S3 E19 – Hourglass

If I have any readers out there that have wondered why there hasn’t been a post in two weeks, I apologize.  I went on vacation, I will have a post about that because I went back to LA and took some more location shots, but I also changed shifts and I am no longer working graveyards, so I don’t have as much time to work on this as I would like.  But I am going to attempt to work on this while working; I will just have more interruptions.  But I am back to the project and excited to get back to where Vaughn and Sydney learn how to be a couple again, and fall in love all over again.

This portion while small, I feel I need to include, the episode opens with Jack using instant messenger begins a chat with Irina.  He tells her that he needs Intel on The Passenger.  But she doesn’t reply, we then see that she has terminated her account and the screen starts populating with what looks like a virus.  This is the last time that we see any evidence of Jack and Irina corresponding.  While it’s not important to the relationship today, it will become relevant over the next few episodes.

Another small moment that isn’t relationship related, but Sark goes to Nepal and speaks with the monk that we saw Sloane speak with at the end of season 2 episode 20 – Countdown. http://romancingalias.blogspot.com/2013/08/s2-e20-countdown_13.html  Sark wants the manuscript regarding the passenger, and the monk won’t give it up.  Sark and the monk fight, and the monk calls Sark by his name which shocks Sark for a moment wondering how the monk new his name.  But Lauren’s mother then shots the monk with a tranquilizer and then told Sark to grab the manuscript regarding the Passenger and then to take the monk since he may be helpful if it is encrypted.  Once again, something that isn’t a big deal now, but will play a part later. 

For the next few episodes, they will probably be longer posts, as the season is coming to an end and they are tying up loose strings.  This means that I will be including more scenes than usual, because most of the events will now lead to the end result and will affect Sydney and Vaughn in one way or another.

Back in LA, Jack and Sydney are walking on to the roof of some building, and Jack tells Sydney about his IM conversation with Irina.  Sydney speculates that Irina is either the passenger herself, or she is protecting the Passenger.  As they round a corner they see Vaughn.  Sydney is a little cold towards him after her last few encounters with him, which is understandable. Sydney looks at Vaughn and asks; “What’s going on? Your message said it was important.”  She and Jack stop in front of Vaughn.  Sydney stands with a really defensive pose. While Jack is open to hear what Vaughn has to say.  Vaughn takes a moment then tells them; “You were right.”   Sydney is still being pretty cold to him and asks him what she was right about.  He then tells them; “Lauren’s the mole.  She works for the Covenant.”  It is at these words that Sydney looks away and realizes that she no longer has to be cold to him.  He’s figured out what she needed him to know.  Jack, knew this would happen in time, and asks Vaughn if he has any proof.   Vaughn nods to them and then becomes angry with himself and says; “I should have known.”  Sydney is no longer cold and distant, and ready to start working on a plan. She says that they need to talk to Dixon and work out a way to handle this.  Vaughn is still angry and he tells Sydney and Jack that he knows how to handle it.  But Jack being the ultimate game strategist tells him that he needs to act like nothing has changed.  Vaughn looks at him and tells him; “Okay, what’s plan B? ‘Cause that’s not going to happen.”  Jack explains that since the Covenant is ahead of them in the search for the passenger, using Lauren could help them to catch up.  Jack goes on to tell Vaughn that she can’t detect that he feels any differently than before in their relationship.  As well as telling Sydney and Vaughn that he will work with Dixon to secure the agency and limit her access to classified documents and Intel.  Vaughn interrupts him and tells him; “Okay, stop! My wife betrayed me. She betrayed all of us.  You can’t expect me to pretend that never happened.”  Jack then tells him that he doesn’t have a choice, and when Vaughn questions him, Jack tells him; “Because you’re the one who married her.”    Vaughn isn’t happy, and you can see that Sydney feels bad for Vaughn and doesn’t like that he has to do this.  But they all know that out of everyone, Jack knows from experience what to do in this situation.  So they don’t protest.

