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Alias
The Nemesis
original air-date: 11-02-03
Be
Kind. Rewind: Vaughn survived Sydney's stabbing, Jack
offed Simon, and Sloane is now a double agent for the CIA.
The episode
had it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Let's
start with the good and the return of Evil!Francie/Allison.
The idea that Allison actually survived the shootout that
left Syd with a two-year gap in her memory may seem a bit
far-fetched, but, then again, this is Alias, the show
where CIA operatives can bring drum sets into work with them.
Resurrecting the character of Allison gives fans the chance
to see the ousted Merrin Dungey back in action and brings
the mystifying Milo Rambaldi to the forefront of the show
once more.
We've
heard very little concerning Milo since this season opened
two years in the future, save for Sloane's claim that the
device he assembled from Rambaldi's inventions told Arvin
to switch sides and pursue peace, an idea that this fan still
finds hard to believe. But, Allison's revelation that a medicine
created using this dead guy's formula not only saved her life
but possibly made her some kind of super-villain is the coolest
plot twist that this show has had so far this season. What
the medicine could have been and what exactly it did to Allison
are questions that we'll all be pondering over the next few
weeks.
Bringing
back this evil version of Syd's former friend also has another
effect. Now that Sloane has decided to don a white hat, the
only bad guys that Spy-Girl has had to deal with on a weekly
basis are Sark, who despite being suave and easy on the eyes
is really a mere thorn in Sydney's side than anything else,
and the Covenant, which is little more than a faceless entity
at this point.
If the
writers play their cards right, reviving and reinventing Allison
might be more than a Sweeps plot device used to get us all
to tune in. Instead, she might be the nemesis that this show
needs to make it the Spy-thriller it once was, rather than
the angst-fest it has started to become.
Also,
Dungey must be given some credit for making Allison's return
the most memorable part of the episode. It's obvious that
she's having a good time playing a bad girl; note the gleeful
and sickening smile she wore while extracting Lang's tooth.
This shows through onscreen and makes watching her all the
more fun. Hopefully, Mr. Abrams will use Dungey to the best
of his advantage and think twice before letting her get away
again.
More of
the good includes hearing Dixon say that he wants the bitch
that murdered his wife dead, seeing Syd giving Sloane some
orders, and finally learning why Lauren has that damned accent
even if the explanation was a little lame.
Moving
on to the bad and poor Marshall, or should we say poor Kevin
Weissman? If the scenes involving Agent Flinkman seemed drawn
out and annoying last week, then the subplot the writers concocted
for the geeky technician this week were just down right irritating.
Never
mind the fact that bringing a drum set into CIA headquarters
is well beyond the realm of believability, the whole scene
involving Marshall's plans to propose to Carrie VIA drum solo
was totally pointless and had no place in this episode. Expanding
Marshall's storyline is a fine idea, but it seems the writers
are using him as filler for time rather than giving him more
depth and dimension, and Mr. Weissman, who has great comedic
potential, is the one that will suffer by having his character
made into little more than a poorly placed eccentric.
More of
the bad includes Syd asking Vaughn to put on the spy-cam necklace
for her, which was a pitiful excuse to get the tension filled
twosome to interact physically; Sydney calling Lauren's idea
to use the x-ray pictures they took of Lang to find out why
Allison took his tooth "brilliant", which seemed
lame and extraordinarily fake; and Sydney's little run at
the beginning of the episode. Two words need to be said concerning
that last point: sports bra.
I know
what you're thinking, where's the ugly part of this episode?
Well, think back to the before picture of Mr. Lang and the
whole plastic surgery aspect of the episode. Granted, Lang
wasn't the prettiest of characters beforehand (even Marshall
smirked when his picture was brought up), but did Alias
really have to go all Extreme Makeover on us? There's
an X-Ray camera that allows our favorite spies to see who
has had a little nip here or a tuck there and Vaughn uses
it to ogle some chick with fake breasts? The show has ascended
to new heights of lameness with this plot device.
Thankfully,
the good parts of this episode outweighed the bad and the
ugly parts making it not only a decent episode, but also one
that actually entices viewers to tune in next week for reasons
that don't involve love-triangle related angst.
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