S1 E14 – The Coup

After a briefing for her next mission at SD-6, Sloane asks her to stay behind for a moment, they have some small talk, but it was an excuse for everyone to gather outside of the conference room and applaud her when she came out.  She smiled for them, but as she relates it to Vaughn, it made her sick seeing all these people who think that they are patriots serving their country, but don’t know that they are working for a terrorist.  She tells him that she wanted to rip Sloane’s finger right off of him again. They are talking on a bus where they are the only ones on it.  They are able to talk about the mission as well as how much Vaughn hates Haladki.  She asks if he got in trouble, and he tells her that even though what he did wasn’t constitutional, he only got reprimanded because the outcome turned out well.  She touches her check and he immediately becomes concerned and asks her if she is okay.  She tells him that she is a little bruised.  He tells her that he doesn’t see it, and they laugh at how much cover up she is wearing.  Even though they are in public and they aren’t supposed to look at each other, I love how Vaughn can’t keep his eyes off of her and the twinkle in his eyes when he does melts my heart.  

Sydney talks with her father about school, and asks him what he thinks about her still going.  She is unsure whether she should continue following in what she thought was her mother’s footsteps to become a literature professor, now that she has learned that it was just a cover.  Jack tells her that he isn’t the right person to ask. She even speaks to her professor about dropping out, but he tells her that she is one of the most talented students he has ever had, and wishes that she would stick it out.   Later in the episode Jack asks her to meet him.   When they meet up it was at one of her favorite spots as a child, the Carousel, he apologizes for not knowing how to handle personal questions as a father.  He tells her that believing that her mother may have influenced her somewhat, but the decision to go back to school was hers, and he trusts her decisions.  He thinks that she could become the kind of teacher that her students would always remember.

On a side note of another relationship, Francie and Charlie are engaged and Sydney meets someone that had dated Charlie after he proposed to Francie. She calls Will from her mission and asks what she should do. Once she gets inside the casino in Vegas where she is on her mission, she spots Francie and Charlie.  So for this mission, she has to do her job, for SD-6, the CIA, and hide from Francie and Charlie, at least while in her Alias.  While she is in the security room monitoring Dixon, she sees Francie and Charlie approach the wedding chapel.  She asks Dixon if he would be okay if she went radio silent for a few minutes, he agrees, and she removes part of her Alias and goes to the wedding chapel to find her friends. She takes Charlie to the side and asks him about the girl that she met earlier.  She tells him that if he marries Francie without telling her about it, that she will kill him.  And she races back to the security room to assist Dixon.  Charlie tells Francie that they need to wait.  Back at home Francie asked Sydney what she said to Charlie about not getting married. Sydney breaks down and tells her that she met someone who had dated Charlie while he was engaged to Francie.  Francie can’t believe it, gets mad at Sydney, and tells her that she’s going to move back in with Charlie.  Sydney goes to Will, telling him that she’s not sure if Francie will be willing to be her friend after this.  Francie does walk back into the apartment at the end of the episode and tells Sydney that she is sorry that she said those awful things to her, and that she was right about Charlie.  Francie sees the request for her to drop the class, and asks about it, Sydney throws it in the fire, telling her that she’s not going to drop it after all.

Sydney meets with Vaughn at Griffith Observatory to discuss her counter mission.  After he gives her the info she needs, he pauses and then takes a chance.  He tells her that last week he hadn’t made something clear to her.  When she mentioned that she wanted him to be part of his life, to go to a hockey game, he wasn’t clear about the fact that he would like that very much.  He tells her that it would be nice to be able to be in public with her, to be able to actually look at her, to be able to grab a pizza or to go to a hockey game with her.  In fact he would really like to do all of that with her.  But it is clear that both of them know that it is impossible for both of them at that moment.  He wishes her luck on her next mission and walks off.

I do love that moment enough to have to post it though.  It's another one of my favorites from Season one.  Having him admit to her that he wants to spend time with her outside of being a spy is a huge step.

• Items that I found noteworthy… 
• We meet a new villain in this episode.  Mr. Sark.  Although he is young, he is the main representative of The Man.