After ten episodes, the mystery is finally revealed, and J.J. Abrams sure knows how to stun viewers. When Sydney first learned of her 2-year blackout and when Vaughn dropped the bomb that he was now married at the end of last season, there were so many emotive responses at once to even begin to put into words. Shock that Syd lost two years, even more shock that Vaughn was now married and perhaps even a little bit of hate and disgust towards the character and his new bride.

However, season three worked hard to establish the new situation the characters all find themselves in and it succeeded. Melissa George gave an excellent portrayal of Lauren Reed, otherwise known as Mrs. Vaughn. And although facing a rather large backlash from the fans, I believe the actress pulled through – she’s done nothing wrong, her character fell in love with Vaughn just like Syd did (and also the hoards of fans). You have to wonder about the concept of bringing in a character like Lauren to come between a very popular romance. It’s happened before: in Roswell, the character of Tess (Emily de Ravin) came in between the Max/Liz (Jason Behr/Shiri Appleby) relationship…and what happened? After a season Emily de Ravin was gone from the series.

The bottom line is, despite the somewhat negative reaction from some fans, the new concept worked. A slightly slower pace than what Alias has demonstrated in the past perhaps, but it worked nonetheless. But after only ten episodes, everything hit the fan once again in “Full Disclosure”. As the name may indicate, the episode centres on Sydney’s discovery of what happened to her two years ago after her fight with Allison Doren.

But having the last two years revealed through a series of flashbacks was exactly the approach that was needed – let us see what Sydney has been through and let us understand why it was so important that we have spent the last ten episodes watching all the pieces fall into place. However, having flashbacks within flashbacks only confused the matter and actually served to remove the gushing emotional portrayal we are used to seeing. Contrary to the belief that this was this seasons “Phase One”, the episode has very little to offer other than the final revelation of what happened to Sydney, the return of Director Kendall (guest star Terry O’Quinn) and a very nice shoot ‘em up scene at the end.

While the episode was lacking the classic tough-love bad-ass Kendall stance (although the “I’ve never heard of Project: Blackhole” moment was his typical smug attitude), the key is just how naturally everything flows into place – the Lazarey murder, the note from Sloane, the <o> hand that was discovered, The Covenant’s plan, and finally the glorious return of the Rambaldi prophecies. Like “Phase One”, “Full Disclosure” serves to re-align the series for another mid-season shift…but the question is, will this new direction work as well as the last one? We can only hope.