Back inside the Rotunda, Vaughn is working at his desk and Lauren approaches him, telling him that she missed him earlier that morning.   He plays along with Jacks plan, but you can tell that this may be one of the hardest assignments he has ever had to do.  But he makes up an excuse for why he wasn’t at home when she woke, and plays his role.  He knows this role well; he has been playing it all season.  Only this time he knows he is ready to have the alias of Michael, that he created so he could move on from being in love with Sydney, be done with.  We see that Sydney is watching their interactions from across the room.  Lauren then tells Vaughn that she actually liked it a little, that it felt like they were getting back to their routine.  Vaughn tells her that he thinks that they have as well, although you can see the sadness in his eyes as he sees what a sham his marriage was, as well as what he gave up for it.   Lauren asks Vaughn if he would reconsider going to counseling, and Vaughn agrees that it may be a good idea.  The camera moves back to Sydney watching over Vaughn with Jack beside her.  Sydney still watching Vaughn asks Jack; “After 30 years, you still live with your wife’s betrayal. Will He?” Jack takes a moment and looks over at Vaughn, then tells Sydney; “Absolutely.”   This small interaction between the two of them is great.  Jack has been Sydney’s rock this season, and it is in this moment that Jack sees that Sydney will be with Vaughn again, Sydney knows this as well.  Jack realizes that as much as he wants to protect Sydney, he may never be able to protect her from marrying a man that is just like him.  But more on that topic next season.

Since Sark had kidnapped the monk that could help them with the manuscript regarding the Passenger, Sark and company are transporting him across the Thar Desert in India.  So Sydney and Vaughn are sent to retrieve him and they will have to go old school according to Marshall, which means they will somehow catch up to Sark’s Humvees on horses.  Sydney frees the monk, but as he is jumping out of the Humvee Sark shoots him.  He tells Sydney and Vaughn as she tries to help him that the Passenger is now compromised.  As he says this, Sydney removes her turban and he looks up and realizes that he is speaking with the Chosen One.  He tells her that the Passenger is her destiny, to which Sydney starts questioning him about her.  And with his last breaths he tells her that the Passenger is her sister.  That only makes her turn to look to Vaughn.  Then the man dies in her arms.  Even though no one else was there for her to look to, anytime that something doesn’t make sense, she always turned to Vaughn.  Now Vaughn is essentially hers again and she can turn to someone again.  She did use Jack for this to an extent and in the next scene she talks to Jack about it, and that is when Jack tells Sydney about Irina’s affair with Sloane.  But she is happy to be able to have Vaughn be her sounding board again.  I wish I could’ve seen their flight back to LA.

The main characters from the Rotunda being; Dixon, Jack, Weiss, Marshall, Sydney, and Vaughn, all collaborate on a plan that will entice Lauren to gain access to a bogus code key that they have had made to read the manuscript regarding the Passenger.  Project Black-hole does have the real one, and they will make Lauren believe that they will have to real one.  So that Lauren will try and gain access to it since her mother and Sark stole the manuscript.  She falls for their plan and gains access to a restricted area of the Rotunda, as they predicted by using a fingerprint that she would steal from Marshall to go in as him.  She makes a duplicate of the code key from the scanner pen that she used to “examine the code key for the NSC”.  They know that she will have to take the code key to her handler, so they send Sydney and Vaughn to follow her and identify her contact who should be able to lead them to the documents. Once they know who they are dealing with, they will spec out a plan to recover the documents.

Later in the day, Sydney and Vaughn are in a utility van spying on Lauren waiting for her contact to arrive.  While they are watching her, Vaughn says to Sydney; “You know what I want?”  Sydney asks him what, and he tells her; “A normal life.”  As he says this they both turn to look at each other.   It only last for a moment but, they share a moment of wanting each other and knowing that that is what they consider normal.  Because nothing has been normal for either of them since the night that Sydney disappeared.  But they quickly realize that while they both want the same thing, it’s going to take some work to get there.

When Sydney and Vaughn see Lauren wave someone over, they both immediately go into work mode, and while there is tension, they have always been able to do their job regardless of what personal issues they may currently have going on. They are both surprised to see that it is Lauren’s mother Olivia.  Vaughn looks to Sydney and tells her that she is supposed to be in London right then.  While the sound isn’t the best because of the fountain behind Lauren, they do find out that Olivia is part of the Covenant, that Olivia killed Lauren’s father to protect Lauren, and that the documents are at the Reed’s home in Richmond.  Lauren tells her mother that she will meet her there to help her get the documents interpreted now that they have the key.  As they are saying this, Vaughn has this almost horrified look on his face.  He knows that as part of playing this part of a loving husband, which he now detests, he will be the only one who can easily gain access to the documents in Richmond in the time frame that the Covenant is working on.  Nothing is ever said out loud about this at the time, but the look on his face and the pain you can see in his eyes as he looks at Sydney, you can tell that he really hates having to play this part.

