Meeting Michael Vartan

Here it is Friday evening, and I am still in shock over how amazing my day was on Sunday (1/19/14)  I guess I should start at the beginning.  I know that I posted pictures of what I believe to be Michael Vartan’s home in an earlier post.  Since that post I have been to the LA area three other times, and every time I have to go past his house.  Even though I feel kinda like a stalker every time I do it.  Because of that, I refuse to stop, and will only go really slow.  Luckily, his street has a dead end and so to get back to a regular road, you have to pass his house again.   I also have what I believe to be his phone number, (No I will not post the phone number or the address) I have it all saved in my phone under my contacts, but it’s there only for fun, because honestly I think I would feel way to stalkerish to ever actually call it.  Plus what do I say if I do call the number?  Anyway, over Christmas I was thinking how I wanted to go back to LA, but had to convince myself that I really didn’t have a good reason to go, and flying 1000 miles just isn’t logical just to pass his house. 

Michael Vartan's driveway

So I started to think of ways that maybe I could fly someplace else where he would happen to be at the time.  I thought about looking up the Bates Motel filming schedule, but I know it films in Vancouver and I haven’t updated my passport yet, so that was out, plus you have to pay to get those schedules.  So I started thinking more creatively.  I know he loves hockey, and I remembered watching an interview of him at a celebrity hockey match for charity.  So the moment that I got home, (yes, these are the things I think about while driving around running errands with my kids,) I searched online for upcoming celebrity hockey matches.

The details of the event and what the charity supported

This was definitely my way to get to be near Michael Vartan.  I knew that this had to be it.  Boy was I right.  The next hockey match was going to take place in a couple weeks, and I didn’t even have to fly anywhere to be able to go.  I live near Salt Lake City, UT and the hockey game would be taking place in Park City.  Then I felt like a really big idiot when I re-watched the interview of Michael at a charity hockey game and heard the interviewer mention Park City.  So not only was he invited to play this year, he played last year and loved it.  I immediately bought my ticket (best $30 I have ever spent) then I spent some time trying to figure out what friend would be willing to come with me and watch me be a complete idiot and be the fan girl that loses all ounces of being shy when I am around celebrities.  I finally found a good friend to join me and we were getting very excited to go.

Saturday night my friend Jody and I made our official plans, as well as making sure that our husbands were prepared to care for the kids without calling and interrupting us.  But we planned on getting there early and making sure that we had prime picture taking positions.  I guess I should note that she came with me more for the chance to escape her own children and for her husband to have to deal with their seven month old who isn’t the happiest of babies all the time.   She isn’t much of a fan girl, in fact I am still trying to persuade her into watching Alias.   I really need a friend that I can talk with in person about Alias, it kind of drives me crazy.  But she was perfectly happy just being on a girls day out.  She offered her prime spot to someone else so that they could take more pictures, she even held onto my purse so it didn’t get in the way.   I still can’t believe that she didn’t want to get any autographs or her picture with anyone.  But she has since admitted that next year she might be a little more outgoing.

From Lauren Vartan's Twitter; the night before the game she was making a cake and mentioning fun for the whole family had me a little freaked that he might be staying home with her.

On the way to Park City I admitted that I was a little afraid that there might be a possibility that he may not end up being there, after all the event stated that he was invited to play, not confirmed to be there.  I had tried to get him to respond to a tweet asking him if he would be there.  But he is hardly ever on twitter and I never received a response.  I have tweeted his wife Lauren a couple times and she responds every time, but I try to not act like a completely crazy person with her.  In fact the only times I will tweet her is if it actually involves her.  Although I do wish that I was friends with her, she seems very cool and down to earth. Plus I probably laugh more at her twitter comments than anyone else.  It was actually her that had me worried that Michael may not end up at the game, while she will rarely post pictures of him on her twitter feed, she does post other things.  Saturday night she had tweeted about the cake that she was making and her little family.  It had me scared, but I told myself that I would be okay if he didn’t show.  I would’ve been okay, but I think that I would have been really depressed.

My first really good sign that Michael Vartan would in fact be at the game.  His name, picture and what number he would be printed in the program.

We arrived at the rink, and watched as they set everything up, we even got to open the doors into the locker room for someone, I really wanted to follow them in, but I didn’t shell out the $2000 to actually play hockey, in fact this would be my first hockey game.  But it was fun to walk around and see how they were prepping.  We picked up a copy of the program and saw that he would in fact be playing. My fear quickly dissipated, and I could breathe again. We watched as they set up the red carpet and all the media showed up and took their places.  We were the first ones admitted in, so we ended up being at the front of the gate right next to the camera men.  The only people allowed in front of the gate were the players and the reporters doing the interviews.  So basically we were in the perfect position, we could watch all the celebrities do their interviews, and then they would have to pass right by us before going into the locker room.  We waited for a about 20 minutes there before anything started happening.  But it was well worth the wait.  While we were waiting I overheard the conversation of the family that was standing near us.  They were wondering if their dad would have to go down the red carpet or not since he was the ref.  I’m not sure why I turned to look at them at this point, but I did.  Then I saw the name on a packet that the daughter was holding.  I recognized the name as one of my co-workers, which I thought was a little weird, but I thought what the heck, I’ll just ask them if it is him.  Yes it was, a co-worker that I used to work closely with before I changed positions in the company was going to be the ref of the game.  So for the next few minutes, I thought of how I could use this to my advantage if I ended up seeing him.

