S3 E5 – Repercussions

Obviously after how the last episode ended, Sydney is seriously concerned with Vaughn, I bet that it is taking every bit of her concentration to not compromise herself and figure out a way to make sure he is safe.  Also as I watched the previously on Alias, I realized one more aspect of Vaughn’s love for Sydney.   Even when it looked like he was facing certain death, he remained silent, I think he was in fear that if he did say anything that Simon and his crew may catch on to how close Vaughn and Sydney really are.  He was willing to die to make sure that Sydney stayed safe.  He was seeing firsthand how dangerous this group she was with really was and he would do absolutely anything, include die himself, to make sure that Sydney stayed safe while with them.  I know that you could argue that he stayed silent for the sake of the mission, and they are trained to be tortured and possibly die not revealing what they know.  But I don’t think that is the case here.  Michael Vaughn will do anything to protect Sydney Bristow.

Now back to the beginning of the episode, Sydney had to wait an entire three hours before she could escape from the team she was undercover with and call her father to activate the tracker. So that Weiss could go find Vaughn.  Sydney is almost in tears as she explains what happened and how she had to stab Vaughn and how she didn’t have a choice.  As the call ends, Jack knows what Sydney’s main concern is even if she is going to go try and make up for not placing the tracker on the weapons, and he tells her that they will find Vaughn. Sydney thanks him and hangs up.  We know that Jack isn’t Vaughn’s biggest fan right now, with how Vaughn has hurt Sydney, but Jack also knows that it would kill Sydney to have to completely lose him, so Jack is now willing to do anything to find Vaughn, if only for the sole purpose of making sure that his daughter will be okay.

Another interesting note is that Sydney did put the tracker on Vaughn and not on the biological weapon.  We don’t see the true effect that this has until later in the episode, but by not placing the tracker on the weapon, and on Vaughn instead, it ended up freeing a very dangerous killer and killed 800 other people, granted most of them were prisoner’s, but some were also guards in the prison.  While Sydney is talking to Jack, he references how the tracker was supposed to go on the weapon, but Sydney essential told him, I don’t care, Vaughn needs to be saved.  Right here we see her true motivations come out.  She also has that instinct to protect Vaughn just as he has over her.  And we have seen numerous times how Sydney has been more than willing to place her life in danger for the good of the world or whatever else needs to be saved.  But when it comes to Vaughn, she has no problem with compromising her ideals to make sure he is safe.  We’ve seen this motivation before, but the most obvious example is from Counteragent, when Sydney becomes willing to work with Sark and agrees to kill Sloane in exchange.  She had often wanted to kill Sloane but her moral compass didn’t allow for that type of behavior until she had the right motivation and saving Vaughn, even if it risked a delay in bringing down SD-6 was worth it.

Luckily Weiss is able to find Vaughn, he is not in good shape, still unconscious and bleeding out, but they are able to get him ready for transport, since the next thing we see is Vaughn in a hospital with all kinds of tubes sticking out of him and Lauren sitting on a chair at the foot of his bed, and we see that a good amount of time is passing as we see her move from that position to various others.  You can see that in this state she really does love Vaughn.  As much as I hate to admit it, knowing why she married him, she does come to truly love him. 

 Sydney then arrives at the hospital and asks how he is, Lauren tells him that he lost a lot of oxygen when the stab wound collapsed his lung and that there might be a possibility of permanent brain damage. (Just as a biology note, from someone who has lung problems, but not as a doctor, she stabbed him pretty low in the stomach, how did his lung collapse?) Hearing this Sydney feels guilty and has to tell her that what is in the briefing, isn’t the whole truth and that she is the one who actually stabbed Michael, but it was either stab him or let him be shot in the head.  Lauren is not happy and Sydney tells her that there is no way that she would ever choose to hurt Michael, but it was the only thing she could do to save his life.  Lauren then tells her that Michael may never wake up.  And before the discussion could continue both Sydney and Lauren’s beepers go off.  I do have to say that hearing Sydney refer to Vaughn as Michael is a little weird for me.  I know that’s his name, but Sydney so rarely calls him that, and I think that in this conversation with Lauren she wanted to try and remain calm, and calling him by what she knows him as wouldn’t help.  So she called him Michael, as Lauren does, to try and make the situation easier for herself.  I think that if she had heard the words Vaughn may never wake up, it would have thrown her into a tailspin, but using the name Michael she can somewhat distance herself from it.

 At the CIA they discuss the ramifications of the Covenant using the bioweapon and the one prisoner that survived.  It turns out that the main reason Sloane was pardoned, was because of the Intel he provided to lock up this prisoner Bomani.  So Dixon sends Sydney and Lauren on a mission together to find out what Sloane knows.  Placing to two of them together while the love of their lives life is in danger may not have been the best decision Dixon. After the briefing, Sydney and Jack discuss Laurens hatred towards her and about Simon Walker.  But it was a nice moment to see Jack reassure her that concerning Vaughn, he tells her that she did the right thing.

