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Alias
Episode 1.21, "Rendezvous"
Written by Erica Messer and Debra J. Fisher
Directed by Ken Olin
Major spoilers ahead If you don't wanna know, don't read, and especially don't complain, because I will block you from my inbox forever.
Wow. Could it be that The Pill is dead? I know what you were all probably thinking when he got shot by ol' Sark: Whoa, Sarah must be psyched! Truth be told, gentle readers, I kind of hope Pill is OK. It's not that I've been softened by his "I love you, Sydney!" act, it's just that there's no one on this show that's nearly as much fun to hate. No, not even the guy with the frizzy hair. So unless Francie starts wearing stupid hats or Daddy B. develops a secret second career as a Vegas lounge singer...live, Pill, live!
Anyway, a lot of the other exciting stuff happens in this ep. For one, Dixon gets a real storyline, as he is now totally suspicious of Sydney. 'Bout time, Dix-man! Carl Lumbly conveys a lot via tightly pressed lips and subtle flickers of the eye...let's hope this new wrinkle gets some attention next season. Maybe they can get Marshall in on it.
After the bungled Syd/Vaughn mission to Denpassar, SD-6 has Sark, and Syd and Dixon are sent to Paris to steal pages of the Rambaldi manuscript from The Man. This involves Syd vamping it up as a lounge singer, complete with bright, poufy hair and boobs-a-poppin' leather bustier. It's a hoot and a holler, and Jennifer Garner actually has a little bit of torchy character to her voice. I mean, you aren't gonna see her on Divas Live or anything, but she's certainly better than some singing actors, and she interprets her song in a husky, sex kittenish way that is quite scene-stealing.
Meanwhile, Pill and Daddy B. are still trying to suss out Pill's source, which somehow means they have to go to Paris at exactly the same time as Syd and Dixon, and of course Syd spots Pill in peril and saves his ass. Then it's back to the States, where Pill is put in a CIA safehouse and Dixon grows even more suspicious. Oh, and to top it all off, The Alliance initially decides to spare Emily Sloane because she's already dying...but then we learn that her cancer is in remission. Doh.
This is yet another tightly-laced, wonderfully action-y ep. Loved Syd's costume o' the week, loved that Vaughn got in on the action, loved that there was a move so ass-kicking it required slow motion. Also, the Sloane sub-plot is incredibly good -- after learning that Emily will be spared, he has a great scene with Syd wherein he thanks her for not revealing Em's knowledge of SD-6 to anyone. He even apologizes for tattling on Syd and Danny. It's yet another near-sympathetic layer for the increasingly multi-faceted Sloane -- you just never know how you're supposed to feel about him, and Ron Rifkin carries this off with incredible aplomb.
I also dug Pill's reaction to Syd's lounge singer get-up -- the beyond shocked look on his face and his indescribable yelp is priceless, and the exploderiffic sequence that follows is quite possibly one of the best of this series' run so far. Tables flying everywhere! Guns shooting every which way! Sydney kicking ass without so much as a hair out of place on her exquisite wig!
You gotta love a show that continually plays with your sympathies and alliances, all while building up tension so thick you couldn't cut it with a chainsaw. That's exactly what Alias does nearly every damn week, and as we inch closer and closer to the season finale (next week, y'all!), I'm about ready to burst.
Will Pill live? Will Dixon learn Syd's secrets? Will Emily be killed? What's the deal with the "circumference" thing Daddy B. mentioned? What's up with Syd's mom? Why is Sark so damn hot?
Sigh. Always, this show leaves me with more questions...and yet, always, I am satisfied.
Episode Rating: 9 out of 10
Sarah Kuhn only sings karaoke. You can read more of her nerd-centric insights over at Entertainment Geekly.
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