I saw that people were starting to get excited, and I noticed that a bigger crowd was beginning to assemble at the entrance to the arena where the red carpet began.  Then someone muttered the magic words for me, “Michael Vartan will be the first one to go through the red carpet.”  That got my attention fast and I immediately turned to focus in on the entrance, and there he was, I couldn’t believe that I was officially in the same room with him.  My picture taking frenzy began, I had a constant struggle in my head of watch him in person, or take as many pictures to document the experience as I could.  I tried to find a balance, but I did get a lot of pictures.  If I wasn’t taking his picture, my eyes were locked in on him, and I couldn’t contain my grin.  I keep searching for the interview that he was doing at the time, but I can’t find it yet, as soon as I do I will post it on here, but he definitely took notice of my attention.  I couldn’t hear the interview going on, but I could see every move that he made.  He was constantly scanning the crowd, and he saw me, he stopped talking for a moment and gave me a huge smile, raised his eyebrows, and winked at me then continued on with the interview.  I’m kind of amazed that I didn’t pass out right there. (Actually I’m not, I’ve never passed out before, but if the day had ended there I would’ve been okay with it.)

One of my favorites from the red carpet.  I mean just look at that grin

Throughout my life I have actually met quite a few celebrities when I really think about it.  I’ve met and talked with almost every cast member of Psych.  I was on a cross country flight with Sharon Stone sitting across the aisle.  I talk to some on the phone with my job occasionally.  Plus some other experiences as well.  But I’ve always seen them as real people, and have found that when they are treated as real people you get more face time with them.  So I really do try and not fan girl too much around them.  Although sometimes it can be really hard, Sunday really tested those abilities on me.   I think that I have mentioned it here before, but I have never really had a celebrity crush until Michael Vartan.  I hate to call it a crush though, because honestly I have no desire of dating him, I don’t see him like that.  I am happily married, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.  One of the reasons that I became such a huge fan was because of his demeanor in interviews that I had seen.  Granted, the only reason that I watched any interviews with him comes back to Alias, and what a great job he did portraying Michal Vaughn.  The interviews that I watched that took place while he was filming Alias were fun to watch, however the interviews that he did after meeting his wife are the ones that are my favorite.  I love seeing a man being so in love with their significant other.  I find it to be an endearing quality.  The way that in almost every interview he brings up his wife and talks about her at some point, you can see how happy she makes him.  It’s also fun to see him wearing something that represents her.  He often wears a shirt that would represent where she is from and explain why he had it on.  Add on that how humble he always appears, as well as not being annoyed with the interview and almost always smiling during the whole thing.  I think that he has somehow managed to find that perfect balance of being a celebrity, and being able to have a life outside of it as well. 

This is a screenshot that I took from an Interview that he was doing for Columbiana.  I actually took it for the arm tattoos that I love, but you can see that he is invested in the interview, and if I remember correctly he talks about Lauren in the interview.

So while I was trying to contain the inner fan girl, I continued to watch him.  I saw what I had seen in interviews, that he was really down to earth, that even when the official camera turned away from him, he didn’t change his attitude.  He talked to a few other people that he knew and was consistently pleasant.  When he arrived near me, I tried to sound normal, but I’m not sure if I managed.  But I called him name and asked if I could get a picture with him.  He smiled at me and said absolutely.  He came right up next to me put his arm around me and asked if I wanted to do a selfie. When he said this, a member of the media took out picture at the same time.  I really wish I knew who that was so I could get a copy of that picture too. But I managed to say yep, and take the picture.  I was flabbergasted at the idea that Michael Vartan had his arm around me.  Was this for real?  After I took the picture, he even asked me if it turned out okay before he left.  I told him it was fine, and he told us to enjoy the game, waved goodbye and walked into the locker room.  Besides what I had seen from afar, I confirmed that he really is a good guy and very down to earth, who appreciates his fans.

Don't mind me, but just look at his smile, as well as the placement of his arm around me. :)

We stayed on the red carpet for a few more minutes.  There were a couple of other people that we thought would be fun to get a picture or two of.  So we stayed long enough so that we could get a picture of David Boreanaz from Bones, as well as Isaiah Mustafa, otherwise known as the Old Spice guy.  I also did spot Alan Thicke but based on the entourage with him, I didn’t think it was worth the possibility of not having good seats.  So since we had seen who we wanted to see we headed inside the hockey rink.

David Broeanaz from Bones & Isaiah Mustafa aka the Old Spice Guy

Having never been to a Hockey game before I didn’t know where the best seats would be, but I assumed that sitting in the front row would be a good bet.  So we were looking around for where we could get the closest when we noticed a single bench at the center of the rink.  We walked down to the bench and looked below us to find more benches that we right next to the ice with doors leading to the ice.  I looked at this and thought that this had to be prime real estate, but also wondered why no one was sitting there.  But decided that we would sit there anyway, unless we heard something saying it was a bad spot.  It was then that I looked below and saw my co-worker coming out of a door below us and into the bench area right next to the ice.  I took my opportunity of knowing someone who had connections to the game.  I asked him what went on in the area below us.  He showed us that the door right below us was where all the players would enter and exit the locker room from.  The benches were reserved for the media and family of players.  We decided that we had found the perfect spot.

