"The Frame"



Cast: Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Michael Vartan, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman, Melissa George, Greg Grunberg, David Anders , Djimon Hounsou, Peggy Lipton, Stephen Spinella, Raymond J. Barry, Dmitri Boudrine, Dimitri Diatchenko, Kevin Sutherland, Henry G. Sinitzyn, James Sharpe.
Director(s): Max Mayer.
Producer(s): JJ Abrams, John Eisendrath, Ken Olin.
Writer(s): Crystal Nix Hines.

Original Airdate: March 28, 2004.

Damn, Lauren's mom is more cold-blooded than Lauren. And Sark is cold-blooded as hell as well.

Damn, "Sydney and Vaughn" won't be happening for a while as Lauren is going to milk her father's sudden "death" for all it's worth.

I was surprised that Jack got caught in his snooping. Sloppy.

Sloane's glasses need to go. They make him look goofy.

I thought it was kind of boring.

Sydney's new hair style was pretty distracting. She looked like a different actress. Better change it back, you know what happened when Felicity changed her hair.

I knew they couldn't make it through an episode w/out having her cry.

The minute Jack met Lauren's mom I knew she was in on the whole thing w/ the Covenant. I wasn't surprised at all when she came in and finished her daughter's dirty work. I have to admit that I loved it when Sark suggested she knocked off her own father.

I like Djimon guesting on the show.

I was surprised Jack was sloppy enough not to cover his tracts, too. I was hoping he wouldn't let anyone in on his little discovery for a while longer. They could have toyed w/ that storyline more - though I am sure that they're not done w/ it yet. He needs to get Weiss involved in the whole thing.

W/ Syd's new haircut - she looks more like the painting/drawing that Rambaldi made of the "chosen one".

I like the bangs on Sydney, makes her looks much hotter than the business-as-usual CIA 'doo she's usually wearing.

me too.

I thought it was an ok episode. I don't buy Jack falling for the setup of the Senator as easily as he did.

I loved seeing Peggy Lipton as Lauren's mom. Great casting! She is still looking pretty good. I always liked her on Twin Peaks (she played Norma Jennings.)

That bugged me too until Lauren said something about some program she had installed that alerted her to the intrusion. It's possible Jack just didn't realize there were countermeasures in place.

Still not great spy stuff, but at least it wasn't something as stupid as not deleting your cookies.

Good stuff:

Jack.
Peggy.
Djimon.
Jack.
Syd's hair at the end.
Marshall.
Sloane.
Jack.

Bad stuff:

Everything not mentioned above.

Agreed. And maybe, conversation w/ Dixon aside, he didn't.

He was going on his initially overhearing the term of affection. Although that led to other things that the "suicide" explains away, I don't think he'll just forget that.

The fact that Lauren is getting away with this (so far) is driving me mad!

First of all, there is absolutely no way that any halfway decent intelligence organization would let her keep her position, regardless of her reasons.

Second, that fact that Jack is (making it appear that he is, I hope) believing it. My God! The reason he suspected her involvment in the first place was her connection to Sark and there is no way that she would have had any contact with Sark if she were simply an information conduit.

Except this is the same intelligence organization whose key employees used to work for a terrorist organization but *thought* they were working for the CIA.

If Dixon can go from SD-6 to being the head of the CIA office, I suppose they could forgive Lauren for thinking she was doing good.

Syd with her hair down =

Moving on: It was too bad Jack didn't do some solo work with the info he had on Lauren. Thought he approached the Senator (L's dad) way too early... by SpyDaddy standards, at least.

True.

My great hope is that Jack is simply trying to lull her into a false sense of security so that she'll get lazy and allow for him to figure out what is they're up to.

I think the line Jack heard in the first place (the one both Sark and Lauren said) means he still suspects her and the "sloppy" way he didn't cover his tracks was all just part of the plan.

Jack's too smart, I bet he went from "suspects" to "knows" after last night.

That just didn't seem like Jack's style to let someone else know what he's thinking. I think Jack went to the Senator to see what Lauren would do if she knew someone suspected her. And I also don't think he believes it was a suicide.

Djimon Housou is a badass.

The mom being in on the Covenant was a huge shocker to me.

With Syndey's emotional rollercoaster as it is, when she finds out about Lauren, that's gonna be one humongous girlfight.

Very true - he was pretty mum about the whole "suicide". He didn't say much and pretty much observed the situation. I think he will be doing a more solo and covert investigation from here on out.

I dug Syd's haircut w/ the bangs, too.

Relatively disappointing episode

Cmon guys, as if everyone just accepts that Lauren was a pawn used by her dad, cmon these are intelligent superagents we are talking about

"All the Forensic evidence checks out" - Cmon Lauren's dad was shot from the front, no way Lauren and Killer mummy could change the bullet's entry point to hide from the forensic guys. No way they wouldn't pick up that the shot was fired several metres from the front rather than from a gun held to his own head. Also why use a silencer if shooting yourself ?

I just don't buy it, sure draw the Lauren thing out but do it believably !

I was sort of hoping for Lauren's mom to pull off a latex mask type thing and be Lena Olin. Then she would shoot Lauren's dad, open a closet and have the real Lauren's mom tied up and gagged there and shoot her too.

I hope they don't off Sloane, he is the best bad guy from any series I've seen in a long time. If they do catch Lauren, I know who they should get to defend her in court...Denny Crane. I'm a dog of my network.

I liked Syd's new hairdo - anything to cover up that massive forehead.

I missed last night's episode but thanks for the recap. So what happens next week from the preview? Thanks.

From a spoiler site (spoilerfix.com) I check out (which sites Futon Critic as their source, but I couldn't find it on FC's site).

Jesse Alexander, a co-executive producer on the series, has signed a one-year, low seven-figure development deal with Touchstone Television. The pact, which has an option for a second year, calls for Alexander to continue with his duties on "Alias" through its fourth season and includes a promotion to executive producer for its fifth season should the option get picked up. In addition, he'll develop new drama projects for the studio, possibly in conjunction with creator J.J. Abrams' Touchstone-based production company Bad Robot.

It looks like odds are in favor of it getting picked up for a 4th Season. I haven't seen an official word yet, but this gives me hope.

Agreed, I'm just not sure why he'd keep it from Dixon.

I don't think we've discussed this (and I missed several eps at the start of the season, so if the answer is obvious, forgive me...it may have slipped past me), but is the evidence of Sloane's malfeasance w/ the Rambaldi data legit or part of the frame up of him?