If you see what I mean.

4.8- 'Echoes'

Apart from the title, which throws some interesting and character building shadows over the plot which don't seem to me to be there without it, and Gina Torres and David Anders' appearances, it has to be said that this is a very quiet, unobtrusive, and at times rather dull episode. I suspect Abrams et al were counting on the return of the two enemies to be enough in itself to sustain the show, which is a typical Alias mistake- the show is mostly flash and very little of substance, most of the time. The fact is that I keep watching out of a mixture of loyalty and knowledge that there's occasionally an excellent episode, ('Almost Thirty Years', 'The Getaway', 'Truth Takes Time', 'Ice'). Hopefully there'll be the big mid-Season twist episode soon, because I'm starting to get itchy feet.

-This week in the game of give Michael Vartan an extremely funny line and watch him squander it- 'Many, many ships in many bottles'. Too throwaway- he should have lingered on it.

-It's crass and obvious, but what's not to love about the money shot of Sloane and Jack in slow-motion. The adders' slither.

-There perhaps could have been more conflict had about the power dynamic shift once Sloane had been released. I respect the writers' decision to have Sloane not give Nadia any leeway- to tell Jack that the tactically right move is to have Marshall construct the fake. But once Nadia is returned and Sloane tells her that he's glad she is safe, it would have been interesting for Sydney to make some (possibly veiled?)reference to the fact that she wouldn't be if Sloane had had his way, to see how Nadia took it.

-'She's supposed to be dead'
'So are a lot of people'.
Charmingly meta, particularly considering the latest Lena Olin rumours- on this occasion it's nice to see Alias owning up to the fact that if they can get the big stars back, they want to have them.

-It's not really surprising to me that Rambaldi is back into the action- despite the apparent new focus on the show, it's stretching incredulity beyond breaking point to have the big suspenseful moment where Nadia and Sloane go off to find Rambaldi's legacy and then to hear no more about it at all- too much of a write-off.

-'Your sister is a curse', says Anna Espinosa, who presumably would know by now. I always liked the way that Anna and Syd were identified as equal agents- the person Sydney could not get rid of because of the equal competencies- the symmetric relationship, the person you hate because you identify so deeply and yet, due to the vagaries of spyship, can't love. Here Gina Torres again plays Anna as wilfully, seductive to both Syd and Nadia- she is the femme fatale whose quite happy to look sultry at either sex.

-We get a sandgrain of character development on Marshall, who remembers who Sark is. In the hunt for a maturing Marshall, we take what meagre scraps we can get.

-I thought the explanation of the Rambaldi symbol was mischievous and excellent. Given that by now everyone who isn't very wise has read 'The Da Vinci Code', it's notable that the two symbols for Nadia and Syd are identical to the feminine Grail symbols in Dan Brown's factualised tripe. The appropriation of the symbols here is amusing- what's left to figure out is, what does the round symbol stand for?

-I thought the way that Syd unnecessarily lost control and punched Anna under provocation, as a two-piece with her later admission to her father that 'She brings out the worst in me' was maybe the best observed moment of the episode.

-Vaughn and Sark allows us to momentarily think about Vaughn's tortured past again, which has been a new and rather convincing side of his character which has let me summon up marginal interest in the cipher this Season. Sark's always been such a vapid, evanescent character- catching him is like catching woodsmoke- that it's nice to have his plot-line in this episode be totally hollow- it feels like there's a symbolism that his whole B-plot comes to nothing. I suspect this was accidental, but I enjoyed the implication.

-'We'll send in the surgical team this evening', says Jack, as if ordering a hair cut. Scary guy. A perfect illustration of the raison d'etre for his character: the thought I wouldn't want him as a father.

-The fight scene to Muzak was inspired.

-If Nadia's dead then I'm the next Pope.

I got through it, but it's hardly a keeper. In light of my recent proclivities, I can only say: Alias; it's good, but it's not Dawson's Creek.

TCH