Hola, amigos y amigas! It’s Michaelangelo, and I’m back with week 5 of that digital crack known as Alias. But first, last week’s homework question was who was the more bad-ass Jack: Bristow or Bauer? And, shock of shock, I got a couple of responses! First up is Myles McNutt.
Michael”angelo”‘,
I too would love to see some answers to the lingering plotlines, but I know they won’t answer them. I know that all of that won’t come back into play anytime soon, if ever. The lingering questions that really need to be answered have nothing to do with Rambaldi, really. Supposedly the US Government has the artifact Sloane found, and that’s the end of it. I think they obviously could find some lost artifact later, but they need to be settled first.
I think 4 episodes isn’t enough for the new viewers. I am of the viewpoint similar to yours, that they have to answer them, but right now I’m refusing to think about it while watching. It’s character I enjoy, doing things I enjoy, and I’m just letting myself be entertained.
Oh, and on the Jack note…I can’t possibly decide. They’re two different types of badass. Jack Bauer never does anything sly, but always runs in kicking ass. Jack Bristow is always very covert and evil with his kickassery, but only on occasion does he lay down some pain on some folks. It’s a tough call, and I refuse to make it.
Also…that wasn’t much of a recap, since you kind of ended up explaining it all anyways. Heh. Good job, regardless.
Myles
Thanks for the letter, Myles. And you’re right about the recap. I’m still trying to refine my style and one of the first things I notices was that I was still tending to rehash every little thing that happened rather than just a recap of the events. Hopefully I’ll get better as I go along.
As for your opinion on Rimbaldi et.al., I agree with you. It is a bit early. But I do think JJ could be throwing some hints to his loyal viewers about past events. There’s a solid core of viewers who have stuck with Alias through thick and thin, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to throw them a bone.
The second email of the week is from Rick Karboviak:
Bauer or Bristow, huh?
Bauer seems to do ANYTHING to get the job done, and gets himself out of the stickiest situations, all for the pure love he has for his country. That seems to sum up Jack Bauer’s character to me.
Bristow on the other hand, is cold, calculated, precise, and keeps you guessing just WHY he’s doing the shit he does. Sure, he works for the gov’t, but what is it that keeps Jack so cold and calculated? I guess I’d be angry too if my wife was a Russian spy, had an affair with my co-worker, faked her death, and all that jazz. But, he’s known to train Sydney from birth basically to be a lean mean, ass-kicking machine, all for what? If you’re training your daughter to be resistant to a lot of mental shit, you gotta have some motive, and that unknown motive is what keeps Jack Bristow’s character so unpredictable, yet damn cool in the process.
I love both shows with an great passion. Bauer’s tough, Bristow’s just as tough, it would be great to see a movie like “Jason vs. Freddy” in the roles of Bristow being a bad-ass semi-terrorist, holding the gov’t hostage for his motive, although not really knowing what it is until halfways through the movie, and Jack Bauer gets called in to save the day.
Just my thoughts,
Rick Karboviak
Self proclaimed Alias Addict & 24 Junkie
Thanks for writing, Rick. For me, no question Jack Bristow is the most bad-ass man in the history of television. Jack Bauer will pop a cap in that ass for God and country. But Jack Bristow is not only a killing machine when necessary, he’s also a master manipulator. Thank God he’s on our side.
Before we get started, I wanted to point out the other two members of the Goodness Troika: Matthew Romanda recapping 24 and John Duran doing Lost.
Episode 5: “Welcome to Liberty Village
We open with a man in an SUV surveilling an armored truck. He reports his findings to someone in Russian. As the armored truck pulls up at a docking bay, the man in the SUV attacks, killing the guards. He opens a safe in the back of the armored truck, removes some sort of electronic device in a plexiglass case, puts it in a suitcase he brought, and drives off. He pulls into a suburban neighborhood and parks in front of a nicely manicured house. His wife greets him as he gets out of the car.
Back in LA, Sydney, Vaughn, Nadia, and Weiss are eating dinner at Sydney’s place. Weiss is trying to explain the appeal of bowling to Nadia. Failing to put it into words, Weiss suddenly jumps up and says they should all go bowling. Nadia is up for it, but Sydney and Vaughn beg off, saying they have work in the morning. Weiss and Nadia leave, but not before Weiss insinuates that Sydney and Vaughn are boring. Sydney and Vaughn take offense, but get called into APO before they can fully refute that opinion.
At APO, Sydney and Vaughn are briefed by Sloane, Jack, Dixon, and Marshall. A member of an ultranationalistic Russian group known as the October Contingent have stolen a repeatable electromagnetic weapon from a Russian warehouse. The weapon emits an electromagnetic pulse that can wreak havoc in major metropolitan areas. The repeatable core means it can be reused again and again. Sydney and Vaughn are to go undercover as a pair of Chechnyan terrorists that had been contacted by the group for membership. The original pair have been picked up by German authorities. Marshall gives them a watch that will emit a GPS signal and can transmit burst video. This will be their only link to APO while they are in the field.
