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Alias
"The Box, Part 1"
Episode 1.12
Written by Jesse Alexander and John Eisendrath
Directed by Jack Bender
It's a very special, multi-part Alias and QT is in da house. So is he prolonging his latest case of writer's block? Attempting to reclaim the Designated Cool Movie Dude mantle now occupied by the likes of Guy Ritchie? Or perhaps the Giant Head mantle now occupied by the likes of James Van Der Beek and Eddie Cahill? Nah. He's actually after Sloane.
Armed with a bunch of black clad operatives and a whole mess of guns, Quentin (here he's called McKenas Cole, but let's face it, Quentin always plays Quentin) storms SD-6 and takes everyone hostage. Turns out, Q is an old SD-6 operative who Sloane screwed over. So, he breaks in and threatens to torture Sloane, unless Sloane gives up the access code to the SD-6 vault. Of course, cracking open said vault will basically blow up the entire building.
Meanwhile, Syd and Daddy B. have somehow not been taken hostage, and are thus stealthing around HQ trying to prevent Quentin from blowing the place to high heaven. Ironic (or, as Quentin says at one point, "ironical") that they're working so hard to save SD-6, but hey, with Francie apparently on some kind of hiatus, they've got to rescue as many of this show's supporting characters as they can.
Now, it is pretty much agreed upon, even in hipster film circles, that Quentin ain't so strong in the acting department. Luckily, this script plays to likable qualities that come naturally to him: motor-mouthed whirling dervish-ness and an inherent dorkiness (which Sloane snarkily comments upon, you get the feeling that Sloane, bless him, would rather get stuck with a thousand needles than listen to another round of QT's ricochet-style dialogue).
Though it's occasionally hard to take Quentin/Cole seriously (as when he brandishes the nefarious "box" from the title), he represents an interesting side of the SD-6 coin: the in-the-dark operatives who, unlike Syd, never clued into the fact that they were working for the bad guys. It's also cool that they're giving us an adversary that isn't just some faceless dude Syd has to beat up.
As for the Syd/Daddy B. stuff, it's fantastic to see them working together as a well-oiled team. The supporting players also get some good moments this week, particularly Vaughn, who is queried by the CIA's resident shrink (ex-thirtysomething gal Patricia Wettig). Poor Vaughn. He can't catch a break, even when he displays those trademark Puppy Eyes that would have me at his beck and call in a snap. Ah, well. Even Pill shows admirable restraint this week, actually begging off of the SD-6 story for a bit.
All of the pieces fit together neatly, building to yet another fine cliffhanger. You gotta admire the way Alias drops a bomb on us one week (revealing Syd's mother's KGB connection) then plunges us right into straight-ahead action the next. Keep it comin'.
Episode Rating: 9 out of 10
Sarah Kuhn is supercool.
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