Knowing what part he has to play, Vaughn uses Lauren’s own suggestion of counseling and they bring Dr. Barnett into the equation.    We see the usual conversations that couples go through in marriage counseling.  Vaughn tells Barnett that he feels that Lauren doesn’t trust him.  Lauren says that she is worried that once she finishes mourning her father that he will leave her. Vaughn tells her that if that were the case, why would he be there working on their problems.  He left it wide open for her to bring up Sydney as he knew that she would.  She tells him that their problem is that he thinks he is in love with Sydney.  Vaughn acts upset, he knows this is true; he does love Sydney of course.  But he has to play his part, and he plays it well.  He asks how he is supposed to respond to that, and Barnett tells him that being honest is best.  His response is very good I think, it plays into the plan of getting him to Richmond and he never lies about how he feels about Sydney, he just underplays his feelings.  He tells them; “Sydney is very important to me. We have history, obviously. We’re together a lot. We go away together a lot.”  Lauren is so annoyed with Vaughn with this and I love it.  She acts upset that Sydney is important to him, but she wants to be with Sark, but her look of boredom is what makes me happy.  You can see her becoming bored of having to play the loving wife as well.   Dr. Barnett, knowing what has to happen, plays along with her role and asks if the two of them ever go away together.  Lauren acting upset, tells her never.  Which we have already seen isn’t the case, but I’ll forgive her slip up here.  She wants to play the victim, because that has been what works for her the best. Barnett suggests that maybe they should go away together and asks if they have any trips planned.  Before Lauren can respond, Vaughn immediately says that Lauren is going to see her mother in Richmond.  As he says this she is glaring at him, like she could kill him, but she tries to play it off.  She stutters, but manages to get out that it is only for a day, hoping that her trip won’t be interrupted.  But Barnett interrupts Lauren, telling her that it would be a start.  Lauren looks horrified, but nods in agreement.  After her pleading for counseling to help their marriage, she can’t turn down the counselor’s advice and still be believable as the loving wife.   If it wasn’t already obvious to the viewers, I actually love that Barnett walks into Dixon’s office to tell them that it worked and that Vaughn is going to Richmond.

Once again, I have to say that while Vaughn hates playing this part, he knows that it is his job so he will do it as best he can.  Vaughn has never been a believer in the Rambaldi mumbo jumbo; well at least he tries to ignore it as much as he can, with what he has seen.  But now knowing that the Passenger is Sydney’s sister, he will do anything for Sydney, and if Sydney wants to meet her sister and protect her, than he wants that as well.  So he will play this part and spend the day with Lauren and her mother and act like the doting husband he was before Sydney returned.

While putting the overnight bags in the bedroom, Vaughn wires the house with one of Marshall’s gizmos that will allow them to see any electrical output form within the house, which will also find the safe.   Over coms he tells them that it is in place, and they tell him that they will call him when they have located the safe.  After a few minutes of catching up with Lauren’s mother, Sydney calls Vaughn and he tells Lauren and Olivia that it is Weiss; he apologizes and tells them that he needs to take the call.  This moment is a parallel back to S1 E15 – Page 47. http://romancingalias.blogspot.com/2013/07/s1-e15-page-47.html  In that episode Sydney was still a double agent, and worked her way into an invitation to Sloane’s home, while there she had to get a hold of the Rambaldi documents from Sloane’s safe, and retrieve page 47. While having dinner, Vaughn called her pretending to be Francie her best friend, allowing her to walk away for a moment.  Now Vaughn isn’t necessarily a double agent, but he is playing two roles.  He also worked his way into an invitation to this home, and has to break into a safe there as well.  Now Sydney has called posing as his best friend.   I might be alone in this, but I like it when the show parallel’s itself.  Many people may call it a lack of imagination, but I think it is clever to have characters look into their past to solve problems, or two remind themselves of who they are or were.

