Alias (TV Series) There's Only One Sydney Bristow (2006) User Reviews

Up to her old tricks!

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 14 February 2010]

Only four weeks after giving birth, Sydney is manipulated back into field action by Prophet Five, via Sloane (his last "assignment" for them before he can get his hands on Nadia's cure). They release Anna Espinosa from a God-forsaken prison, in exchange for a) abducting Will Tippin, b) undergoing some painful genetic manipulation procedure that will make her look like....well, let's not spoil the final shot of the episode, although the title alone should be a pretty big (ironic) clue. Boy, does this series have a fascination with doubles or what? I think season 1 was the only one who didn't have any of them. Anyway, Prophet Five plants a microbomb inside Will's head, and Sydney arranges a meeting on a train with Anna, who has asked for the infamous Page 47 from a Rambaldi manuscript in exchange for the bomb deactivation codes. This meeting ultimately leads to one of the most ludicrous scene in the history of the series, where Anna throws the detonator out of the train, and Sydney & Will jump out as well, land in water below and manage to find it and set off the bomb, all in under 30 seconds! But I did love Anna's trademark kiss on the glass that separates her from Sydney, and Sloane verbally owning his Prophet Five contact ("You're not allowed in this room, are you?" - and then he hands him over his coat like he would do to his butler!). But I am puzzled by a Sydney-Jack scene where they both seem to know "the truth" about Vaughn, and they agree that his existence must remain a secret. When the hell did all that happen? *** out of 4.

The return of and old friend and an old enemy

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 8 February 2012]

After the shock revelation at the end of the last episode I was expecting it to feature as a major plot point this week but apart from revealing that Jack and Sydney knew about it all along it wasn't mentioned! The episode does feature two characters from previous series though; first Peyton recruits old foe Anna Espinosa and she then kidnaps old friend Will Tippin to use as bait to get her close to Sydney. It looks as if her plan has failed when the team rescue Will however it is soon discovered that he has had a bomb fitted in his head! Anna calls offering to deactivate the bomb in exchange for Page Forty Seven of the Rambaldi document. This leads to another confrontation between Sydney and Anna aboard a moving train. The episode ends with another 'big reveal' although it will come as no surprise to fans of the series.

This was a decent episode although I was a bit disappointed that we didn't learn any more about what was going on with Vaughn; thankfully that was made up for by the return of two old characters. It was good to see Bradley Cooper and Gina Torres back as Will and Anna although I wasn't sure about the latter's accent. The story was good enough although the 'big reveal' was just a case of reusing old ideas which was a bit of a disappointment; perhaps it will go in a new direction in later episodes. I did like the return of Rambaldi's artefacts; his work was important to the series from the start so it would be nice if we can learn what it all means by the time this season is over.

"For Vaughn's safety, his existence, must remain a secret" WHAAAAT?!

[pedroedro · 8/10 · 23 September 2019]

After the last episode, one of the best, "There's Only One Sydney Bristow" it's actually a great follow up, it does seem a little bit like a "reunion" episode, and with the outside knowledge that it was the 100th episode, it can feel a little forced, but I greatly enjoyed it. Bradley Cooper returning as Will is great, it does seem fan service but it works well and his speech to her in the end it's top notch and really shows how Will was always one of the best friends Sydney could ask for, even with all that he was going through. Anna Espinosa it's also back, I was never really a fan of her, but I understood from the get go (and also by the title) what would be the ultimate use of her character , foreshadowed by Kelly's "You don't exist" remark. The cliffhanger hand it's a good one as well. The best part about the episode was by far in my opinion Sloane going to meet with everybody (the bad side) and his remark "You're not allowed in this room , are you?" while giving to the man who was threatening him all these weeks , his coat, while a perfect shot shows that he has a "servant" , right behind him, when Sloane is in control is one of the best things on this show. Now let's get to the weirdest thing I've seen on this show, there is one scene, right after Sydney talks to Will where she says to Jack the following : "I wish I didn't had to lie to him" , and I was like "Of course, she had to tell him he's still alive, not to compromise anything" or something like that, my shock came when she followed with "You should see his face when I told him Vaughn was dead" , and then Jack "I know but for Vaughn's safety his existence must be secret". If anyone could tell what scene I missed in which Sydney discovers he is alive, because firstly I don't believe it would be that short for me to miss it, and secondly that scene doesn't exist, it's just baffling to me, I hope the next episode or the one after that settles this, it really made no sense. Apart from this, great "callback" episode, with an old enemy and an old friend. 8/10 ******** Peter Shelby

Alias's X File (The Silliest 10 Events) !

[elshikh4 · 16 July 2008]

****This Comment May Contain Spoilers about The Last 4 Seasons****

The 2 minor goofs about the scene of Moscow and the bulk of the ID-information's text, which you can read at the goofs' page, made me remember more big and important holes that had been done during all previous episodes:

10_The trick of clinging to the big magnet by a piece of iron, while the magnet is not on, after the fall of the car, is such a dull trick, because it had no magnetic power at all in that very moment! (Season 5).

9_(Sydney) was working for the APO and the CIA while her pregnancy. Well, the real silly remark here is: did the CIA pay her more or less money to work in this condition?! (Season 5).

8_Auntie (Elena Derevko) is going to blow up one Russian city to takeover the world, OK, but the thing is that she was executing the evil plan while she was there! Without an exit!! So she was destroying the city including herself?!! (Season 4).

7_The terrorists of the world are merry people, having their desks in nightclubs! (All the Seasons).

6_The whole of APO is paralyzed by bacterial virus while (Sydney) is in a coffin under the ground in Cuba as (Marshall) is the ONLY agent who can rescue her. This is good for sure as pure thrill, until you ask: doesn't the APO have any other agents outside it beside the clumsy (Marshall)?!, or doesn't the whole CIA have any other in Cuba itself?! (Season 4).

5_(Francie)'s double lives in (Sydney)'s house for a long time? Regarding that the program of cloning can make a double who has the same image not by all means the same memory, so how could that double manage to be the same person for all of that time, without even one mistake?! It's just the intimation of not drinking a café which uncovered her! (Season 2).

4_(Sydney), (Nadia) and (Rachel) were ALL agents for one intelligence agency, then discovered that they were working for the other side!! "Too much of something is bad enough" said by (Spice Girls). (Season: 1, 4, 5).

3_(Jack Bristow) is an agent for the CIA who, one day, his wife was discovered as a spy for the other side.. And he still working for the CIA??!! He must be the stupidest agent in history, to have a spy right in his home for all of those years, or the intelligence must be stupid to have him after that, or maybe we are the most stupid to believe something like that or at least not to complain about it!! (Season 1).

2_Dear (Rambaldi) made such a genuine devise which can, by the code of DNA (!!), define the whereabouts of the person who has it, whatever his or her place in the world??!! (and that was the way how they found Nadia!). This is simply one of the most foolish sci-fi ideas I have ever seen; actually it's easy to write such nonsense instead of making it coherent! (Season 3).

1_(Sloane) the most wanted, most dangerous, terrorist on earth became Mr. World peace, an agent for the CIA, and the head of its black operations?!!!!!!!!! (Season 3, 4).

It's so silly I know. I mean to bring it up like this. Because don't you ever think while watching (Alias). It's all about having a good time to ease up on your brain. But to tell you the painful truth, sometimes (Alias), as a show I loved once, made itself too silly to watch!