S2 E6 – Salvation

Just to preface this episode, Sydney and Vaughn both go thru so much this episode I found it very hard not to dig in and analyze every moment that took place in this episode.  So I'm sorry if it is too long to keep your interest, if anyone is actually ever going to read this besides myself.  But I will put in pictures throughout to hopefully make it a little easier.

After the way the last episode ended, having this episode begin with Sydney and Vaughn together only makes sense.  They are on a rooftop talking about her mother’s trial, and how long it will take and other details.  Sydney tells Vaughn that she wants to see the opening arguments, and he tells her that he will arrange it.  Then after a moment she goes and sits down next to him.  Now I’m not sure about the amount of time that has passed between when she found out about her being a part of Project Christmas and now, but I can imagine that it’s been a very emotional few hours/days and although it has been hard on Sydney; I imagine that it has brought her and Vaughn closer together. But when she sits next to him, she asks him if he knows any jokes because she could use one right then.  He tells her a joke and she actually finishes it for him, and they joke about how his joke isn’t all that funny.  Although, it did serve it’s purpose and brought a smile to her face which is what she needed from him.  But then they look at each other for a moment and realize that there isn’t much humor in their lives right now, and they know it.

At SD-6 Sydney is sent on a mission at a hospital that they believe is now run by Sark to investigate the virus that they found in Richter.  Richter is the man that they brought in from a raid that had the information that led them to Madagascar.   They believe that Sark is experimenting with this virus on people in this hospital.  The big problem with the mission for Sydney is that her Alias is the loving daughter to Jack who will accompany her.  She is not excited to have to go on a mission with Jack at this point after learning about Project Christmas.  After the briefing with Sloane, Jack pulls Sydney aside and tells her that after what happened with Irina when she was a child, he felt it was necessary to prepare her for the world, and testing Project Christmas on her was his way of protecting her.  She doesn’t buy it and tells him that if that was the case, he should have told her the truth before she ended up at SD-6.  He admits that he should’ve, and that he intended to recruit her into the CIA when she finished college, but Sloane got to her first.  He never wanted her to have to live a double life.  She tells him that she wants to believe him, but she doesn’t believe anything that he says.

At the CIA a tech guy is showing Vaughn and Sydney over to a monitor, and telling them that the opening arguments are about to begin.  They watch as a Senator gives a statement in place of the opening arguments.  He states that since a plea agreement has been met, and Irina Derevko has plead guilty to all 86 counts of espionage that led to the death of 12 US operatives.  A penalty jury met and their decision was swift, in three days’ time, Irina Derevko will be put to death by lethal injection.  Sydney and Vaughn just stare at the screen as the decision comes down, they are both in shock.   

Sydney does go home and writes a letter to Devlin telling him about what her father did to set up her mother.  She states that she can’t in good conscious let her mother be put to death when she has held up her end of the deal that was made.  And that her father should be the one to answer for this particular crime, even though her mother is no good anyway.  After dropping off the letter she meets with Will and wonders how it can be that when her mother came back into her life she wanted nothing more than for her to die, how is it that she is the one trying to save her.  Will reassures her that she is doing the right thing.

At the CIA Vaughn is a very interested in Project Christmas now.  He is talking to Devlin about it and wondering if the KGB was actually successful in deploying this after Irina’s departure back in the 1980’s.  Vaughn was sent a test sample from an asset in Moscow, and it resembled an IQ test that is given to first graders in the US and he is wants to look into it further.  HE wonders about the possibility of the Russians testing US children and having sleeper agents set up in the US.  How many kids could’ve been affected by this?  Devlin tells him that now is not the time, for a historical value operation.  They don’t have the agents or the time to research it.

On the plane Jack approaches Sydney and tells her that her mother’s manipulations are working on her again.  Sydney questions what he means, and he explains that Irina pleading guilty was a maneuver on Sydney.  That Irina must have deduced what Jack had done and that Sydney would end up watching the trial and Irina knew that if Sydney were to see the exact evidence against her, and how she savagely murdered those agents, including Vaughn’s father, that Sydney would lose all sympathy for her.  So she plead guilty and cast herself as the victim, so Sydney would feel sympathy for her and try and stop the proceedings.  At this point Jack pulls out the letter that she wrote to Devlin.  He thought she deserved a second chance to think things over. She wonders how he got the letter, but he just tells her that after spending a decade with Irina, and another 20 years analyzing how she was able to pull of deceiving him, he is only protecting her.  Sydney still doesn’t believe him, she tells him that she believes that he was so in love with Irina that when he found out what she did and she left him, he lost his soul, and that the kind of man who would his own daughter to frame her mother, and who would test psych experiments on her when she was only six years old is the kind of man who looks at his daughter and sees his greatest mistake. He tells her that she can’t believe that, and she tells him, its true right.  That if Irina hadn’t fooled him, if he hadn’t been so gullible, she wouldn’t have been born.  She leaves him speechless and tells him that she is going to finish reviewing the mission.

So here we have learned some more about Sydney.  The first we already knew, she knows how to fight dirty, her mother and father may not have been around much when she grew up so not all of their manipulation skills carried over to her.  But when it comes to saying the right thing to get her point across, if she is hurt in anyway, especially if she feels betrayed, she can do more damage with her words and how she delivers them, than anyone I have ever seen.  The second is we find out the effect of learning of Project Christmas really had on her.  She truly thinks that her father sees her as a regret in his life and maybe that is why they have never been close.  Honesty and feeling safe and not betrayed are huge for her, and we will see this as Sydney and Vaughn become closer.  The times that are the worst for them is when Vaughn tries to hide something from her, or when she feels like he has betrayed her; and looking the other direction, their strongest moments are when he goes out of his way to make sure that she knows the truth whether it’s something that she likes or not, and when he is proving to her that she comes first.