Once inside the house, knowing where the safe is, he switches back to the coms.  He breaks into the safe and starts scanning the documents.  While he is scanning the documents, Sydney warns him that someone else is coming towards him in the house, and we watch as Lauren goes looking for Vaughn after her mother gets upset that she isn’t able to work on the documents while he is in the way, and Lauren says she can handle him, but her mother is skeptical, so Lauren goes to find him.  When she does walk in to the study, she isn’t happy to find him in the study, but luckily Vaughn is a good agent and while he knew he couldn’t get out of the room, he could find an excuse for being in the room.  He was able to return the now scanned documents and pull out the wedding album from his scam of a wedding.  Telling Lauren that he was just looking through their wedding pictures, telling Lauren that he remembered that her parents kept them in there, then going to a place he doesn’t want to go, but knows to get out of being in a room he shouldn’t he asks her if she remembers the day.  I think that the worst part of this is knowing that Sydney is on the other end and can hear everything.  He puts down the pictures and tells Lauren that he will go and get her sweater.  But Lauren stops him and tells him that it was the happiest day of her life.  Having to play along, he tells her that it was his too.  While you can see that he doesn’t mean it, and Sydney listening knows the truth, but you can still see the pain across her face as she hears him say it.   Lauren starts to initiate, I would say making love, but neither one of them would consider it making love, so I guess I should just say that Lauren tries to prove that she wants this marriage to last for her cover, so she goes for a man’s usual week spot, sex, not knowing that having sex with Lauren is the last thing that Vaughn wants, especially with Sydney being able to hear.  As they go through the motions, you can see the absolute disgust on Vaughn’s face as he knows that he will have to follow through with this to make sure she doesn’t think that she has been found out.  But it pains him to no end.  On the other end, Sydney knows that Vaughn is playing his part, and that it isn’t something that he wants to do, but she understands it although she is also very jealous and pained by the experience as well.  So to save herself some pain and Vaughn some embarrassment, she tells Marshall to turn off the coms.

This really is a great episode; it has so much in it, and is able to parallel so many situations.  Like I mentioned before with breaking into the safes; making Vaughn a temporary double agent, and him having to improvise, where usually this is Sydney’s territory is great to see that trade off.  Also we get to see a lot of jealous Vaughn, when Sydney has to cozy up to a terrorist, or their guard to get Intel.  But this time to see Vaughn have to cozy up to his wife after finding out that he has been used, seeing how dirty it makes him feel, as well as getting to see Sydney having to hear it go down.  We have seen a lot of jealous Sydney this season and before Sydney and Vaughn became a couple when Alice was in the picture, but that was on the personal level.  We have never seen Sydney upset over what had to happen to get the job done.  So that parallel is a great one to see.

When Vaughn returned from Richmond, a briefing was held to discuss what the manuscript entailed.  It spoke of a Rambaldi artifact called the Hourglass.  A man who is based out of San Pedro now has possession of it. But then Marshall tells them that they will need to move quickly, because the manuscript also revealed that the Hourglass will only reveal the location of the Passenger to one person, her father.  Vaughn speaks up noting that this is a problem since Sloane, being the father, is due to be executed in six hours.   Sydney and Vaughn exchange glances as they realize the problem with the situation.

After finding out that the only way that Sydney will be able to meet and possibly help her new found sister is by stopping Sloane’s execution, she pleads with Jack to help exonerate Sloane. She tells him that she knows the Trust exists and that Jack needs to help Sloane.  Jack asks her if she comprehends that her sister may be a danger to her, she does realize this, but she tells him that she may be a victim and that she could help her.  Jack actually says something funny here, telling her; “With Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane as her parents, I don’t think so.”  Jack finally agrees to help Sloane and tells her that when the head of Justice comes in to witness the execution, he will turn over the evidence that he has on the Trust to then and that should exonerate Sloane.