The ref on the left hand side of the picture is my co-worker - I know that the others are celebrities as well, but I honestly have no idea who they are.  - Picture was taken by the Salt Lake Tribune

He and I have always gotten along very well, so we did a little chit chat, then he asked me if I there was anyone that I was really looking forward to watch play.  I told him that I was there for Michael Vartan.  He smiled and rolled his eyes at me.  He then wondered why I was there for an actor and not for the actual NHL players.  Luckily it was a rhetorical question, and he then went on to tell me that he was just talking to Michael a few moments ago and that he’s just right behind the door.  He then advised that even though the players came out through that door, that they would be sitting across the arena.  He also said that some players would sometimes take pucks and throw them into the netting for the fans on the front row.  We thought about moving, but decided against it.  He then told me to have fun and disappeared back into the locker room area.  Even though we decided that we had found our best spot, we decided we may want to look at the front row.  So we moved, but then decided that it was too crowded with little kids and as much as I would want that puck if it was Michael Vartan tossing it over, I wouldn’t take it from a kid.  So we went back to the lonely bench.  Only someone else had taken our seat next to the door.  So we went to the other side of the bench, and noticed that there was another door.  We had been sitting for only a minute or two when my co-worker came back out, only this time he came out of the door that we were sitting next to.  He looked around and saw me and asked why we switched seats.  But then quickly told us that we were probably better off anyway as this was the door that they would be using, not the other one.  We had chosen well.  He then said that he got something for me.  I then saw that he was carrying a puck, he told me to be really careful, because the ink was still wet, because it had just been signed especially for me.  He climbed up the benches and handed me a puck signed by Michael Vartan. I thanked him profusely, and he told me it wasn’t a big deal and to enjoy the game.  Here I was, the game hadn’t even started and I had already had Michael Vartan put his arm around me as we took a selfie, talked to him for a small moment, and now he had signed a hockey puck just for me.  I was amazed at my luck.

I was paranoid about losing this during the entire game, I kept checking my purse to make sure it was still there and that nothing in my purse would ruin it.

As they were getting ready to begin the game I saw the media started to accumulate below us getting ready to take pictures of the players coming out of the locker room.  It wasn’t a great shot, but I was willing to take anything I could get, picture wise, and so I planted myself with my camera so I could get video of Michael Vartan coming out of the locker room.  One guy from the media was very friendly and started up a conversation with me as we were waiting.  He asked if there was anyone in particular that I wanted a picture of.  I told him, and he told me that I couldn’t see it, but that Michael Vartan was literally just right behind the door, he also told me that he would give me a heads up when it looked like they were ready to come out.  He was good on his word and even though it wasn’t a great angle, I got the video of Michael Vartan coming out of the locker room and getting on the ice.

As you can see, I really didn't have the best angle, but it was a pretty good position to be in for all the coming and going from the locker room.

I took a few pictures of him on the ice as well as some of the others as well, but mostly of him.  Then I turned on my video for a moment when I realized that they were starting to warm up.  I followed him with my camera as he started up slow and then kicked it into full gear.  He really can skate.  I however need to remember that the iPhone needs to be turned horizontal for the video to actually look good, so sorry about that. The video is only a sampling of what he was doing on the ice.  But I really enjoyed watching him and seeing some of the little things that he did.  You know how much I love those little details in Alias, so it’s not surprising that I would pick up on them here.  But watched as he practiced handling the puck, as well as noticing how much he really loves being out on the ice.  You could see them preparing to start the game and the other players for the most part had gone over to their bench.  But he stayed out there, skating and helping retrieve all the pucks that had been put on the ice for the warm up.  He wasn’t throwing them at the audience, but actually helping the refs collect them.  In that moment, I had the thought that he doesn’t think that he is too good for anything or that he is above helping people in general.  I really liked seeing this side of him. 

 

After they had finished announcing the players and doing some official stuff, I watched as he skated over towards us and saw that he was going to run back in to the locker room.  I grabbed my camera again and got a few more shots of him up close.  When he returned only a moment later, I saw why he left.  For the warm up, for some reason he was wearing a jersey that had one of his numbers crossed out.  When he came back, his jersey had the correct number of 66 without a crossed out 6.  I’m not sure why it happened, but it was nice to get that extra chance for more pictures.

I may not have had the best angle for pictures, but I managed a few good ones.

Once the game began, I actually was interested in the game and I was trying to figure out what the rules were.  I never really caught on, but it was still fun to attempt to figure it out.  What I did learn is that even though there were many players wearing essentially the same outfit, I could easily pick him out at any time.  I had noticed this earlier in the day, but hadn’t thought anything of it.  He looks much skinnier in person.  Like I said I hadn’t thought much of it, until he was out on the ice.  But he was easy to spot as he was the skinniest man on the ice.  I actually got very caught up in the game and forgot to take pictures or video during the game.  I know feel kinda like an idiot for forgetting, but oh well.  I did notice that he must be an offence player as he usually kept close to his team’s goalie.  Although when needed he could easily skate up towards the other side to help out.  The other thing that I noticed was that he seemed to be paying close attention to not getting hurt.  For the most part he avoided fighting over the puck with another player.  If he did start to, it seemed like it was out of habit, but then remembered that he had to be careful.  I’m not sure if this was the case, but it was what it looked like from my standpoint.  I assumed that it was because he was still filming Bates Motel and that he needed to still look like the gorgeous boyfriend, so he was instructed to not get hurt or to mess up his face.

