The “Alias” world has not been quite right lately,what with Sydney (Jennifer Garner) and Vaughn (Michael Vartan)apart and Sloane (Ron Rifkin) being “good.” But thelatest episode, “A Missing Link” (which aired Oct. 19),brought back the elements of the old “Alias” I know andlove.

This week, the CIA went after the Covenant when Sydney andLauren (Melissa George) questioned a dying man who said that avirus that the Covenant had personalized for their enemies wasstill a definite threat.

To find out more, Sydney met up with the apparent “missinglink” of the title: Simon Walker (Justin Theroux) of theCovenant, who greeted her with a kiss. And then he called herJulia, which only made Syd want to investigate the Covenant evenmore, now that she knew Simon had information about her missing twoyears. Meanwhile, Jack (Victor Garber) told Dixon (Carl Lumbly),their CIA division’s director, that Syd killed Sark’s (DavidAnders) father during her missing two years.

Dixon decided to keep the information from the NSC, which wouldhave imprisoned Sydney with such information. The episode endedwith Sydney stabbing Vaughn in an effort to prove her loyalty toSimon.

This episode brought back my faith in “Alias” namelybecause it brought back all the elements that made it excellentduring the first two seasons. The excitement, angst, mystery andSloane’s taunting of Lauren made “A Missing Link” easilythe first really good episode of the third season.

Add that to the fact that Sydney and Vaughn displayed morechemistry in talking about lipstick colors than he and Mrs. Vaughn(Lauren) have displayed in the entire season thus far – and, well,it was a pretty good night for “Alias.”