A Twisted Family Of Spies! An original review of "Maternal Insinct". Although this episode runs at a slightly slower pace than the one before, "Maternal Instinct" deals with the aftermath of Sydney’s captivity and quickly establishes that Irina Derveko is a major player in Prophet Five. Indeed, the highlight of this dramatic instalment of the spy-drama was the complex family dynamic between the Bristows. Lena Olin was back with style, and Jack sported his usual suspicious nature that worked so well in the second season. But the key difference is that back then, we didn’t really know which team Derevko was playing for. And now? Now we know she’s part of Prophet Five…being Sydney’s mother comes second. Both Jennifer Garner and Victor Garber were brilliant on the Vancouver operation which wasn't completely unlike the setup from "The Passage"...only without Rambaldi, nuclear warheads and an air strike. But the dynamic was the same. And later as Syd gave birth, the episode seemed to revert back into the twisted family from the old days. Even though Irina seemed a little uncharacteristically harsh with Syd, one line of dialogue from season two flashed in my mind: "I was a fool to think that any ideology could come before my daughter". Kelly Peyton was back, and this time she had a rocket launcher…and the guts to use it. Amy Acker never ceases to amaze me. I don’t want to say anything negative against David Anders, but Acker is just a much better villain than he was. I think it’s because we know flat out that Peyton is a bad guy and will never be anything different. Sark however was always hovering in that shade of grey – he was a good guy if it suited his needs. The same kind of applied to Lauren…her motives were always a little murkey and we knew very little about why she was part of the sinister Covenant. Considering her father was a U.S Senator, it would have been nice to have a bit of back story there. But alas, there was none. With Peyton however, we don’t need anything…she’s one of them! It was good to see Sloane extend his web to include Rachel, casting a shadow over her future within the CIA. Will she become his pawn for good, or will she see through his lies and manipulations? I’m looking forward to seeing how the little game Thomas Grace is playing pans out, and also how Rachel becomes involved. It could be that her friendship will have a major effect on the outcome of his own schemes. Unfortunately, the role of Director Devlin was underplayed this week, mostly keeping him mulling around in the background to be taken seriously. His pleasant dealings with Sloane also beg the question of how the man ascended to Director in the first place. The guy was in charge of the unit dedicated to bringing down SD-6 and he showed no signs of disagreement with Sloane’s appointment in APO. It’s times like these I miss Angela Bassett. Her Hayden Chase character very three dimension and likable. It’s a shame the writers haven’t been able to bring her back into the series, especially given the course the story has now taken. As the one overseeing the APO taskforce, she should at least be working with Devlin to assess the Prophet Five infiltration. Now finally for the bombshell…Michael Vaughn is alive and well! Shock, horror! Back when “Prophet Five” aired, I noted just how little you saw of Vaughn’s ‘death’ and now the reason has been revealed. It wasn’t until second viewing of the episode I noticed the subtle communication between Syd and Jack at the very end. After mentioning that the littlest Bristow has Vaughn’s eyes, Jack promises he’d "take care of it". Moments later, we see Vaughn receive word he is a father. Coincidence? Although I must say it will be a tad disappointing if we learn that the Father-Daughter duo were aware of Vaughn’s fate. But never mind…Vaughn is alive. And with only six episodes to go, it won’t be long before he rejoins the APO team for the last ever showdown! 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 alias@alanistic.co.uk. For other reviews from the fifth season, please visit Season 5 Deciphered.
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