Damn! I knew Lena Olin brought so much to the series with her portrayal as Irina Derevko, but until now the sheer magnitude of her absence has never truly been seen. It is now a common fact that season two will always be regarded as Alias’ peak year. It’s the season that saw everything fans wanted and set the series off on a new and exciting direction. But in one single masterful stroke, all of that has changed.

“Search and Rescue” is exactly as it sounds – a search and rescue mission to bring Irina back into the fold. Like season two, the episode gives fans everything they have wanted since her departure, everything they have wanted to see since the beginning of the fourth season, and as per Alias’ usual trend provides a slight course change to the series. To sum it all up, “Search and Rescue” is the most stylish and utterly absorbing episode since the second season. Even with the slightly out-of-place apocalypse (which was introduced by new show runner Jeffery Bell of Angel fame).

Opening with a flashback to Irina’s 'death' was the first stroke of genius presented by writers Monica Breen and Alison Schapker. Fans of the series like myself could not wait for Olin’s return, and so having us wait for half an episode before she even graces us with her presence would just be too cruel. So she entered the story right away and was then swiftly removed from it leaving me gasping for more. Without any questions, Irina was dead. So the mystery became how will she return? From there, we were presented with an outstanding operation in Ibiza (which was incredibly reminiscent of the Tai Pai mission in season one with a flash of humour mixed in) and an equally well-established answer to the Derevko mystery. There was even a moment where I wasn’t sure whether Irina would kiss Jack (Victor Garber) or slap him. It seems that Olin brings out the best in everyone around her.

In my experience with the series, there have been only three distinctly perfect scenes. Which in my opinion is quiet a lot for a single show to produce. The first moment was in season two’s “Abduction” on the CIA rooftop facility, where Irina confesses that she was a “fool to think that any ideology could come before my daughter”. Both Olin and series star Jennifer Garner were outstanding. It is one of the only scenes ever to have caused me to sit back and take a moment to readjust to the enormity of what was going on. A few episodes later, in “Phase One”, the second moment appeared. Now I’m not talking about the first kiss scene between Sydney and Vaughn (Michael Vartan), but instead the ‘flirters corner’ moment at the beginning of the episode. Again, due to the extreme levels of tension presented by both actors I was left completely absorbed in the moment. This is a very rare thing in television productions.

You would think that the scene in which Syd and Nadia (Mia Maestro) free their mother would be the next of these perfect moments. But it’s not. As the complicated spy-family become re-acquainted on the plane, Nadia offers Irina some clothes, causing her mother to realise that she is in fact the daughter she never knew. With the same heart wrenching intensity that made the other two scenes so incredibly powerful, this one perhaps exceeded my loftiest expectations with the most emotional and complex family reunion I could ever hope to see. Flawless writing and flawless acting show just how good this series can be.

And just when you though it couldn’t get any better than this, Vaughn finally pops the question! Outstanding! Plus with questions over Nadia's true father and the hard-ass talents of Angela Bassett thrown into the mix once again providing the level of authority often missing from the show, there is nothing the episode doesn’t have.