S1 E2 – So It Begins…

As the episode opens, Sydney is telling Vaughn about all the allies that SD-6 has, that she knows of. She is very determined to tell him everything she knows as fast and as soon as she can.  He tries to interrupt her and fails a couple of times, before getting through to her.  She has it in her mind that she is better than him that he is too young to be telling her what to do and she feels like she knows what the best plan of attack is.  I love that Vaughn is able hold his own with her.  I love how strong both of them are.  He is very aware that she has no idea how big SD-6 really is.  He doesn’t patronize her in any way, but finds a way to emphasize the point that what she is doing is bigger than either of them.   But what I love about them in this moment is that right from the beginning they show that they can fight and they may not agree on some things, but if they work together, they can not only break off an arm of the monster, but kill the monster.  She wants out of the spy business, but he breaks the news of her now being in it for the long term in a way that she will be able to cope with it.  I also love the way he stops her when she is leaving the bloodmobile.  The way he smiles at her when he puts the smiley face band aid on her, just makes my heart melt. 

Another part of Sydney that I failed to go over in the last episode is the love that she has for her friends.  The way that she yells at Will when he wants to pursue Danny’s killer, you can see the fear in her eyes when she realizes that Will could possibly end up the same way.  You can see that once Sydney has opened up her heart to someone in any type of way, she will so anything to protect them. 

On that same note, she takes it very personal when someone that she thought she could trust betrays her.  Upon finding out that her father knew about Danny getting killed, she wants nothing to do with him ever again.  I think that after finding out that Sloane betrayed her, someone that she did at one point have a great working relationship with, I think she has put up a wall that she doesn’t want anyone breaking into again.  

When she meets with Vaughn later to discuss her counter mission, you can see her guard being up, after their last meeting I think that she is self-conscious about the way she treated him, but she isn’t about to apologize.  But I love the way that Vaughn automatically shows his concern for her.  He wants to know how she is.  But I think that the question meant something bigger, than a simple salutation.  He knows that she must have had a rough day. Sydney going back to SD-6 and pretending that everything was okay, couldn’t have been easy, as well as the fact that she had to see her father again.  He really is concerned with her well-being.  I also love the way that he smiles at her when she is looking.  You can see how hard it is already to be near her, but to not be able to look at her and have a real conversation.

My favorite scene in the episode has to be, the interaction between Vaughn and Weiss.  Seeing Vaughn worry about Sydney while she is in the field, shows that he already cares about Sydney.  Weiss can already see how Vaughn feels for Sydney, so he has to remind Vaughn that his girlfriend is named Alice.  I think that we are at a point where Vaughn knows that he has feeling for Sydney, but he also knows that she is not in a place to want a relationship, so he won’t do anything about his feelings. 

Later as Vaughn fights with his boss over Sydney, he goes to the bat for her; he shows that he is willing to risk his job for her already. Also from this scene and what Weiss says to him after, “balls of steel, that’s what I’m calling you now” I got the impression that fighting for something like this is not usual for Vaughn.  He is growing as an agent because of Sydney. 

When Sydney finds the bomb and Vaughn and Sydney meet up, I love how they can go at each other, I love the way that they fight, and can fight and still end on good terms. Vaughn has concerns about Sydney going back to steal the bomb from someone that she knows and can identify her, but he knows that she will do anything to make it right.  The results of him fighting for Sydney though don’t go without consequence.  He told Davenport to read her file, and see what an asset she is, once he did, the decision that a more senior officer should be Sydney’s handler, devastates Vaughn, he won’t argue about it, but you can tell that he wants to stay on the case.  Also the last interaction between them in the episode you can tell he wants to stay professional and she is finally ready to open up and have him as a friend.  The joking over coms on her part and his lack of humor prove that. 

•  Items that I found noteworthy… 
•   Sydney’s first priority when getting back from her mission is to get her ring put back on.
•   Jack did everything he could to save Danny, but he doesn’t admit to it until Sydney brings it up. 
• Vaughn is very anxious when Sydney is in the field. 
• Vaughn’s first concern is always with Sydney’s well-being.

•  Questions that I have 
• After Sydney gets the call from Joey’s Pizza, how does she know where to meet Vaughn, as they will end up meeting all over the city? 
• Vaughn fights with his boss, that we know after watching season five is also Davenport who also works with Prophet Five, had Davenport already gone to the dark side of Prophet Five and was just a sleeper agent making his way to the top?