Alias Episode Review: 4:19 "In Dreams"

Yesterday, I wrote in a review that executive producer J.J. Abrams' show Lost is actually just a character study in disguise, and the island events are not important in themselves, but exist simply to explore who the characters are. It seems that season four of another Abrams' program, Alias, is following suit.
Alias has always been a show where the plot never really made much sense, and really wasn't that important in the first place, only working as a tool to reveal the true nature and motivation of the characters. This season, Alias has dropped a season long story-arc in favor of a more episodic nature, and, taking a cue from sister show Lost, has focused more on flashbacks.
This week, another terrible thing is stolen by the episode's villian, and the heroes have to get it back. None of this matters, of course, as we know the heroes will win the day, but the important thing is, what character's past will be exploited in order to solve the problem?
This week, that character is Sloane, the once evil, now good(?) boss of this season's current spying organization that the characters all work for, APO. Sloane is forced to basically strap himself into a memory machine in order to recollect information that will stop the episode's villians. Logically, this whole deal makes no sense, but it does serve the whopping task of revealing previously series long villian Sloane's motivations for almost all his actions throughout Alias history.
SPOILER!
Sloane's wife had lost their only child, Jacquelyn, during childbirth. This was the primary force that sent Sloane down a spiral of grief leading to his obsession with Rimbaldi.
SPOILER ENDS
With this knowledge, we now understand Sloane's character more, and we'll understand his motivations better next time he steals some random object that might possibly destroy the world or do something else really bad.

OVERALL EPISODE RATING: 4 out of 5

Lost Episode Review: 1:22 "Born to Run"

!SPOILERS AHEAD!
If there is one thing this first season of Lost has not been, it is the story of a group of deserted islanders hunted down by a dinosaur. Viewers hungry for "Jurassic Park the TV Show" have been very dissapointed to see Mr. Monster show up only one time in the 21 episodes since the premiere, and that was only during one character's drug-induced dream sequence. Instead, we have gotten something much better. A character study. To the "give me decapitations or give me death" crowd, this has only added up to several yawns and a click over to something else. For everyone else hanging in there, though, Lost has been quite a crazy ride.
After an almost completed season, Lost has basically become a show about a million macguffins. Holy grail answers to questions such as "What's in that hatch?", "What is this black rock everyone is so scared of?" and "What's the deal with that crazy French woman?" have just not happened. This is because the questions are more important; the questions are what propel us into the hearts of the characters. In fact, events on the island only serve as catalysts to reveal Lost's characters true...characters.
Last night's episode "Born to Run" is a perfect example of this.
"Born to Run" centers on the character most viewers are divided on: Kate. Before this episode we knew:

1. Kate is a criminal, and was handcuffed next to a federal marshal on the plane, and
2. Kate really likes a toy airplane that belonged to a man she loved, and killed.

This week, the catalyst into Kate's past is an argument over who will get the last position on Michael and Jin's raft. Sawyer, everybody's favorite Southern bad boy, has already bought the last spot, but has no sailing experience. Kate, who knows she will be taken into custody the minute the castaways are rescued, knows escaping on the raft is her only chance at freedom, has sailing experience, and can help out once the raft is out to sea.
Kate threatens Sawyer, telling him face to face, she WILL take his spot on the raft, no matter what. The episode takes off from there.
By episode's end we know:

1. The man Kate loved was a childhood friend who later became a doctor, and married another woman.
2. She is indeed responsible for his death (she drug him along on a police chase).

That's it. Once again, the writers on this show only pose more questions (yes, I'm a number kick, today):

1. Kate makes reference to something (possibly) horrible that happened to her as a child, but we aren't even given a hint as to what this thing is.
2. What the heck did Kate do to get the law on her, and on a shoot first basis, too?

Kate is one of the most frustratingly complex characters on this show.
Is she evil? Is she good? Why is she so sympathetic toward the other castaways? Is she just trying to build up favor with them to use later?
As usual, the show brings up a good morality question. When Michael, the raftbuilder, is poisoned, Sawyer is blamed. To clear his name, Sawyer grabs Kate's pack in front of everyone, dumps it on the ground, and pulls out a fake I.D. Kate has made. Sawyer gets his spot on the raft back, but was it right for him to do this in front of everyone? But, he was, afterall, innocent. We later find that Sun, Jin's wife, tried to poison Jin's water so he would not leave her on the island alone, and he would not chance dying at sea. Michael drank the water by accident, and was thus poisoned (though he recovers by episode's end). BUT...
We also find out that poisoning the water was KATE'S idea, a secret only Sun knows.
The producers of this show are madmen. The show seems to grow more frustrating by the week, raise more questions than at least I thought could exist, yet keeps millions of us coming back for more.
I will end this review with a dissection of the best moment of the episode:
Kate and Sawyer's raft-argument aftermath conversation.
"Why do you want to leave this island so bad?" Kate asks.
"Because, there ain't nothin here on this island worth stayin for."
They look into each others eyes for seemingly minutes (probably 20 seconds), and in this silence Sawyer's opinion of Kate is revealed, and the sexual tension between the two seems to shatter.
This becomes Sawyer's Rhett Butler moment. He doesn't say it, but it is obvious what he is thinking:
"I'm sure you have problems, baby, but frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."
Or, of course, he could be thinking:
"Or, I could stay here and make babies with you," but I seriously doubt it.

OVERALL EPISODE RATING: 4 out of 5

TV in Review has begun

Coming soon, reviews of tonight's Lost and Alias episodes.