Thursday, April 06, 2006

Episode Recap 5.04 "Mockingbird"

Here is the previously posted episode recap article for 5.04 "Mockingbird." Enjoy!

Must do it...I cannot withstand the urge… “Mock, yeah. Ing, yeah. Bird, yeah. Mockingbird.” So sorry, I apologize. I have been guzzling a double grande mocha this morning. On to more pressing issues…last nights episode!!

Well, it was another filler episode, but one of great importance. Let’s see, hmmm, where to begin. How about the beginning?Sydney: Let me just say, Jennifer Garner and Sydney Bristow both were having far too much fun playing a semi-white trash pregnant gambler. I do believe both ladies “aren’t like other moms.” And, just another day in the office is right. Preggo as all get out and she's keeping her cool 100-200 feet high, in a car, on a crane. Boil water, get some sheets because anyone else would have had that kid right then and there.

Rachel: She is Mockingbird. Mockingbirds sing, and she's singing about Dean and all his little secrets! She’s scared and confused, and doesn’t doll-faced Rachel Nichols play the part so well? Returning to Prague was a necessity. She worked through the urge to vomit, which is always a good sign.
Callback: All Rachel needed was a red wig as she scribbled away at her debrief and we would have been back to the pilot. Congrats to Syd for offering a healthy sandwich, unlike Vaughn’s plate of donuts and pastries.
Callback: Rachel in the trunk. Oh, back to the day when Jack and Vaughn broke Sydney out of custody. To prove the prophecy wrong, Vaughn had to cart Sydney around in the truck to flee the police/FBI/DSR.

Thomas: He is Sidewinder. Either he’s a small rattlesnake of the southwest United States and Mexico that moves by a distinctive lateral looping motion of its body and has two hornlike scaly projections above its eyes or he packs a powerful swinging punch delivered from the side. Either way, I like the name. It suits him. I loved him and Dixon together, getting comfortable with each other, playing off each other. We hadn’t seen much of Vaughn and Dixon working side by side. It’s nice to see Dixon with a guy for change. Did ya notice? Did you notice the look Rachel gave Tom as he opened the trunk? Wink, wink! And their little flirty, intense banter as she decoded the passcode? Oh, knocking boots is right.

Mean Dean: The man is running. From the CIA. He cleans out all his accounts (Callback: Ariana Kane cleans out her accounts in order to frame Jack for the murder of Emily Sloane) and he thinks he’s free and clear. No dice Deano. Rachel is alive and she’s smart. So, what is the head of a master crime unit going to do with no money? He’s going to get desperate. So, he makes a deal with the crime boss of all crime bosses, Arvin Sloane. Speaking of…The Return of Arvin

Sloane: I LOVE ARVIN as a baddie! Yahoo! We are back on the SD-6 train people and the destination is pure evil entertainment town! To save his daughter, he agrees to have Dean buy off the committee reviewing his case. Dean sends his little gofer (reminded me of Sark doing all the dirty work) and Arvin stands in front of Boyt Harkin, Mr. Prosecutor and he slaps him on the wrist. Forget about atoning for your sins. Also, Jack knows something is up. That look of utter shock during Sloane's sentencing was priceless. And, good gosh, the raging foreshadow as Sydney said, “we’ll just have to take them all down. Every single one,” as the camera cuts to Arvin Sloane, slow mo. Classic. So, will Sloane be playing Dean's mole in APO once he is reinstated? Will he be playing double-agent once again? Loyal to whom? Himself? I heart unholy alliances.

Also, Sloane, thinking he is about to spend the rest of his days in the slammer, asks Jack to be Nadia’s power of attorney. He asks him to watch out for her as if she were his own daughter!! Now many times are we going to hear this!!??? I demand a paternity test, pronto.

5th Hard Drive Down: Hmm, very Server 47 to me.
Extra tidbits: The bank account quotes, very interesting. Anyone have any insight??-The select blood runs through Rouque’s heart.-The future’s history is written in the ink of the past.-What a mirror reflects lives eternal.-If there was never a one there was ever the twelve.All right, let's hear it...
(PS. Next weeks eppy: Who do you think is in the box? Please don't say Rambaldi. I can't handle it. And a heads up, PEOPLE magazine has posted a pic of Vartan and Garner on the set of Alias this week. Check it out.)

Anyone notice that the ABC Boards are down? What is that all about?

5 comments:

SRM said...

ah yes, this is one of my fav eppies from season 5 so far (coming in at a close third behind Solo and The Horizon). How fun is Syd as the scamming preggo gambler "momma would looove a new pair of shoes!" It's also the first time we see Rachel really want to go on a mission and do what she can to take down Dean. This is where she starts to find her courage and grow as an agent.

SKlaft said...

With this episode, I felt that the writers were getting back to the roots that made Alias great in season 1 & 2. The outline an approach was excellent, begining from the point of tension and getting the watcher hooked to see how that came about by backing up 72 hours earlier.

The only thing that might have been different in "the old days" is if they had shown the car drop (along with my heart), and then splash the ALIAS logo, leaving us (and Syd & Rachel) hanging until next week. This was a classic, and is definately my favorite of this season. Horizon was interesting, the way they took us back to revisit scenes in a remarkably original way, but it is what it is: a flash-back episode.
One question for my memory's sake: Haven't we seen or been informed of the name of that ship (on which Syd is currently trapped) before? Did someone mention it, or was it in the background at some point before? What say you, Alias-efficianados?

Girlscout said...

What was the name of the ship Sydney was stuck on in the end?

SKlaft said...

I just rewartched the final seconds of the episode just to get the name. It seemed so conspicuous to me the way they panned away and curved behind the ship so that the name was clearly shown. It was the "Athena"

SRM said...

hmmm, Athena isn't ringing any past-Alias memory bells for me...