Will contacted Vaughn and they meet up, and he asks Vaughn for a job, he tells him that with all the publicity no one will hire him.  He tells Vaughn that he knows that the CIA has a ton of front companies, and he will do anything, he just really needs a job.  Vaughn tells him that he’s going to hate it, but they can’t employ him because he has a criminal record.  Will tells him that he only has a criminal record because of a drug habit that he never had. They both stand there for a few moments not knowing what to say, then Will asks Vaughn if he knows anyone who wants to buy a car.  Vaughn thinks for a moment and then tells him that he may have something.  Vaughn has a discretionary fund that he can use to pay informants, that is off the books, and that Vaughn could pay him to do research.  Will is extremely relieved, and tells Vaughn that if he is serious, he would owe him.  Vaughn gives him the sample test that the asset from Russia sent him, and asks him to keep it to himself, but Vaughn wants to know if any of the questions from that form appeared in any standardized testing in the last 20 years in the US.  Will tells him that the more he knows about it, the faster he can get the information back to him.  Vaughn then tells him to take his time and that he pays by the hour.  Will is very thankful and they part ways.   After watching this, I can see that Vaughn thinks things through carefully and knows what moves to take.  This is one that came into his lap unexpectedly; he knows that if he has any competition for Sydney it will be Will.  But he also knows what will impress Sydney.  And him being able to help one of her friends in need gives him a step ahead in her book.  I think this is why he wanted Will to keep it to himself; Vaughn wants to be the one to tell Sydney about what he did for Will.  Know I know that I have stated that Vaughn has somewhat moved on from Sydney, but even though he has made a conscious decision not to pursue her because logistically he knows it won’t work, Vaughn still covets what he can’t have.  Vaughn is a good guy, but I would not want to date him when he knew Sydney; because for Vaughn if Sydney is in his life, she will always come first. This is a topic that we will touch on more in upcoming episodes and in season 3.

While on the mission in Geneva with Jack, Sydney goes to get a blood sample from one of the test subjects of Sark’s virus and seeing what the patient looks like, especially after learning from Marshall earlier that the virus is eating their cells apart from the inside, throws her off for a moment, but then she goes to work.  She is prepping to get the blood sample when the patient grabs her and calls her Irina.  He won’t let go and Jack tells her that she could become infected if her glove is ripped.  Jack ups his Morphine and he goes to sleep, and they continue getting what they need.  Of course they run into a few problems getting out, but they make it. And once again, when they work together, they make a good team.  Once they are safely in their helicopter, Jack tells Sydney that the patients all once worked for Irina, and that is why the patient called her Irina.  Before she turned herself in, she had ordered Sark to expose some of her own operatives to the virus so they could study it.  He then tells her to ask herself it that’s a person worth saving.

When Sydney returns and meets with Vaughn for their debriefing about her SD-6 mission, she tells Vaughn that she will never be able to forgive her father for the things that he has done to her.  But she also admits that maybe he was right about her mother, maybe he’s more equipped to see her overall plan than anyone else.  That maybe she does have an endgame in mind and she is using the CIA to get to that endgame.  But then Vaughn tells her that her father is asking for her to die because of something that she might do, and he doesn’t think that she would be able to live with that.  He tells her that the CIA is working on an antidote for the virus in case SD-6 is planning on using it themselves.  And that she did a good job in Geneva.  As she is leaving he tells her that there is something else that she should know.  He tells her about Will coming to him about a job, and that he hired him off the books to do some research.  And when he tells her this he looks mighty proud of himself, even does a little smile and head cock that is pretty cute.  But Sydney is concerned about what he has Will looking into.  He tells Sydney that it is the KGB version of Project Christmas, but that he didn’t tell Will that.  Will thinks that he is comparing IQ tests.  He figures that it’s her prerogative to tell him more about Project Christmas if she wants to.  She tells him that it was really nice of him to do that, and she smiles at him.  He smiles back and tells her “You’re Welcome.” But his smile says it all; he accomplished what he wanted to.  He’s made her happy on two counts with this.  He is helping her friend and he is going to get more information for her on Project Christmas. 

After meeting with Vaughn Sydney meets with Devlin and tells him that she needs to report something.  She tells him that her mother was unaware of any explosives in Madagascar, and as she is about to tell him about her father, when he tells her that he is aware and that he has her father’s report.  Devlin continues that Jack has already told them; also that a hearing has been scheduled with a joint intelligence committee.  She tells him that her intentions weren’t to punish her father but to stop the execution of her mother.  But while they are talking Devlin receives a phone call, he answers a few questions and looks at Sydney while doing so, when he hangs up he tells her that she is needed in medical services.

Sydney goes to medical research and walks into the room to find a room full of doctors.  She asks what is going on, and they tell her that five weeks ago when she infiltrated her mother’s laboratory in Taipei, she was near the Rambaldi device.  They ask her how long she was in the proximity of the device, she tells them that she was only near it for a minute or two, long enough to rig it with explosives, but that Vaughn was submerged for maybe another minute or two.   There is a long silence, so she asks if someone will please tell her what is going on.  They tell her that they now believe that the Rambaldi/Mueller device is the source of the virus that infected the men in Geneva, and that unfortunately she and Agent Vaughn may have been exposed.  They tell her that they would like to draw some blood and run some other tests on her as well as keep her for observation.  She tells them that it could cause a problem with her cover at SD-6 if she is unable to be contacted, and they tell her that her father has already been informed and that he is covering for her. 

