Review of Episode 17: A Clean Conscience
4/27/2005
Doctor: "Clear your conscience, Jack."
Jack: "That would take another lifetime at least."
I'm in total denial. Jack is not dying, and that's all there
is to it.
This episode was unsatisfying. Last week, Sloane went totally
apeshit; and now he appears to be fine, and it's like nothing
happened with the big red golf ball. I kept waiting for them
to address Sloane's lapse and get back to Jack's health all
through the Indonesian terrorist stuff. And that's not good.
The best part of the episode was Jack and Sloane finally
telling their
daughters the truth, that the notorious Auntie Yelena has
been stalking them for decades... and bingo: we discover Sonia
Braga is Yelena! Why didn't I see that coming? Now, see, this
is why I love being spoiler-free, because if I'd known, the
entire episode would have been a waste of time instead of
just being a partial waste of time.
Yelena has been in play for awhile, too. She is Nadia's mother
figure, for
all intents and purposes. And it appears that she is rooting
for Nadia, her
"special one," in the upcoming theoretical Rambaldi-related
Sydney vs. Nadia fight to the death. I bet Irina, if she's
alive, would back Sydney. I
wonder who Katya would root for?
I noticed that there was another riff on sacrifice; they
practically quoted
Mr. Spock's famous, "The needs of the many outweigh the
needs of the few." It's not just Jack sacrificing himself
by going into the reactor; here,
Raimes chose to allow fifteen *definite* deaths in order to
prevent hundreds of thousands of *possible* deaths. I always
thought there was a fly in that logic ointment. Preventing
both is the right answer, not one or the other.
And see, Jack isn't going to die. I simply won't have it.
Bits and pieces:
-- Capsules? Side effects and memory loss? I don't believe
that the doctor is above board, old friend or no old friend.
If he indeed is Jack's old friend.
-- I've been inconsistent in my spelling of third sister's
name,
Yelena/Elena. I'll go with the Y version from here on out.
-- Irina, Katya, Sophia, Yelena, Nadia... that's a lot of
sensuous,
three-syllable Russian-sounding feminine names ending in A,
and all in just one family. "Sydney" just doesn't
belong in there. And you can take that in more ways than one.
-- Yelena walked right into the CIA lion's den, just like
Irina did.
-- I wish Jack actually would write his memoirs. Hey, I'd
read them.
-- Dixon said, early on: "I didn't think the bullet
was made that could take
him [Raimes] down." At the end of the episode, Dixon
had to shoot Raimes. Interesting irony. I really did think
Raimes was dead at first, but it turned out like Sydney stabbing
Vaughn in season three.
-- When Marshall found that info on Sophia Vargas, Sloane
almost smiled at him. Was that a first?
-- I thought Vaughn would be the one to masquerade as Halsey
because there was actually something of a resemblance. Except
Vaughn is a lot cuter, and doesn't wear a ton of jewelry on
his face.
-- Some of the cast referred to the villain Kradic as "kra-dik"
and others
referred to him as "kra-ditch." Oops.
-- There was a fun "Lost" crossover moment: in
the opening airport scene, the loudspeaker said, "Oceanic
Airlines nonstop flight to Sydney is now ready for boarding
at gate 17." Plus there was a Hotel Ruisseau. :)
-- It sounds like Yelena killed the man who attacked the
kids in "The
Orphan."
-- Yelena: "Your father is a good man. I can tell."
Yelena thinks Sloane
is a good man? That alone should have told me what a talented
liar she is.
-- During the earring-ripping scene, I kept thinking of this
Buffy quote:
"Ah, you just heard the horror stories. Wear hoops, they
catch on something, rip your lobe off, lobes flying everywhere..."
-- Sydney: "What the hell are you thinking?" Sloane:
"I'm sure you mean that in the most polite way."
-- This week's itinerary: Copenhagen, Amsterdam. And was
Yelena calling from Lisbon?
-- This week's hot look: Not so much. I did like Dixon's
undercover hat,
though.
Bleah. Two out of five spies,
Billie
- Review by Billie Doux
| 
