The one thing I like the most about "Alias" at this period is how it's packed with so much info, stories, sub-stories, pieces of the puzzle, that you barely have time to catch your breath. From the opening scenes of Irina's computer communication (with Jack) account getting terminated, and Sark getting owned by David Carradine before Lauren's mother saves him, to the closing scenes revealing, once again, that Jack Bristow will (almost) always be a step ahead of the opposition, "Hourglass" is packed with great moments. The Covenant get their hands on The Restoration, i.e. Rambaldi documents that will reveal the next clue in the quest for The Passenger. But the CIA has the only code key for reading them, and, now knowing from Vaughn that Lauren is the mole, they give her a wrong key and let her lead them to the documents. The next clue turns out to be another Rambaldi device, The Hourglass, kept in an L.A Yakuza night club. The problem is that the location of the Passenger will only be revealed to a specific person - Sloane. And he's about to be executed in a matter of hours, unless Jack has something to say about that. Ron Rifkin's acting is phenomenal in this episode. And the Vaughn-Lauren marriage is a perfect study in double-duplicity: now they BOTH have to pretend to be someone they're not, but Vaughn has the advantage of Lauren not knowing that he knows. However, that is about to change, soon. This episode also has the arguably funniest line of the entire season so far: Sydney: "But she could also be an innocent victim". Jack: "With Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane as her parents? I don't think so"! This had me laughing for about a minute. *** out of 4.
2 Reviews
Time of execution
Tweekums25 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Although Vaughn discovered that his wife Lauren is indeed the mole working for the Covenant he must continue to act as if he want to save their marriage if the CIA are to get the Rambaldi documents which the Covenant possess. Luckily the CIA has the key needed to decrypt the documents so a wake key is prepared and the team, including Lauren is briefed about plans to acquire the documents. She is allowed to steal the fake key which leads Vaughn to the documents which he scans just before Lauren enters the room. It becomes clear that the Passenger wasn't Sydney's mother as suspected but her sister who she didn't know existed and was fathered by Sloane who is still scheduled to be executed.
While not as convoluted as many recent episodes this was still gripping, staring off with a great fight scene between Sark and guest star David Carradine and the conclusion featured Sydney, machine-pistol in both hands, mowing down loads of Covenant goons which was pretty exciting. In between there wasn't too much action but there were plenty of tense scenes. My only criticism of the episode was the very end, I think the final scene would have been better shown at the start of the nest episode although I guess the producers didn't want us to think Jack was that bad or let us think a major character was dead. As is often the case the best scenes were those between Victor Garber and Ron Rifkin as Jack Bristow and Sloane; they might not perform action scenes like the younger cast members but they can seem far more dangerous.
While not as convoluted as many recent episodes this was still gripping, staring off with a great fight scene between Sark and guest star David Carradine and the conclusion featured Sydney, machine-pistol in both hands, mowing down loads of Covenant goons which was pretty exciting. In between there wasn't too much action but there were plenty of tense scenes. My only criticism of the episode was the very end, I think the final scene would have been better shown at the start of the nest episode although I guess the producers didn't want us to think Jack was that bad or let us think a major character was dead. As is often the case the best scenes were those between Victor Garber and Ron Rifkin as Jack Bristow and Sloane; they might not perform action scenes like the younger cast members but they can seem far more dangerous.
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