Alias (TV Series) Legacy (2004) User Reviews

Nadia or Rambaldi?

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 23 December 2009]

That's the major dilemma that Sloane is pushed into, and the most compelling part of this episode. Of course he would rather have both, but when Lauren and Sark, demanding quick results, force him to overload her brain with the green fluid that enables her to write down Rambaldi's messages, he has to make a choice. And he does. And the look on his face when that happens is another moment of glory for Ron Rifkin. As a whole, "Legacy" is a good episode, but not quite up to the level of the three previous ones. Strong points (apart from the aforementioned): Isabella Rossellini's return as Katya Derevko ("I find you sexy, Jack. Deal with it"); the humorous scene between Marshall and Toni Cummings (the security system designer from "After Six") in her cell; Lauren in complete cold-hearted bi*ch mode; and, of course, Sydney in a bikini. Weak points: Cummings goes out on the field with Sydney and Vaughn because Sloane's security system - that she has designed - can only be disabled on-site. OK so far. But after she has done that, she goes chasing Lauren and Sark herself, with a machine gun! How the hell did Sydney and Vaughn allow that? And why should Cummings care if those two get captured or not? Her jail time would be considered served as long as she helped capture Sloane, which she did (though he got away anyway!). Another weak point is the cliffhanger: after Sloane's "resurrection" in "Hourglass" and Sloane injecting Nadia with Rambaldi's elixir in "Blood Ties", Vaughn simply picking up one of Jack's untraceable weapons is not so thrilling. *** out of 4.

Will the Passenger divulge her message?

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 8 August 2010]

Having escaped with his daughter Nadia Sloane in injecting her with Rambaldi fluid in order to extract the message she contains. She manages to get free briefly and destroys the remaining fluid. This isn't the end of his efforts though as he knows of another batch of fluid in Russia and gets in touch with a contact to have it stolen; this contact promptly contacts Sark and offers to do the job for him instead for twice Sloane's rate. The call is intercepted by the CIA and Sydney and Vaughn are soon on their way to Russia. It turns out they were too late, the Covenant had got there first and it looks like they are going to be captured by the Russians. That is until the Russian, Sydney's aunt Katya Derevko helps them escape. The trail looks cold but a film of Nadia being given the fluid as a child leads them to Dr. Zhang Lee, the man who tortured Sydney way back in the first episode of the series. This time it is his tern to get tortured at the hands of Vaughn, behaviour Sydney rightly thinks is unacceptable. They also interview security expert Toni Cummings for will help in return for her freedom. Having tracked Sloane and Nadia to Kyoto they rust to free her and capture Sloane. However Vaughn's desire to kill his treacherous wife could jeopardise the mission and endanger Sydney.

Things are getting tense as the season approaches its conclusion. As well as a tense story this episode features welcome returns for Isabella Rossellini, Ric Young and Vivica A. Fox as Katya Derevko, Dr. Zhang Lee and Toni Cummings. It was interesting to see the normally calm Vaughn losing control; Michael Vartan does a good job in the role. While there were some great action scenes the highlight of this episode for me was seeing Isabella Rossellini talk her way past a young guard, it showed that it isn't just twenty somethings who can be believably seductive.