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Alias
Episode 1.20, "The Solution"
Written by John Eisendrath
Directed by Daniel Attias
Alias recovers nicely this week from the blink-and-you'll-miss-it Agent Peter Berg plotline, gifting us with a well-rounded outing that gives nearly all the players something to do --even Marshall has his little pop-up book moment.
As we open, Syd's still mopey over Agent PB's death, and deals the only way she knows how -- by having a wacky, rat extermination sub-plot with Pill and Francie! Whooooo! Actually, the rat situation gives Syd a little idea for luring Khasinau into a CIA trap -- they will offer to sell him the vial of stuff Quentin Tarantino stole from SD-6. Or pretend to offer. They aren't really gonna give it to him. I think. I get confused sometimes.
Anyway, while Syd and Vaughn are hatching their plan (which involves disguises as French insurance agents -- tres sexy!), Pill learns from his mysterious informant that Daddy B. is the one who kidnapped him. The way that Pill confirms Daddy B's identity is truly, astonishingly... stupid. Seriously. It's the one completely idiotic thing in this entire episode, aside from Pill himself. I'm going to describe it in detail, because otherwise you won't believe me. Pill basically takes an old pic of Daddy B., slaps some saran wrap over it and colors over Daddy B's face (minus the eyes) with a magic marker. Gasp! Daddy B.'s beady eyes exactly resemble that of the masked Pill-napper! Make your own joke here, I can’t come up with one that will do this scene justice.
Also, Sloane's wife Emily is in the hospital, dying. When Syd visits her, Emily reveals that she knows about SD-6. Of course, her room is bugged, so the SD-6ers pick it up and basically tell Sloane Em is gonna have to be done away with. Despite the fact that he ordered Syd's fiancée killed, the Sloanster doesn't much like that, and there's a really brilliant scene in which he visits Em in the hospital, takes her in his arms, and weeps. It's sad and sweet, and even though Emily is a saccharine saint with not one bad quality to her name, you really feel for ol' Sloane here.
In the end, SD-6 learns of the ploy to sell Khasinau the red stuff (not realizing it's a ploy, of course), and Dixon bursts onto the scene just as Syd is passing the vial off to Khasinau's aid, Sark. Syd is in disguise, but will Dixon recognize her? Doh!
As I said, this ep has something good for nearly everyone involved -- Francie gets to make rat metaphors, Vaughn gets to speak French, Sloane gets to emote...even Pill gets some decent action when he actually goes to confront Daddy B., offering to help worm out his source in exchange for information. I'm pretty impressed that Pill actually had the guts to do that. Of course, you've gotta love that Daddy B. basically smacks him upside the head, telling him very precisely how it's gonna play out. "Focus, Mr. Tippin!"
The best thing about this ep, though, is that it neatly pulls together all of Alias' seemingly divergent threads — Syd's many identities are about to intersect in the craziest of ways and who knows how she'll handle it? This inevitable intersection is nicely demonstrated in a fantastic sequence that cuts between Syd and Vaughn going over their plan, and Sloane and Dixon going over a counter-plan. You know the two plans are going to interfere with one another... but you're just dying to see how.
Also, the cliffhanger is pretty nifty — just as it seems Syd might be safe, Dixon busts in and gives her a look, like, "Do I know you?" There's enough of a tantalizing hint there to make you wonder if he'll figure it out. I love the way they just keep increasing the tension in all aspects of Syd's life — Alias is a fine pretzel that just keeps getting twistier.
Episode Rating: 9 out of 10
Sarah Kuhn loves pop-up books. You can read more of her nerd-centric insights over at Entertainment Geekly.
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