Vaughn is sent back out into the field after proving his worth, as he and Sydney try to retrieve the Medusa device, an unknown quantity that Sark is desperate to get hold of. Meanwhile, it seems Syd is about to be fingered as Sark’s father’s killer, and it’s up to Jack to keep the CIA in the dark.

Some of this works well, some doesn’t. It’s good to welcome back the sexual tension between Syd and Vaughn, who obviously still have a lot of unresolved issues to deal with. What’s quite telling, however, is the way Vaughn returns immediately to his wife on his return, so this is certainly no flash in the pan marriage. This is the first episode where we really see what people can do. Syd’s missing time has enabled some upgrades in intel-gathering and staff ability, and her attempt to horn in on the action despite knowing nothing puts her at an obvious disadvantage, and one that cleverly paints her as the bad guy of the piece. Lauren is right: she is stubborn and headstrong, and viewed from an outside perspective, Syd doesn’t come across well at all. That’s not to say Lauren behaves flawlessly herself, but she handles the difficult situation a lot better than Syd does and it puts her on a strong footing.

If anything, this episode speeds Syd towards meltdown. She’s irrational, determined to prove she can adapt when the odds are stacked against her, and her confrontation with Sloane leaves her looking closer to him than to the woman she once was. This is the undoubted highlight, as she threatens him into assistance when diplomacy fails.

The Jack sub-plot is where things are let down a little. From the moment the image of Syd’s assassination appears on screen, it’s quite clear who it is. While we can maybe accept that it’s easier because we know, and Marshall and company wouldn’t necessarily suspect, it’s implausible to show such a clear image and not have anyone cotton on. Indeed, for someone recently released from prison, Jack seems to have free run of the CIA, able to sneak out to illicit contacts, duck into rooms and download corrupting data onto the system without anyone being any the wiser. It’s all a little too far-fetched, and it would have been better to mask this footage’s existence until the point in the season when it could come out into the open.

The one aspect I’m undecided on is Syd and Weiss sharing an apartment. Having recently watched some episode of Felicity, it’s so incredibly close to that show (particularly with the presence of Grunberg, a Felicity refugee) it’s untrue, and while I appreciate Syd needs a friend and hers are gone, I’m not sure it quite fits into the show. Still, overall there’s still some good, solid plot building going on, and while this episode is fairly standalone, it’s still satisfying.

***

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