In San Pedro, Sydney and Vaughn are in a van prepping to go in to get the Hourglass; they go over the basic operation information.  After a pause, Vaughn takes a deep breath and looks at Sydney and says; “Syd, about what happened in Richmond…”  Sydney looks up, she looks like this isn’t what she is really wanting to discuss, but hides it and looks at Vaughn and simply tells him; “You were doing your job.”  With that statement, Vaughn nods and Sydney looks away for a moment before saying more.  But she then looks back up at him and tells him; “And she is your wife.”  This is something that Vaughn does not want to be reminded about, especially not by Sydney.  He looks at her for a moment and then tells her; “Not for long.” Some noises go off, so they both go back to work, and the conversation is over.   I believe that in this instant, if Lauren had been taken into custody and they didn’t end up having to play this charade with her.  Sydney and Vaughn could’ve had an easier time getting back to a healthy place together.  I’m not saying that it would be perfect, and that they wouldn’t have their share of trials.  But in this moment they love each other and if they weren’t so patriotic, they could run off together and be happy.  But actions that take place, as well as new information that is gained over the next few episodes, is what makes up many of the struggles that they have to overcome at the beginning of next season.

Back at the Rotunda, Jack is introduced to the head of Justice who will oversee Sloane’s execution, they speak for a few moments, but notices something, and decides not to bring up the Trust with this man, and puts the evidence that would clear Sloane back into his desk.  We then see Jack go and visit Sloane in his cell.  They share a glass of wine, Jack talks how Sloane once came to him and toasted the birth of Sydney with a bottle of Sloane’s favorite champagne.  Jack then tells him that now he knows that Sloane has a daughter, he thought he should return the honor, especially since the two girls share a mother.  Sloane tries to reason with Jack telling him that Irina betrayed both of them, seeking Intel from both of them.  Jack and Sloane argue about the logistics over Irina’s status, and what it meant to each of them.    Jack tells Sloane that he knew that there was a possibility that one day Sydney would be drawn into the spying world, but he wondered why Sloane was the one who actually sought out Sydney.   He accuses Sloane of being jealous of what Jack and Irina had, which was Sydney.  He goes on to tell Sloane; “You’re right, I’m not going to help you.  Since this is the last conversation we will ever have, I want to make this perfectly clear. What you have done to my daughter is nothing compared to what I will do when I find yours.”   I know that this scene really has very little, actually almost nothing, to do with the Sydney and Vaughn relationship, so why did I include this part, or make it longer than necessary?  The main reason is that this last toast of sorts will play a huge part in the story.  But seeing Jack have the upper hand and to be able to give him the impression that he has done so many things to their friendship over the years that can’t be repaired, is nice to see.  To see the love that Jack has for Sydney, and to threaten to hurt Sloane’s daughter as much as Sloane has hurt Sydney just for the revenge and to make Sloane suffer is a great moment for me personally; especially, knowing the eventual love and respect that Jack gains for Nadia later on in the series.

Back in San Pedro, Sydney and Vaughn gain access into the club where the Hourglass in stored.  I love seeing how well Sydney and Vaughn work together in the field, and this is a perfect example.  Sydney walks up to the front of the line acting like a spoiled girl who always gets her way and attempts to get into the club based on her looks, but the bouncer doesn’t fall for it.  But as she is trying to talk the bouncer into letting her in, Vaughn attempts to walk in without even talking to the bouncer, which gets the bouncers attention off of Sydney for her to get past.  Vaughn dedication to his part continuing the gag even after Sydney is well into the club is great to see, he wants to make sure that she is all the way in before he will walk away from his part. 

Over the next few minutes the scenes keep changing from Sydney and Vaughn at the club retrieving the Hourglass and Sloane’s execution, but I’m only going to cover the club and Sydney and Vaughn.  Although I will say that I do appreciate how upset Dixon is to see that somehow Lauren gained clearance to watch Sloane’s execution, especially at her words of “I had no intention of missing the execution of this traitor.”

