode order and need to wrap up the mythology meant that her character was suddenly disposable. This is a shame, because she had the look and the poise to fill Sydney’s vampish shoes, as seen in previous episodes this season.

Tom’s plot thread needs to connect with the rest of the Prophet 5/Rambaldi dots or the time spent on the death of his wife and that investigation will be a complete waste. It doesn’t help that Getty looks like he’s sleep-walking through his performance this time around. That entire sub-plot killed the pacing, and took away from what was otherwise a fairly good installment.

Ironically, the minor character of Kelly Peyton, new to the fifth season, has been integrated with the Rambaldi mythology far more effectively than any of the other new characters this season. Amy Acker continues to play the gorgeous and amoral Peyton with enough presence to match the inherent intensity of a Rambaldi-obsessed Sloane. This character will be missed, but at least she had some memorable screen time.

It might have been fun for Sydney to play Anna just a little bit longer, especially given her complicated relationship to Sloane. For all that they are enemies, she cannot deny that Sloane has always loved her as a daughter, if only because of her unique place in the Rambaldi world. One has to wonder: is Sydney’s role fulfilled?

If Sydney’s role as the Chosen One was to find “The Rose”, another man that Rambaldi apparently found a way to keep alive for hundreds of years, and get the secret vial of immortality serum (or so it is strongly hinted), then does this qualify as fulfillment of the “Page 47” prophecy? After all, to conquer death would be to “render the greatest power unto utter desolation”, wouldn’t it?

So if Sydney is bringing everything full circle, then there must be a connection between the contents of the vial and the Horizon. Could the contents of the vial, combined with the Horizon, restore Rambaldi to the world in some immortal form? Looking back at many of the other Rambaldi devices, they seemed designed to bring Rambaldi back into the world, pacify the human population, and give him the ability to destroy any resistance that might crop up.

The question is whether or not the Rambaldi plot threads of the past can be integrated into the final two hours in a way that doesn’t become an exposition dump and still feels like a conclusion to the story. It’s not hard to predict where it could go as an ending: Sydney manages to thwart the resurrection of Rambaldi through the destruction of his artifacts and the elimination of his primary followers, thus ending the cycle while still fulfilling prophecy.

That could work very well, and the pieces are all more or less in place. It’s now a matter of execution, which points back to the limited amount of time. How complex can they get with so little time and so many pieces left to weave together, even if it’s as simple a resolution as the one mentioned above? And just who is likely to survive in the process?

Ultimately, the only ones who need to survive are Sydney, Vaughn, and Isabelle. That would be Sydney’s reward for surviving the trials of the past several years. Sloane is likely to die, and it’s equally possible that Jack and Irina will also have to sacrifice themselves to stop him. Rachel and Tom are very easy targets, which means Peyton will probably die as well. Marshall should survive, if only because he’s got that family. Dixon should survive for the same reason.

Then again, do all those people need to go? After all, even if the main threat is resolved, there will inevitably be possible recurring crises in the future. Why eliminate the possibility of a future feature film by killing everyone off? The idea of seeing the various cast members pulled together for a relatively isolated threat in a big-budget film is a very tempting notion!

As noted previously, the pacing requires some plot contrivances. Setting aside the idea that Tom and Rachel could have a heart-to-heart while working under the hood of a car without alerting the guard standing just a few hundred feet away, the timeline for Sydney and Sark’s incarceration makes no sense. One does not get arrested and tossed into a maximum security prison in the space of a few hours! Yet the plot required the story to keep moving, so that’s how it went down.

These moments have been par for the course since the series came back off hiatus, and they will continue right until the end. Lingering plot threads will be resolved through vague comments in dialogue or complete dismissal. The only thing that the audience can hope for, at this point, is an entertaining ride that reminds them of the best days of the series’ run. So far, that’s what the writers have managed to achieve.


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode introduced one final piece of the Rambaldi puzzle, one that should hopefully point the mythology towards a final, consistent resolution. Some of the subplots were less impressive, but with so many elements to bring to completion, that is a necessary evil. The writers are doing what they can to keep the series on track to a strong ending, and that’s all the fans can ask at this point.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 7/10

(Season 5 Average: 7.0)