The players went back to the locker room for a little while after the second quarter and I was able to get another picture or two.   While I was waiting with my camera for another awkward shot of him coming out of the locker area and back onto the ice, the media guy from earlier struck up another conversation with me.  He asked if I had gotten any good shots yet, I told him that they were okay, but I had gotten some really good ones earlier on the red carpet, and I already had the hockey puck I was pretty happy so far.  He then told me that if I wanted to give him my cell number, he would text me all of the pictures of Michael Vartan that he ended up getting.  He seemed nice enough, so I went for it.  I wasn’t going to pass up on additional pictures, but I wasn’t too sure that he would actually follow up.  But I figured that there was no harm just giving him my number.  I got a few more shots as they got back on the ice.

You can see the grin on his face still, he is excited to be here, having the chance to play with players that he admires.

This is where I really regret putting down my camera.  But I was actually engrossed in watching what was going on, I didn’t think about what I good video it would make.  This time around as they warmed back up, there was a different vibe among the players.  They were for the most part, just goofing off.  But once again Michael Vartan caught my attention with the little details.  I looked over to where he was, and saw that he had taken one of the players who had purchased a spot to play with them, and was practicing passing the puck along with showing some tricks.  Normally this wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but the other play was a little boy.  Granted the little boy was the son of David Broeanaz, but nonetheless Michael was taking the time to spend one on one time with this 11 year old boy out on the ice while the other players mostly sat on the bench and chatted with one another.   Seeing him interact with a child made my heart melt.  I mean really how lucky is he wife?  He is madly in love with her and loves talking about her, plus he’s good with kids.  It defiantly makes me wonder when they will have one of their own.  A few moments later that had a miniature shootout, they had three players from each team try and score a goal with just the goalie in their way.  I can’t believe that when they called Michael out for his turn I didn’t grab the camera, but oh well.  He did great, even going for a trick shot with the puck.  But the goalie caught it.  Everyone there was impressed and the guys who were the MC’s tried to convince him as well as encouraging the audience to help convince him to do it again.  But he looked embarrassed and declined and got back on the bench.

I'm not sure when this was taken, this was one of the shots taken my my friend from the media that asked for my phone number.  It's kind of funny to think about all the people conspiring behind the scenes of the game to get good things for me in relation to Michael Vartan.  I love the kindness of other people!  - But just look at how happy he is just to be sitting on the bench and talking to a former NHL player.

They finished the hockey game, his team lost though, although by only one point.  I officially became a hockey fan.  At least a fan of games like this one was.  After the game they took a group shot and I tried to get a few pictures of him there, but once again I didn’t have the best angle.  Once I saw Michael leave the ice for the locker rooms, we decided that we didn’t need to stick around any longer, that we would be better off waiting for everyone to leave the arena.  Once again I managed to get a prime location.  Plus even though she was in a hurry to get to another event, I was able to catch Andie McDowell, for a signature.  I didn’t manage a picture though.  While we were waiting for Michael Vartan to come out, we saw David Boraenaz again and I was able to get a few more pictures of him and his signature.  I was having them sign a shirt from the event that the mascot of the LA Kings had thrown at me earlier before the game. 

Then once again my heart jumped as I saw Michael Vartan coming out of the locker room and ready to greet everyone.  But after seeing the rush that some of the others players were in, seeing that most of them had waved at the fans, signed a couple things, took one or two pictures and they were gone.  But luckily for me I am a fan of a very gracious man.  Which like I mentioned before is what made me a fan in the first place.  He stopped multiple times before getting to the end of the line where I was.  Right ahead of me where a bunch of little kids, and after watching them get turned down a few times by other stars, it was great to see Michael actually full on interact with them.  He had two Hockey sticks and he gave them to these kids.   He even went as far as to make sure that when he gave the second stick away that they were in the same family so that they wouldn’t end up fighting over the stick.  He signed everything they handed him and he asked them questions the whole time being fully engaged with these kids.  I don’t think that anything is more attractive on a man than seeing how he interacts with children.

Michael Vartan greeting fans, having conversations with them.  Giving his hockey stick to a set of brothers, telling them not to fight over it, or with it. The last one my friend took as he was walking over towards me.

Once the kids were done, it was my turn again, he signed my shirt and I asked if I could get a picture that wasn’t a selfie.  He happily put his arm around me once more and smiled for the camera.  I was able to tell him how much I loved his work, and that I thought his wife was wonderful.  Once I mentioned his wife, he lit up and wondered how I knew her.  I said that I didn’t but that I had talked with her on twitter a few times and thought that she seemed very nice.  Then he told me that she is indeed wonderful.  I then asked if he was heading back up to Vancouver to finish up Bates Motel, and he told me that no he lived in LA, and that they were finished filming Bates Motel.  (I came so close to blurting out that I knew he lived in LA and that I’ve past his house on multiple occasions.  But I held my tongue.)  He told me that it was nice to meet me and headed out the door. 