Vaughn is already in an isolated room sitting on a bed when Sydney enters the room. He stands up and they just stare at each other for a moment and then she walks over and sits down on the bed.  He sits down next to her and puts his arm around her and caresses her shoulder in comfort, as the impact of all of this hits them.  She then puts her head on his shoulder. And the camera zooms away from them.   This is another scene that is just perfect of the two of them; with the way that they can communicate with each other and not say a single word.

The next scene opens with a view of Sydney asleep on a bed, and we see that the view that we just had was what Vaughn has been watching as he lays in the bed across the room from her.  He is just lying there, watching her sleep and you know he is worried, but in that moment, he is content with being able to just watch her.  She wakes up and as she opens her eyes she see that Vaughn is watching her, personally knowing what they are going thru and that now she has fallen for him but also knows that they can’t do anything about it, I think she is incredibly happy to wake up to his gorgeous beaming smile.  She asks him if he was even able to shut his eyes at all during the night.  They know that out of the two of them, Vaughn is more likely to be sick than Sydney since he was actually submerged in the water.  He tells her that it wasn’t enough.  But then he changes the subject and tells her that she talks in her sleep.  She blushes and smiles as well as hoping that it isn’t true, and asks what she said.  He tells her that she said “Don’t frost the Pie.” And that it seemed really important to her.  They laugh a little and then she asks if he thinks they are sick. He tells her that he doesn’t know.  She pauses for a moment and then asks if she can tell him something, and it seems like she is going to get personal with him.  But the doctor walks in right at that moment and tells them that Sydney’s tests are negative and that she can go.  But Vaughn has a heightened level of antibodies; it may just be him fighting a cold though.  Either way he needs to stick around for a few more hours.  Then Sydney asks what the first sign was that Sark starting testing patient zero’s blood at, the doctor hesitates and then tells her that it was hemorrhaging from the fingertips.  After the doctor leaves, Vaughn tells Sydney that he will be fine and that her father’s hearing is in an hour and that she should go.   But you can see in his face that her leaving is the last thing that he actually wants right now. They share an awkward silence as she gets her things ready to go, she reaches the door and tells him that she will see him soon, and he attempts a smile as she walks away.  But as she is leaving she does stop and watches him from another point of view, and you can see how worried Vaughn really is.  As well as how conflicted Sydney is, she wants to stay with Vaughn, but she knows that she can’t she has other responsibilities. 

I do have to say, poor Sydney if you think about it right now she is looking at herself barely escaping from what could have been a virus that would have been a very painful way to die.  She is also looking at the possibility of Vaughn who is now her one true confidant, friend, and in her mind someone that she could possibly spend the rest of her life with.  Her mother that she thought was dead all her life is finally back in her life, albeit she’s still not exactly a true mother figure, but she is set to be executed in the next day or so and her father is on trial. Oh yeah, and she is just learning that she was brainwashed as a child to be a spy.  Her life is not exactly roses right now, and the fact that she can actually smile even a little is impressive.

We see Jacks trial proceed and when the Senator makes the accusation that he only turned himself in because he knew that Sydney was planning on doing it as well and that if he was hoping for leniency from the committee that it won’t happen.  Jack gets upset and tells them; “Sydney Bristow, my daughter has come to believe that when I look at her, I see the embodiment of all my flaws. And this afternoon when I learned that she may have been exposed to a life-threatening disease, I realized that she might die believing that, but nothing could be further from the truth. When I look at her… When I look at the little girl who raised herself to become one of the most extraordinary human beings and one of the finest agents I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, I see only the promise of my own redemption.  Turning myself in was the only way I could think of to make that clear to her, to prove that despite… My limited abilities as a father, I love her more than I could ever say.”  In the middle of the speech that Jack gives, we do see that Sydney is watching and she is incredibly moved by what he is saying, and we know that despite her promise to never forgive him, that she will.  Luckily even though Sydney is harsh and plays dirty when she is hurt, she is willing to forgive those closest to here, even if she tells them over and over again that she won’t.

Later that evening we see Sydney in a restaurant sitting alone.  A waitress brings her a drink, but Sydney is confused because she didn’t order anything.  The waitress tells her that it’s from the gentleman at the bar.   She hesitates and actually looks a little annoyed, then she looks towards the bar and sees that it is Vaughn he is holding up his phone to her, she smiles and then her own phone rings.  Before she says hello or anything else, she asks if he is okay, he tells her that he got a clean bill of health and that he is fighting a cold.  She tells him that she came by to see him after the trial but that they were still running tests.   He tells her that he knows and that they told him that she came to that restaurant.  She smiles and goes tells him how ridiculous it is that they are in the same restaurant and that they are on the phone.  She planned this, and in her mind even though they are on the phone, they are on a date.  But Vaughn is back to being professional and knowing his boundaries, even if it isn’t what he wants.  He tells her that he came for another reason and it was to tell her that they are sending Jack to prison.   She is surprised by this news, but he tells her that’s not all, it gets worse.  The senator that was in charge of the two trials, for both of her parents, has decided that Irina’s Immunity agreement was never binding and that they are going to carry out her death sentence anyway, and that she will be executed the next morning.   You can tell that in this instance Vaughn really hates his job.  Being the bearer of bad news is not what he wants to do.  He wants to be able to give Sydney the good news like he did regarding Will.  I am guessing that knowing what he was going to have to tell her, when he ordered that drink for her, he ordered her something really strong because she would need it with the bad news he had to deliver.   

