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Alias
Second Double / The Telling
original air-date: 05-04-03
I never
thought that series creator JJ Abrams could infuriate, shock,
and amaze fans any more than he did when he turned the show
completely on its head by taking down SD-6 and killing off
Francie during this year's post Super-Bowl episode "Phase
One".
Boy, was
I ever wrong.
In recent
memory there hasn't been a season finale as frustrating or
as fascinating as this since the second season ender of Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, and even that didn't leave fans as
confused or intrigued as this two hour event did.
It's hard
to talk about these episodes without talking about the last
two mind-blowing minutes. However, the other 118 minutes were
incredible and deserve attention as well.
The whole
Will part of the storyline was great. Bradley Cooper, whose
character is often hated by Syd/Vaughn fans because he's viewed
as a rival, deserves major props for his performance in the
finale. Cooper ran the gamut of emotions during these two
hours and did so with such ease that it was a pleasure to
watch. He proved that Will can be so much more than just the
lovesick best friend that he's played for the last two years
(and that he can hold his own with a rifle). He also delivered
the best, and most heartbreaking line of the night when he
told Sydney that knowing her has ruined his life.
And, perhaps
most importantly, he didn't die! Yeah he got stabbed, but
he didn't die! Thank god! Will has been through so much crap
during these two seasons that killing him off would have been
the obvious and easy thing to do, and Lord knows that JJ doesn't
like to do things the easy way.
Faux
Francie was finally revealed as the double, and we found out
that she's Sark's girlfriend (an interesting development).
And, though she made it clear to Sark that she didn't care
about Will, she kissed him and cried after she stabbed him…guess
even evil doubles have feelings for the people that they sleep
with.
We also
learned that Evil Francie/Allison was a part of the government's
Project Christmas campaign and that she was supposed to have
died in a bus accident when she was a little girl. Makes you
wonder who was taking care of her during all of that time
and how she became involved with Sloane and Sark.
The fight
between Sydney and Allison was cool as hell and it was great
seeing Merrin play an all out bad guy for the first time.
I'm kind of hoping that she survives the three gunshot wounds
that Syd gave her so that we can see more of her next season.
It doesn't look likely, but, hey, people come back from the
dead all the time on this show so you never know.
Other
great moments included Irina's jump off of that building and
then blasting the windows of a floor out so she could escape
the CIA, Marshall telling Weiss about his date with Carrie,
Jack telling Kendall that he's not cut out for management
and that he belongs in the field (you're damn right he does!),
and Will confessing that his password to login to his CIA
account is "Sydney".
The Rambaldi
stuff was, once again, confusing and we really got no concrete
answers about what the device that Sloane finally put together
really is or what Sydney's part in the prophecy will be, but,
then again, I wasn't really expecting any solid explanations.
Speaking
of things that I wasn't really expecting…let's talk about
the ending, shall we? The Syd/Allison fight ends with our
favorite Syd girl lying unconscious on the floor of her apartment.
Then the
shot changes and we see Syd lying in an alleyway in Hong Kong.
She doesn't know what she's doing there, so she calls the
CIA and Kendall asks her if she still knows where their safe
house is. She says that of course she does and when she gets
there she's told to wait for her contact to explain what's
going on. As she does, we see her inspect a scar on her lower
abdomen, looking at it as if she's never seen it before.
Finally
Vaughn comes in and Syd is relieved to see him. But…
something's wrong, very, very wrong.
He explains
that she's been missing since the night of the fight in her
apartment and that everyone thought she was dead. Vaughn tells
her that they brought him back to try to explain things, but
his emotions get the better of him and he runs a hand through
his hair. Sydney notices a wedding band on his finger and
when she questions him about it, he tells her that she's been
gone for almost two years.
There's
so much to discuss, so many questions left unanswered, so
many possibilities to consider and that's what makes this
one of the most amazing cliffhangers ever. People will be
talking about this for months, speculating about what could
have happened to Sydney, what happened to everyone else in
her absence, and who the hell Vaughn went and married. A mere
twenty four hours later theories ranging from "it's all
just a dream" to the idea that Rambaldi device is a time
machine that transported Syd to the future are already running
rampant on the Internet.
With an
ending like this it's hard to tell whether Mr. Abrams is a
crack genius or simply on crack. He has, once again, shaken
the entire premise of his show to its very core. What this
will mean for the future of our favorite spy drama is yet
to be seen. It could end up being one of the most brilliant
turns a show has taken in a long time or it could be a complete
and utter disaster.
However,
two things are certain:
1) There
has not been a season finale as suspenseful or as daring as
this one in a long time, making one of the best episodes of
TV this season.
2) It's
going to be a VERY long summer.
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