S1 E22 – Almost Thirty Years

Oh man, poor Will, we have a recall back to the pilot.  He is in the same room and possibly the same chair as Sydney was when she was tortured by Suit and Glasses man.  I wonder if the equipment used to pry open his mouth has been cleaned since Sydney also if anyone else has suffered thru its use since her.

Anyway back in LA.  Francie is talking to Sydney about possibly opening a restaurant and Sydney gets a phone call from Sark telling her that he has Will. He wants her to deliver the ampule and the Rambaldi document that was taken from Paris.  When he gets those items he will release Will back to her.  She immediately goes to Jack.  Because he is the only one that can help her, since SD-6 has one of the documents and the CIA has the other.  He tells her that they can’t just blindly give the information away, when they have gone to such extremes to get to it.  He will help her, but they need to see what is on the document first and then devise a plan.  Jack also advises her that since Khasinau knew about the CIA safe house, there is a mole within the CIA, and as long as there is, she can’t tell Vaughn anything.  She is visibly upset about having to lie to Vaughn, but knows it has to be done.

Back at the storage unit Vaughn is trying to comfort Sydney by telling her that she should take comfort in the fact that they used tranquilizer guns and that they weren’t out for blood.  They don’t want to kill Will; they just need him for something.  She laments about how worried she is about him.  He comes close to her and puts his arm on her shoulder.  She looks up and asks him if he will tell her if they hear anything.  He pauses and looks at her for a few moments; he knows something is going on.  He asks her as much, she just tells him that she’s worried about Will.  The way he looks at her though you can see his mind spinning.  The next shot is back in Vaughn’s office with him talking with Weiss.  He tells Weiss that he hasn’t known Sydney for that long, but he knows that she doesn’t just accept problems; she works out ways to fix them. Weiss wonders if Vaughn thinks she’ll use back channels to find where Will is, and if she is why she wouldn’t tell him.  Vaughn reminds him that they broke into a CIA safe house and she may not completely trust the CIA right now.  Weiss makes an off the cuff comment to Vaughn about trust being a funny thing. Weiss advises Vaughn that he should tell Devlin about what he thinks Sydney might be up to.  Vaughn absolutely refuses telling him it’s just conjecture on his part.  Weiss tells him that he can’t let his concern for Sydney get ahead of his responsibilities to the agency.  Vaughn tells him that’s not what he’s doing.  Haladki interrupts them and tells Weiss that he is late for his meeting with him.  So they are unable to finish the conversation, but Vaughn is not happy now.  But you can also see how conflicted he is.  Part of him knows that he should talk to Devlin about Sydney, but his first instinct now is to always protect Sydney and give her the benefit of the doubt.

Vaughn is called into Devlin’s office, although he is unsure why. Devlin tells him that he was told that Vaughn was suspicious about Sydney Bristow.  We see that Devlin and Haladki are sitting on one side of the table and once Vaughn hears this, he turns to the side and we see that Weiss is there as well.  Weiss went ahead and told Devlin.  (I think that this is the only episode that I’m not a fan of Weiss.) Vaughn tells them that Sydney simply seemed troubled.  Haladki steps in and tells him that isn’t the word he used. Vaughn tells him that he said, he thinks that he has an understanding of Sydney and that she doesn’t just accept problems, she tries to fix them.  Devlin ask him if it is of his opinion that Sydney Bristow is hiding something from the CIA.  Vaughn looks over at Weiss, and you can see that he is not too happy with Weiss at the moment, Weiss looks back and gives him a look that I interpret as if you don’t tell the truth, I will.  So Vaughn tells him yes.  While this conversation is going on, you see Sydney breaking into the SD-6 location and obtaining the document, and Jack getting into the CIA location and getting the ampule.  Devlin calls the location where Jack is, and tells them to keep him there, but he has already left.

Will is still being tortured by Suit and Glasses man, he’s had a few of his teeth pulled out by now and now Suit and Glasses man is going to use a special truth serum.  The reason he didn’t use it earlier is because it causes paralysis in every one out of five people.  But he needs to know what Will knows about the Circumference.  Will starts to cry, because he knows that he really knows nothing.  We then see his friend from the paper telling their boss about Will warning her that something might happen to him, and that they haven’t seen him in six days now.  She’s called his friends and nobody knows where he is.  They are going to publish Will’s SD-6 story on the front page along with a picture of him.

Sydney and Jack use the ampule to reveal what is hidden on the Rambaldi document and it is blueprints for the Mueller device that she stole last year.  They discover that the page has instructions of what to do with the device once built.  That is what the Circumference is.  Jack has a realization, but doesn’t tell Sydney what it is, he just tells her to go someplace safe, and he’ll let her know when the plane is ready.  Jack is waiting for Haladki in his car and asks him how he knows about the Circumference.  Jack knows now that Haladki works for Khasinau and is the mole within the CIA.  Jack tortures him and finds out what Khasinau wants, where they have built the Mueller device, and where Will is.  Then Jack kills Haladki because he exposed Sydney as a double agent to Khasinau.

