TNMC
This site’s design is only visible in a graphical browser that supports web standards, but its content is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
Alias
Episode 2.01, "The Enemy Walks In"
Written by J.J. Abrams
Directed by Ken Olin
Man, why is Patricia Wettig on this show so much? You'd think she was married to one of the executive producers or something.
Oh...right.
Yeah, that's right — a bad joke to start you off. You'll take it and like it!
Anyway, we're back! And we're mostly tying up loose ends and setting some new groundwork and collecting all the Jennifer Garner variant covers of TV Guide. We kick things off with Syd in Therapist Patricia's office, so we know our favorite Girl Spy makes it out OK. Her account of just how she made it out is related via flashbacks, and personally, I'm sick of this sort of thing. Occasionally there's a good reason for it (witness the very first episode of The Sopranos), but these scenes would have been just as strong — stronger, in fact — without such a cutesy framing device.
So Syd meets Mama B. (played by gorgeous Lena Olin), who nearly kills her before Syd manages to escape. She searches for Vaughn, but no luck, so it's back to SD-6 and a mission to France, where she discovers...Vaughn! And he's just about to get all cut open by Khasinau. So, our intrepid Girl Spy shoots him full of adrenaline and they escape together. Meanwhile, Daddy B. craftily keeps Pill from getting killed by making it look like Pill is a heroin addict. OK, sorry, but: hee! Pill, you were a sucky reporter, anyway. Don't sweat it. Finally, we end up in Barcelona, where Syd, Vaughn, Agent Sean-From-Felicity and some other CIA folk attempt to retrieve something known as "The Bible," which is an ops manual for Mama B.'s set-up in Taipei.
There are plenty of slam-bang moments in this ep, particularly Syd's high-voltage confrontations with the crafty Mama B. There's something to the way Lena Olin curves her lip and narrows her eyes that makes Mama B. a captivatingly devious cypher right off the bat. Just what is this gal playing at? Towards the end of the ep, she turns herself in to the CIA, claiming that she wants to cooperate. And yet, there's that curved lip and that narrowed eye, and damn...I can't take my eyes off her. Couple that with Syd's steely gaze and vulnerability that is always lurking just 'neath the surface, and you've got yourself enough chemistry for an entire season's worth of action.
And yet...despite this wonderfully cunning casting, there's something kinda sloppy about this episode. It's apparent in the therapist schtick and in the easy way certain key elements of last season's finale are just explained away. For example: Dixon is suspicious of Syd. Dixon tattles to Sloane. Daddy B. quickly saves Syd's ass with another implausible cover. All of this occurs in, like, five seconds. And then Dixon is all apologizing and loving Syd again. What? Come on, people, string us along a little more than that!
Ditto on the Vaughn escaping thing. How did he survive all that water? Oh, he's a really good swimmer. Really good. Um, OK. You know, I love Vaughn, but I could have gone at least another episode being all tense over his whereabouts. On the plus side, we get lots of shirtless Vaughn in the very first episode, and that look Syd gives him when they're finally safe? Priceless. Beautiful. Just do it, already.
Anyway, the Syd/Mama B. stuff is fab, but I'd have like to see all the elements of the show treated with the same care. J.J. and Co. do a lot of great work building up these tricky pretzel-esque plots — let's at least see some decent pay-off for all of 'em.
On a final note, I would like to put it out there now that I hope Sean-From-Felicity isn't dead. I love me some SFF, and I know he's got a new sitcom coming up, but why not just send Weiss on extended vacation to the Bahamas or something? He doesn't have to be dead.
Episode Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Sarah Kuhn wishes Meghan-From-Felicity would guest star as well. You can read more of her nerd-centric insights over at Entertainment Geekly.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Forums