By the end of the day, I was exhausted and my face hurt from smiling, but once again he was more than willing to put his arm around me once more and show off his heart melting smile.

Once again I was amazed at what good luck I had had during the day.  Jody came around the gate as we were in weird positions around the gate, and we fought through the crowd to get outside and out to the car.  When we got outside, we found that we were about to walk into a photo that someone was taking of their group with Michael Vartan and she wondered out loud if he would do another one with her in the photo.  This was his first sign of being a little overwhelmed, I think because they were bombarding him with Alias related questions.  One thing I have found after watching interviews, he knows that he owes his fame to Alias, but he isn’t a fan of only being recognized for it.  So I stepped in and offered to take their photo together.  He never stopped smiling or being friendly to these fans, but he was grateful to get off of the Alias topic.  He changed the topic saying that he can’t wait for the role where he gets to shave his head and kill someone as the bad guy.  They brought up Bates Motel and he told them that he is literally the only character in the show that didn’t get to do anything exciting like killing.  I guess we’ll see about that when Bates Motel starts in March.  We ended up walking towards the cars together and I mentioned that my husband and I loved watching Demoted.  He smiled and thanked me and said that it was a fun one.  Jody and I stopped at the edge of the curb for me to look through my purse and find my keys and put away some stuff before we left.  I didn’t notice that one last person had stopped Michael before getting on to his van that would take him home.   But it was the cutest old lady, and she only wanted a picture of him against the mountains.  If I hadn’t just put my camera away, I would’ve taken one too.  The funniest part of this was that behind us, someone was heckling him; I’m guessing that they are buddies in some form.  But while he was smiling politely without even thinking he flipped his friend off, but just did it at waist level.  But then he realized his mistake, and quickly checked with the nice old lady to see if she had taken his picture from the waist and up, he seemed genuinely concerned that her picture would be ruined; and wanted to make sure that in no way was he flipping her off, that it was aimed at his friend over there.  By this time I really felt like we were stalking him, but it really wasn’t on purpose.  We tried to keep our distance and let him get into his van before going to our car, so we didn’t end up walking together again.  But he did end up noticing us and called over to us and told us to have a good night and that it was nice to meet us.  

After this one day being near him, I found him to be the ultimate gentleman.  I can’t imagine that he is any different on a day to day basis, but I could be wrong.  I really wish that he was more recognized in Hollywood and given more roles that he wants, like the role of a killer who has to shave his head, but not only that, but letting him show his comedic side, and not just on movies that are destined to tank.  He really does have talent and I can’t imagine that working with him would be hard.  I have to say that I will treasure this experience, as well as buy tickets for next year at the first possible chance.

We left the ice arena with the intention of heading down to Sundance since we were literally 2 miles away from Park City Main Street, but decided that we had had enough fun and we were far too tired for more excitement.  We ended up heading back into Salt Lake and grabbing some dinner before heading home to our kids and the inevitable question from our girls who are best friends asking if they could have a sleepover (we caved and allowed it, even though I was dead tired.)  But we had genuinely had a good day.  For Jody being an introvert and really not being a fan of crowded situations even enjoyed the whole thing and is ready to join me next year.  As we were eating I received a text from an unknown number and almost dismissed it until later.  But then Jody reminded me that I’m expecting a text from an unknown number.  I open it up and there were four more glorious pictures of Michael Vartan.  

See a much better angle than I had.  It almost looks like he is whistling on his way in to the ice.

 I think that after the hellish week and a half that I had had leading up to the hockey match, the stars aligned to make sure that I would have a good day, and I did.  Like I mentioned before, I am still in shock of meeting this man that I have somewhat come to idolize on this blog.  And while Michael Vaughn will still be my favorite character on Alias, I will definitely be looking for more of Michael Vartan in him.  Because while I may not have a crush on the man in the traditional terms, I still find him to be very attractive and seeing him in real life and seeing how he treats others only made him better.

Some of my favorite shots from the day rolled up into one picture.

Once again thank you Michael Vartan for giving me the best day I have had in a long time, and turning a really shitty week around for me.

Happy Birthday Bradley Cooper & Will Tippin

 

This is going to be a very short post, but I just realized that I missed Bradley Coopers birthday on Saturday.  I think that it's safe to assume that it was also Will Tippin's birthday Saturday as well.  Will was and is Sydney's best friend, and she misses him everyday, especially in season three when everything was so messed up for her.  For Vaughn, Will represented what he wanted for so long, Sydney. But once he had Sydney he thought of Will as a friend, and since Sydney would do anything for Will, Vaughn would too.  But you can't help but see the frustration and jealousy Vaughn had in Crossings when he found out that Sydney had slept with Will.  Looking toward the future episodes with where I am in the series it's sad to think that I only have one more Will Tippin episode.  He is probably the character I miss the most from seasons 1 & 2.

 So Happy Belated Birthday Bradley Cooper and Will Tippin!

