Some readers may recall that I was very skeptical about the premise of this season of Alias: that Sydney just vanished for two years, and woke up in Hong Kong with no memory of what happened to her. I also said that I was willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt.

Well, last night was the first new episode of the second half of the season. So it was both an effort to sum up events to date, and to drop – it seems – most of the cards on the table regarding Syd’s missing time. While by this point in the season most of these revelations weren’t too surprising, it was nice to know that not everyone was ignorant of Sydney’s fate. And there were some familiar faces back (and voices…).

While I’m still very afraid that they’re going to botch The Truth Behind Rambaldi if they ever get around to revealing it (while at the same time constantly hoping that they will) I’m not so scared about this season any more. I’m still confused about what Rambaldi’s “second coming” is supposed to accomplish, though, and why the Covenant wants it to happen so badly.