Sydney found a safe place to wait, the train station.  We see her sitting alone; I’m guessing that she is contemplating all that has happened in the last year.  Then she hears a voice behind her say hey.  She turns and sees Vaughn.  She wonders how he found her. He replies with; “You told me a couple of months ago that when you feel the need to disappear, you go to the observatory. But the observatory was closed. And then I remembered you said the pier calms you down. But you weren't there. And you weren't at the bluffs and the palisades, either.”  She asks if he really went to all those places, and he tells her that he did, and that he remembered that she liked the train station too, and that normal people go to their normal jobs.   He asks if Khasinau has contacted her, and that he wants the page back, and that she is planning on giving it to him.  She asks him if he came to stop her. He doesn’t directly answer, he tells her a story about his dad always being a company guy and that there were some operations, including his last one where he questioned and refused to participate in, but he would only refuse and question them in his diary. Vaughn tells Sydney that his father’s devotion and blind trust in the CIA also got him killed.  And that if she is doing what he thinks she is doing, he is in if they need him.  She is so touched by his offer that she almost starts to cry, and simply tells him thank you.  Personally I think this is the point when it really hits her how much she depends on Vaughn and how much she loves him already.  Where he is willing to risk everything for her now, I think after this point she is willing to do the same.   This being my number one favorite scene from Season One, the scene at the pier coming in at a close second.  I had to post the actual scene. 

Jack is telling Sydney and Vaughn what the mission will entail, including taking apart the Mueller device and then destroying the lab.  Sydney tells them that the device won’t be hard since it is the size of a shoe box, but wonders about the lab.  Jack hands her a bomb of sorts that should take care of the lab. When Sydney walks away for a moment, Jack tells Vaughn that he understands the risks he has taken to help them, and Vaughn has earned his respect for that.  Jack is starting to realize as well what an asset Vaughn is, even though he can see that Vaughn has feelings for Sydney, he isn’t ready to kill him anymore.  He’s happy to work with him and trusts him now.  Vaughn has been able to help him now as well as back when they broke Sydney out of the FBI’s custody.  He can see how important Vaughn is, and even if he doesn’t like the relationship possibilities, he will stay out of it.

Suit and Glasses man tells Sark that Will knows nothing, Sark instructs him to prepare Will for the exchange.  When Will is released from the hand shackles he knocks over the other men and grabs the special truth serum, and stabs Suit and Glasses man in the neck with it and yells one in five. Will is taken away for the exchange. (I know it doesn’t seem relevant but when we see Suit and Glasses man again it will be.)

Okay, I will be the first to admit that out of the entire Alias’s throughout the series that we see Sydney in especially when Vaughn is with her, the two of them in their gothic outfits, Vaughn wearing the black eyeliner and Sydney in her blue hair; it is by far my favorite.  I love the way they interact with each other and with others in the club while in this Alias.  When they enter the club and they are staying close together and a man come between them and Vaughn pushes him away and then they take each other’s hands and smile at each other, is one of my favorite moments.  No words are spoken during the scene, but it’s still a favorite of mine, it shows how comfortable they are with each other.

Vaughn tells Sydney that she will only have ten seconds after he disables the security cameras to get to the lab. She tells him that she will go radio silent, and then they tell each other good luck.  We then see the exchange take place.  When Will makes his way back to Jack he just hugs him and tells him Thank you.  It is here that you can semi see Jacks softer side. Back on the mission Vaughn disables the cameras and Sydney heads through the hallway and beats up some guards on her way to room 47.  Once inside the lab, she sees that Mueller device is much bigger now.  She gets over coms and tells Vaughn that it is bigger than she thought; Vaughn only hears static and says that he can’t hear her.  She realizes that once she turns the thing off, she will have to swim out of there.  Since Vaughn can’t hear her, he says he’s heading down. Sydney attaches the bomb to the device and makes run for it, a huge cascade of water is following her down the hallway.  Vaughn watches as she turns the corner and the water is behind her.  He completely freezes.  Sydney keeps motioning for him to get moving but he just stands there.  Personally I am yelling at the TV and telling him to run.  But he can’t believe what he is looking at, once Sydney reaches him, she grabs him and he starts moving, but he keeps looking back and isn’t keeping up with her.  Up ahead a door in the hallway is closing, she reaches the door and tries to hold it open for Vaughn but is unable to.  She watches in horror as the door closes and Vaughn is on the other side.  They watch each other thru the window in the door.  She watches as the water hits him and knocks him into the door, she grabs a fire extinguisher and tries to break the glass, but is unsuccessful. Vaughn uses his last moments of breath to motion for her to stop; he can see the guards behind her.  He knows that she is in trouble and it pains him that he can’t do anything.  Sydney does knock out one of the guards with the fire extinguisher, but when she goes back to the window, Vaughn is gone.  Another guard knocks her out.

Sydney wakes up in the room that she was in during the pilot, the same room that Will was just in.  She is tied to a chair, looks up and sees Khasinau.  He tries to get her to eat something, but she refuses.  He gets up to leave, she tells him that she has questions for him; he tells her that she can ask his boss.  She is surprised by this and tells him that she thought The Man, was the boss. He tells her that he is, but he is not The Man.  A woman walks into the room, and tells Sydney that she has waited almost thirty years for this.  Sydney has a pained expression on her face, and asks; Mom?

• Items that I found noteworthy… 
• Sloane tells Emily the truth about SD-6 and how it isn’t part of the CIA like she thought. 
• Dixon is still having suspicions about Sydney; he goes to Marshall and asks what her code name was during the trip where he was shot.  Marshall tells him that it was bluebird.    He later tracks her to the warehouse where she is stealing the manuscript from SD-6.  When Sydney comes back on land, Dixon approaches her and tells her that he remembers her using the call sign of Freelancer in Argentina.  He wants to know who she is working for. She tells him that she has to trust him and that she would never betray this country.  And asks him to trust her.  He tells her that he needs a better reason to not turn her in to Security section. 
• Sloane is told that once he fulfills his duties to eliminate his wife, he will become a full partner in the Alliance. 
• Sloane puts a substance in Emily’s wine before dinner. And he is very emotional when they toast each other. 
• When Sark and Jack are making the exchange, Sark tells Jack that he enjoyed Sydney’s performance in Paris and that she has her mother’s singing voice.