He was presumed dead at the hand of Irina Derevko (Lena Olin), but over the course of the last few weeks it has been exposed that the circumstances leading to the death of Michael Vaughn’s (Michael Vartan) father might have played out a little differently. Yet with all of the questions and aggressive enquires, the story has never really reached that utterly captivating level we know it is capable of. Add to this that so far this season, Michael Vartan has provided a very disappointing performance, we are left wondering can the story ever reach a solid climax. The answer is yes as the very aptly named “Pandora” shows.

Although it’s hard to place blame – one the one hand, Vartan himself is a talented actor and we’ve seen what he is capable of time and time again. The most recent of his breathtaking outings includes the almost tear-jerking and highly emotional conversation as he poses as a Priest in “Ice” at the beginning of the season. On the other hand, the writers are also just as skilled and have recently given Vartan’s character something to do apart from run around with a gun helping Sydney (Jennifer Garner) or moping about his deliciously evil wife Lauren (Melissa George).

So why then has Vartan failed to live up to fan expectations? Perhaps it is the way in which the “my father is alive” story has been developing. Unlike similar developments that have run through Alias in the past (Will’s investigation of Danny Hecht for example), this covert investigation seems very forced and very superficial. Case in point: the incredibly silly injection of a paralysing substance in last week’s “Nightingale”. Was there any reason for him to be so desperate for intel so soon?

Fortunately, Vartan once again took the lead in “Pandora”, providing exactly the kind of twists and emotional flurry we should have been seeing from the start of this story-arc. It is a shame that we had to wait to the final episode of the arc to see it, but it was well worth the wait. Since he first learned his father might still be alive Vaughn has exhibited the same level of badass factor as a Care Bear, but in “Pandora” he finally found his spine and made a stand. And what a revealing stand it was. His “consider this the second time you’ve been rejected by the CIA” line was brilliantly delivered, and the scene in which he bullies his contact into giving him the name of his employer showed just how mean Michael Vaughn can be.

And hooray!! Finally there is a Derevko on the scene. Why the writers took so long to bring Isabella Rosselini back as Katya is anyone’s guess, but what matters is she’s back. And just like Vartan’s performance, it was definitely worth the wait. Her mind-bending of Nadia (Mia Maestro) was reminiscent of Irina’s of Sydney in the second season and helped to show just how evil the Derevko family really is. A perfect time for a reminder considering Jack (Victor Garber) and Sloane (Ron Rifkin) are attempting to track down Yelena Derevko. Maestro also rose to the challenge, providing us with the same level of raw emotional outbreak we’ve come to expect from the series lead Jennifer Garner.

Joel Grey’s brief appearance at the end helped tie everything in a neat little bow and send the show into a new direction for the season leaving us once again asking the question “Can Arvin Sloane really be trusted?” But unlike before, we are now left with the addition of “What do the Sloane's want?”