| Alias
The Abduction
original air-date: 11-03-02
Be
Kind. Rewind: Quick aside: what's with ABC airing repeats
out of order? Not cool. Anyway, in "The Passage parts
1 & 2" Syd, Jack and Irina teamed up on a mission
to Kashmir to try to find some nuclear weapons and barely
escape with their lives. Will continued his research for Vaughn,
and Syd warned Sark that if he tries to burn her she would
do the same to him.
There
are certain qualities that make a good show a good show. Writing
is always key. Having a cast that can look pretty and actually
act as well is good if you can get it. And, finally, another
necessary element is to make the viewers feel that they have
not wasted their precious tube time. In other words: the show
needs to be engaging and move at a pace that doesn't cause
us to look at the clock every five minutes wondering when
the torture will end.
But, since
we are critiquing here, a show shouldn't move so fast that
it causes you to scratch your head in confusion after those
60 minutes have flown by. If I had to have one constant criticism
of Alias, it would be that it sometimes tries to do
too much in such a short amount of time. Usually it works
out well, but sometimes it can make you feel so much has happened
that you can't rightly remember what was going on at the top
of the hour.
This just
happens to be the case with "The Abduction". So
much happens in this episode in such a short time that while
most of the episode is just fine and dandy, the super fast
pace and multiple plot threads could leave some of us mere
mortals' heads spinning.
At the
beginning of the episode Syd and Irina have a touching moment
where Irina explains that she was just a young girl when the
KGB recruited her and that at the time she thought that she
was doing right by serving her country. Derevko then tells
Sydney that she was a fool to believe that her loyalties to
the organization could ever outweigh the feelings she has
for her daughter. They hug and then are immediately separated
by armed guards (way to kill the moment, guys).
But that's
about all the mother-daughter interaction that we get for
the rest of the episode; a shame because the scene worked
so very well, but then probably a good thing since there's
so much other stuff going on.
 Sark
plants the seed of doubt about the rest of the SD-6 agents
in Sloane's mind while Arvin is torturing him because he believes
that the bad boy has betrayed him. Sark suggests that maybe
someone else in the agency is leaking information to an outside
source and this leads Sloane to bring in Ariana Kane (played
by Faye Dunaway) to investigate the matter.
She immediately
suspects Jack, Sloane's right hand man, and pisses him off
royally when she asks him who he's had sex with in the last
decade in order to make sure that there isn't someone out
there that could have heard him talking about the agency in
his sleep.
Dunaway
could have done a better job with this character. She looks
like she is bored out of her skull in most scenes and in others
she just doesn't seem evil enough to be as conniving as we
are supposed to believe she is. Next time, just skip the big
name guest star and get someone somewhat believable.
Syd and
Sark go to Paris to retrieve an Echelon terminal, a device
that would allow anyone and their grandmother get a gander
at some national security secrets. Syd's countermission involves
inserting a program that will wipe the terminal's hard drive
clean when SD-6 tries to get a peek at what's inside. She
grabs the terminal and returns it to Sloane, who, though disappointed
that they could not use the device has another plan already
formed. He decides that he will send Syd to London to a facility
that has another terminal that can be hacked into.
The really
great part about this plan is that our resident computer geek
Marshall gets to tag along because he is the only one that
can do the job in the short amount of time that they will
have. The catch? Everyone's favorite funny guy has a photographic
memory (lucky bastard) and will recall the system files even
if Syd destroys them. Vaughn's solution is that he will bring
Marshall over to the CIA after the mission is completed.
 So,
Marshall, who is played to absolute perfection by Kevin Weisman
week after week, gets to be 007 for a change…or at least
he tries to be. As is the case with all great plans this one
goes a little awry when the poor guy is shot with a tranquilizer
dart and then revived with a kiss by Sydney before passing
out after he hacks the system. He genuinely feels good about
being able to be an active part in what he believes is the
"good fight" and it breaks Sydney's heart to know
that he will soon learn what she did, that SD-6 is really
the bad guys in disguise.
While
we are talking about Marshall, let it be known that Mr. Weisman
is a huge asset to this show. All good dramas should have,
well, drama; it is almost vital to add a dash of humor into
the mix every once in a while to keep things fresh. Weisman
provides comic relief without being over the top or overly
sarcastic and it is always fun to wonder what will come out
of his mouth next.
Sydney
and Marshall go their separate ways at the airport, Syd expecting
him to be picked up by the CIA, but instead he is taken by
"Suit and Glasses" guy or, as I like to call him,
Sit and Spin. He takes Marshall and we are left to wonder
whether our favorite techie will live or die as the episode
ends with Marshall being tortured.
In other
developments, Jack offers Irina a deal that would allow her
certain freedoms if she admits that she is playing the CIA
and tells him exactly what she is up to. She, of course, refuses.
Will takes a psych test that will allow him to become an employee
of the CIA. Syd bumps into Vaughn and Alice at a bar: awkward
much? And, aww, Will and Syd threw Francie a surprise birthday
party.
Like I
said, a lot goes on in this episode, but seeing Marshall get
a chance to shine kind of makes up for any confusion that
the beyond multi-layered plot might have caused.
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