32 replies to this topic

[Channel7]

Elle est très mystérieuse, no? This mystery woman from Vaughn's past will likely have much to discuss with Sydney this season. Talk about her here.

[redmenace]

I think this character has one important thing going for her.

1) Unlike Nadia she's not a simpering beauty and unlike Lauren she's not playing the cliche femme fatale. As a matter of fact, though I have never before seen this actress, she's an amazing choice if only because she's SO extremely ugly that it makes her beautiful.

[Erin]

They're not shooting her very well, I think. I thought she was lovely in Dreamlife of Angels and that was mostly because she's so uncommon looking. And very French, I think. She's just unusually striking.

I'm hoping they'll play up her unusual looks and awesome acting talent in future episodes.

[Channel7]

They're not shooting her very well, I think.

This may be so, in the conventional sense. But it seems to me that her character by nature is shadowy, and thus it plays into the way she is presented on screen. Or, maybe I'm oversimplifying this.

[Erin]

Oh, no -- I just meant that she's not ugly. She's actually quite attractive; just unusually so. I was referring to redmenace's comment about her being so extremely ugly that she's beautiful. I totally know what redmenace means, but I've never found her unattractive, so I was just suggesting that she might appear more attractive if, perhaps, they shot her a wee bit more attractively.

And now I'm off to recap the second episode. Hold me.

[Channel7]

I'll pass you the last of my peach vodka if necessary, Erin. It did wonders for me watching Martha's Apprentice.

And I agree that Élodie has an unusual sort of beauty, though I would say the IMDb publicity photo doesn't help her cause. Then again, it's not the hindrance that the wig was, either. But aside from the superficial element, I have to say I'm genuinely interested in how her character will fit in. Despite her degree of likability, I think hers will be a fairly solid character, unlike The Blonde We Dare Not Speak Of.

[Erin]

Ye gads, that photo doesn't help AT ALL. And thanks for the offer, but I'm surviving on crates of pinot grigio for this one.

I have to say that of all the new characters, right now, 3/4 of the way through the recap, hers is the one that holds my interest most. But that could possibly be because I am a shameless Francophile.

[redmenace]

That is a TERRIBLE photo and I saw it when I made my previous reference. But though I did call her "ugly" I was not saying she's unattractive. Really, really beautiful in a way one doesn't usually see on (at least) American television. Though, she is also ugly as well!

I also get the impression that the character isn't part of some large shadowy secret conspiracy but is rather a free-agent with an obsessive streak (did Vaughan mention her motivations at all?).

[Erin]

I don't think Vaughn mentioned her motivations at all, other than that she came to him about his father. But I think that all the people that she killed had something to do with Prophet Five. Those murders put her on the CIA's most wanted list (heh, I just recapped that part and, um, the CIA doesn't have a most wanted list, the FBI does, oh, well, the CIA has a most wanted list, but it's not PUBLISHED), but she didn't perform them as an assassin for hire or anything.

I guess.

I'm not sure.

She's an enigma, at this moment.

And, yes, redmenace she can be ugly. Understood.

[FoolishWanderer]

Y'know, I really have to stop just seeing the surface/being so gullible. I was surprised when she turned out to be a baddie. Despite watching all 89 preceeding episodes and her being on a Most Wanted list. Oh well, maybe next time it happens I won't be sucked in quite so easily.

[OLynn]

She's an enigma, at this moment.

In this sense, and in her general physicality and uniqueness, I got an Irina vibe off of her. Especially, when they made mention of her position on the CIA's most wanted list,and when she dismissed Syndey's not too concealed concern over Vaughn and her, with a wave of her arm. So cool, so very Irina, and so very interesting.

[mightypen]

I'm actually kind of a little bit excited about this new character. Just because she makes me want to know more about her. Which gives me a reason, other than SpyDaddy, to watch the show. Which is good.
And I actually kind of like that picture of her. It's not beautiful, and shouldn't be on her main IMDB page; but there's something about it.

[Alias Fanatic]

I thought the writers were hinting that the murders that put Renee on their radar (and that intimated that Vaughn's collaboration with her made his actions questionable) could easily have been attributed to Gordon Dean and his organization. It could be taking this a step too far, and this show has certainly made a hero out of murderous traitors, e.g. Irina, but the murders that coincide with Renee and Vaughn's itinerary could also be Dean's work while he was on their tails.

[Erin]

Ooooh. Good point, AF. I just always assumed they were the work of The Raven, but they could very well be the work of Gordo and his evil minions. Nice one.

[redmenace]

I should have linked my interest in her ambiguous looks to her ethics (after all, this is television). I don't think she's exactly a baddie and we won't know for a while anyway. She strikes me as somewhat beyond good or evil insofar as she's not evidently a member of any particular group (CIA-HEROES, ANYTHING ELSE-villainous). And she's on the credits which can only mean good news for her in the long run. Stealing the body, as we saw at episode's end, isn't necessarily a villainous act. The status of that body--first a nucular bomb then a nucular body (probably Rimbaldi but who knows/cares at this point)--first has to be decided. And I don't mind that she's deceiving Sydney. Who is Sydney Bristow to her but some chick a guy she met with on a few occasions mentioned having a hard-on for? If anyone's gullible it's Sydney and if she hasn't learned her lesson by now (our own beloved Justine), then let her take the lumps that are coming to her.