At the club, Sydney has gained access to the area where the Hourglass is being stored, but runs into a problem where the motion sensors are on a random sweep.  You can hear the concern in Vaughn’s voice as he says that that wasn’t included in the systematics that they were given.  Sydney remembers an old mission with Dixon and asks Marshall to grab him so that he can help them get around it.  Marshall tells Sydney that he can’t get Dixon, because he is witnessing Sloane’s execution.  Sydney becomes upset when she realizes that the execution is going forward.  A few moments pass, as we switch back to Sloane.  But Sydney tells Marshall and Vaughn that they can’t wait any longer and that she is going in.  We see Vaughn for a small moment and you can see a look of horror on his face as he realizes what may happen if Sydney goes in without shutting down the security first.  Marshall tells her to stand down and that he almost has it.  Vaughn tells her that the security detail is two dozen men strong; but Sydney ignores both of them, lets her coat fall off as she pulls two guns out and is ready to start firing.  Without a reply from Sydney and knowing her as he does, Vaughn immediately takes off his headset and goes in.  As Sydney enters we immediately see one of the guards and she takes him out, and quickly follows with the other guards as she sees them.    She takes the Hourglass in one hand and keeps shooting as needed with the other.   She is back out of the room and has her coat over the Hourglass.  She shoots another guard and goes to shoot the guard at the top of the steps only to realize that she is out of ammo.  So she stays in her position and prepares to use her gun as a blunt force object for when the guard comes down the steps for her.  While she is waiting we watch the guard slowly go down the steps, as well as watch Sloane die.  Then Sydney hears gunfire and sees the guard fall down next to her.   She turns to look around the corner and up the steps to see Vaughn there.  You can see the relief that they both feel, but they don’t linger on it and they make their way out of the building.

After Sydney and Vaughn retrieve the Hourglass a lot of things happen in a very short amount of time before the episode ends.  1^st) Sydney meets Jack who is escorting Sloane’s dead body in a hallway.  Jack tries to talk to her, but she stops him and tells him that there is nothing that he can say and walks off.  2^nd) Upstairs Lauren makes a phone call to her mother, and tells her that Sloane is dead, and that they can locate the passenger without his interference.  But her mother tells her that the code key Lauren retrieved from the CIA isn’t usable, and that she assumes that it was deliberate on the part of the CIA, and that Vaughn played her and is likely to try again.  Olivia continues to tell Lauren that Vaughn playing Lauren will likely be his last mistake.  Lauren hangs up and looks around wondering who else may know of her true affiliation.

We have now reached the part of the episode where they had to choose something to cut for the sake of time.  I really wish that they would’ve found something else, but they cut a fantastic Sydney and Vaughn scene.  Luckily they did include it in the deleted scenes and I have finally gotten new software so I can rip scenes easier.  So here is the deleted scene, on the DVD the scene was called, A Liberation.  I am including it in the breakdown because I believe that it should’ve been included in the episode.  But looking at it from the perspective that a director or editor may have, I can also see why they cut it.

At Sydney’s house after her brief meeting with her father, she hears the doorbell ring, she goes to answer the door and we find Vaughn at her house.  If the scene had been included it would’ve marked the first time that Vaughn has been to Sydney’s new place.  He hasn’t seen where she lived before this.  Possibly because he wanted to remember the good times that the two of them shared in Sydney’s old apartment, or he didn’t want to allow himself to think about Sydney sitting at home alone in this new location and what made her move.  Sydney has him come in and he tells her; “I was on my way home from work, and a, just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”   It is nice to see him take a look around and her new place as he is talking to her.  I also have to point out his word usage.  Around Sydney or anyone else for that matter, he hasn’t referred to his house with Lauren as a home.  Yes, I am going into the Home thing with Vaughn again.  But he says he was on his way home from work.  After the week that he has had, he does not want to go back to pretending to be with Lauren.  So his first thought is to go home, and for Vaughn, home has always been wherever Sydney is.  So when he thinks of going home, because he really, really wants to go home, he goes to see Sydney and to check on her.  But after saying that he came to see if she was okay, he turns back to her after getting a glimpse of what he wishes was his own home.

Sydney tells him that she is fine, but hesitates as she looks at him closer, and corrects herself and tells him that she will be fine.  I love this scene because it is a throwback to how they used to be able to talk to each other.  He could get her to open up just by looking at her and saying her name.  And he is able to simply say “Syd” and she begins to open up again, just like she used to.  She tells him; “This was going to be it… The end… Sloane’s death, it was going to be a liberation…. But here it is… and… there’s no satisfaction in it.  There’s no relief.”   Partway through the speech, you can see her begin to breakdown, and it is the type of breakdown that she would only allow Vaughn to see.  As she is speaking Vaughn just watches patiently.  Even with all of his own problems that he has to deal with right now, he is so concerned with how Sydney is taking this moment.   He knows how much she has wanted this moment from the day he met her, but now that it has come and the circumstances around it.  He knows that it isn’t what is best for her.  It’s great to see how much he really does love her by putting this moment of hers and her problems above his own.  But he walks closer to her and rubs her shoulders and tells her; “It won’t always be like this, it’ll get better.”  In this moment he is not only referring to how she feels about the execution, but their own situation together.  The camera goes back to Sydney, and Vaughn has now moved his hand from caressing her arms, to now caressing her face. And she tells him that she knows.   She lets him continue to caress her check for a moment and then smiles.  And in that small instant everything in their world isn’t turned around and messed up and they are happy.

