Alias (TV Series) No Hard Feelings (2006) User Reviews

Should have been better

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 19 February 2010]

Sydney poses as Anna Espinosa (after having killed her), to gain access to Prophet Five's endgame. Sloane has finally decoded the hidden message of Page 47 - apparently the Chosen One must retrieve a rose from an Italian monastery to complete the circle. But the "Italian monastery" that Rambaldi was referring to has now become a maximum security prison. And the man that Sloane assigns to help "Anna" infiltrate that prison is none other than Sark. Meanwhile, Rachel learns that Tom has been lying to her about contacting the man who killed his wife, and follows him seeking the truth before Marshall has to notify Jack. Given that this is the next-to-next-to-last episode of "Alias", I expected something bigger and better. It does attempt to provide some form of explanation for Vaughn's "resurrection", but I'm still not quite convinced that the writers did not change their plans midway through. There is an intriguing encounter inside the prison between Sydney and a mysterious old man, who might have known Rambaldi, or even BE Rambaldi himself, but we never really learn the truth, and besides, this suggestion of someone living through the centuries was already done in an early season 1 episode, "Time Will Tell". And I fail to see the point of the inclusion of the Rachel-Tom side-story, though the actors do have good chemistry. What I do appreciate is that even at this point the series refuses to turn Sloane into an one-dimensional villain - he is truly one of the most complex and compelling characters ever to appear in television. *** out of 4.

The final piece of the Rambaldi jigsaw

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 10 February 2012]

Having killed Anna in the previous episode Sydney takes her place and joins Peyton to infiltrate Prophet Five. Once in Sloane tells her that she is to go into a monastery in Rome to find a Rambali artefact called The Rose. In Rome she meets up with Sark and learns that the item isn't in fact in a monastery; it is in the prison where Rambaldi had been executed centuries before. Getting in is easy... they just robbed a betting establishment; finding The Rose and getting out might be tougher. Once in Sark feigns a fit before taking control of the security system and getting Sydney to the right area; here she meets a man who claims to have been waiting for her for a very long time. He gives her a vial which he claims will end the world as we know it. She takes it but doesn't have it long before Sloane takes it off her; he then starts strangling her believing her to be Anna. While this is going on there was a side story concerning Rachel and Tom trying to find out why his wife had been killed; we are also given a brief explanation of how Vaughn survived.

The main story in this episode was pretty good; it was fun seeing Sydney working with Sark again; even if he didn't realise who she was. The old man in the prison was suitably mysterious; I assumed he was somebody who knew Rambaldi before his execution however it wasn't spelt out. It was nice to see that Sloane still cares about Sydney even if that did lead to him nearly killing her! He may be a villain but he remains one of my favourite characters due to Ron Rifkin's understated performance. The secondary story was a bit a distraction to be honest; hopefully it will turn out to have been more meaningful that I initially thought when I watch the final two episodes.

"I'm wouldn't ask you to that" "You didn't"

[pedroedro · 7/10 · 7 October 2019]

In this episode we are mainly treated to two different plot lines: 1) Sydney (posing as anna (POSING AS SYDNEY) ) needs to gain acesso to Prophet Five's endgame with the help of two old friends : Sloane and Stark. 2) Marshall tells Rachel that he discovered strange connections on Tom's part , and Rachel sets out to discover what he's hiding. I don't think this episode is great, however it has many great little moments, first of all I love seeing Michael Vaughn back and all his little reunions (being voice only with Marshall "I cried at your funeral " "Sorry about that") or in person with Dixon, while he presents Michael with a photo of his daughter Isabella, great little moment. Jack with the baby it's also very funny "Did she giggle?" "Yeah, apparently I'm funny" . Sloane being tasked to work with Sidney again it's also a treat, and it's very interesting to see in his face the doubt of whether he is indeed talking to Anna or Sydney,Ron Rifkin it's great in this (as if he wasn't in every episode). The old man was mysterious, I kind of wished that we knew it WAS Rambaldi, but at the same time it's more interesting to leave it out in the open. The sideline was a little boring but with a great finale, I kind of wished Tom and Rachel would have another season to prove themselves as great characters, because they both had all the potencial, but with the shortening of the season, the show, needed to focus on the main ones. The ending was a little messy, it's made out to be a cliffhanger, but it's really more of a statement, Sloane calls Sydney that he knows he was her, but it doesn't matter because he already has what he wanted. Let's see how the two last episodes play out ! 7/10 ******* Peter Shelby (p.s.: Oh, Vaughn and Sidney with the baby, was also a great vision!)