An Overview of Season Three, and Some Other Thoughts…

 First off I want to congratulate myself, after realizing that finishing the series by the end of the year wasn’t going to happen, I at least wanted to finish season three by the end of it. So I am happy that I was able to finally get through what I knew from the beginning would be the hardest season for me to recap.  I mentioned it during some of the season two recaps, but getting into the lives of these two characters as much as I do in this blog, is incredibly emotionally draining.  And with all the ups and downs that Sydney and Vaughn had to endure during this season, it was very draining.  I hadn’t thought about it before now, but that may have added to why it took me four and a half months to go through the season.  It seems like a lifetime ago that I was able to do a recap in a single night, let alone two to four as I was doing in the beginning.   Looking towards season four, I expect that I will have some episodes that will drain me, and believe it or not I enjoy those episodes the most, and there will be some that I will be able to get out in a single night again.  But for now let’s look at how season three overall affected the relationship.

Out of any season, this season took the biggest toll on Sydney and Vaughn.   With its events, how could it not?  The season begins with Sydney finding out that the last two years of her life she doesn’t remember anything, and her life that she does remember has been turned upside down.   The love of her life is now married to another woman, her father is in prison, her best friend who she thought died shortly before she lost her memory is still alive but in witness protection, and she is in a foreign country.  We see her struggle with all of these factors and personally the fact that she isn’t perfect and that she does break down is what makes me love her even more.  For Vaughn the season begins with him seeing the one person that means more than anything else in his life back from the dead.  You can see that he is so relieved to finally see her again and know that she is alive.  But he knows that he also has to deliver the bad news that she has been dead, and that he moved on.  So all in all, the season opened to absolutely horrific circumstances for Sydney and Vaughn personally and even worse for their relationship.  Going from being a perfect couple, almost engaged even, (yes, I still believe that Vaughn was planning on proposing) to having it end without the permission of either of them.  Not to mention the fact that for Sydney, she still feels like they were together the day before.

As the season progresses, they start to rebuild their relationship that they had in the beginning, but unfortunately, it’s not that easy.  It’s made clear early on that they are both still madly in love with each other, but Vaughn is stuck loving two women, although in different ways.  Starting out as partners on missions again is very awkward for them in the beginning, but when they aren’t thinking that they are stuck in an awkward position and are focused on the mission; their subconscious actions show us that they still have each other as priorities in their respective lives.  For instance, being back with Sydney, Vaughn will instinctively go to put his hand on the small of Sydney’s back, then remembers that he doesn’t have that right anymore and pulls back. He pulls back in the first few episodes, but towards the middle he doesn’t stop himself anymore.  It’s a little different with Sydney, she’s always been more careful about showing her emotions at the wrong time.  She shows regret in blowing up at Vaughn, and then shows her love to Vaughn by respecting his choice to move on.  Even if she doesn’t like it, she tries as hard as she can to be polite to Lauren and not interfere with their relationship.

I do love the importance of their dreams though.  It is through their dreams that we can see their true feelings and fears.  We see early on that Vaughn while in the hospital wants nothing more than to wake up with Sydney by his side waiting for him to wake up and being there with him.  As he wakes up in his dream he looks around and looks upset until he sees Sydney asleep on a chair next to his bed.  He wakes her up and she comes over.  He asks where he is and she tells him he is home.  Above anything else in his life this makes more sense than anything else.  He is there with Sydney by his side so he is home.  For Vaughn it doesn’t matter that Sydney stabbed him and was the one to put him in the hospital, he knows that it was the only way that she could save his life.  In the dream Sydney begins to cry and ask that he’s okay, and telling him that she was so afraid that she had lost him.  I believe that her saying this is echoing his feelings when she died along with what he wanted to say to her when he went to Hong Kong to pick her up.  He had thought that he had lost her and was relieved beyond measure that she was okay, even if he had to suffer through two years of pain and grief.  In the dream when she says this Vaughn puts his hand up to her face and caresses it in his hand.  I find it interesting that in his dream, knowing how sick he could possibly be, he dreams of comforting Sydney.  Then she tells him that when she left him, thinking that she may not see him again made her realize how much she misses him, and he tells her that he misses her too.  I’ve said it before in the episode that this takes place, but they see each other all the time at work and on missions.  It’s not that they miss each other, but they miss who they were able to be with each other before.  They miss the connection that they used to have together.  It was even stated in the episode before this one, when Vaughn asks Sydney about Julia, and he tells her that he knows that they aren’t where they used to be, but even before they were a couple they never kept secrets.  He also misses being the person that he used to be rather than the impersonation of someone happy that he’s been playing since he decided to move on after her death.  He ends up kissing her in the dream, so we know that he also wants to be with her rather than Lauren.  But after the kiss, Sydney sits up and stabs him again and asks him how he could do this to her.  Vaughn’s subconscious is reminding him that he did move on too quickly, and that he should’ve waited for her.  He feels like he deserves whatever punishment he gets from Sydney now that he has other priorities.  We then see him wake up, and you can tell that he is realizing all of these things and trying to process them.  When he looks over and sees that it is Lauren waiting by his bed, and not Sydney you can see his disappointment.

