The Safe House - Expositions

I actually felt sorry for Vaughn last night. He had all of four seconds of screen time in which he did nothing but whine about not being able to help Sydney and then -- whoosh! -- as soon as Noah Hicks (Peter Berg) danced onto the scene, Vaughn became... oh yeah, right, he's some CIA guy, whatever... And speaking of that dance, could there have been a more perfect way to introduce Syd's trainee-era love? Aside from being insanely sexy in that odd-hot kind of way (Berg's features sometimes make him look a little crazy), Noah has a confidence and a presence that the suit-and-tied Vaughn only wishes he could have.

While Vaughn sheepishly tiptoes around his feelings, Noah delivers swoon-worthy lines like ''You were the last person I ever wanted to see alive and the only person I ever wanted to see alive again.'' Is there even a question? Clearly not, considering that steamy safe-house sex scene.

While Noah was evasive about his long-term plans, it's unlikely to think he'll stay around for too long. I have a bad feeling his departure will mean some serious heartbreak for our heroine. Part of me wishes Noah will end up being part of the Kazanow dark side and it will come out that he knows exactly what's going on with Laura (nice homage to early-era ''General Hospital'' to have the missing elusive woman named Laura). But how much pain can one spy take? First, Noah leaves her (and thinks some encrypted email will save the day?), then her fiancé gets offed, and finally her handler won't close the deal. Sydney doesn't exactly lead a charmed romantic life. It's time for a little undercover love.

Speaking of undercover love, I'm beginning to wonder what exactly went on between Jack and Laura. Sloane's whole shtick about ''filling in'' for Jack when he wasn't available seemed a little too much of an ''I had an affair with your wife'' admission. It's almost too disgusting to imagine, but is Sloane Sydney's father and not Jack? And now that Jack loves Sydney like his daughter, he can't cope with his emotional guilt that he's only been a fill-in father so he's taken to the 2 p.m. bar trip? Whatever he's hiding will no doubt come out during May sweeps in Jack's therapy sessions with Nancy -- I mean, CIA shrink (played by ''thirtysomething'''s Patricia Wettig).

And what was up with Sloane's whole gut-spilling to Sydney about what happened to Jack after Laura was ''killed.'' Do we believe that Jack spent six months in solitary confinement? I'm not sure. Maybe Sloane has it in for Jack and is doing that whole keep-your-enemies-closer thing. Sloane was being a little too faux-paternal with that cold heart-to heart conversation during which he told her ''a daughter has a right to know her mother and I'll help you find her.'' Something's definitely not right here.

But SD-6, CIA, Rambaldi, be damned! Until the next episode we can cling to that eternal hope that Sydney's found a love that will conquer all these other demons. Hmmmm...yeah, right.

Has Sydney found true love with Noah?

Thanks to vaughnetc.!

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