"Alias" The Telling (2003)

Director:

J.J. Abrams

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator)
J.J. Abrams (written by)

TV Series:

"Alias" (2001)

Original Air Date:

4 May 2003 (Season 2, Episode 22)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Sydney must confront her mother, who tells a clue about "some Rambaldi artefacts" in Zurich, but it was a trap to capture Jack...

Plot Keywords:

Heroine | CIA | Double Agent | College | Fight

Cast

  (Episode Cast overview, first billed only)

Jennifer Garner	...	Sydney Bristow
Ron Rifkin	...	Arvin Sloane
Michael Vartan	...	Michael Vaughn
Bradley Cooper	...	Will Tippin
Merrin Dungey	...	Francie Calfo
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Dixon
Kevin Weisman	...	Marshall Flinkman
David Anders	...	Julian Sark
Lena Olin	...	Irina Derevko
Victor Garber	...	Jack Bristow
Terry O'Quinn	...	F.B.I. Asst. Director Kendall
Jonathan Banks	...	N.S.A. Deputy Director Frederick Brandon
Amanda Foreman	...	Carrie Bowman
Greg Grunberg	...	Eric Weiss
Kevin Bowens	...	Alpha Team Leader

Certification:

Netherlands:12

Company:

Bad Robot

Trivia:

The fight between Sydney and Francie took two days to film.

Quotes:

Michael Vaughn: [smashes Sark's face into a table] See, when I have a gun, I don't just pull the trigger.
Julian Sark: Thank you.
Michael Vaughn: [smashes Sark's face again] Where's Sloane?
Julian Sark: Not a problem; my loyalties are flexible.

Francie doesn't like coffee ice cream

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Irina sends Sydney the info she needs to clear Will's name, and asks for her favor....which apparently is to have Sydney lead the CIA into the warehouse where Sloane keeps all his Rambaldi artifacts and take them. Of course Sydney has her doubts about the validity of Irina's intel, but a CIA team is prepared to take action anyway. Meanwhile, Will is freed and starts digging into his records trying to locate the person whose DNA matches the second double of Dr. Markovic's experiment. In the typical "Alias" tradition, "The Telling" is full of twists and deceptions; Irina in particular constantly alternates between trustworthy and manipulative. Ultimately, I believe one thing is made clear: she DOES love her daughter. As for the similarly slippery Sark, I'll let the man speak for himself: "My loyalties are flexible". I personally think this episode is slightly inferior to the previous one, "Second Double". That one was great from the first minute to the last; this one is more of a collection of great scenes: Irina's jump from the roof (Lena Olin is awesome to watch in action), the literally home-wrecking Sydney-"Francie" fight, the final twist. Speaking of the Sydney-"Francie" fight, it's a bit of a mismatch, because Merrin Dungey isn't quite the screen fighter that Jennifer Garner is. Nevertheless, the actress deserves respect for her effort, and she is, in my opinion, one of the MVPs of the entire season. As for the final twist, it's certainly a big what-the-hell development that leaves you asking how, when, who and why. It opens up a lot of possibilities for the next season. Two problems: 1) Why didn't "Francie" just shoot Will instead of trying to kill him the hard way?, 2) This time, Sloane's appearance is underwhelming. Once again he teases Jack about the new horizons that Rambaldi has opened for him without actually revealing anything: this worked great in "Second Double", but it's beginning to test the viewer's (and Jack's!) patience now. *** out of 4.