Never was. Never will be. Sydney can’t be a free agent. It doesn’t work for us. And I loved how this episode dealt with this. It was necessary. With SD-6 out of the way, what else does Sydney have to fight for? Arvin Sloane maybe. It seems we all forgot about this guy. He’s still alive and kicking.

          When did Sydney have the time to go to school this past year? I think it’s time we close that chapter of Sydney’s life. This is the best time to do it. The writers are building up the second half of the season and it’s time to move on. But I loved what Sydney had to deal with. It’s so true. She wouldn’t have been to see her mother if she gave up the job. I’m glad Irina finally acted like a mother. She urged her to quit the job. Revelation: Irina has a heart. But there’s no way Sydney can give up on the CIA. We all need her there. The country needs her there. Problem solved.

          The episode started with the morning after with Vaughn. Oooooh! I wonder what happened. All kidding aside, could Sydney have looked any happier? She was with the man she loves and she got some. Sydney can finally be happy again. That’s all I want. I’m rooting for it.

          So what’s up with this whole Neil Caplan thing? Let me start off by saying that I don’t like it when bad guys kidnap children. That’s why they’re bad guys. The mother and son kidnapping was just hard to watch. Sydney got to them in time. So Sloane needs Neil Caplan to build a Rambaldi artifact. Judging by the sound of it, it’s some huge weapon. So far, we haven’t seen nothing from Rambaldi. I wonder what’s coming up. They’re hyping it. Neil Caplan is the key to this whole puzzle. Sloane knows what he’s doing.

          Just when I thought I couldn’t hate him anymore, he goes and pulls a major stunt in the bank. I loved how the writers attempted to change Sloane’s appearance. Nice idea. And an even better idea was to have Sydney be Sloane’s prisoner. This is going to be good, especially after that phone conversation the both of them had. This scene was classic as Sloane had the balls to contact Sydney at her house. This guy loves picking trouble. I never thought about it, but this was her real real true conversation with Sloane. Everything is out in the open.

          Full disclosure doesn’t work for everyone as Dixon is having a real hard time keeping his marriage alive. It’s going to kill me if Diane decides to divorce him. That’s the last thing Dixon needs. We know for a fact he didn’t mean what he told Sydney. I doubt it. If he was in her position, he wouldn’t dare risk her life and the lives of her loved ones. And lastly, I hope he takes the job at the CIA. His relationship with Sydney is too valuable to give up.

          I’m going to close with Irina. Call her a duplicitous bitch, call her a demented psycho, she is definitely trying to make things right with her daughter. She’s acting like a mother. I loved her telling Sydney to not keep the job because of her. She even went as far as to say that if she stayed, she would not agree to see her. Has Irina really turned to the good side? It’s debatable, but in this scene, I got the impression that she really cares for her daughter.

Syd’s Tips

-          When assisting your partner and he takes lead, make sure to always be ready to pull a weapon out. Your subject might have backup around any corner.

Mission Files

MAIN OBJECTIVE: Capture Sloane and release Neil Caplan.

CIA MISSION

ALIAS: None

LOCATION: Mojave Desert, California, USA

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS: None

MARSHALL’S GADGETS: None

OBJECTIVE: Find the flight data recorder of the plane Sloane chartered to find his final destination.

CIA MISSION

ALIAS: None

LOCATION: Zurich, Switzerland

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS: French

MARSHALL’S GADGETS: None

OBJECTIVE: Meet a contact that arranged a mercenary team for Sloane.

Quotable Quotes

-          Sydney: “How are we going to stay awake today?” Seriously.

-          Sydney: “Vaughn?”

Vaughn: “How come you never call me Michael?”

Sydney: “I do, sometimes. Vaughn.” I loved this moment.

-          Jack: “Legally, he’s right. Ethically, he’s an ass.” That, Kendall is.

-          Will: “What’s a four-letter word for ‘ice-cream thickener’?”

Sydney: “Agar.” I’m speechless.

-          Sydney: “Listen to me you son of a bitch. You have been a plague on my life. You repulse me. Every time I sat across from you, listening to your lies, all I could do was fantasize about slashing your throat.” Great.

-          Dixon (to Sydney): “I never want to see you again.”

Some Final Notes

-          Marshall is in the CIA. All the techies were just so impressed with this guy. I liked how he told them that their virus they sent to SD-6 wasn’t good enough. Classic Marshall.

-          More Marshall: asking Kendall how he spells his name.

-          I’m still freaked out by Sloane’s phone call to Syd. Who does that?

-          The scene between Dixon and Sydney in the meeting room was big. Dixon openly told her to get out of his face.

-          Jack found the guy with a flashing eye. Wasn’t that the guy from a few episodes ago? Dresden was his name.

-          Vaughn was tested by some arms dealer to identify the model of a gun by just hearing the cocking sound. He had a 50/50 chance of getting it wrong.

-          Sydney kicked someone into an airplane motor. That’s rough Syd.

-          Sloane says he’s bought a villa for Emily.

-          Cliffhanger: Sloane takes Sydney prisoner.

Much better than last week’s. 4 stars

-          Next episode

-          Alias season 2

-          Alias main