Episode Report Card Erin: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Swing Out, Sister
By Erin | Season 3 | Episode 20 | Aired on 04.24.2004
"Why did you come to me?" asks Vaughn. "Because it's what he would want me to do," says Brill, exiting the elevator after the doors open up. The Exposition Fairy stumbles out after him. "Hey…you got cab fare? I have to go meet my parole officer…" The doors close again, and Vaughn's alone with the realization that his father was not all he imagined him to be. Vaughn pulls out his cell phone and starts to dial. The doors open up and Vaughn exits, only to have two people in black ski masks hit him in the head and drag him down a hall.
Then we're on a plane with Syd and Jack and Sloane. Syd's holding some metal thingy that's apparently loaded with the Green Goo™. Okay, now, stick with me here. It would appear that the Green Goo™ is now inside this metal thingy, and this metal thingy is actually a battery that operates a Rambaldi artifact that just happens to be in a Trust-owned cold storage vault concealed somewhere in the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian, by the way, would like to apologize for the raging hangover you're going to have tomorrow on behalf of this yammering carnival ride of an episode. Okay, see, this Green Goo™ Battery powers this artifact that then tells them the location of The Passenger. I just…yeah.
Now, I imagine you're thinking, okay. Cool. They'll just go in, grab the artifact, and head home. But you'd be thinking wrong. The vault is protected by a five-key retinal security system. The five keys, of course, correspond to the five members of The Trust. Syd's all, do we even know who they are? Jack's all, uh, yeah, they're all high-ranking government officials, but we've only been able to identify Marlon Bell as one of the five. "I imagine a visit from a ghost will unearth the other four," sneers Sloane. Then we head to the nation's capital, where Marlon is doing his best to act like a sanctimonious jackass on the steps of some federal-looking building. He's ordering around a couple of lackeys when he sees Sloane walking directly past him on the pavement below. Sloane takes total delight in seeing the look of pure panic on Marlon's face. Marlon runs off to warn the other Trust dudes that Sloane is alive! He's alive, I tell you! ALIIIIIVE!
As this is happening, Syd and Jack are sitting in a garage somewhere, waiting for a signal that Marlon's started phoning the other Trust members. Jack fiddles with the steering wheel and then tells Syd that there's something she should know. "When I first learned of Sloane's affair with your mother," Jack says with a bit of difficulty, "I was forced to consider the possibility that I wasn't, in fact, your biological father --" "You don't even need to --" "It's not the case," he says, turning to look directly at her. "I had our medical files examined. Our relationship is clear." Which, you know, it so isn't; but it's a nice moment, nonetheless. "But I wanted you to know, before I was reassured…my feelings for you…never changed." "Dad…" is all Syd says, her voice full of emotion in just that one little word. Jack softly smiles at his daughter. She returns the smile. It's just…it's a really nice scene. Victor Garber does more with a flick of the eyes than most actors do with a whole body jerk of emotion. And Garner's moment of "Whew! Thank GOD you're my daddy!" is wholly palpable and poignant. It's really delicious. But before we can start to really explore the Spy Family dynamic, Syd's computer bleeps, and we've tapped into Marlon's first call to The Trust. Sloane gets into the back seat and looks at Syd and Jack, his first task done.