Alias: Unveiled (3.18)

The only scene this week that bristles with vintage Alias intensity is the one in which Jack and Vaughn compare notes on their evil wives, Jack informing him of the warning signs, having experienced so much pain and turmoil as a result of Irina's betrayal all those years ago, and Vaughn steadfastly denying that Lauren could ever work for the enemy. It's a moment with real dramatic weight, instigated by a man who can't help but distrust those around him, spoken to another man far too naive. But it also brought home the obvious parallels between Lauren and Irina, something I embarrassingly hadn't really noticed up till now. Then again, Lauren is such an unintentional enigma, even this far into the season, that it's sort of understandable why the connection flew over my head.

Gosh, I feel like Lauren is all I talk about this year. She's all over the shop, isn't she? If she's not stabbing folks, characters are distrusting her. If characters aren't distrusting her, they're talking about a mole who is in fact her. She's this suppressive presence on the show, somebody preventing most of the cast from moving forward and dragging down a lot of the drama. I continue to enjoy Melissa George's performances (she's running at this with full-speed conviction), but I don't understand Lauren -- I can't rectify her bloody, ruthless quality here with the guilt and feelings of wavering that she's exhibited over the last couple of weeks, and I'm sort of eager for this whole thing to wrap up.

Jack's storyline was more successful this week, even if it did introduce another mysterious organization that nobody has ever heard of. He learned of Sloane and Irina's affair, and therefore decided to not try so hard to prevent Sloane's forthcoming execution, a move that's petty and ridiculous but entirely believable. The thought of Sloane dribbling all over Lena Olin? Ugh. That's the stuff of eyeball-melting right there. At least they referenced that whole thing again, though, considering the show is all about introducing plot developments and dropping them from weeks on end lately. Remember Lindsey's blackmail of Sloane? Or the green goo Sloane injected himself with?

While Unveiled lacked a ton of intriguing character drama, it was actually the first episode in a while that felt like old Alias from an action stand-point. It's something I realized I'd been really missing, which is surprising since I'm not a huge action guy. But it was a lot of fun seeing Sydney dolled up in an interesting disguise again, likewise her crazily-choreographed fight sequence at the end -- Syd jumping up and kicking the globe straight into the camera, and the bodyguard with the giant mace. I don't know, it just felt nice to have this kind of thing back again. There's been a definite feeling of late that Alias has lost its identity... B

Credits
Guest stars Djimon Hounsou (Kazari Bomani); Geno Silva (Diego Machuca); Vincent Riotta (Dr. Viadro); Morgan Weisser (Cypher)
Writers Monica Breen, Alison Schapker Director Jack Bender