Alias 5.8: Bob

ALIAS is now on Wednesday nights @ 10PM, so the weekly update is now on Wednesdays (at least for the month of December). The show goes on hiatus from January until March due to JG's real life maternity leave. Anyway, on to the episode...

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In Siberia, Lukas Basarov plants a bomb in a train car. It explodes and incinerates only the people, leaving the rest of the car intact. Upon learning of the explosion, Marshall tells the APO team that it was a Micropulse bomb.

Meanwhile, Sydney dines with a lady at a Yorkshire garden party. When she spots Elizabeth Powell, the wife of the French ambassador, she hands her a napkin with a message from Jack. Elizabeth meets Jack in the library and he asks her about the attempts of French intelligence agency MI-6 to acquire a Micropulse bomb. Elizabeth assures him that MI-6 isn't involved but Jack asks her to look for a mole in the organization. He says this might lead to info about Prophet Five.

Back at APO, Jack tells the team that his contact had identified Basarov as the engineer of the Micropulse, and that MI-6 is trying to acquire it off the books. Basarov, he says, is attending a conference in Brazil and expects to receive a transmission about the sale rendezvous through his laptop. He assigns Rachel to intercept this intel. Before leaving, Syd reminds a stressed Rachel to have fun.

Disguised as a British scientist, Rachel checks in a hotel in Sao Paulo and ends up in an elevator with Sark, who's posing as an American. They make a connection, and realize that they're across the hall from each other. Once in their respective hotel rooms, they start planting cameras for surveillance in Basarov's room.

At the conference, Rachel asks for Basarov's autograph, which she scans to produce a fingerprint copy. Later, when Basarov steps into the shower, Rachel breaks into his room and tries to access his laptop using the copied fingerprint. Rachel takes to the window ledge when someone enters. He can't see that it's Sark bugging the laptop. When he leaves, Rachel puts her own bug in the laptop.

Sark hits on Rachel in a bar and they go back up to his room. Rachel finds an airline ticket indicating the Bahamas as Sark's next destination. Just then, Rachel's phone vibrates, signaling the receipt of crucial intel. She quickly leaves and sends the transmission to Marshall for decryption.

Back at the APO office, Rachel confides to Sydney about meeting a guy. Jack says that Basarov is meeting the MI-6 double agent in Spain. Later, Jack and Elizabeth stake out the sale in Malaga. A terrorist organization led by Benjamin Masari ambushes Basarov's group. Jack and Elizabeth are abducted.

Sydney and Sloane watch the video footage and conclude that Sark intercepted the transmission at the hotel. Rachel, angry at herself, says they can catch him in the Bahamas.

Upon landing, Sark sees Rachel with Sydney. Sydney tells him that Masari has Jack and asks him to help in Jack's rescue. Later, while Jack and Elizabeth are being brutally interrogated by their captors, Masari gets a phone call from Sark. Sark makes a deal with him to buy Jack and Elizabeth.

At the office, Dixon advises Syd not to go on the mission in her pregnant condition. Meanwhile, Sark continues to flirt with Rachel, but Rachel rejects him.

Dixon disguises himself as a local truck driver and Rachel and Tom hide under the truck, When Sark enters Masari's Tunisia office, Masari points a gun at him. A doublecross! Dixon shoots the guards and breaks into the facility. He and Tom look for Jack, while Rachel tries to locate the weapon. She finds it, only that Sark is handcuffed to it. Marshall and Syd remotely guide Rachel through its disarmament.

As Jack says goodbye to an injured Elizabeth, Dixon asks Sark where they could wire his payment. Sark says this was a freebie and walks away, leaving Rachel interested. Later, Sydney talks to Jack over the phone and they make plans for breakfast. Before they hang up, Syd tells her father that she loves him.

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I liked this episode. Sark always has been one of the best bad boys on the show. He was a regular during season three and had guest appearances in the other seasons. Now all they have to do is find a cure for Nadia and bring Will out of the witness protection program before the end of the season, since he's secretly has a crush on Sydney from the very first episode (1.1). Apparently Michael Vartan will be a guest star next Wednesday. His charachter died in the first episode this season but lives in Sydney's memory.