Edited by redmenace, Oct 11, 2005 @ 1:18 PM.

[quotidian]

I should have known someone on this board would have picked up the Irina-vibe before I mentioned it. Olynn once again takes the words right out of my, er, fingers.

I was hoping Sydney would have said, "Well, my mother is higher on the CIA's wanted list than you, girl, so STEP OFF." But yeah.... flippant attitude + exotic accent + mysterious intent = Irina. (Minus the Kelvingrade hotness of LFO, of course.) I loved that she grabbed the cryo-body and lied to Sydney--also a patented Irina-like move. As others have said, at least she's interesting.

And FWIW, I'm kinda hoping that Renee and Thomas Grace face off/get it on, cuz that would be kinda hot.

Edited by quotidian, Oct 11, 2005 @ 3:58 PM.

[EmbiggenedSoul]

Love her - she's interesting, not your typical Hollywood blonde starlet, love the accent, and her character background is intriguing. She's definitely one reason to keep tuning in. And I love saying her name. Yeah, I'm weird.

[Phenobarbara]

I don't know. She's high up on the Most Wanted list and supposedly a bad ass super spy, yet she's been working at that club for how long now and she still wasn't able to infiltrate that one area??

[politikgirl]

I don't know. She's high up on the Most Wanted list and supposedly a bad ass super spy, yet she's been working at that club for how long now and she still wasn't able to infiltrate that one area??

Maybe she's high up on the Most Wanted Dumb Criminals list and they forgot to mention that. Heh.

[Jailbait47]

Hmm...Well, I like her the most out of the newbies. But what I'm most interested in is whether the writers meant anything by her last name - Rienne. The word rien in French means nothing (Ooh, watch Jailbait show off her very very limited-even-after-taking-it-for-years- French skills!)...and adding the -ne to it basically feminizes the word. Well, not really. But the ending -ne in French is generally added when one feminizescertain adjectives and whatnot.

So, point? Did the monkeys mean anything by it?


Edited because what I meant to say is the the French "rien" is equivalent to the English "nothing." Not that "rien" means nothing at all.

Edited by Jailbait47, Oct 23, 2005 @ 10:42 PM.

[OLynn]

(Ooh, watch Jailbait show off her very very limited-even-after-taking-it-for-years- French skills!)...

Probably still better than mine. Why did I take French? Right, so I can talk to people in France, because what they don't tell you is due to accents and such, no one in my own country will understand me. But back on topic, I was wondering the same thing. I thought her name was an odd choice too. Maybe it's some sort of political statement, but most likely, the monkeys know about as much French as I do.

Edited by OLynn, Oct 24, 2005 @ 5:24 AM.

[kicking57]

But what I'm most interested in is whether the writers meant anything by her last name - Rienne. The word rien in French means nothing

I, too, think of rien when I hear her name. My problem is that when I hear that word I inevitably think of that great Edith Piaf song Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein. And then the song inevitably gets stuck in my head and ....yup....there it is. I'll be humming it all day, thank you very much!

[redmenace]

They were probably thinking of that song too. "A French character! A French song! Let's be TOTALLY random about it!" I like the way you put it the first time, Jailbait: her name means nothing.

[touchstone]

Elodie Bouchez is very familiar to fans of French cinema; she's been in a lot of movies and is at least as famous in Europe as, for example, Jennifer Garner is in the US. I hope she becomes a series regular. I don't know how much JG's pregnancy/maternity affected the shooting schedule but I like that they've brought in more female characters to take up the slack. Women should be able to decide for themselves what they should or shouldn't do under any circumstances, but you just know that some viewers are already having fits at the idea of a pregnant agent in dangerous situations. I'm sure ABC is already getting lots of mail about the "bad example" they're setting, leaving them faced with the conundrum of how to stay edgy without being controversial.

Powerful, complex, sometimes noble, sometimes diabolical, women make this show worth watching. Alias has more memorable female characters - like Nadia, Irina Derevko, Anna Espinosa, Lauren, and now Renee Rienne - than any other show in its genre. "Alias" loses its way when it loses its edge, and "Le Courveau" brings some of that back to the mix.

[Edward1985]

I hope she becomes a series regular.

Opening credits sequence. Why can't Renee wear good hair? I've seen the actress' hair in pictures. They should stick with that.

[Talipo]

She's supposed to be bad, right? So when will she do something evil, like I don't know, KILLING people that aren't expandable henchmen, or doing things NOT to save her father? Too much family-oriented plots if you ask me.

[Jailbait47]

My problem is that when I hear that word I inevitably think of that great Edith Piaf song Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein. And then the song inevitably gets stuck in my head and ....yup....there it is. I'll be humming it all day, thank you very much!

Oooooh dear. ALL of Edith Piaf's songs get stuck in my head. Milord,for example? Jeez, now I'll be singing that all day..

Edited by Jailbait47, Nov 3, 2005 @ 3:25 PM.

[Rilla]

But what I'm most interested in is whether the writers meant anything by her last name - Rienne.

This is the first thing I noticed too. And renée means reborn in french -- "reborn nothing".

[manager]

She became my most favorite of the newbies as the season wore on. So long Renee!

[blackwing]

Were my eyes deceiving me, or did Elodie Bouchez get dropped from the opening credits? I had thought that she was in them, picture and all. And then last night she was taken out and given "special guest star" status? Poor Renee. She died thinking that Sydney killed her.