Now I can only assume that after that phone call they both discretely left the restaurant and met up in the storage unit where they could really talk, so that Vaughn could help her hatch out a plan to save her parents.  At least in my mind that is what happened.  But since we next see Sydney in DC kidnapping the Senator, and telling him what she needs, I think that it is incredibly plausible.   When Sydney returns, to LA, Jack asks her how she convinced the Senator to change his mind, she tells him what she told the Senator, which was a made up story which involved her needing her mother and father in a situation that would crumble national security if it got out.  She tells Jack that she is not proud of what she did, and he tells her that even though he doesn’t agree with her decision to visit with her mother, he is from now on going to respect that it is her decision.  She then watches from afar as they bring her mother back to her old cell within the CIA command center, and then she watches her mother sleep in the cell.

You would think that after all of the emotion that they have put us thru in this episode that maybe they would end the episode there and let it end happily, but no, that is not how Alias works in the first few seasons.  The next shot is of Vaughn and him getting ready, I knew immediately that something was wrong, first there is seconds remaining in this episode and second the perfectly scored music has that eerie feel to it.  But as we watch Vaughn getting ready for his day, shaving having a regular morning, he looks down and his face becomes instantly worried.  Then we finally see what he see, blood coming out from each of his fingernails.

S2 E5 – The Indicator

Sydney and Vaughn having a fight.

The episode begins with Sydney going into Irina’s cell, where she finds the earrings that were her mothers and grandmothers.   In the cell Jack joins her, she tells him that she’s sorry for not listening to him about her, and thanks him for saving her life.  He is calm when he tells her that there are some things that unfortunately she will have to discover on her own. 

Vaughn and Sydney are once again in the storage unit, and she is recounting her latest SD-6 briefing to him.  A group called the Triad, has killed one of their own because he was selling Intel to SD-6.  This man had informed SD-6 that the Triads were in the process of developing 16 next generation weapons and the testing of the weapons is moving forward and that they could be put into the field soon.  Unfortunately what the weapons are was never disclosed and that is why there is concern. Sydney’s mission is to get to the location where they are being developed and to take pictures of the weapons.  Vaughn assumes that the pictures are needed by SD-6 so that they can develop the weapons themselves.  Sydney quickly replies with a smile and tells him that they won’t let that happen.  Sydney seems almost excited that it is up to her and Vaughn to stop them again.  But before we see her get too happy, Vaughn tells her that he will confer with Jack about the counter mission and get back with her.  She wonders why her father, and he wonders why Jack didn’t tell her, but based on his instincts on Madagascar, Jack has been given operational approval, and Vaughn isn’t too happy about it.   Vaughn looks away, and thinks for a moment; you can tell he is gearing up to say something that he may regret, but feels that he has to tell her.  He turns back to her and tells her that when they were in Madagascar they were being monitored by sat-radar scans, but at the last moment Jack switched to infrared which is how he saw the explosives.  He goes on to tell her that they don’t have routine satellite coverage over Madagascar and that one had to be re-tasked, the closest one was over the Indian Ocean, but her father specifically asked for the one over the south Atlantic, which of the two was the only one with infrared technology.  Sydney is wondering where he is going with this, and tells him that he just wanted to account for every possibility.  Vaughn agrees that may be the case, but there is also a chance that he already knew that there would be explosives at the entrance.  Sydney tells him that she doesn’t see how, her father never trusted her mother’s motives.  Then she realizes what Vaughn is implying.  She asks if he thinks that her father planted the explosives to set up her mother.  They start to argue, he says that it wouldn’t have been the first time that her father had planted evidence, mentioning having Russek killed, she tells him that she was being held prisoner when that happened and that she was about to be executed.  I think he realized he used the wrong example, but asks her why she is denying this possibility.  Then she hits him below the belt with her words.  Telling him,” I understand that your authority has been superseded by my father and that maybe you feel irrelevant. But he saved our lives. Remember that! I won't wait to hear from you.”  And she walks off, and he just tries not to look at her.  You can tell he regrets bringing up the subject.  But at the same time, he knew he had to say something. 

When I first started this, I stated that I love the way that they are able to fight, now keep in mind, I love how they fight when they are together.  There are a few episodes that start with this one, where they don’t know how to fight with each other.  I have a theory about that.  To be able to truly fight with someone and pull the correct punches to really get to them, you have to know them.  When they first met, they could control their fights with using logic on one another.  Later they will be able to control their fights because they are grownups and truly love and respect each other. But right now they are at a point where they are so infatuated with each other and frustrated that they can’t do anything about it that they are bottling up their other emotions towards the other that the angry ones spill out when they can’t control it.  Especially with Sydney, she fights the dirtiest, but honestly that is just part of being a girl. Vaughn will get emotional once in a while, but he is usually able to keep it contained.

Since Jack has operational control, he seeks out Sydney during Francie’s restaurant opening and gives her the details of the SD-6 mission along with the counter mission for the CIA.  She asks if there is anything else, I think part of her is wondering about the points that Vaughn brought up.  He tells her that what Irina did to her invalidated her agreement and that the government is seeking out the death penalty on her.

