Review of Episode 9: A Man of His Word
3/2/2005
Vaughn: "You have my permission to kill him if you
like."
This episode had a definite theme: laying the ghost of Lauren
Reed to rest. It even started in a permanent CIA morgue for
people whose deaths are kept secret (how creepy), and ended
with a fight in a crematory. Death, death, death. Not subtle
at all.
We even got to see Sydney masquerade as Lauren, as well as
Lauren's actual, frozen body. I thought for a moment that
they would avoid showing her face in order to avoid paying
Melissa George residuals... but no. I think it was a digital
image, though, since she wasn't in the credits.
Wearing black, acting muy tough (especially around Lauren's
lover,
Sark),Vaughn appeared determined to show everyone that Lauren
meant nothing to him. He even looked at Sydney, all dressed
up as Lauren and mimicking Lauren's voice, and he was cold
as ice. Protesting too much, I dare say. I wonder if Vaughn
is headed for a major emotional crack-up?
It was interesting to see Jack and Sloane finally butting
heads about --
what else? -- their daughters. ("I would have appreciated,
as a father, to
be apprised of your decision to put my daughter's life at
risk." "As you do
mine every day.") For each of them, their daughter is
their number one
priority, and in this episode, those priorities conflicted.
Sloane
understood what Jack did... this time. He appears to care
deeply for Nadia; when it comes to Sloane, though, appearances
can be deceptive. The issue of his "faith" in Rambaldi
came up several times in this episode; does Sloane care for
Nadia only in the context of her role in the prophecy?
For me, the highlight of this episode was our deliciously
evil Sark, who may not be all that evil any more. A couple
of years ago, Anna Espinosa would have been a dream partner
for him... and yet, he turned her in. Did he actually plan
to keep his word this time? Has he really changed? Did he
really love Lauren? Or was he pretending that Lauren's death
devastated him in order to give Vaughn a hard time?
Good, evil, I don't care. More Sark, please.
Bits and pieces:
-- I absolutely loved Sark's "Silence of the Lambs"
entrance.
-- Like double-crossing enemy agent wives, Sark escaping
from custody has gotten deeply repetitious. How many times
has he done it?
-- The triangular pattern of Lauren's death wounds were symbolic
of the
Lauren Vaughn Sark love triangle.
-- Marshall and Jack had another Laurel and Hardy moment.
There's something so funny about Marshall trying to joke with
Jack, and Jack's deadpan non-reaction.
-- Anna Espinosa is now in custody, and will probably stay
there until Gina Torres can guest star again.
-- Nadia: "And hey, we didn't kill each other."
Sydney: "Nope." For now,
anyway. But it's a-coming. We're getting hint anvils.
-- Sanko: "Mr. Sark has told me about your... predilictions.
I have a room
above this club; I'd like to watch that for myself."
Vaughn: "You have my
permission to kill him if you like." Geez. Watch what?
Something
sadistic, probably. Goes with the way Sydney actually bit
Sark.
-- Speaking of which, Sydney and Sark and tequila and lime
and kissing and biting. Was that hot or what?
-- This week's itinerary: Whole lotta Venice going on.
-- This week's hot look: I didn't like Sydney as Lauren's
doppelganger, but
I thought she looked terrific in that black dress when the
blonde wig came off.
As much as I liked parts of this episode, it wasn't a slam
dunk. But I
could watch Sark and Vaughn in a pissing contest all day.
Four out of five
spies,
Billie
- Review by Billie Doux
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