On the other side of things we look at the first part of Sydney’s dream when she goes in for the memory recovery.  Her first dream is being back to at the last night that she remembers.  But she still has all of these new memories with her as well of what did happen while she was presumed dead.  She wakes up in the ambulance and Vaughn is there with her and he is excited to see her wake up.  Sydney remembering that Vaughn is married is confused to see Vaughn with her and is trying to make sense of the situation.   Her first instinct is not to accept that the past few months were a bad dream and needs to make sure that this moment is real.  She also has to ask where she is, and the EMT answers her questions, letting her believe that she really is back to that night when she fought Allison.  Vaughn tells her the basics of what happened to Will as well as Francie not being Francie but really Allison.  Sydney is getting anxious being in this situation; she wants answers and doesn’t want to lie down as the EMT keeps insisting on.  Sydney asks Vaughn about the Covenant, and he tells her that they are showing as a possible emerging threat.  She also asks about Sloane being pardoned, and this confuses Vaughn.  So in Sydney’s dream she has to make sure that all of the things about her new life that upset her at work aren’t real and wants that reassurance before she can move on to checking on why Vaughn is with her.  Once she has confirmed that aspect of her life isn’t as screwed up as she thought it was she looks down and sees Vaughn holding on to her hand with both of his hands.  She looks at it for a moment and then makes the statement that he’s not wearing a wedding ring, and he tells her that he thought that they would go to Santa Barbara first and see how things go. (This is her dream; she doesn’t know that he was planning on proposing there.)  With the first statement that she makes about him not being married, he plays it off as a joke, but then when she sits up and asks him to confirm that he’s not married, still joking but softer he tells her that she really must have hit her head hard.  She then tells him that she thought that he had given up on them, and she is almost in tears with that acknowledgment.   This is big because while she did say it to him in the first episode of the season, she has known that he really didn’t give up on her, just had to move on to survive.  But we are all a little petty and it’s still in the back of her head as being true.  But then he tells her what she has wanted him to say since she turned up in Hong Kong, “Syd, when I walked into your apartment and I saw you lying there, I thought, God, don’t let me miss a chance to tell her how much I love her.”  This statement makes everything that is wrong in her life seem to melt away and she is okay.  She kisses him and tells him that she loves him too.  But as she comes away from the kiss she sees that she is kissing Sloane and not Vaughn.  Then later when she wakes up and finds Vaughn next to her bed and still believes it’s a dream and ends up kissing him.  Telling him sorry, but I just can’t help it, I miss you so much.   Seeing how conflicted Vaughn is with wanting to kiss her back, yet also wanting to be a loyal husband is such a heartbreaking moment for both of them when they semi acknowledge how much they both still want to be together.

The thing that I find interesting about both of their individual dreams is that they initially dream about the one thing that they want more than anything at the time, which is to be with each other once again.  But both of them end their ideal moment with a horrifying ending, or you could even say they go from their best dream to their worst nightmare.  For Vaughn it is the possibility that Sydney will never forgive him for moving on when he thought that she was dead.  He fears that now that Sydney is back in his life, he will lose her because of the choices that he has made.  This fear ends up driving him to have a fierce need to protect her against Lauren and other obstacles in other episodes.  For Sydney, she is already living her worst nightmare and having to see Sloane guide her to where she needs to go reminds her that the life that she wants with Vaughn isn’t happening, as well as reminding her that she once again has to work with the man that has taken so much from her. 

Wow, I really can’t shut up about some topics, I’m sorry.  But I really do find that those two moments are pivotal in what they each were feeling at the beginning of the season.  As the season progressed their friendship did begin to come back, although it was still strained.  Especially after what happened in North Korea, with Vaughn admitting that in his life only Sydney really matters, but then after not being killed having to go back to Lauren took their already strained relationship to a new level.  It was very clear that they wanted to be with each other, Vaughn just needed to figure out how to break the news to Lauren.  For Sydney, although she understood the circumstances, still had a hard time coping.  But she still shows her love for Vaughn where she can, including noticing that it was the anniversary of Vaughn’s father’s death.  This showed Vaughn once again why Sydney is a better match for him than Lauren.  Although by the time they figured out that Lauren was Covenant, I think Sydney had reached a point where she wasn’t sure if she could trust that Vaughn would come back to her after being hurt so many times by his need to be a gentleman regarding the Lauren situation.  She knows that she still loves him and considers him her soul mate, but she has to learn how to trust again.  For Vaughn he develops such a hatred of Lauren that it envelops him completely.  So while they fought Lauren for each other in the final episode of the season, as well as coming together for that fantastic kiss and if only for a moment going back to the way things were.  Their relationship will never be the same, although it doesn’t mean the end for them either.  They both just have to work a few things out before they can really be together again.  It is at this spot emotionally where they will start out when we begin season four.

I’ve mentioned this many times, but as much as I hated season three the first time I watched it.  I couldn’t wait for Lauren to be dead and out of the way.  I have truly learned to love this season.  Watching Vaughn protect Sydney at all costs, including upsetting his wife by doing it, and watching them struggle through what they both want verses what they can have, as well as what their personal values dictate is appropriate to do.  Sydney and Vaughn share some of the most moving moments together as they get to know each other again and return to their unspoken pact of always protecting each other and having each other’s back.  Plus the added sexual tension that is so abundant in this season makes it fantastic!