Meanwhile back at the CIA, on old friend of Vaughns is in town. Who when asked why he is there, he tells Vaughn that he is babysitting a US national that was caught transporting explosives in Madagascar. They briefly touch on how Weiss is doing; he’ll be okay, which is more than he can say for Weiss’s nurses.   They joke around a little, and walk away.  After a few steps Vaughn realizes what his friend just told him.  And he goes back to ask about the type of explosives.  It was the exact type of explosive used in the shack that he and Sydney were at that exploded, old Russian syntax.  Vaughn tells him that he has to speak with the prisoner.  Vaughn climbs into the back of the transport vehicle and talks with the prisoner, he tells him that it’s not a good time in America to be accused of being a terrorist and tells him what they will do with him.  And then asks who he was working for, when the guy doesn’t talk, Vaughn tells him that he will let the pictures do the talking.  I’m sure that Vaughn is bluffing about there being pictures, but only Vaughn would be able to pull this bluff off since he is one of the few people who has actually seen the actual building that was blown up and exactly where it is in Madagascar.   He still doesn’t speak up, and Vaughn gets up to leave, but the guy grabs his arm and tells Vaughn that he was working for him, for the CIA.  Vaughn immediately sits down, and asks what office, he is told that the CIA contact was Jack Bristow, and that Vaughn should tell that “Bastard” that he isn’t going to take the fall for this.  Vaughn isn’t shocked, but at the same time he kind of is.  He now has proof that his theory was correct.   Now Vaughn just has to figure out how to go about the situation concerning Jack and Sydney. 

While Sydney is talking with Jack over the coms during her mission, you can see Vaughn in the background just seething with anger looking at Jack.  There is no way that he is going to let Jack get away with this.  Sydney gets into the viewing room to take the pictures of the 16 next generation weapons, only to find that there are 16 children in a room each at their own desk.  They are blindfolded and are putting together a gun, and eventually shooting them into the air once assembled. She takes the pictures and also takes pictures of the man that is training them.

Back at the CIA she is talking about the children, who are considered sleeper agents with Vaughn and a CIA doctor Kerr.  Dr. Kerr explains that the best agents are those with certain traits such as efficacy with numbers, three dimensional thinking, and creative problem solving, all of which are evident as early as five years old.  Vaughn then goes on to explain that every first grader takes a standardized test, and that a few years ago the Triad acquired the company that does the testing, and they added a series of questions that are designed to locate children with these traits.   Dr. Kerr explains that six year olds can acquire knowledge at a rapid rate, so they can learn the basics of marksmanship, linguistics, and visual and verbal cue recognition can all be taught to them in a matter of weeks.  Sydney asks what happens at the end of the month long program that they accepted being a part of.  Vaughn tells her that the Triad will send them home and track them, eventually using them in the future. They will have their memories reset and they will remember nothing except that it was extremely satisfying.  Dr. Kerr then tells them that there was a rumor that back in the 1980’s there was a rumor that the KGB was interested in a similar program, but it was never confirmed.  – On a side note, there is a deleted scene from this episode that they put on the DVD, it was right before this moment, and it is of Sydney and Vaughn.  After their last interaction things between them are a little cold, so when Sydney tells him that they are children and that there must be something that they can do, he kinda shrugs it off telling her that there is a team working on it and walks away.  She watches him and then approaching him telling him that what she said earlier wasn’t fair.  He isn’t Irrelevant and that thru everything, SD-6, her mother, he’s been the one constant in her life, and she can’t tell him how much that means to her.  He looks up at her and tells her that he accepts her apology.   They look at each other for a few moments and all is right in the world again. 

An agent that I assume works under Vaughn stops Vaughn and asks him if the guy with the Syntax, DeSouza, if it is their case, Vaughn doesn’t know what he is talking about, and then is told the daily situation report says that the guy was there yesterday and that Vaughn is listed as visiting him.  Vaughn is not happy that his expedition with his friend was recorded, especially once he sees Jack reading the same Daily situation report, but tells the agent that it isn’t their case.  Sydney walks into the Rotunda and both Jack and Vaughn go towards her, but Jack reaches her first, and asks if Vaughn called her in.  She asked if they identified the man with the children and Vaughn tells her that they have.  It is a man called Kholokov; Sydney is surprised because they all thought that he was dead.  He used to run the Psych ops division of the KGB, doing mind control experiments, and psychoactive drugs.  While Sydney and Vaughn are discussing this Jack looks very concerned.  He now works for the Triad, the children have been sent home and Kholokov is back in Buenos Aires at his home there.  Sydney states that they need to grab him and find out how many other children are involved, and she is told that a team is prepping now.   She tells them that she wants to go with them.  Jack is very adamant that she does not need to go.  That it’s not worth the risk.  But Sydney tells him that when she signed up for SD-6, she wanted to join, and she knows what it feels like to be used, these kids won’t have that choice, so she is going to Buenos Aires.  Before Jack can say anything Vaughn tells her that the team is leaving in 12 hours.  She asks if there is anything else, Jack looks at Vaughn and quickly tells her that’s it. She leaves to go pack.  Vaughn and Jack stare each other down and then Vaughn tells him that he saw DeSouza and that he told him that jack instructed him to rig those explosives. Jack tries to rationalize it by telling him that Irina would eagerly destroy all of their lives.  Vaughn tells him that he’s not a fan of Irina’s but that doesn’t justify what he did. Jack delivers a backhanded compliment to Vaughn, telling him; “You do good work, Agent Vaughn, but your consistent shortcoming… You should know this… Is your naïve sense of morality. Evil must be eliminated by whatever means necessary.” Vaughn is quick to tell him that he doesn’t think that Sydney would agree. But jack responds by telling him that Sydney will never know what he did.  And even though jack is technically his boss right now, Vaughn steps up to the plate and says; “You betrayed her trust.  I won’t. Now she should hear it from you, but if you don’t tell her, I promise you, I will.”  And on that note Vaughn walks away.  Needless to say Jack is pissed off at Vaughn, I think that he sees that with Vaughn around he won’t be able to pull off some of the ways he would like to protect Sydney in the way that he would like, which is usually hiding the truth from her.

