I begin with the most important question this episode raises: why is Sydney wearing glasses to cook spaghetti?
Special enhanced video sensors to accurately determine sauce temperature.
Dude. I'd forgotten how harsh Sydney is here. Talking about her father's "sickening" cologne, telling him he's the person she despises the most. And he just sucks it up. Then Vaughn comes in. Painful moment as he and Jack exchange glances, each man regretting their brief affair and yet feeling a strange unfinished yearning.
Then Sydney revealing what she'd learned about Jack, that she'd seen information about how Jack had killed Irina. Somehow Vaughn doesn't look all that torn up at the news despite Sydney's pain. In the next scene, they're all sitting together around the APO conference table--Sloane, Jack, Vaughn, Sydney--one big dysfunctional family. This show cracks me up.
The theft of a Samurai sword from a London museum is key to a mission I can't figure out the point of. Yes, because that's what international espionage is about in the twenty-first century. *nods seriously*
Marshall! Weiss! *couch dance*
Marshall and Sark. Marshall: "We had eggs." Weiss: "Don't do that."
Scene: Marshall brought into APO in a headsack. Poor Marshall. They're *so* *mean*. They all get to walk in the front door--and Marshall gets "recruited" with a headsack on the pretext of arrest? Dude. So. Mean.
You know, not that I'm aware of anyone clamoring for it, but Vaughn/Marshall is a pairing I can't see. Because Vaughn would be like:
Scene, bedroom, Vaughn and Marshall:
Vaughn: *uncomfortable*
Vaughn: *grimacing*
Vaughn: *growing impatient*
Vaughn: *growing irritated*
Vaughn: *losing it in a grim-jawed way*
Vaughn: *walking out, possibly after shooting Marshall in the leg*
Robot!Dixon! *giggles*
Why did the museum have a series of gates that closed *sequentially* rather than all at once?
Scene: Jack and Sloane watching Sydney walk down the hall of APO. Exchange of cryptic comments about Irina's death. Did Jack tell Sydney everything? Shockingly, no. "Better she detest me..." Huh. Jack taking a hit on Syd's behalf? I never saw that coming. Was there ever a time when we doubted Syd's paternity? They're so totally cut from the same cloth of martyrdom and self-flagellation.
How come no one ever sends me to Rio de Janeiro in the service of my country?
Raptor, Phoenix--Shotgun! So Vaughn is shotgun. I'm sure other people have given this thought, but I never said I was original.
shotgun:
- A smoothbore long gun that fires over short ranges
- In football, an offensive formation used for passing in which the quarterback receives the snap behind the scrimmage line
- Adj, obtained by coercion
- Adj, covering a wide range in a haphazard or ineffective manner (heh)
- "riding shotgun"
- shotgunning: a way of drinking beer very fast
- shotgunning: a way of passing smoke from one mouth to another
- "an esoteric form of bukkake" (oookay)
Meanwhile, scene with Sydney & the assassin. "Assassin-client privilege." Ha.
Nadia. Marshall. "Tranquilizer lips." *g*
Sydney looks very good in a wet tee-shirt. I state the obvious. She even looks good surrounded by hanging sides of beef.
Ahhh. The revelation of Irina's--or "Irina's"--contract on Sydney.
Ahhh, the APO power line-up, with Nadia and Marshall now appearing--and almost complete, with only poor Weiss still left out in the cold.
Scene: Syd confronting Jack about the contract on her life, and reconciling. I'm glad we didn't have to watch their painful estrangement for more than an ep. That whole emotional cycle tends to get pretty old pretty fast by this point; it's good that they went with the short version. That's all we needed to see.
Scene: Vaughn and Syd hugging in the hall, with Cat Stevens's "The Wind" playing--great song, nice moment.
Scene: Weiss in Syd's kitchen, as Syd feeds him her cover story about *working* *in* *a* *bank*. Siiiigh. Oh, Weiss, man. Don't be a sucker.
Scene, Syd and Nadia:
Nadia: "Can we talk about mom?"
Sydney: "Do you have your passport?"
Nadia: "Actually, I meant now."
Sydney: "We can probably still get a flight today."
Nadia: "I was thinking the couch, maybe an iced tea..."
Sydney: "Grab your purse. I'll get the car."
Nadia: *sigh*
I know I covered that when reviewing this ep before, but it still makes me shake my head. You're a strange and difficult woman, Sydney.
Vow of vengeance, cut to credits.