As expected the plane ride with only Sydney and Lauren as the passengers, had some interesting outcomes.  Lauren admitted to feeling threatened when Sydney returned, but she hated herself for thinking that because she did sympathize what Sydney must have been going through.  She also admits that she understands that Sydney saw stabbing Vaughn as her only option.  But then she tells Sydney that she wants her to request a transfer out of their office when they return.  Sydney seeing this as a threat asks if it is.  Lauren only responds by saying that she thought it would look better coming from Sydney.  Sydney reminds Lauren that she doesn’t have the authority to do that, and the only people that she knows are in that office.  Lauren then tells her that she doesn’t have the authority, but if she tells the NSC that working with Sydney is not allowing her to do her job to stop the Covenant, they will listen to her.  And right there any feelings of not hating Lauren have gone out the window for Sydney.  Also I guarantee that if the treat was followed through on, Lauren’s husband when he wakes up would have a few words to say on the matter and their separation may have come sooner.

While on their mission to get info from Sloane, as he arrives a man in the lobby pulls out a gun and aims it at Sloane and shoots.  I find the reactions of the two women very interesting, as soon as Lauren sees the gun, she immediately crouches down and ducks by the wall, in contrast we see Sydney pull out her own weapon and start going after them, Sydney even chases after the van that Sloane was forced into by Sark that Bomani was also inside of.  I’m sure that Sydney thinks that all hope is lost after seeing Lauren go so defensive after the gun shots, so she is surprised when Lauren pulls up next to her in the car and tells her to get in.  That and I don’t think that Sydney is ready to have Lauren be trusted in the field to help her.

Once in the car, Sydney is questioning Lauren’s ability and wonders if Lauren has done this before, Lauren tells her that she cross trained at the farm, and then Sydney wonders if Lauren is field rated, she says no, but smiles as she is in pursuit.  Oddly enough Sydney and Lauren have somewhat of a bonding experience as they try to catch up with the van that Sloane is in and try to save him. Lauren even listens to Sydney and realizes that she is good at what she does.  Sydney is semi impressed by Laurens fearlessness when driving, and the moment somehow reminds me of the first time Vaughn was the passenger while Sydney was driving, in S2 E15 – A Free Agent.  Even though things won’t be the same between Lauren and Sydney after the plane and things were never really that great, they do bond to an extent during that car chase.

Back at the CIA, after discussing what happened with Sloane, Sydney is about to go check some contacts and Lauren stops her.  Lauren tells her that it wasn’t her place to tell her to request the transfer, and that even though it is hard to work together she would like to make it work.  Sydney tells her that she appreciates her saying that. 

Knowing the future as I do, it makes me think about motivations of Lauren’s.  especially after the car chase and the look she gave Sydney after telling her that they can make it work out, working together.  I think that after her initial emotional response to Vaughn being in the hospital was replaced with a more rational one.  She remembered what she was sent there to do, she must have realized during her car chase that she wanted to get back to being able to do cool things like that and her position at the NSC/CIA wouldn’t facilitate that and that maybe she should think about calling her other employers to see what was going on, and why she hasn’t heard from them.  Along that same point I think that she knew that if Sydney was gone, Vaughn would not be the same again, which would ruin her current assignment for the other employer.  Just a few random thoughts I had.

Back at the hospital Vaughn is just waking up, he opens his eyes and says Syd? We then see Sydney sitting by his bed. She is so happy to see him awake and doing okay, she moves over to the bed and sits next to him.  The smile on his face, with waking up and seeing Sydney therewith him, looks as though he has just received the best news in the world.  He is just as happy to see her as she is to see him. He asks her; “Where am I?”  Seeing as though the last thing he knew he was being stabbed in Spain, a logical question to ask.  Sydney looks at him and tells him with contentment; “You’re home.”  Vaughn smiles, nods his head, and looks at her as if he is saying, finally.  I will go into further detail later, but since they were just in Spain, it would make more sense for Sydney to tell him that he’s back in LA, and in the past she has referred to the city that they are in.  But she tells him he’s home instead.   He smiles at her and tells her that she stabbed him, and she tells him that she is sorry and that she had no choice and that Simon would have killed him.  He just looks at her and tells her that he knows, and then smiles.   Sydney is starting to breakdown a little and tells him; “You’re okay. I was so afraid I’d lost you.”  Vaughn looks at her tenderly and takes his hand and puts it on her face and tells her; “I’m right here.”  Sydney loves having him touch her like that again and can’t help but turn her head and kiss his hand.  Then when we see Vaughn immediately after he is looking at her exactly the way he used to with those beautiful eyes and smiles as if all if right in the world now.  Sydney goes on to tell him; “Leaving you like that, not knowing if I’d ever see you again, made me realize how much I miss you.”  As she is saying this Vaughn’s hand moves from her face to her shoulder and then arm and is caressing her arm now.  And by the time she finishes she is full on crying.  Vaughn looks at her and is so concerned, the only thing he wants to do is to take away her pain, and then he tells her that he misses her too.  Sydney then looks at him and says; “You do?”   He simply nods at her and then brings her to his level and raise his head a little and they kiss, and it is a real full on kiss.  Then Sydney stabs him in the stomach, gets up from the bed, and asks him; “How could you do this to me?”   Then we see Vaughn asleep and suddenly wakes up again in the hospital room and we realize that it was all a dream.

