The Name Is Brown...Bob Brown! An original review of "Bob". What I love most about this season is the deeply intensifying quest to uncover the secret organisation that once employed Gordon Dean. That and Arvin Sloane. Unfortunately however, both were rarely featured in this episode. The enigmatic Prophet Five group was reduced to a threat looming over the horizon and as for Sloane, well…his only contact was a five minute conversation with an old friend. One might wonder why he wouldn’t try to broker a deal with his former subordinate – all the money he can get his hands on for a cure to the Rambaldi plague that has consumed his daughter. Because lets face it, if anyone has the connections to find a cure it would be Sark. Yes! Sark is back, and the writers waste no time trying to explain who he is or give him an introduction, and instead opt for throwing him right into the mix. Remarkably, the gamble pays off as his first major encounter with a member of APO turns out to be newcomer Rachel Gibson. Out in the field, Nicols gave her best and while it was not the same as the heart-pumping Sydney Bristow operations, she still managed to pull it off. Literally in fact, as she soon hooked up with freelancer Bob Brown in a night of passion. But what she didn’t know is that Mr Brown is actually just an alias for the one and only Insidious Mr Sark. It was a joy to have David Anders back on Alias. His constantly shifting loyalties were in full swing here as he worked not only for the sinister Masari, but also for APO and for himself. Anders and Nicols worked well together, finally giving Nicols a chance to have a more normal relationship. Well, as normal as can be when the object of your affection turns out to be a freelance agent who once worked for a terrorist group. Sark is great. In season three he sunk into the levels of a two-dimensional villain content with blowing things up, but for his brief appearance last season, we got a bit of the old Julian back. And in “Bob”, it was nothing but classic Sark! He’s the villain every show needs to have. It was just such a shame that his entire foray into the world of international espionage did not include more of Sloane. But I suppose the hook-up with Rachel Gibson kind of made up for that. In reality, the entire Sark/Rachel dynamic was actually mirrored in the way Jack teamed up with his old MI-6 “contact” in an attempt to weed out any Prophet Five influences within British Intelligence…especially when a weapon of mass destruction is concerned. The there was a believably chemistry between the two that begs the question were Jack and Elizabeth Powel ever a little bit more than friends? It looks like Jack was quite the ladies man in his day. So with Sark, a little Bond-esque hook-up and Jack Bristow in action, “Bob” has it all! This review was written by the webmaster of A Free Agent, Alan Stanley Blair. In addition to running this site, he is also a writer for SyFy Portal.com where he regularly reviews other genre-based shows. Please submit any feedback on these reviews to cia_handler@yahoo.co.uk. For other reviews from the fifth season, please visit Season 5 Deciphered.
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