While in Buenos Aires after capturing Kholokov Sydney sees a puzzle on a desk, and she is drawn to it, she immediately puts it together in seconds without having to think about any of it.  After wards she is very concerned by this, so when she gets back to LA, she asks Dr. Kerr to hypnotize her and take her back to when she first saw the puzzle.  Dr. Kerr tells her that she has seen Sydney’s profile and she isn’t surprised that she could solve this puzzle.  Sydney tells her that she wasn’t solving it; she was remembering putting it together.  She wonders if her mother being part of the KGB had worked with her when she was a child as she saw with the other children earlier.  Dr. Kerr tells her that doing this therapy may cause nightmares and depression.  Sydney tells her that with her work she compartmentalizes a lot, but this isn’t something that she can just tuck away.  She needs to know if she was programmed to be a spy when she was little. Under the hypnosis, Sydney can hear her dad talking to someone saying that he has taken care of Christmas.    She then watches herself putting together the puzzle and learning how to assemble and fire a gun.  After firing the empty gun, she sees her father take the gun and tell her good work. 

Sydney is outside of a building in the rain, Jack motions for her to get in, but she stays where she is, so Jack goes to meet her and asks her what is wrong.   Sydney tells him “I have this memory… From when I was six years old. My mother had just died in a car accident. I felt so scared. You were never home. So who was going to take care of me? Then I overheard you talking, you were in your study on the phone. You were talking about Christmas, about me. You were taking care of my Christmas presents. Suddenly I… I felt so safe. You were taking care of me.  That memory’s a lie. You weren’t talking about that at all.”  Jack tries to stop her, but she continues. “I've seen the footage. Mom's briefings with her KGB handler. She was sent here for one specific purpose, to steal information from you about a project you were developing for the CIA. An operation, to train children to be American spies…  Project Christmas. Ever since Mom came back, you were afraid she'd figure out what you did to me. You weren't trying to protect me from her; you were trying to protect your secret. So the first opportunity you had, you set her up... in Madagascar.”  Jack stops her and asks her to understand, but she interrupts him. “No, Dad, you understand something. You took away my choices in life. You programmed me to be a spy. I will never forgive you for this.”   And on that note Sydney walks off in the rain as Jack watches.

She walks to the CIA, she is soaking wet and stands in the entrance looking straight at Vaughn.  He doesn’t notice her at first, but once he does he stops everything and goes to her.  (The song playing for Netflix is different from the original version, but they made the lyrics hit just right.  Right as she sees Vaughn the song is saying I find home, and you know my feelings on the word home between them.)  He walks most of the way towards her before she takes the last few steps to him.  And they just embrace.  He holds her as she cries on his shoulder.  No words are spoken, but there doesn’t need to be.  In this hug they are able to say everything they need to express.  He knows that she knows the truth about what Jack did to them in Madagascar and soon enough he’ll learn about her being a part of Project Christmas.  There is no official cliffhanger, but having the screen go black when Sydney is being comforted in Vaughn’s arms was enough for me to immediately rush to the next episode to see what happens next.

• Items that I found noteworthy… 
• At this point, I think that Vaughn is able to sort through emotions better than anyone else; he knows what he wants versus what he can have. He can also see thru peoples true intentions.  He knows that at some point Irina’s true endgame will present itself, he may not share these feelings with anyone, but he does know.  He can also see thru most of Jack’s strategies.  He isn’t one to blindly trust, to this point; I think he only really trusts Weiss and now Sydney.  He won’t always be able to do this, but I think it is only when his defenses are down that he can’t see the clear picture. 
• Sloane admits to killing his wife to Jack

S2 E4 – Dead Drop

Luckily Sydney is a lot calmer under water than I ever would be.  She is able to get herself free and Dixon is able to pull her out.  Once back in LA she recounts the story to Vaughn of telling Sloane that she corrupted the music box before Sark was able to get to it and Sark did take it.  Vaughn asks if he believed her and she tells him that Sloane was mostly just relieved that she made it back safely, we see her flashback to Sloane giving her a welcome back hug.  She tells Vaughn that after the hug she went home took a shower and then came to meet him.  Vaughn is playing it somewhat cool here; he is very businesslike again, he’s not cold to her like he was in Rendezvous (S1 E21).  But like I mentioned in the last episode I think he’s realized that he can’t have her and needs to start acting like it.   He tells he what she needs to know about how the mission went, but doesn’t go deeper.  That is until he sees that Sydney is contemplating something, he asks her what’s up, and she says that once again the Intel her mother gave was correct and that she helped them again.  But she is hesitant to talk about it, and he can see this.  He tells her that she can talk to him about her mother, and she tells him that she knows but that when she does its harder on him than he tries to make it seem.  He tells her that it’s his job, but she protests she killed his father, and that he doesn’t have to pretend with her that it is upsetting for him.  But he quickly reminds her that she doesn’t need to withhold anything from him, he can handle it.  She makes a comment that it isn’t fair to him, and he tells her that maybe it is, but he didn’t join the CIA for fairness.  He does ask her if after all that her mother has done to her is she ready to forgive her for them.  She tells him that she doesn’t know.  He then goes on to tell her that her father doesn’t feel the same and that right now, he is asking for Irina to be relocated.

