Alias (TV Series) The Box: Part 2 (2002) User Reviews

Trend bender for the series

[A_Different_Drummer · 9/10 · 22 January 2015]

To this point the series was fun, but little more than that.

In spite of the strong themes, the early episodes were more or less letting JG play dressup and riff off early Mission Impossible scripts from the late 60s.

Again, all that was fun, and no one plays dressup better than JG, but even the dead boyfriend arc and the amorous reporter arc and the daddy issues arc (and my least favorite arc, the spineless CIA handler who looks like he escaped from a sitcom)-- even with all these, it was not really coming together.

In this episode Abrams and the gang took it up a notch, especially the close which (as other reviewers here have said) involved cutting off a finger and letting QT (yes, THE QT) pound the &%&% out of JG.

(QT rarely gives a good performance as an actor, and besides who is going ever say NO to him, but here is not bad).

Opens the gateway to long run that followed.

"Alias" goes "Die Hard"

[gridoon2024 · 8/10 · 3 October 2009]

A team of high-tech mercenaries, headed by Cole (special guest star Quentin Tarantino!), a freelance agent who had been employed by SD-6 5 years earlier and abandoned to enemy hands after the completion of his mission, invades the SD-6 headquarters and holds everyone hostage. Their goal is to take away something that is kept in the SD-6 vaults, and Cole is prepared to torture Sloane to get him to reveal the code of entry. Being at the elevator at the critical moment of the attack, Sydney and her father are now trapped in the building, and must find a way to stay undetected by the invaders and save the day.

As you can probably see, the two-part "The Box" is clearly a reworking of the "Die Hard" formula, but let's face it, Sydney Bristow is sexier than John McClane - and not less tough or resourceful! Of course its main selling point is the guest appearance of Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is by no means a great actor, however he does have a creepy, distinct screen presence that's suitable for the role he has here. "The Box" is 86 minutes of suspenseful television; the only scene that I felt was not so well-handled is the fate of the character played by the gorgeous Jennifer Tung. *** out of 4.

Sloane shows just how tough he really is

[Tweekums · 10/10 · 6 March 2012]

Part one of this story saw SD-6 taken over by an armed group led by former operative McKenas Cole; while he set about accessing the vault Jack and Sydney raced to stop him before he tripped the building's self destruct system. The cliff-hanger ending suggested that Sydney was about to get captured but as this episode begins Jack surrenders to the gang leaving Sydney free to disable the explosives. At this point Dixon decides that it is time to call in reinforcements and contacts the CIA; the message is sent to Vaughn but he is refused permission to send a rescue operation. Going in himself he meets up with Sydney and proceeds to help her deactivate the explosives. Cole continues to torture Sloane but he refuses to break; in fact he just sits there tormenting Cole about his own failings!

This was a great episode which had obvious nods to 'Die Hard'; there was plenty of action and one very gruelling scene where a character has a finger cut off! I wasn't sure how they would handle having the CIA enter SD-6 without the innocent SD-6 members learning the true nature of the organisation; thankfully that was done in a plausible manner. Guest star Quentin Tarantino did a good job as Cole but the real acting credits in the episode go to Ron Rifkin who put in a brilliant performance as Sloane; it also showed us a lot more about his character; he may be a bad guy but he is clearly as tough as nails and will do what it takes to advance his cause.