Well, the first Alias since the fall of SD-6 and the Alliance is behind us. I’ll avoid spoilers for now, to give the West Coast time to catch up, but I will say that Ethan Hawke did a good job as a guest star. Any thoughts?
OK, I’ll put my two cents in:
Was it just me, or did this episode seem weak? Jack just stood around, Sloane and Francie had token appearances (and after last week’s events, no less), and still no Spy Mom. The Syd/Vaughn relationship is going to have to settle down soon, and it looks like Sloane’s going to take him prisoner at some point next week. He won’t die, obviously, but that’s what will make Syd think about her position in the CIA.
Anyone have thoughts now?
I just watched it… kept thinking “The real CIA could not possibly be this stupid. Most 10 year-olds are not this stupid.”
I hated the Rimbaldi plot, it never made sense, and I’m glad to see it go - but not like this. I’m going to miss the double agent thing, that’s one of the reasons the show worked. Not having it takes out a lot of the tension.
But this episode had no redeeming features at all.
Since the west coast has already seen it, I’m doing away with a spoiler box.
amarinth, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the double agents. I currently count 3:
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Ethan Hawke. I think both of them were double agents. Killing one of them was a red herring.
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The new girl in the CIA. I just get a vibe from her.
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Emma.
However, last night’s episode was pretty weak. I wonder if Jennifer Garner is going to leave and break into movies (since Daredevil seems to be getting a lot of hype), and they’ll now focus on Hawke’s character. It would be interesting to see this show from the perspective of a bad guy.
Where’s Marshall?!?
I thought the first 10 minutes were pretty good and I had high hopes for the episode after that. Unfortunately, that was the only part that was really interesting.
The whole genetic manipulation face cloning thing just turned me off. The Rimbaldi story arch required a leap of faith but last night’s plot just completely derailed into fantasyland. Not one, but two Ethan Hawkes? Visually appealing, yes, but totally unbelivable. And the way the agents just accepted the scenario without question was ridiculous too.
Arrggh…I really and truly hope that this was just a bad episode and that they’ll pull it together soon and we’ll have back the Alias we all know and love.
Munch, let me see if I can answer some of your questions:
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I was expecting to see Ethan show up in Fiji and walk right up to Sloane, but I doubt that Ethan is really willing to do several episodes, so they probably got the right one.
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The new girl’s gonna get it from some one. Either that, or she’s a mole for Sloane.
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Emma’s dead. I don’t doubt that for a second.
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Marshall is still in debrief, according to Vaughn. So is Dixon. Don’t worry, Marshall will be back soon.
For the record, they aren’t done with the Rambaldi stuff by a long shot. Christian Slater’s character in the next two episodes is a scientist specializing in Rambaldi technology.
Yeah, by “Emma” I meant her replacement. But of course, by “Emma” I’m sure we all mean “Francie”.
This episode blew what was perhaps the greatest opportunity ever in prime-time television.
Three words: Ethan Hawke sandwich.
The episode continued my friend’s near-unbroken streak of not getting the most elementary of plot elements. After Sydney shot fake-Hawke (suggested shorthand…Fawke) she turns to me and says “how did she know which one to shoot?” Um, maybe the one who tried to stop her from blowing up the facemaker machine might be the one who changed his face?
So do we have any idea who fake Francie (suggested shorthand…Francie…oh wait) used to be? Anybody thinking maybe Anna from season 1? Although with Firefly cancelled the actual Anna is available again…
I’m willing to bet that Anna Espinosa is the new Francie, especially after the comment that Ethan Hawke made last night while sabotaging the facemaker (“There was another one.”)
Did you notice how Syd reacted to “Francie” when Vaughn came over? “Francie” wasn’t even trying to act like the real Francie, and Syd’s going to figure it out very soon.
(I have got to stop replying to everything in this thread, don’t I?)
First, this episode was supposed to air on Super Bowl Sunday last night, so it suffered from last minute editing.
All the references to the end of the alliance and the shots of Francie were shot and rededited in after the episode was complete. This ep. was supposed to set up the conclusion to last weeks.
So, considering the rushed re-edits, I think it came off pretty well.
Was the song playing when Sydney was getting out of the pool in slo-mo the same music as when Phoebe Cates is getting out of the pool in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”? Just curious.
Yes, it was. I was expecting to cut to Vaughn, uh, loving himself.
Sloane as far as we know is in the Phillipines. The Fiji reference was to let us know what tipped Ethan’s fiancee to the Fawke. She said when they were in bed together at the start of the episode something about going “back” to Fiji and he agreed. At the end of the ep Hawke said they were going to go to Fiji together because she was from there and he’d never been.
Is it just me or do Vaughn, Will, and Fawke all look alike?
I was watching the beginning saying to Mr. Strand:
“Vaughn is in bed with another woman, oh that must be his girlfriend”. “No that’s Will” “No that’s Vaughn”. “Vaughn’s a double agent” “No, Will’s a double agent”.
It took me forever to figure out what the hell was going on.Now I’m thinking that I’m like Otto’s friends.
Can’t they find some men who aren’t blue-eyed, and spiky haired?
“Moving in Stereo” by The Cars.
Last night was the first episode I had ever seen of Alias. (My sister-in-law likes it and made me watch). Like light strand, I was totally confused by the fact that every white male character looked alike. Two Ethan Hawkes didn’t really help with that.
However, I will be tuning in from now on just to see Jennifer Garner in a swimsuit again. Or possibly her underwear.
Too bad, that was last week’s episode. 
Maybe it’s just me, but I was a little put-off when they had the briefing about Marcovitch. It felt weird seeing her do for the CIA what we’re used to seeing at SD-6.