Alias Recap

So I liked it better than Television Without Pity, but there certainly is a truth to not knowing exactly what the missions are/were about - especially the next day when you think about the episode. Here's what they had to say:

Welcome back, children! It's time to put yo spy on! Okay, so, Angela Bassett shows up long enough to recruit Syd to some new super-secret faction of the CIA that's called "Authorized Personnel Only." When Syd shows up for her first day of work, who should be there but Vaughn, Spy Daddy, and Dixon? Oh, and Sloane, who seems to be in charge of the whole kit and caboodle. But not really, because Syd's actually been hired to watch Sloane's ass and report on it. As Syd says, "Pity the man who has THAT job."

Then there's some sort of mission that Syd and Vaughn have to go on. Does it really matter what the mission is? No. No, it does not. So, Syd's hair looks fabulous and Vaughn looks hot and he and Syd are taking it slow but they totally aren't, and then there's a train and fight and then another fight and…then we get the obligatory flashback sequences explaining to the masses what happened at the end of last year when Syd found that sheaf of black paper with nothing on it. Oh, but wait. There was something on it. And, at the end of the first hour, we find out what it was: Jack asked for permission to kill Irina. And he got it. So Irina's dead. Just like that. Guess Lena Olin's really not coming back this year, huh?

Right. So Syd needs an excuse to go visit her half-sister, and she gets it and goes and…wait, what? Oh, right. It doesn't matter. Nadia and Syd meet and hug and talk about something, and then there's some second mission that deals with the first but is actually about stealing a samurai sword or something. Somehow, this sword requires Marshall's presence, so he joins the team as well. Yeah. Say it with me. NO IDEA. The chase for the sword takes up about twenty minutes, and then Jack saves Syd's ass and Uncle Inappropriate makes an appearance (ew!) and there's some secret behind Irina's death and then Syd gets captured by Rick Yune and he's totally hot and Nadia has to come out of retirement to save her half-sister and she's totally hot and Syd finds out some bad news: Rick Yune was hired to assassinate her. By Irina Derevko. So much for happy families.

Who is Uncle Inappropriate? That is the only part of her review I don't quite get.