In
the process however, it seems that Renee Riene has been forgotten.
You know, she’s the one that has apparently been working
with Vaughn for the last seven years. Well, “Out of the
Box” is her story. You can't help but laugh at the name
of the episode - "Out of the Box". After being used
in the opening episodes, it seems as if Renee Riene has been
put back in her box until she is needed, so naturally this episode
is the one that lets her out of it.
In general though, the episode does a much
better job of setting up Elodie Bouchez's place in the series
than it does the Prophet
Five mystery. I mean lets face it, once you’ve had Rambaldi,
nothing else will even come close.
Renee Riene’s story isn’t much of a shocker, and
to be honest, it does take away the “number 8 most wanted” aspect
away from the series. She isn’t a baddie, she’s only
a little lost girl. The same kinda goes for Rachel Gibson in
this episode, as like Marshall and Dixon, she is relegated to
background patrol with a small mission squeezed into the episode
someplace.
The mysterious box plot follows a similar pace
to Riene’s
backstory and is all very bland compared to the kind of thrill
Alias usually provides. I know the Alias writers can do better
because I’ve seen it! If the lacklustre action is something
to do with the old man coming out of the box, then there is an
easy way around it - put him back in!! The final greeting by
Gordon Dean was enough to whet my appetite, but it still doesn't
come anywhere near the twists of old.
It is episodes like these that I am glad we
have Ron Rifkin in the mix. Just like the last few episodes,
the strongest
developing story we have is that of Arvin Sloane. When the
season started,
I thought this would be remembered as the season without Vaughn,
or the season where Syd took the backseat to the new guys.
But in truth, it is the season where Ron Rifkin comes into
his own.
Not even season three’s ambiguously good Sloane compares
to the criminal mastermind we have now.
The casual matter of fact way he greets Gordon Dean only underlines
his rogue terrorist past - this season, Sloane looks set to reclaim
his status as diabolical mastermind! Lets hope it's as good as
it was in season two!
I only hope Jack gets something to do, because
it looks as if he’s being set up as Mr Briefing, a
position Dixon once held if you recall.