In Moscow, Sydney and Vaughn meet some men waiting in a van, including the man who we saw steal the EMP device. After exchanging the proper greeting, the men ask them if they can speak English like Americans. Sydney and Vaughn say yes, and are invited into the van. The man who stole the EMP tells them to call him Tom. Tom has one of the men in the van take photos of Sydney and Vaughn and hands them passports with their new identities, Karen and David Parker. Tom tells them to relax and enjoy the ride and everything will be explained when they reach Liberty Village.
Back at APO, Marshall is tracking Sydney and Vaughn’s location. Sloane wants more intel and asks Jack to reach out to an Alexi Vasilevich, an idea Jack is reluctant to implement. Marshall calls Jack and Sloane over and shows them where Sydney and Vaughn have arrived at, a Russian base that was thought abandoned but now looks like a suburban American neighborhood.
Tom pulls up in front of Sydney and Vaughn’s new house. When they go inside, the neighborhood is waiting in their house to greet them. Tom tells them this is a test to see how American they can act. Sydney turns on her watch and while she’s interacting with her neighbors their pictures are transmitted back to APO. At the end of the evening, Tom and his wife Diane tell Sydney and Vaughn they did OK for their first night, but they lack the intimacy an American couple should show. Tom gives them their homework, a Tokarev pistol, and tells them they need to be able to assemble it in under 20 seconds by tomorrow.
Later, Sydney goes jogging around the neighborhood scoping the place out. She stops outside Tom and Diane’s house to take a look but is seen by Tom. She tells him she’s out for a jog and Tom says she was surveilling the neighborhood. She tells Tom what she’s deduced from her surveillance and he compliments her on her ability. He tells her to be ready for tomorrow.
Back at APO, Jack, Sloane, and Dixon discuss the situation. Sloane orders Jack to meet with Alexi. Jack meets with Alexi, who says he’ll help Jack if he gets something in return. Jack meets with Marshall and gives him a bunch of books. Jack explains to Marshall that he used to buy Irina first edition books while he was in Prague, and that it turned out that Alexi, Irina’s handler, encoded messages for her in the books. Jack says that the CIA went through the books once, but Alexi wanting the books means they missed something, and he tells Marshall to find it.
Back at Liberty Village, Sydney and Vaughn are collected by Tom the next day and taken to a car dealership, where he tells them that there is only one convertible on the lot, and their job is to buy it. They meet with one of the salesmen, who tries to steer them to another vehicle, but Sydney and Vaughn are persistent, so he takes them to his office. He tells them that there is another couple interested in the convertible, Ken and Linda, and that they’ll have to compete with them for the car. He gives them a briefcase with two broken-down Tokarevs and tells them the winner gets to stay and keeps the car, and the loser dies. Sydney and Vaughn wind up in a shootout, killing Ken and Linda.
Back at APO, Marshall tells Jack he’s found something. Jack used to write a personal message to Irina on the front cover of the books, and in the dot above one of the i’s in his message in one of the books is an encoded message referring to an operative that Irina used to run. Jack says that the operative is dead and he will give Alexi the books. Later, when he does so, Alexi notes that Irina truly cared for Jack and that sometimes caused them problems. Apparently the Russians are unaware that Irina is dead. In exchange for the book, Alexi agrees to help Sydney and Vaughn.
Back at their house, Sydney and Vaughn are met by Tom, who tells them they did a good job and are going to Chicago. The plan is to cause a major meltdown of the financial markets and “redistribute” the monies in play. As they’re talking, Tom gets a call from Diane, who tells him that the Germans broadcast a message to other agencies that they had the Chechnyan couple in custody and were about to move them, meaning that Sydney and Vaughn were fakes. Tom tries to get the drop on Sydney and Vaughn, but they manage to knock out Tom and his compatriot. They grab the EMP device and try to escape, but find an armored helicopter outside their door. Sydney activates the EMP device and destroys the helicopter.
Later, on the flight back home, Sloane debriefs Sydney and Vaughn via videophone and says the Russians deny the existence of the facility. When the call ends, Jack tells Sloane his suspicions are correct: the Russians are searching for Elena. Sloane says they’ll just have to step up their timetable.
Back on the plane, Sydney and Vaughn decide to divert the plane they’re on to Paris for dinner.
The Good – Great interaction this week between Sydney and Vaughn. It was good to see them get some bonding time together, and it was humorous how they poked fun at how dour and serious Sydney and Vaughn can be.
The Bad – Another week, another Rimbaldi-free episode. They need to pick up the pace before they have a bunch of disgruntled fans on their hands.
