Sydney, relieved to be alive, goes to Bucharest to obtain vital intel for the CIA, but her trip makes her realize something isn't quite right about her. Meanwhile, Vaughn discovers what Jack has been hiding.

I'm still enjoying the show, and things are certainly moving along nicely, but there's something that's not quite hitting the same note as before. Maybe the lack of cliffhangers every episode are causing a drop in enthusiasm, maybe it's that too many of the plotlines are dealt with too quickly and in a way that I can predict. There's certainly nothing wrong with this episode, it's just the way I put two and two together and worked out things that last season would have been revealed more sparingly. There's also a feeling that if Sydney discovers any more things about her father, her mother and her past, her entire life will take on a sense of the ludicrous.

From the moment she sees 16 children being weapons-trained, I knew this would be the thing Jack had done to her as a child, and the impact is lost through it being so clear. Vaughn's discovery of what Jack has done happens more by luck than judgement, and again it's all out in the open very quickly. The only plotlines that are really moving on are the ones involving Sloane (although I'd already considered that Emily wasn't dead and had taken an antidote before her husband killed her) and Sydney's mother, who is sent for trial in this episode, and even though she's not seen is still a big factor in events.

I'm still hoping that there's a bigger plan at work here. I'm sure Laura has an ingenious plan underway, I'm hoping Will is going to be allowed to take a larger part in proceedings, and I can't believe Emily is still alive, as that would be the obvious way to go. Presumably Sloane's next move is to have her body exhumed.

The mission this time is pretty easy, which does help deaden the pace somewhat, with Sydney wandering in and out of a building which should have far greater security. Maybe it's this lack of tension, necessary to provide the proper focus on the Bristow family's traumas, that makes me think this story is a little bland, but I'm sure things will be kicking in any time now.

***

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