5.6 and 5.7 Alias commentary and predictions

[theladyrose]

Really, these notes are more for my own reference later on than anything else. Did I mention that I still haven’t bothered to compile all of my Giacchino ramblings?

5.6: Alias “Solo”
-Sloane/Almost Two Years (i.e. s4 Syd/Vaughn theme which originally appears at the end of the season 2 finale) variation when Syd is buying rocking chair, remembering Vaughn

-more new self-actualization/“Almost Two Years” i.e. rebuilding s5 life theme with some transposed notes from A2Y figure for Syd rebuilding life after Vaughn

-reappearance of “Mockingbird” i.e. Rachel motif, bears eerie resemblance (some transposed notes of “Irina,” or is it Nadia motif?) as well as “Almost Two Years”
It’s a blend of “Almost Two Years” and vaguely Nadia-ish. Hmmm.

-more first two notes of Sloane theme variation development for when pondering over tricky Gordon Dean collusion implications

-lots of Sloane theme, clarinet being the typical voicing but also strings and brass thrown into the orchestrations

5.7: Alias “Fait accompli”
Actual episode comments:
The general approach now seems to be blending of season 2 and season 4; they want to return to what made the show successful. I think it’s working pretty well with the multi-episode story arc involving the Shed and Prophet Five, although balancing all of the recurring guest stars and the new recruits means that we get a lot less screen time for characters like Dixon and Renée and even Jack. And now we’ve got more maybe-evil Sloane as master manipulator of his personal agenda. And there’s more creepy “Hey, the Bristows are (like) family to me!” and treating Syd like a daughter.

I totally saw Amy Acker’s takeover coming-did anyone else see the parallel to Lauren (and Sark) taking over the North American division of the Covenant from season 3? We know that she’s an ambitious murderer; it’s obvious that she knows Dean’s organization intimately and could quite easily take over if given the opportunity.

It was also really obvious that Nadia was going to wake up sane, however briefly; Sloane revisiting her and hearing about how no treatment was working was an obvious bit of foreshadowing, but it worked.

I loved the reference to Sydney’s days as a double-agent graduate student while she was on the Rome mission; bumping into the professor and then cutting back to Rachel in the van was a nice little connecting touch between the two.

The ending was a nice touch; we don’t get to see too many fuzzy Jack and Sydney moments, and it’s nice to see that Jack might actually make a good grand daddy J

-Racecourse sequence when trapping Dean: s4 strings and slinky mischievous flute group mission theme which then delves into “Balboa”-like staccato strings for the attack/fight bits; is there just a bit of Mickey Mousing there with the orchestral “blows” corresponding with some of the on-screen action?

-more Sloane theme goodness in horns and strings, fully developed and compacted (orchestral reduction) of bass clarinet Sloane theme

-Nice strings bridge between new Sydney-rebuilding-her-life (variation on “Almost Two Years” and a slight hint of the original post-Danny self-actualization theme from season 1) and the Sloane and Nadia themes when Sloane visits Nadia in the hospital

-lots of Nadia theme for Nadia in the hospital scenes: heavy emphasis on the “Irina” theme derivative in strings; Irina plays a big role in Nadia’s recovery/future actions perhaps? And where exactly is she now?

Also, the emphasis on the Irina theme and the many quotations of “Do I Have To Do Another Eulogy” (especially the Irina theme) highlights how Sloane is plugging the void in his life without Emily and Irina by focusing all of his energy on Nadia. And perhaps he sees Nadia as his way to redeem himself with his conduct with Irina (and Emily)?

-no real “Mockingbird” i.e. newbie Rachel motif in this episode, except for possibly a brief quotation for when Rachel volunteers to help with the crib. This signals early on that Rachel really won’t be doing much in this episode.

-General notice: Agent Grace and Renée Rienne don’t seem to have any musical monikers. Nor does Jack, apparently, after four seasons; same with Dixon and Marshall. Well, actually, Jack sometimes gets tagged with the Sydney self-actualization theme from season 1 for those uber cute and cuddly family moments, and possibly he gets a motif in his wonky memories in season 4’s “Mirage”. I guess Michael Giacchino isn’t feeling the musical love for them or doesn’t consider them important enough to get an aural moniker.

Sark comes back next eppy! But I knew that already. Still, it's confirmed in next week's promo!