Monday, December 05, 2005

Father-Daughter Arts and Crafts

(*Can you tell me where I got this title? hehehe)

Ahh, back to the grind. The Alias grind! My head is still spinning from my Sloane Clone post. Aside, Michael Vartan will be appearing on Kitchen Confidential with Bradley Cooper (aka Will Tippin) tonight at 8:30pm PST on Fox. It should be a very funny reunion for the two and for us!

Another reminder, Alias will appear on Wednesday night this week, 10pm PST on ABC. This episode will guest star David Anders as our beloved Julian Sark. I am loving the idea of an old baddie returning to stir up a newbie. Thus far we have only seen Rachel as this virginal innocent, with those pure blue eyes and dewy look of fear. It will be nice to see her mix up on the not-so-innocent side of international spy-dom.

This coming episode, titled "Bob," will be the lead in episode for the return of Vaughn. Look for them to focus on Vaughn as they have the last couple of episodes, to remind us and keep him in our thoughts. Though it has been stated that Vaughn’s return is merely a manifestation of Sydney’s imagination, it will be bittersweet to see the two of them together again. I have almost gotten used to the fact that Sydney is alone, or at least Vaughn-less, and frankly that scares me.

All right, back to the pilot review…

Going back and watching the pilot was nearly shocking in regards to Jack’s relationship with Sydney. When we first meet the Bristow’s they are practically estranged. Sydney doesn’t want to tell her father about her engage for fear he will ruin it and the first minute we meet Jack he is “welcoming” Danny to the family. We learn that for most of Sydney’s life Jack has been absent. We learn, as Sydney does, that most of what her father has told her is a lie; about his life, her life and their professions.

Throughout the seasons we have seen Jack and Sydney’s relationship go up and down. Jack is either disappointing or saving Sydney. She either trusts him or she doesn’t. There is a pattern I have picked up on. Jack tends to be in Sydney’s good graces right before a major deception is brought to light. And we can assume that now that Jack has become Sydney’s rock during her time of need, that he has something up his sleeve which Sydney will find devastating. But isn’t so much more interesting when Sydney is mad at Jack for one reason or another? Doesn’t it add to the favor of Alias? I find their chummy family happiness rather boring and, frankly, somewhat forced. I’m not wishing and hoping that Jack will deceive his daughter, but it makes for better TV, right?

What do you think about Sydney and Jack’s relationship? What does it tell us about Jack? Sydney? What can it tell us about what kind of parent Sydney will be? What are your favorite father-daughter moments? Mine: When Jack is being questioned for hiring a terrorist to blow up a building in which to frame Irina, Sydney watches from a monitor in the Rotunda. Jack states that when he looks at the little girl who raised herself to be one of the most exceptional agents he’s had the privilege of working with, he sees not the embodiment of all his flaws, but the promise of his redemption and that he loves her more than he could ever say! TEAR.

(I know this isn’t the most in-depth piece to start the week off with, but I have a huge piece in the works and I have some more research to do. Sorry!!! Bare with me!)

12 comments:

SKlaft said...

GS, I have something on my mind, but I am not certain it has much to do with the theme of your post, so I hope you don't mind me working out my thoughts here.

I just watched "Welcome to Liberty Village" again over my lunch hour. I was a little surprised that I hadn't noticed it before, but the real story was happening back in the States while Syd and Vaughn were on assignment. In order to get information from Alexi, Irena's former Russian handler, Jack had to give him one of the books he had bought for Irena (one of the same books from S-1 in which we find out that they had been encoded with orders for Irena to assasinate certain CIA operatives). Trying to figure out why he would want the books, Jack assigns Marshal to re-examine them. Marshal finds an extra dot in the elipsis that has been encoded with a micro-dot encription, which, when deciphered, spelled out the name "Sentinel." At first Jack tells Marshal that Irena must have been trying to contact the opperative by that name, but the opperative is dead so it doesn't matter if the Russians have the book. Then, at the end of the show, Jack and Arvin are communing, and Jack says something extreemly interesting. "Apparently our suspcions about Sentinel were correct. The Russians are looking for Elena Derevco." Boy, does this ever open up a worm-bed of questions!

Who is Sentinel? Was it Elena herself? It's hard to tell from that conversation. Jack may have been using the names synonymously, or he may have been speaking with the assumption that Arvin knew of the connection between the person called Sentinel and Elena.