Plus I can’t forget about all the theories that I had while so engrossed in this season.  I still believe that my theory about Home for Vaughn is true.  For Vaughn home isn’t a place, it’s a state of mind.  I watched very carefully to make sure of this, but Vaughn only said I love you to Lauren one time, and that was in the third episode.  Also he never even uttered the word home to her; he would always refer to where they lived as the house.  His home is wherever Sydney is.  This theory is only one among the many other episode interruptions that I made for my random thoughts.  But in case you missed them, here they are…

Home as Vaughn views it...

http://romancingalias.blogspot.com/2013/08/home-as-vaughn-views-it.html

The Missing Two Years and How They Affected Sydney & Vaughn ... http://romancingalias.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-missing-two-years-how-they-affected.html

Vaughn's Personal Battle - Lauren vs. Sydney... 

http://romancingalias.blogspot.com/2013/09/vaughns-personal-battle-lauren-vs-sydney.html

Why Vaughn Doesn't Want to Admit that Lauren is Covenant...

http://romancingalias.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-vaughn-doesnt-want-to-admit-laurens.html

In an attempt to keep this post semi short, I know it’s already longer than I had planned, instead of going over my favorite moments, I thought that it may be easier to just put the clips of those moments all together in one video.  So here are some of my favorite season three moments… The first one I don't know if you can call it a favorite, but since I love to cry, I do call it a favorite moment, just because it breaks my heart every time.

The second video is of some of the great moments that they shared.  They aren't perfect moments, but they are wonderful examples of how Sydney and Vaughn progressed through the season.

Before I end this post there are just a few things that I wanted to touch on, mostly just small observations, or questions that came up during the season, as well as questions that I have seen others post, that I will attempt to answer, even if it may not be completely correct.

• Today Yesterday being Kevin Weisman’s birthday, I think it’s proper to have a shout out to him, and since the writers generally matched up the characters birthday with the actors, I think it’s safe to assume that it is also Marshall’s birthday.  So Happy Birthday Marshall & Kevin!
  
• On the note of Marshall, I made a realization the other day.  Maybe you had already made the observation, and I am slow on the uptake, but Carrie and Marshall have their first non-work related conversation when Marshall sees Carrie crying and asks her if she is okay.  She was only crying because the music she was listening to, Joni Mitchell made her cry.  I find it very cute that they named their first child after that encounter.  I wonder if they were to have had a girl if they would’ve named her Joni. 
•  Q: What role in the Covenant does Katya Derevko play? 
• A: I honestly don’t have an answer to this question, and when I try to answer it, I only seem to come up with more questions, which I’ve listed below.  I will watch her few episodes in season four very carefully looking for an answer. 
•  I know she doesn’t want harm done to Sydney if it can be avoided, but why does she tries to kill her in the final episode of the season?  She appears to help the CIA on multiple occasions, yet in the final episode she shows her true form as being Covenant, was she placed so that she could act as a mole in certain circumstances guiding the CIA where the Covenant wanted them to go? At one point claim that she was trying to protect Irina’s child, when speaking of the passenger; does this mean that the Passenger more important than the Chosen One for Rambaldi followers?  Also how does Lauren know that Katya is Covenant?  How did Katya know where Vaughn had taken Lauren to, when he was planning his torture session with her? 
•  Q: Knowing that the cliffhanger in season three is Sydney finding out that Jack had requested to kill Irina because a hit had been placed on Sydney’s life by Irina, since Lauren knew about it, when did Jack actually kill Irina? 
• A: I touched on this during the episode breakdown for when I thought it must have happened.  But in case you missed that one, I talked about it in Legacy, 3;21, but I have to believe that it happened sometime between Hourglass and Blood Ties.
• Q: Why did Sloane think at one point that Sydney was his?
• A: I have to say that the only logical answer to this is that Sloane and Irina had an affair on two separate occasions.  The first time being around the time that Irina conceived Sydney, then the second time shortly before she disappeared in 1981 when Sydney was six years old.
• Q: How did Bill Vaughn rescue Nadia from the KGB if she was born in 1981 or 1982 when he supposedly died in 1979?
• A: He didn't.  I will go into this aspect more during season four, but I strongly believe that Brill was working with the Covenant or at least Elena when he told Vaughn what he knew about the passenger. You can also see my post on the episode Legacy and I have gone into more depth on this.
• Q: How is Nadia a bio-weapon?
• A: Keep in mind that from the beginning all the sci-fi stuff never interested me.  I have and always will be into this show for the characters.  But here is what I think concerning this.  Rambaldi is the one who referred to her as a bio-weapon.  Maybe he didn't have the correct terminology for what she really is.  I don't even know how to describe her.  But essentially she is a conduit to a stored memory.  That memory gives us the coordinates to the Sphere of Life.  The Sphere of Life with the Horizon which is introduced in season five somehow work together to create eternal life.

That's all for now, I do have a small project that is also Alias related, but I want to work on before I begin season four.  So it may be awhile before I am back, but I don't think it will take me too long.  If by some weird chance you want to reach me, or ask what I think about a topic, you can post a comment on any post and I will quickly reply.  You can also email me at AliasPsy47@gmail.com  You can also see me on Tumblr (http://aliaspsy.tumblr.com/) and Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/bliss2262/alias-love/).