S1 E16 – The Prophecy

As the episode begins we see a committee meeting with a group of senators discussing the Rambaldi page that shows a depiction of what everyone believe to be Sydney. We come to find out later that the committee is the DSR, department of Special Research.  And when Vaughn walks into his office to find them going thru his office looking for all of his information on Sydney, he is pissed.  He goes to Devlin and tells him that if the DSR and NSA know something that he should to as his case officer.

Vaughn calls Sydney in to meet with him at their storage unit, he tells her all about the DSR and that they took all of his files on her.  He warns her that at their next scheduled meeting they will be picking her up for questioning.  Personally I love the fact that even if he can’t prevent them from taking her, he wants for her to know in advance and to know that he is against it and did not betray her.  We already know that one thing Sydney does not easily forgive is betrayal in any form.  We see it in her relationship with her father, it is a major factor with Sloane, and I think that Vaughn knows that he does not want to ever betray her. Unfortunately… Well we’ll get to that part later.  Sydney and Vaughn do go over the fact that they both think it is ridiculous that she could be the person depicted in the Rambaldi book, she even tells him that millions of people could’ve looked like her over the past 500 years, and that her mother looked like that, but Vaughn tells her that the page indicates that the person is still alive according to the dates he listed along with the portrait.  He also tells her that they are referring to the page as The Prophecy.

As the DSR is questioning her, they ask if she has any questions, she just tells them, are you really not going to tell me what the prophecy actually says, and they tell her no, that they have gone over that.  I would be incredibly frustrated if I was being investigated by a group that usually studies aliens and other farfetched things, and they weren’t telling me why they were looking into me.  The great thing is that even if Vaughn isn’t really part of this case, he is watching her from the tech room the whole time; he isn’t going to leave her alone with these guys, not even for a minute.  He really is her guardian angel; he wants to be sure that she is taken care of while in the DSR’s custody.  While he is watching her answer their question Haladki walks in, and once I see him, I know that there will be some kind of trouble.  And Vaughn is not to happy that Haladki has access to the whole proceedings between Sydney and the DSR, you can tell how uncomfortable it makes him.

Later on when you can tell Sydney is getting bored with all the questions, Haladki walks into the tech room and tells them that they will need to cut it short, Vaughn questions him but is told it is need to know only.  They then ask Sydney to come with them, she asked why and they tell her that they would like to do some blood work, an MRI, a lumbar puncture, other physical examinations.  She is having none of that.  She tells them that she has being nothing but cooperative, and has answered all their questions, no matter how ridiculous they have been.  But if they want to touch her, then they need to explain the whole thing to her beginning with what the prophecy says.  She is told that she doesn’t have clearance for that information.  She goes on telling them that they are wasting their time with Rambaldi, and that there are real threats in this world and she has to go back to work.  Vaughn and Haladki have been watching this whole thing go down from the tech room.  Haladki is getting upset that they are just letting her leave, and Vaughn just grins.  He is so happy that Sydney stood up for herself, and that Haladki didn’t get what he wanted.  In my little humble opinion, I think that the grin was saying that’s my girl, you tell ‘em, mixed with a bite me Haladki.

Sloane asked Sydney to go and visit Emily to try and cheer her up.  Emily makes the comment about how much she liked Will, and how much Will seemed to like Sydney.  Sydney made it very clear that Will and she are just friends.  And that it’s hard to think about dating again after Danny.  They make a little more small talk and Emily tells her that with her cancer, she won’t be alive for next Christmas.  She explains that when she finally went to the doctors after knowing for some time that something was wrong her doctors explained that if she had come in sooner, they may have been able to save her, but they weren’t able to do much now.  You can tell by the looks that Sydney is giving her, along with her flashbacks to the page with the depiction of herself, that she is thinking of the medical tests that the DSR wants to perform on her, and whether she is putting it off because she is scared of what they may find.   After meeting with Emily she walks into the DSR’s office and tells them to run whatever test they want.  She doesn’t want to be afraid of the results for the rest of her life.

Sydney meet up with Vaughn, and tells him that she wants to break into the Vatican to get the right code decipher for the Rambaldi text.  She tells him she is not going to sit around and wait while they decide her future; she is going to make sure that if they are going after her, they better have the right code key.  She then tells him that she needs a porter for the op, someone that she knows and can trust.  She asks Vaughn if he will break into the Vatican with her.  She hesitates for a moment and then smiles, and tells her, yeah, I’m in, I’ll break into the Vatican with you.  They come up with how they have to do it, since they can’t fly together.  But Sydney and Vaughn are going on their first mission together.  

Once they are somewhat alone during their mission, Vaughn tells her about his favorite restaurant in Rome.  He mentions it a few times while they are preparing their break in, and finally asks if she wants to check it out when they are done.  She says that SD-6 may see them there and have them killed, he replies with the food so good, it could be worth it.  Then she sets off the explosion to get into the archive room of the Vatican. When the explosion is ready to go off, he takes Sydney in his arms and protects her, he basically enfolds himself around her he is so protective of her.  He knows that he won’t be able to protect her from everything, but he will protect her from everything that he can.  They do find the code on a painting, take pictures and get out of there.  On their way out though, Vaughn is caught by a guard.  He was saved by Sydney and was able to see how deadly she can be in the field.  He is incredibly impressed by her more and more each day.

Sydney and Vaughn have a small meeting once they get back to Los Angeles.  He tells her that they have decided to wait on doing anything until they have decoded the prophecy with the correct code key that they retrieved in Rome.  He reassures her that the madness will soon be over, when he tells he this, he has the sweetest smile, and you can see how much he cares for her and wants her to not have to go through all of this crap.  Then he tells her that the next time in Rome, they have to go to the restaurant that he was talking about.  She tells him that she would like that a lot.  I know that it isn’t much but with that little moment talking about going to Rome again, they both know that they want to at the very least stay friends for a very long time.  And that one day, SD-6 and the Alliance will no longer govern where they can be seen together.

When Sydney gets home, she sees that Francie and Will have gone to a club, and want for her to join them.  While she is dancing at the club with them, she looks around the room and sees that there are DSR agents positioned all over the club, so she excuses herself and goes to a door.  They escort her into a van and handcuff her to a bench inside.  Vaughn is in the van, personally I think he told them that he won’t help them find her unless he can be there when they pick her up to help her.  She asks what is going on, and he tells her that the CIA had the correct code key all along.  He goes on to tell her that when she was having the medical tests they were looking to match three physical attributes that Rambaldi mentioned; DNA sequencing, platelet levels, and the size of her heart.  And that she was a match to all three. She is now really scared, as is Vaughn.  She asks what the prophecy says, and Vaughn looks to the DSR lady and she reads out the Prophecy. "This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks. Signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works. Bind them with fury. A burning anger, unless prevented. At vulgar cost, this woman will render the greatest power unto utter desolation.”   After hearing those words, the van drives off and Vaughn and Sydney are so taken aback by this whole thing that they can’t even look at each other.

• Items that I found noteworthy… 
• Another voting member of the Alliance convinces Sloane to murder another Alliance member, who is his close friend, because he is involved with Khasinau, the man they believe to be The Man. – Later we find out that member that approached him to kill his friend was actually the mole involved with Khasinau. 
• In a meeting between the CIA higher ups, and the DSR Devlin goes to Sydney’s defense and tells them that they are going too far.  But Haladki speaks up and tells them that they need to run the tests, which he has concerns about Sydney, which began with how involved her handler was with her but now extends past that.  He wants them to fully investigate her.  Once again we see that he is an ass.