If it was Elena, does that mean that Irena had been collaborating with Elena while she was still married to Jack? What does this mean to Sydney in reference to Lauren's statement, "The difference between us is that I know who controls me"?

If Sentinel is only an associate of Elena (whether he or she is dead or alive), what roll did he play in going between her and Irena? Is he someone we know? Could he have been Vaughn's dad?

(Oww. My head hurts on that one. I'm gonna quit.)
-R.

Girlscout said...

Hey Robetron, good to see you again! I wrote an entire article about this last month I think. It was called Sentinel. You can find it in the archives listed by month to the right of the posts on the main page. Take a gander at it and tell me if that answers your question. I think it's something we should keep our eye on for sure!!

SRM said...

GS - your fav Jack/Syd moment is mine as well, I always get tears in my eyes when I watch that scene. :) I'm not minding the happy family thing they've got going this season, probably because those are really the only tender moments we see since Vaughn's been gone. The only thing I don't like about rewatching seasons 1-2 is seeing how awful their relationship used to be. I always feel for Syd when she first asks Jack to dinner, I believe it's eppy 1:3, she looks so vaulnerable when she asks him "do you have plans?" We've seen her as such a tough agent so far in season 1, all of a sudden she looks like a timid 8 year old girl, wanting love from her dad. My other favorite moment is in "The Box Pt. 1" when Syd volunteers to go through the ducts and as she's climbing through them Jack reaches up and touches the ducts, as if to give a fatherly "good luck", I think that's the first time we see him express a desire to be closer to his daughter.

Girlscout said...

Ohhh, I love that scene too!! They have to work together to save SD-6, the one thing that brought them closer!! Such a good moment. I also love when Jack threatens Haladki after he told on him. Jack is always trying to protect Syd. Gotta love SpyDaddy!

SKlaft said...

I went looking for it, GS, but I am not finding it. I did enjoy some of the other articles I had not seen, though.

One among many favorite Jack/ Syd scenes:

The scene in the van when Syd was halucinating that her father was saying those terrible things to her. It lets us in on how much Syd has come to depend on Jack emotionally, whether she chose to or not.

Girlscout said...

Robetron, I will e-mail you the article. I think Sentinel was refering to Elena and the meaning of the word is very interesting.

Good scene choice. It shows Sydney's feara baout being lied to and about her feelings about her father's past.

uncle111 said...

One of my favorite moments between Jack and Syd is from S4 when they make Jack think he is back in time before Irina left. They make him think Syd is Irina and he is talking to Irina/Syd about quitting the CIA because he is away too much and he doesn't want Syd to grow up with her father always gone like he grew up with his father always gone. This moment hits Syd full force with Jack's love and concern for both her and Irina, but she has to keep it from showing. Then Jack sits down at the piano and plays a tune with who he thinks is Syd, while the Syd/Irina watches.

Jess said...

Uncle111-

That is one of my favorites too. Seeing how Jack wanted things to be different than they turned out. Seeing how much he loved Syd when she was a kid. I wonder how differently things would have been if Irina hadn't faked her death. Maybe Jack really would have resigned from the CIA. Syd may never have joined SD-6, since she joined b/c she felt so disconnected from life...

SRM said...

yes Uncle, that's one of my favs too, it's so touching, JG did an awesome acting job of keeping the tears from falling, but you could still see they were there. :)

Girlscout said...

I also love the scene when Syd leverages her way to see Jack in prison. He walks in and he sees her and she starts crying and he says, "Sweetheart, you look beautiful." I love that whole thing. He was all she had when she woke up, it was sweet!

amy said...

i love in s1 where sydney is just so emotional and so reactive and has these huge emotional swings in regards to jack....one minute she's telling him he is going to pay for all that he has done and the next minute he is handing her papers clearing him of FBI suspicion and she says she doesn't need to see them because she believes him.....then she is dropping off thanksgiving leftovers (i love that moment) at his desk...i think they do an amazing job of making syd seem entirely real and relatable...she wants her dad to be her dad, but she is conflicted over all that she hears and sees and suspects...great job writers!

amy said...

i love in s3 how he is such a rock for her....like when she is heating up her tv dinner and he walks in with chinese food....or when he asks her to dinner at the end of an episode and they walk out together.....i just can hear syd's telltale voice saying "dad" on so many occasions and we just want to cry!!!