S1 E10 – Spirit

The entire first act we see Sydney’s torture at the hands of SD-6 play out because of the additional transmission out of Geneva.  We also see jack working on something, but we don’t know what.  At the beginning of the second act we see Sydney released and Sloane telling her that they believed it was here, but that it was actually Russek who was responsible for the second transmission.  After which we see Russek tortured and killed.  On a personal note, I found the moment between Sydney and Sloane where he told her that he was relieved to find that it wasn’t her and he took her hands to be among one the creepiest moment of the series.

The scene between Sydney and Vaughn afterwards is one of my favorites from season one.  It doesn’t fall under my overall top ten moments, but for season one its pretty good.  Sydney is picking flowers, with Vaughn at a table nearby.  They talk about what happened and how Sydney may be the luckiest person in the world right now for having been released when they thought all might be lost.  But when Sydney apologizes for calling him away on the weekend, but she had to talk to him, Vaughn telling her to never apologize for calling him, it just makes me giddy. Then we he says that on that same note, he got her something.  It’s moments like these that show you that Vaughn always has Sydney on his mind.  He tells her that he just found it when he was out and about, but guys like him don’t randomly go into antique stores.  And I am so glad that she called him out on going to the antique store because you could see that he had no excuse except to buy her something for Christmas.  His remark about not telling him if she didn’t like it was pretty cute too.  So as you can see nothing overly momentous, but a moment that gets them closer to where they need to be.

Vaughn and Sydney meet up and Vaughn tells her that SD-6 has sent her father to Cuba and that Vaughn met with her father earlier. We did however see a flashback of Vaughn’s to his meeting with Jack. Where he tells him not to actually kill the man he is being sent to kill, but to fake his death and bring him back. We go back to Vaughn’s meeting with Sydney and you can see that when she asks if there is anything else, he is holding back.  But he tells her to have a good time, and that everything is fine.  But then we see the rest of the meeting with Jack.  Vaughn accuses him of changing the information that SD-6 had on Sydney and Russek.  Jack tells Vaughn to get out of his business and stay there.  But when Vaughn tells him that he didn’t get any actual information it was just a hunch.  Jack softens and tells him that he had just learned that Sydney was about to be tortured and probably killed, he can judge if wants, but that he did what he had to do to save his daughter.  Knowing that Vaughn knew all this, yet didn’t tell Sydney is one of the first times that we will see Vaughn withholding information from Sydney in order to protect her from the truth. Because after talking with Jack, he knows that he would’ve done the same thing to save Sydney.  

Will is with Sydney and sees the gift from Vaughn and he wonders why a guy from work would give her a gift.  He takes a guess that maybe he likes her; Sydney becomes very defensive stating that he couldn’t possibly like her.  Although all the while blushing a little.  When she opens it and finds a picture frame, she is happy and searches for a picture that will go with it perfectly, and she debates between one with her mother holding her or her father holding her.

After looking at the picture of her father holding her, she remembered something and then we see her at Micro Storage with Vaughn.  She tells him that as a child she knew when her father would lie to her about Santa being real and when she looked at the picture, she remembered that her father had the same look when he told her about Russek.  She gets upset that Russek died because of something she had done.  Vaughn, who usually hasn’t sided with her father defends him know. Stating that Russek wasn’t an innocent man, that he knew what SD-6 really was and that he led many operations against the US.  She gets upset when she realizes that Vaughn knew that Russek was sacrificed for her, and told him that it wasn’t a choice that her father can make.  Vaughn knew exactly how to make her understand, he simply asked her what she would’ve done if it had been her daughter, or son. (I feel like inserting a little did her know reference here ) After which he turns away from her and you can see how stressed he is, and he wants to hold back information, most likely because he knows how she will react, but he knows that this isn’t something that he can hold back, or protect her from.  So he turns back to her and tells her what happened in Cuba with her father.  That Jack has been taken hostage by a terrorist, and that currently the CIA is under orders to wait on sending in their team for a search and rescue.  And she responds how I think he knew she would.  She tells him that if he understands what her father did for her, he’ll understand that she needs his help to get to Cuba.  You know that Vaughn doesn’t like it, but he is going to help her anyway.

As the episode ends in Cuba, Sydney is captured and also held by the terrorist.  Jack has almost made a deal with him when Sydney is brought in, the terrorist tells Jack that if her really came alone and want to betray SD-6, he can kill another agent that works for SD-6, which is when Jack see Sydney for the first time and is told to kill her.

• Items that I found noteworthy… 
• Sloane notes that Sydney is vulnerable to the pain of others and it is a valuable tool for getting information from her.  – We will see this throughout the series that she can endure the torture of herself, but not of others.
• Will and Sydney get in a fight over her always being called away to work.  She gets a little over excited and tells him that he may see her job as pointless and stupid, but that it is far from it.  And if he only knew what she dealt with every day, he may even thank her.
• Will listens to an enhanced version of the tape her found and discovered that it is a recording of Eloise Kurtz being killed.  He also hears the words, did you tell him about SD-6, on the tape.  He continues his investigation into Danny’s death by following the SD-6 lead.