Jack's actions result in a death sentence for Irina, but when the truth comes out, Jack is arrested for treason. Meanwhile, Vaughn gives Will a job, but discovers he might have picked up an infection during his and Sydney's trip to Taipei that will kill him.

There's a bit of a pacing problem with this episode, which seems to have all the right elements but in the wrong order. The plotline about Irina seems designed to give Lena Olin a week off (the person brought back to her cell could clearly be anyone), and by the end of the episode, everything is back to normal. Firstly, it's too fast for Alias, and secondly it's too simple. You'd think a senator would at least check the likelihood of Sydney's story before releasing two people back into the world where they can potentially cause more damage.

The trip to Geneva is a fun little excursion for Sydney and Jack, although the action in the hospital is a bit on the light side, and aside from some cool moments with guns, it's a pretty standard effort. More interesting are the confrontations between Syd and her father. On the plane, he makes a valid point about Irina still managing to play Sydney's emotions from death row, yet it's tempered by Syd's sarcastic response that 'she's got us exactly where she wants us'. Once more, we're forced to think and consider the options. Is Irina still playing an elaborate mind game only Jack can see through, or is she truly remorseful? It keeps the tension between the family up, and when Jack is finally released, he gives in and agrees to leave Sydney to make her own decisions regarding her mother. Of course, this still might not be a good thing. It's all more of a power play episode, and I'm not entirely convinced by it all. There's also, of course, a certain irony in Jack claiming that Irina is playing Sydney using the feed from her trial, then going on to play with her emotions at his own hearing later on. Are both her parents as bad as each other?

Meanwhile, Sloane believes he sees Emily out on the street, and exhumes her grave to see if she could be alive. His discovery that her body is gone actually starts making him more of a sympathetic character that I would have thought possible, as the look of pain, shock and horror on his face tells a story of many emotions.

The Vaughn story is rather sweet, as the agent once more spends some time with Sydney and clearly wants to say something to her about how he feels. This undercurrent of sexual tension is still beautiful to watch, as the pair shares a couple of quiet moments together. His sympathy for Will also makes him that much more of a good guy, trying to help as best he can, when Will points out that he's been blacklisted for a drug habit he never suffered from. Of course, we all know the virus will hit someone, so the ending is no surprise, but overall this is an interesting episode that continues to play with audience suspicions to stop us trusting anyone too much. It could just do with more twists and a little more action to spruce it up a bit.

***

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