But they both know that it can’t last.  They both take a breath taking them back to reality and Sydney tells Vaughn that he needs to go home.  She is trying to focus on what needs to be done.  That he has to keep playing his part as Lauren’s husband.  But after hearing Lauren’s last conversation, I feel like yelling at him to stay and for them to run away.  But of course what I want and what really happens are two very different things.   After she tells him that he needs to go home, you can hear a crack in her voice and you can tell that she really doesn’t want him to, but maybe she also thinks that he is already at the home that he should be at.  And by the look that Vaughn gives her, you can tell that as far as he is concerned, he is already home, and that he just wants to stay.  But he finally nods his head, and reluctantly leaves.  As Sydney closes the door after he leaves, you can see her begin to cry and it gets me right in the feels. 

I know I just talked a lot about a 2 minutes scene that wasn’t even included in the episode, but I love it.  Also considering that they really didn’t show anything with the two of them after retrieving the Hourglass, I think that they really should have included this scene.  From the moment that Sydney and Vaughn met, Sloane’s death has been a huge motivator for Sydney.  She has wanted to kill him herself so many times, but was never able to.  The one time that she thought that she did get rid of him to save Vaughn, it was all a rouse.  So I think that Sydney needed this moment to be able to tell Vaughn her feelings about Sloane’s death.   Because on some level, he is the only one that she feels understands her.  Another reason that I think that they should’ve included this scene is that the next time they see each other will be after they both go through life changing moments, and this would’ve been their last moment before things really start to change for both of them.  Granted Vaughn’s is more traumatic than life changing, but his overall personality will change forever after the next episode.  Sydney’s moments alter her as well, but with her it is because of gaining a sister and more knowledge; something that I will go into more with the next episode. 

The show ends with Jack going into the morgue and injecting something into Sloane’s body.  He tells Sloane that he is surprised he didn’t get the reference of the bottle of champagne used.  Apparently Jack and Sloane have done this before, but together in Saigon.  Sloane is very confused to actually be alive, and before he can fully grasp what is going on, Jack leans in and tells him; “But understand, this was not done out of compassion. I orchestrated this because… and only because… I need you.”  So in the end, Jack doesn’t let Sloane die, because he wants Sydney to be able to find her sister, and Sloane is the only one that will be able to help him do that.

•  Items that I found interesting… 
• When Sydney visits Sloane to find out if she has a sister.  We find out that the event that everyone was counting down to as an apocalyptic event in S2 E20 – Countdown was that of Sloane finding out that he did have a daughter and that the Il Dire machine with the mechanical heart turned out the DNA of the Passenger and it did say peace, but apparently in Greek translates to Irina.  Sloane ran a DNA test and he confirmed that he was the father of the Passenger.    He also begs her to convince Jack to prove that he was working with Senator Reed for an organization called the Trust.

Also, just in case you were wondering, and I know that you really aren’t, but this one post has taken me five nights of working on this within two weeks.  I really hope that this will not be the case for the rest of these posts.  Because of my new schedule I can see that my lack of free time will make the end of a season much harder and I anticipate those taking a bit longer to do, but hopefully not this long.  I had many personal things come up and I was sick in bed for a few days.  So hopefully I can get into a better routine with doing these.  But who knows.  Maybe I won’t be able to finish the series by the end of the year as I had originally anticipated.  But I think I am okay with that.  I have come to find this blog therapeutic and a place to come to and be able to write about these characters that I love so much and find a bit of happiness, when I am having a bad day.  So as we approached the middle of the series, I was becoming depressed that soon I wouldn’t have this escape, but I guess that may be the silver lining to a new shift that makes the rest of my life a living hell.