Total. freaking. cop-out. Honestly, I have no idea *what* they were thinking they were going to do with Lauren. Before the season premiere, JJ was going on about "Oh, give Lauren a chance, she's a great character, I know you're all going to love her"-- and then they went out of her way to make her this incredibly obnoxious character. I despise the Sydney/Vaughn pairing and *I* even didn't like Lauren much. And now she's evil, so Syd won't have to feel bad about her luuuurve for her "soulmate." Big whoop. I really can't take Lauren seriously as a villain; I was actually giggling through some of her "ooh, I'm an evil slut" scenes. I know Irina Derevko, and you, madam, are no Irina Derevko.

Not to mention the fact that Sark seemed to drop about 50 IQ points and lose most of his coolness factor around her. Yeah, there was chemistry, and yeah, David Anders looks good no matter what he does, but to be taken in by *Lauren*? Oh no way. No freaking way. I'm clinging to the hope that he's really just playing all of them.

No really. He is. He's behind it all. *nods vigorously*