Episode Report Card Erin: B- | 107 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT Welcome to the Apple Store. Would you like a gun with your iPod?
By Erin | Season 4 | Episode 1 | Aired on 2005.01.05
Syd just stands there staring at her new team members as Angie says that the four of them were handpicked to help run this team. "The four of us?" says Syd, obviously confused. "Handpicked by whom?" And that's when Arvin Sloane walks up behind Syd and says, "This is exciting." Hee! I mean, I laughed out loud when I saw him. But then that line? KILLED ME. And Ron Rifkin says it with the perfect combination of "Ha! Gotchya!" and "I'm still totally evil, dontchya know?" Syd whips her head around to look at her dad and Dixon. Then she snaps, "Could I have a word, please?" to Angie and stalks off to another room. Angie walks over. "When I was approached about joining a black ops unit of the CIA, I thought I was doing the right thing," says Syd. "Of course, I conveniently forgot that I was once asked to join a black ops unit of the CIA that turned out to be the evil Los Angeles branch of The Alliance known as SD-6, and also that Sloane was the head of that organization and he was supposed to be evil the whole time but then sometimes he wasn't but then he killed my fiancé and then he disappeared and pumped his daughter full of Green Goo™ and I'd just like everyone to know how PISSED I am that I might have to work with this dude again and, by the way, has anyone checked his iBook for secret documents or anything? Because there's NO WAY he's a good guy."
Exposition is fun!
So, Syd thought that joining a black ops division would be a good idea. But now, with Sloane in charge, she's not so sure. Angie tries to convince her that she knows all about Sloane. "Then allow me ask the most obvious question in the history of time," snits Syd. "How can the CIA let that man, who ran what amounts to a terrorist cell within the borders of this country, run anything --" Angie just cuts her off, saying basically that they want Sloane on board because of his "contacts" and that keeping him under the CIA's watchful eye can only be a good thing. Yeah, it's such a convoluted and bizarre stretch of the storyline that there's honestly no way to explain it without sounding like you had a bowl of Drano and a plate of rifle ammo for breakfast. It's one thing to watch it on the TV screen, it's quite another to see it in writing. Why's Sloane running a black ops division of the CIA? Because he KNOWS PEOPLE and because here, SYDNEY AND THE REST OF THE CREW CAN KEEP AN EYE ON HIM. Pass the crazy, would you? I'm all out.