Sydney and Jack do have an argument over what value Irina has to the CIA.  She tells him that she has been useful, and that he needs to be aware of it.  He tells her that she is getting too personal already, she rebuttals that she has been nothing but professional.  Jack tells her that he watched her tell Irina that she was a turkey in her school play, to which Sydney responds that she has enough spying in her life to worry about and that having to worry about him spying on her interactions is not fair.  He warns her that she has always wanted her mother back in her life and now she has her back, not to fall prey to her manipulations.  She tells him that she is not that naïve.

Sydney and Will have a nice little conversation, Will wondered if the information that he gave the CIA was useful, and Sydney apologized for not telling him sooner, but that the information was huge.  Will is relieved because he is feeling rather useless right now since he used to be this great reporter and now he is doing community service and washing dishes.  Sydney reassures him, but gets a phone call; Will just looks at her and asks “Good guys or bad guys?”  I love Sydney’s reply telling him that it’s neither, it’s her father.  When meeting wither her father, she is told that when SD-6 did a raid on Sark’s compound, they found a man there who knows where the book is that they were looking for in Barcelona.  Jack interrogated him himself and found out where the book is hidden.  When the man was brought into SD-6 it was clear that he was ill, although all tests showed negative.  They believe that he was infected by Sark with something that they were testing and that the first sign of the illness was bleeding form the fingernails. (I know this may seem trivial, but I promise it is not.)  Jack goes on to tell about the interrogation of the man, who told him that the location of the book was so remote that it would be hard to describe, but he did create a map for Irina.  Jack tells Sydney that Sloane will be sending her to get the map and that the CIA has made a fake map for her that she will swap out.  Once Sydney realizes that this meeting is in place of her usual meeting with Vaughn after an SD-6 briefing, she wonders why Jack is there giving her the counter mission instead of Vaughn.  Jack gives her an insufficient answer.  So first of all, Sydney is well aware that she has a crush on Vaughn and her father just preempted her from a good reason to interact with Vaughn. Then Sydney realizes exactly what he is doing, that he is trying to keep her from talking with her mother about it. Jack is adamant that Irina doesn’t need to be used and that they were doing fine without her.  Sydney tells him that before they were stagnant with taking down SD-6, and now Irina is helping. She goes on yes, they have both been betrayed by her, but the difference is that she is willing to drain any bit of information out if her to take down SD-6 sooner so that Sydney can leave this life of spying as soon as possible.  Jack is taken aback, he just learned two things, one Sydney is going to talk to her mother no matter what he says to her, and two Sydney is anxious to leave this life, one that has brought them closer together.  He is now in a place where he needs to fix this, and has to work out a plan to stop both of these actions.

Even though Jack tried to preempt a meeting between Vaughn and Sydney, they still made time for one before her mission to Russia to get the map.  When I talk about a giddy smile made by one of the two lovebirds, usually it is Vaughn who has the giddiest smile to see the other and building up that sexual tension that I love so much, but this time it is Sydney.  She is sitting in the storage unit waiting for Vaughn and as soon as she realizes that he is coming, she can’t help a huge grin form forming on her face.  Vaughn also smiles as he approaches her, but this time Sydney’s smile wins.  I think that this is further proof that Vaughn is going to try and move on, albeit he doesn’t do that great of a job of stopping all forms of flirting. Vaughn mentions Jack trying to preempt their meeting and Sydney tells Vaughn that she went to see her mother anyway and that she had good Intel for them.  Vaughn reminds her that she can talk to him about her mother.  It’s insane for her to worry about him with all that’s going on, he can handle it.  But that after he heard what Jack did, he realized how hard it must be for not only Sydney to have Jack pulling stunts like that, but also how hard it must be for Jack. That it must be insane for him to have his dead wife, for lack of a better term, back in his life knowing what she did to him. But Vaughn’s biggest concern with what Jack is doing is that he is making Sydney’s life harder.  Then Vaughn makes the reason for their meeting clear, she already knows her counter mission.  He reminds her that he is there for her.  What he says calls me back to their scene at the pier last season, ironically, or maybe not with how Alias like to parallel, was episode 4 as well of the season.  He tells her, “So before you leave for Moscow… I just wanted to say that you might feel alone in all this, like you don’t have an ally. I’m your ally, never question that.”   This sealed the deal for her.  Seeing that someone cares for her so much that he is willing to put aside his own feelings so that she can have a shoulder to cry on or someone to vent to about how crazy her family situation is, brings her to tears.  She tries to hide it, and no tears fall, but she knows that she has found a true friend if not something more.  They both smile at each other as she leaves.  You can see in this moment how much they want to be together, but they know that they can’t.  And the way that Vaughn's smile fades away as she walks away proves it.

