Way behind, further computer issues that no-one wants to know about; 'Sons' review is coming for anyone still holding out for that, after tomorrow's revision, which isn't going to be until late cos it's already 3:30am and I haven't been able to review yesterday's Alias yet. Goodness.

Ooh, a Sloane based episode; marvellous. But what really impressed me about this episode, perhaps even more so than the crumpling of Ron Rifkin's face in his largest performance on the show to date, (maybe not the best, but it's hard not to say 'woah' to that kind of sheer breakdown), is all the little bits and pieces tying up, would you believe it, Season Three problems. It's as if JJ sat down with Jeff and said, 'Y'know, what I'd really like to do is, not ignore Season Three, but fix everything that's wrong with it, and put together a separate but coherent fourth Season plot line building to a finale'. And Jeff said- 'Hell, we've got me, we've got Drew, we've got J R Orci, we've got lots of suspicious newbie writers who are basically you, me and Drew, why not?' Seriously, where do they get these new names they roll out every week to credit some of the best episodes of the Season to? Brad whom? Anyhow, this review will be bitty, because it wasn't the overall sweep and resolution of the episode, (like last week's incredible climactic scene) which was this episode's prime strength, but many, many well-observed details.

-First, in a turn more cheeringly feminist than any turn in this Season except the Nadia Syd tag team one back early on, Jennifer Garner directs. And directs, to put it mildly, brilliantly. Wrenching performances, utterly beautiful effects in the vision sequence, bits and pieces from actors which enrich lines, (either she has many more ideas about characters' line-readings than a guest director, or she's more receptive, but either way, it works). Bravo. Plus, she's very good herself.

-In the very first scene, the camera pans, carelessly up to the <0> symbol, the symbol of Nadia and Syd fighting over a thing of great value. What, I wonder, will that turn out to be, and will it end this Season, or end next? The fact a fifth Season is assured allows the gang to plan in advance. Plus, Drew Goddard gets to write on a show for two consecutive Seasons. The curse is lifted!

-OK, d'H got there first, (which is unfair since d'H hardly ever even mentions Alias), but how cute was the 'Plan Bee' comment? Not immediately obvious, and then, because it was played so straight, still missable.

-I loved the idea that Jack has to keep his hands up to fight off his illness and aid his recovery. It's such a potent metaphor for him as a person- never letting his guard down, never letting anyone get close to him. And as a result of his distance, I love the line, (and the line reading) of Syd's "You're part of it now". Spare, unmelodramatic, evanescent. But meaning more to a long-time viewer than a first-timer could imagine.

-The two Titans go head to head. In 72 hours I tell Langley, and you are finished. Pause. Lingering menace. Glimmer in eye. You too Jack. Almost smile. OTP gleam. Jack stone-faced. And cut. Closest Alias has come to a sex scene in ages. What's the betting Jennifer Garner said: 'With a touch more love, Victor'?

-I like the little intimation, which is all in the line-reading again, that Syd loves her missions- that they are a huge adrenalin rush for her, in her 'I'd love to be there'. I'm not sure why it was in the script, but Garner gives it huge enthusiasm as if reminded us of her raison d'etre. Also faintly meta on the fact she hasn't done many missions recently because of some kind of injury.

-How many fingers was it Jack? There's a third man in this relationship. Gasp. But anyhow, the key number is eight. Because frankly, with the two of them, it was hardly going to be anything less than all the fingers. I'm also fairly certain that neither Bristow nor Sloane would refer to a thumb as a finger. Sloppy, unclinical somehow.

-A huge elephant lumbers into the room as Bulger reminds Jack that neither Dixon nor Bristow, jnr, would be working for Sloane after Diane and Danny's deaths. The distinct, artful style also used in the first Doctor Who where Rose incredulously asks why the Tardis is disguised as a 50's style police box. If there's a hole in the show, have the characters ask why it's there. NB: only works for suspension of disbelief holes, not blatant opportunism holes. Lauren in Season Three's finale could not have said for example: why have I been here the entire second half of the Season running round in sexy lingerie? It's faintly degrading.

-I don't know what kind of a madman thought Jack should have a walking stick, but it pays off beautifully, as well as giving a real energy to the nice long shot with Jack wandering about in the background behind the rest of APO.

-Vaughn only has one noticable scene in the episode, where he fails to realise that the crazy European cloning guy is adding cyanide, not sugar to his coffee. To be fair, since I was already shouting at them not to let him drink it, (I mean, it's not a plot device as old as, say, Hamlet, now is it?) surely highly skilled CIA agents? Shame that the potentially interesting Vaughn of the early Season is turning back into the pretty-faced dope of the outfit.

-We almost get back into classic Orwell/Huxley/Angel Season Four territory as Sloane starts to disseminate what exactly a peaceful world looks like to him. It looks like a world of clones that he can manipulate as he sees fit. (Cue 'Duel of the Fates'). So much slots into place here. The consistent drawing of Sloane with water is paid off handsomely. I doubt it was originally part of the plan, but it's a magnificent way of explaining the ubiquity of the wet stuff to the character. Furthermore, we get a second explanation of what 'peace' meant, (not just the Russian name). And we get a showcase of Sloane's ability to disown, (or at least appear to disown in front of others) responsibility for a deeply evil act. He only, as Syd astutely puts it 'loaded the gun'. He seems unconcerned by this. It would take a genuinely evil person to finish the job, and that's not him at all. Syd's subsequent drawing of Arvin as 'a delusional megalomaniac with benign intentions' is a good quick way to skewer Jack as he attempts to defend his partner.

-And as if in answer to our slashy prayers, (well, to be honest, I'm not sure that anyone had slashy prayers, but to cap the thread in this review anyhow), Sloane decides to name his first daughter after the true love of his life to date. No, not Franz Ferdinand. He of chiselled jaw and sheet iron countenance.

-As nice as it is to see the well-acted character of Emily back in this instalment, I geuninely don't want her back in real life, since even Lazarus only came back once.

-And as Sloane dies of happiness, near enough, the costume department step forward to take a bow. Sloane is dressed in the black of despair as he enters his vision. Through sheer will-power, he turns his dark to light- his snappy black suit to an even nicer white one, and suddenly Jacqueline has survived. Only for his real daughter- the future which has its beauties but involves a giving up of the beauties in the present, (what a philosophical zinger that is to sleep on), who appears, all in, yes you got it, black. To call him back to himself with the one word that defines his life both now and then. A word he never heard from Jacqueline, and never, until a year ago, heard from his only surviving child. The key to his struggle to be a good man again, every day. Dad.

-Rather like the end of 'Amends', good lines start piling up in the last few scenes. My personal favourites: "I was a good man once. Now I'm a monster" Arvin Sloane. Initials AS. Turns to the Dark Side. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
-Come back and redeem yourself.
Can Sloane ever do this? Does he really want to?

Full credit to the last eight episodes of this Season. They've explored Nadia, Jack, Sloane and Marshall better than I ever thought possible, made coherent vast swathes of Season Three, and set Sydney up to be the centrepiece in the last three episodes into the best Season finale to date. I just hope I'm not over-expecting.

TCH