Sydney is sent to infiltrate a group that works for the Covenant in the hope of tracing a deadly virus back to the mysterious organization. However, when she meets terrorist Simon Walker, he clearly recognizes her and calls her Julia, suggesting he must know something about her missing two years…

Things seem to be getting back to normal in the Alias universe with this episode, with both Sloane and Jack behaving more like the people we know them to be than has been the case so far this season. The mystery of Syd’s missing time deepens, and we will hopefully start to get some answers to the whole question of where she’s been. The plot of the story is very carefully structured, with not a lot of twisting storylining as is more often the case, but key points leading up to some fantastically tense action sequences, and a fantastic cliffhanger ending. There are still a couple of points where the show crosses the line of what it should be able to get away with, but it just about pulls it off.

Most notable of these is Syd’s mission, set by Walker to prove loyalty, to steal a necklace from a hotel, the problem being they’ve already phoned the police and she has to escape with it without being caught. It’s a fantastically inventive and fraught sequence, with safe-cracking and a death-defying leap into a frankly not deep enough pool as Jennifer Garner gets the chance to show off her impressively honed physique once again. Joining the ‘slightly too handy’ camp alongside the pool leap is the way Marshall, charged with creating a file for Vaughn at Interpol, manages it just in time when Walker should only need a few keystrokes to look up what he wants.

But once again, the characters come through. We gain more respect for Lauren when she refuses to take Sloane’s suggestions that she got her job by unfair means, and it’s good to see him back to his old tricks, playing one person against another and sowing seeds of doubt and mistrust. He’s a skilful manipulator and still very much at the top of his game. As for Jack, just as I was starting to get concerned about the fact that he’s been playing doting father rather well so far this season, a role that rarely sits well with him after the number of dark secrets that have come out, here he’s back to telling Syd one thing and doing entirely the reverse. That’s the Jack I’ve come to love, the one who does what he thinks is best and is invariably right to do so, having the experience to pull it off.

While Walker isn’t much of a character, and his English accent is abysmal, he does offer more information about ‘Julia’ and what she’s been up to, and as such it’s good to see him still around at episode’s end, even if he is annoying. And with Vaughn having to be stabbed, how has Sydney got herself out of that one? Indeed, can she extricate herself from Walker’s group, and can she get the location of the Covenant? Lots to sort out next episode, meaning that this one is a little bit lop-sided, but there’s still more than enough to keep you occupied and wondering what’s coming next.

****

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