Facade (14 Mar. 2004)

Sydney and Vaughn must convince bomb maker Daniel Ryan that they are part of The Covenant in order to find out where he has hidden one of his devices. But Sydney discovers that her ties to ... See full summary »

Director:

Jack Bender

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator), R.P. Gaborno,

Stars:

Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Michael Vartan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Garner	...	Sydney Bristow
Ron Rifkin	...	Arvin Sloane
Michael Vartan	...	Michael Vaughn
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Dixon
Kevin Weisman	...	Marshall Flinkman
Melissa George	...	Lauren Reed (credit only)
Greg Grunberg	...	Eric Weiss
David Anders	...	Julian Sark
Victor Garber	...	Jack Bristow
Griffin Dunne	...	Leonid Lisenker
Ricky Gervais	...	Daniel Ryan
Nicholas Hosking	...	Newscaster
Stana Katic	...	Flight Attendant
François Giroday	...	Captain Verlot
David S. Lee	...	Bomb Squad Guy

Storyline

Sydney and Vaughn must convince bomb maker Daniel Ryan that they are part of The Covenant in order to find out where he has hidden one of his devices. But Sydney discovers that her ties to the bomber could lead him on a suicide mission when she learns that Ryan's brother was the murder victim that she killed during her interment with the Covenant, and now Ryan wants revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

bomb | revenge | heroine | pretending | northern ireland | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 March 2004 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 4, Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, US

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

41 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

J.J. Abrams has been openly critical of some of the developments of Season 3, mainly from the point of view that Sydney spent too much time and too many episodes looking back at what happened to her in her missing two years and not thrusting forward. To that end, Abrams is a passionate advocate of this episode "Facade" which he and director Jack Bender refer to as their The Crying Game episode.

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Quotes

Daniel Ryan: Don't tell me. We've come to the point where you coerce me into cooperating.
Jack Bristow: Not exactly.
[Jack grabs Ryan by the neck and starts to strangle him]

User Reviews

Exceptional

This is the best "Alias" episode since "Conscious", mostly thanks to an outstanding script full of twists, shocks, surprising connections to the past, and punchy lines ("A bomb maker sets up a meeting on a plane and then doesn't show up. I don't know about you, but that worries me"). The title is perfectly chosen, as nearly all the parties involved have to maintain a facade at one point or another: the CIA (posing as the Covenant), the bomb maker (hiding his true intent), Vaughn & Sark (they must work as a team or their plane will be blown up), the Covenant defector (pretending that he never left), etc. The comedian Ricky Gervais is surprisingly good in a straight role, taking his place among the best guest stars that have ever appeared on the show, and Griffin Dunne, who was kind of wasted in "Crossings", gets to play a much more significant part here. Watch for the then-unknown Stana Katic as a stewardess and Patricia Wettig's uncredited appearance - you can't miss either of them. ***1/2 out of 4.