Alias (TV Series) Search and Rescue (2005) User Reviews

Back from the dead!

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 22 September 2010]

This episode opens with a flashback to the moment that Jack killed Irena; after Dixon's statement that he'd seen Irena alive I assumed there would be some ambiguity about her death but when we see it there is no doubt that she is dead, Jack shot her in the middle of her forehead. Looking through her contacts they discover one was involved with Project Helix so it looks as though the Irena Jack killed was just a copy. This is good as Elena and Sloane have activated a giant Rambaldi device in a Russian city and it has made the people loose control and the only person who can deactivate the device is Irena. It still isn't simple, before going to Russia they have to break Irena out of captivity and persuade the CIA but to lock her up again. Once the mission has been approved Jack, Sydney, Nadia, Irena and Vaughn head to Russia hoping to deactivate the device before the Russians launch an air strike which would have disastrous results.

This was a decent episode that was notable for not featuring Arvin Sloane. It was nice to see Lena Olin back as Sydney's mother Irena, I liked the scene between her and Mía Maestro's Nadia when she realises Nadia is her daughter too, it was emotional without overdoing the sentimentality. Mía was also great in the scene where she and Sydney helped their mother escape from captivity in a Central American jungle, she showed that she can handle the fight scenes as well as Jennifer Garner who has being demonstrating her prowess in such scenes for years.

Irina's return

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 23 January 2010]

Chaos and violence erupt in a Russian city when Elena Derevko and Arvin Sloane put one of those rotating red balls in motion there - except this one is gigantic in size. The only person who might be able to help shut down the device is Irina Derevko, but she's dead, right? Wrong. Because the woman that Jack shot in the head after falsely thinking she had put a hit on Sydney's life was not Irina, but a double created by Elena (with the same technology that was used to double Francie). The real Irina had been captured, imprisoned, tortured and interrogated by her sister about a Rambaldi document that predicts the Apocalypse. After learning from one of Elena's associates where she is keeping Irina, Jack, Sydney and Nadia go on a rescue mission for her. But they must hurry, because the Russian government is planning an air strike that will annihilate the entire city in the next few hours. As the penultimate episode of the season, "Search And Rescue" accomplishes its mission: the final sequence, especially, with 5 characters jumping from a plane into utter chaos, leaves you anxious to see what will happen next. This episode also has a self-aware sense of humor: it's like the writers are winking at you, telling you that yes, "a giant red ball + contaminated water = a city full of homicidal maniacs" may be absurd, but you should go along with it anyway. Lena Olin makes a welcome return, but what this episode is missing is the other side's perspective: Sloane and Elena are nowhere to be seen. In fact, I believe this is the first "Alias" episode where Sloane does not appear at all. *** out of 4.

Alas Not Alias !

[elshikh4 · 2 July 2008]

Yes, (Jack) and (Arena) looked pretty elegant at the start, but the storyline of him killing her to discover that he murdered her double was all ridiculously fabricated, and I've never believed it. And eagerly, why the happy smile upon her face while she was dead under the water??, like the double says: "How stupid Jack was. He killed me thinking that he killed the real Arena.. HA HA HAA, he's so mistaken as I'm so dead HA HA HAA" (!)

Yes, the cliffhanger of this episode was too cool with true fine music, which will be the closing credits' theme at the next season, however the whole story about (Rambaldi)'s sphere and how it makes people hate each others!, moreover the Hocus Pocus about the water!, then the Zombies! That was too far and absurd even by the standards of Alias itself!! Not to mention how the (Rambaldi)'s sphere will have totally different using at season 5! They manipulated and hackneyed the (Rambaldi)'s everything to the utmost, while they never put final limits or certain concept to it ever, and you know what: IT SHOWS!

Yes, the action looked nice as usual, but the scene where (Arena) meets her daughter (Nadia) was quite laughable, like the writers told (Lena Olean): "Hey, this is your long lost daughter, we made her up while you were out of the series, well, we have no time to write anything, so anyway, hug her passionately yet briefly, to wrap it up quick today"! Really that scene was weak to idiotic extent. And here's a mystery for the ages: How (Arena) noticed SUDDENLY that this girl was her daughter, putting in mind that she met her earlier, and recognized nothing?!!

Yes, Auntie (Elena Derevko) is so bad, but I supposed that the big evil behind all the crimes might have been someone more convincing. I can bet that the team of writers didn't know who's to make as the mastermind till the very end of the season. Wicked P.S: (Elena Derevko) was going to blow up Russia while she was in the middle of it. In fact, endless "!!!!!!".

Yes, this show had wonderful days, but those ones were the opposite.