 Like I said I will go into this more later, I am planning an entire post based off of this scene.  But we now see what Vaughn really has been thinking.  He may have told Sydney that he doesn’t regret moving on with his life, but seeing his dreams, it is clear that he does.  But he also knows that Sydney really does feel betrayed by him, which is why even in his dream Sydney stabs him again, he may even feel that he deserves it to an extent.

As I was saying Vaughn really did wake up this time, and still getting over his dream he’s not excited to see that Lauren is the one there waiting for him to wake up.  He even looks at her like why are you even here.  He really does look confused even as she comes closer and tells him that he is alright.  I find it almost humorous that Lauren’s first question to him is if he remembers her.  I guess after Sydney’s experience I would be afraid of a loss of memory as well.  Vaughn gives her a half smile as he tells her of course he does and they hug.  But as Lauren is hugging him, you can see that he really is disappointed that Sydney wasn’t there.  Vaughn does love Lauren, but this dream of his reminded him how much he really does miss that relationship that he had with Sydney and how desperately he wants it back.  I wonder if he is already regretting his decision of telling Lauren that he does remember her.

After a briefing at the command center Lauren stops Sydney before she leaves for her mission with Marshall, and tells her that Michael’s doctors think he should be able to be released tomorrow and Lauren thinks that Michael would like to see Sydney if she has time.  Sydney tells her that, it is nice of her to offer, but she isn’t sure if she will have time before she goes, so Lauren tells her to come by when she gets back.  Once again, Sydney is a little baffled with Lauren’s behavior. But it is nice to see that Lauren is actually thinking of what Vaughn would like rather than what she selfishly would want.

After Sydney returns from her mission with Marshall, she does go to visit Vaughn in the hospital, but I don’t know if was by her design but she was there along with Weiss and Lauren and Weiss and Vaughn were telling stories.  It looked like it was a casual gathering amongst friends.  Vaughn does take a few glances at Sydney when he can.  But when Weiss needs to go, Sydney asks to get a ride from him.  She awkwardly tells Lauren and Vaughn goodnight and leaves, and Lauren and Vaughn hold hands as she leaves.  On her way out she realizes that she left her jacket in Vaughn’s room, so she goes back to get it.  But as she gets to the room, she looks through the window and sees Vaughn and Lauren kiss and can’t bring herself to enter, but just stands there watching their tender moment and walks away.  I really do feel for Sydney here, it is so heartbreaking. 

This is another scene where the music matches up so nicely.  I have the DVD’s now, but I’ve only watched this episode on Netflix so I can only comment on this version since they switched songs for streaming.  But as Sydney is walking back to the room the song is saying; ”I’m looking so well, I’ve always been the optimist. “ then as she looks through the window and sees Lauren and Vaughn embracing and kissing, the song then goes on to say; “But somehow I’m dumb as hell. So what became of the life we saved up? Record of beauty the struggle between us. Countless the hours between now and then.”   Everything matches up with how Sydney was feeling so perfectly, and again I am reminded of how well Alias shows Parallels in the show in general, but similar situations in the relationships.  This one wasn’t as obvious, but I have already mentioned it once in this post.  During Counteragent Sydney was willing to do whatever was needed to save Vaughn’s life, even after learning that he was back with Alice. Once again Sydney is risking everything to save Vaughn, even though she isn’t the one who gets to be with him.  – By the way is case you are interested the song that I am talking about her is One Last Look by Trent Dabbs.

• Items I found noteworthy…
• This episode has the first Sydney/Vaughn kiss, even if it is in dream form 
• Sydney and Jack plan to draw Simon out so that they can have a face to face with him and ask him more questions about Julia. Jack even has a meeting with Simon to discuss the initial details of the job.  But Javier is hiding and is taking pictures of Jack.  Javier later contacts Sark and asks for his help in identifying this new client of theirs.  Sark tells him that their new client isn’t who he says he is, and that his name is jack Bristow and that he is CIA.  Simon and Jack are meeting again and while the  transfer of money is happening, Javier calls Simon to tell him that he is being set up and that he is with the CIA,  also that his daughter is named Sydney Bristow that goes by the alias of Julia Thorne. Once jack realizes that he has been made he kills Simon. 
•  Sloane has created a position for himself to become a double agent.  He was able to escape from Sark and Bomani by giving them information about a valuable computer software, and now he is telling Sydney and Lauren about it.  He wants to do what Sydney did, work for the bad guys, but really be loyal to the CIA to take the bad guys down.  Sydney is a little baffled to say the least.