While on her mission in Russia, Sydney realizes that she will need to use Vaughn in a way that she never wanted to, she is trapped and calls Vaughn for help, she tells him that her mother mentioned secret passages when she spoke with her before and asks Vaughn to go to her mother and ask for help.  Vaughn runs to Irina, and relays the needed information to Sydney and Sydney is able to escape.  While he is on the phone with Sydney he doesn’t even have a second thought as to who he is with and is completely focused on saving Sydney.  And I love the fact that his last words to Sydney as he hangs up with her are, see you at home.  (More on this under noteworthy items) But once he hangs up he finally realizes that he is now alone with Irina again and she is going to try and elicit feelings form him that he doesn’t necessarily want to deal with. Like when she told him that he looked like his father.  But he proves to be the stronger person here.  She asks him how he says thank you to the person that killed his father.  He just looks her in the eye; I’m pretty sure he knows what she wants, but he tells her that you don’t and walks away.  Vaughn has realized that he needs to take the Intel that she gives them and work with it, as it has been helpful, but he is not going to be manipulated.  Something we will see as the series goes on.  And the way that Irina looks after he walks away, she is very aware that she will need to tread lightly with him, because he is not going to fall for her antics any longer.

When Sydney does make it back they talk about how Sark had invited Sydney to come work with him, and she denied him.  She made the comment that Sark is like the good looking guy in High school who knows he’s good looking and doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.  They talk about the map that she recovered and how the tech is unable to figure it out.  Sydney wonders if it is in a code that the man and her mother devised.  Vaughn isn’t happy about it, but he does remind her that her mother did help out.  It’s almost as if he is saying, I don’t like it, but if she’s here let’s use her. Sydney agrees and even relays the request that her mother had about her earrings that were taken from here when she turned herself in.

When Sydney goes in to talk with her mother and gives her the earrings, Irina starts right in with the manipulations.  She goes right in for where she has realized Sydney is vulnerable, Sydney’s desire for a real family.  Irina tells Sydney that the earrings belonged to Irina’s mother and how much she would’ve loved her had the circumstances been different.  I think that it is in moments like these that I dislike Irina the most.  She is even worse than Sloane in how she is unwilling to compromise her agenda for anything.  She will use any means possible to get Sydney to trust her so that the inevitable betrayal can take place in the way that Irina needs it to.  But Irina does eventually break the code for Sydney.

When Sydney goes back into the rotunda to talk about what she learned from her mother, Jack is furious that any interactions took place.  And he becomes furious and when Sydney tells him that she is going to go get the book.  Vaughn tries to be diplomatic and tell Jack that all of the Intel that they have gathered has been accurate.  Jack nearly explodes at Vaughn telling him not to talk to him about that woman, and that of all people Vaughn should know better.  Kendall breaks in and tells all of them that he is sending Vaughn and Sydney to get the book that night and that jack is to deal with Sydney’s cover at SD-6.

Jack becomes a little conniving here and hires someone to plant explosives in a building, and to make sure that if anyone were to enter that building, no one would survive. Jack is a whole different breed sometimes; the lengths that he will go to get his way are endless.

While Sydney and Vaughn are in Madagascar preparing to retrieve the book, they are about to enter when jack asks the tech to switch over to the infrared satellite.  Upon doing so, he tells Sydney to hold her entry.  He tells Sydney to look underneath the house. Upon doing so, her and Vaughn find that the house is wired to explode.   Sydney has this moment of realization that her mother lied to her.  Vaughn is quick to get Sydney away from the explosives.  Sydney wonders why if her mother wanted her dead, why did she let them get this far.  Vaughn tells her that there are enough explosives to destroy anyone who walks in as well as everything in it, that she must be using them to destroy the book that they have been after, which has her entire operation detailed in it. While Vaughn is telling the rest of the men to secure the area, he is knocked down by Sark.   Sark instructs his men to go get the book; Sydney and Vaughn just look at each other and as Sark’s men get closer, Sydney and Vaughn hit the ground for cover knowing that the building is about to explode.  Once they get up Sark is gone.  After confirming that they are okay to Jack, Vaughn takes Sydney by the back and guides her away from the scene.   Back at the CIA, Kendall makes the call to have Irina relocated to Camp Harris for unrestricted interrogation.  Jack got the exact response he wanted.  Irina is being moved, and Sydney has been disillusioned about her mother having correct Intel. 

As the episode concludes, Sydney is apologizing to her dad that she doubted him, telling him that he was right about her mother and that she should’ve listened.  I know Jack had his reasons for doing this, but he plays too dirty for me to really appreciate it, at least his time around.

• Items that I found noteworthy… 
•  Sydney is very aware that Vaughn has a very deep connection with his father.  It’s something that she will always respect and be aware of.  When he speaks of his father, she knows that Vaughn is serious. 
• Now more on the word home. With this blog, I am trying to review their relationship purely on the episode at hand and not look too much into the future unless it is a plot point that I know will be important to remember, and then I try to only tell that story.  This is not my first or even second or third time watching the series, but this is the first time that I noticed the use of the word in this episode.  I am racking my brain, on how to best explain this without having to talk about where the two of them are when the mention of being home comes up again.  But without going into the exact details, I will talk about this more in depth when I rehash S3 E5.  But from what I can see, subconsciously Vaughn is only at home when he is with Sydney. – By the way, I am getting super excited to talk about that episode now.  It’s almost tempting to go to that episode and start writing, and just not post it to the blog until I get to it, but I will be good and just stick with where I am, although I may YouTube that moment later.