I wish Lauren (Melissa George) would continue to be as snotty asshe was in the first few episodes of this season.

I wish even more that she’d let go of her husband, Vaughn(Michael Vartan), and let him be with Sydney (Jennifer Garner).

I wish most of all that she hadn’t partially redeemed herself inthe latest episode of “Alias,” thus giving me a reason (albeit asmall one) to like the dreaded Mrs. Vaughn.

Because I want to hate her so, so badly. But now that’s a littlemore difficult.

The episode began with Syd being taken to a semi-secret NSCcamp, where doctors and NSC officials torture suspected terroristsfor information. In Syd’s case, NSC director Lindsey (Kurt Fuller)wants her to translate a code found in Julia’s Rome apartment.Meanwhile, Jack (Victor Garber) and Vaughn team up with Sloane (RonRifkin) and an old partner (Richard Roundtree) of Jack’s,presumably someone he knew in the CIA. Lindsey wants Lauren towrite a report on Syd’s imprisonment – one that conveniently leavesout all the torture they’ve forced our heroine to undergo. WhenLauren tries to refuse, Lindsey blackmails her with the possibleimprisonment of Vaughn for his role in helping Sydney to escape toRome in the last episode.

In response, Lauren asks Vaughn to let her in on the plan tohelp Syd escape from the camp. Sydney gives up what the code meanswhen Lindsey threatens to kill another prisoner (Pruitt TaylorVince) – who is actually a spy for the NSC. To the surprise ofabsolutely no one, Jack and Vaughn break into the facility, withLauren’s help from the inside of the camp, just in time to save Sydfrom a memory treatment

Later, in the helicopter on the way home, Sydney tells Jack thatshe gave Lindsey the wrong coordinates from the code. The episodeended in silence, with each character no doubt dreading the troublethey’ll be in once they face Lindsey again in L.A.

“Breaking Point” was a strong episode, made even better by thepartnership between Jack, Vaughn and Sloane – their “Ocean’s11”-style mission to get information on the NSC camp was thehighlight of the hour. As usual, we were left with more than onenew question, especially when it came to one character inparticular – Sloane. His helping Sydney – and saving Jack’s life -would make a casual viewer think that he’s finally retreated backto his good side – but his history would make longtime “Alias” fansthink otherwise. Time will tell.

Grade: A-