I really enjoyed the episode. Fake Francie is good and creepy. Sloane remains one of the best villains on television.

The burning in the church was hard to watch, especially after the Rhode Island tragedy (I guess that's why they had the disclaimer up front). Though it's unclear why, if you're being microwaved, your clothes would catch on fire before your skin did.

Sloane extracted a piece of a Rambaldi manuscript from the statue-- that's why he wanted it.

And what the heck happened to Christian Slater/Kaplan? I assume he was offed, but did they mention it?

No mention of Marshall's desire to purchace a Ford Focas with rims and big tires...."gold rims"

I just started watching with the Superbowl episode, but after four so far, I'm having a good time with the show... I guess I'll catch the entire SD-6 era on DVD...

Question: was that the only Zamboni artifact, or just one of many possible Zamboni artifacts? And what is the manuscript again? Also part of the great Zamboni mysteries?

<small> Ok, ok, I know it's Rambaldi. So sue me. Just answer the question.</small>

The Zamboni mysteries (not to be confused with The Cosby Mysteries) have been an ongoing story for the whole show. Over time, SD-6 (and K-Directorate, CIA, etc) have obtained numerous Rambaldi artifacts/documents/whatever, including a nice one with I hope this latest piece isn't related to ... duh duh DUH!! ... Page 47.

das

I also thought it was odd that they ignored his fate in the 2nd episode, only mentioning that he'd completed the artifact...

Anyone have a casting spoiler as to whether it was a single-ep visit or a recurring one like his recent stint on WW? If the latter, perhaps his thread will be picked up again soon...

I'm positive I read somewhere he was signed up for

that had me

great episode. neat idea for the rambaldi device and what it does.

Dear God, this lost in the ratings last night to the 2nd hour of X-Men.

Are you telling me that nowhere in the super-duper Ford Focus, in its new reaccuring role, is a hidden pistol? This is supposed to be a spy show! She had to have a freakin' weapon on hand to shoot him!

Will needs to hang out with Marshall. great scenes to be had from that combo I bet

I didn't get how, when asked to provide a list of ppl who had been in and out of Sydney's apartment, she didn't mention Francine? Her dad came back and said they checked everyone on her list (i.e. pizza boys, plumbers, etc.) so it was a little confusing when at the end he says, oh by the way, we found these neat little SD-6 listening devices in this plumber's locker. He's the mole.
????????
Seeing how great the rest of this show has been, that one left me scratching my head a little. Oh well.

-BT

They probably made a bad assumption. You would probably assume that a) the person you are living with goes in and out of your apartment, and b) that your best friend isn't an evil clone. I can accept that they didn't investigate Francie, esp after they found the stuff in the plumber's locker. You find a good suspect, you stop searching.

I'm getting tired of FrancieBot.

"*click... whirr*... we never talk any more... *beep*... you need to quit... *bzz*... need to quit... *bzz*... need to quit that job."

I understand that FrancieBot is a different person than DeadFrancie, but FrancieBot has got some tradecraft skillz and is hooked in with Sloane & Sark... so why can't she act more like the old Francie, at least in front of Sydney? You'd think that before they switched Francies, they would've done some sort of surveillance to see her personality and how she interacts with people so that the new Francie could at least be something like the old one.
To be fair, SpyDaddy actually said, "Either he planted the devices, or he was set up." SpyDaddy didn't just fall off the SpyTurnip truck.

Great episode, yeah i dont like the FrancieBot, i hope they just like kill her or something, that would be great, Marshal is the funniest part of the show, it just wouldn't be the same without him, he makes me laugh so hard. I would laugh in the end if hes like some bad ass undercover spy.

What I don't get is that (obviously) robo Francie and real Francie are the same actress, so it's not like she can't get the character right. I'm thinking it must be to make it obvious to the audience that she's evil... they have been trying to make the show simpler, and one of the reasons they dropped the SD-6 plot was because it was confusing to have a good guy act like a bad guy.

I didn't notice, but do they even show in the opening that Francie is an evil duplicate? Otherwise, people watching for the first time would be a bit confused, I would think.

What I'm complaining about is the fictional character of FrancieBot being completely unlike the fictional character Francie whose identity she is trying to steal.

And while they don't show anything about FrancieBot being an evil duplicate, there were several points in the episode that illustrate FrancieBot's evilness (capping the poor plumber, talking to Sark, etc.).

Well, I don't feel very much like creating a new thread to announce this, but ABC renewed "Alias". It's coming back next season, so that's good news. I'm sure ABC wants better ratings, but I'm glad that they were smart enough not to get rid of a quality, entertaining show.

That's fabulous news, probably deserving of its own thread. Though I fear that ABC won't continue to put up with the low ratings. What they really need to do is move the show to a better / less contested timeslot (for instance, Tuesdays at 10:00). It would have a great lead in (if you can consider it a "lead-in" when it's on a different station) of 24. The core audience is similar, so ratings would hopefully pick up a lot more.

Yeah, I think a timeslot change is the only thing left to try...

Season 1 is supposed to come out on DVD in September, which should help (as it seems to have done wonders for 24).

They also may want to consider starting off with a 30-60 minute "documentary"-type thing to get new viewers caught up... this was done in the past with shows like X-Files and Farscape that have on-going storylines. Could be some nice, cheap filler for ABC and it may help newbies.

Ahh you're right, I forgot that he said that at the end. However it really seemed like they were both totally ok with thinking that the plumber was their man and that was that. You'd have thought that Sydney would have noticed the "changes" in Fancie's behavior recently, although she's never really home long enough to notice I guess.

-BT

That's just it. Even if Syd does notice these changes (and based on her facial expressions, I think she does), what's the more logical first thought:

1. "I've been away a lot and distant. Francie and I are growing apart. Living this double-life has been very hard on our friendship. I've got to go out and do something fun with her soon. "

or...

2. "Hmm... Francie's acting strangely. I bet that even though I've taken down SD-6, Slone must have something else up his sleeve. They must have killed Francie and secretly replaced her with a lookalike."

or #3

she walks in on francie coming out of the shower and goes

"Oh my god you have a d---!"


lol

Bling, Bling!

Didn't Francie kind of beat her to the punch and accuse Syd of being distant so Syd wouldn't get suspicious?

So, does anyone know who 'evil' Francie really is? Anna or someone we've never seen before?