  A L I A S kicks ass really, really liked tonight's episode of Alias. it affected me inexplicably. sydney bristow's biological mother is a dangerous russian spy who just turned herself in to the CIA and while they are happy to keep her, they don't know what to make of her. Irina is like the mother from hell who is really slick at the same time. i mean, sydney is kick-ass spy extraordinaire after a year at it (and supposedly juggling grad studies at the same time) so her mother who left her when she was a child and doing it for twenty-odd years must have been a cool, non-chalant professional.
(well, syd also has a spy-daddy so she's doubly gifted. ) i totally went goggly-eyed for syd's love interest Vaughn (played by Michael Vartan, i saw him first! ) when i saw him in ally mcbeal as the son in a father-and-son duo simultaneously (and unknowingly) wooing miss ally. he's such a cutie but not too cool and unemotional when he's around Irina who blew his father to beyond recognition.
first she catches him referring to sydney by her first name, and his expression following her point this out doesn't require a spy to figure out he's feeling guilty. then when he's got his back turned to her and trying to walk away before betraying being affected, she intimates that she knows what's under his skin (that she killed his father) by telling him that he looks a lot like his father.
i guess this fascination (besides getting to see syd every week in a couple of really trendy outfits i dream of being daring enough to wear) with totally cool spies goes a bit back. P. would know and especially understand my fascination with Irina - the mother of all spies (pun intended). i just hope that the writers don't let me down when it comes to Irina! urlLink read more.... 
