V
verdantheart
Guest
“The Getaway” (2:12) begins with Jack approaching a contact in a darkened theater in which the film noir classic D.O.A. is beginning to unspool onto the screen. Jack discovers that his contact is DOA as well and is met by Alliance security forces before he can gingerly make his way out the exit. He must fight his way out instead, the action silhouetted against the screen and projector light in true noir fashion. As he hurries out the door, a car screeches to a halt and he points his gun at the driver’s head, only to discover that it’s his daughter. “Dad, get in!” she says, recalling “Truth Be Told” (1:01).
As Sydney drives, and later at the CIA, Jack brings Sydney up to speed on what’s been happening--the Alliance has been blackmailed over trouble with Sloane’s wife Emily, and Jack’s the prime suspect. He didn’t want to tell Sydney, he explains, because he didn’t want there to be any suspicion that she could be his accomplice. Sydney wants to call in sick, but Jack insists that she go in as usual lest she arouse suspicion.
At SD-6, Sloane outlines a mission to steal a guidance system from the Triad, one that contains an advanced quantum guidance system. Later, as Vaughn and Sydney go over the countermission, Vaughn reassures her that they’re doing all they can to help Jack. Sydney is angry to have found that Vaughn has left her in the dark again, having knowing the straits Jack was in, but avoided telling her for two weeks. “He was almost killed! I saved him!”
Meanwhile, at the CIA, Jack receives an email from Sloane explaining that he had to contact Kane after Jack met with him because of the device that the Alliance implanted when he joined the board. This deviced tracks his whereabouts and transmits conversations. Sloane also let Jack know that his leads came up empty, but provided one of his own: Sloane’s murder of the Alliance board member Jean Briault could have led someone to seek revenge.
Jack goes to Irina for help looking at the available evidence. He explains that what they have isn’t much, but points out that the alternative, a life in hiding, is not acceptable to him--he doesn’t want Sydney looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life. Their conversation:
Irina: If you’re not here to say goodbye, why do you bring this to me?
Jack: I need someone to brainstorm with.
Irina: Surely the CIA has teams that specialize in these matters: forensics, profilers?
Jack: Yes, they do.
A long pause.
Irina: Have Information Resources pull everything they have on Briault.
At SD-6, Sloane objects as Kane pulls Sydney’s computer. She already suspects Sydney as Jack’s accomplice because of her participation on the missions he designed. Not only does she suspect them as culprits in the blackmail, but as involved in something perhaps more “long-term.”
In Nice, Sydney pulls off her mission without a hitch and turns over the gizmo to the CIA. As they work on the hardware to create a fake, Vaughn convinces her to have dinner with him.
Jack and Irina continue brainstorming. Irina wonders why such an elaborate plan was used to obtain the Alliance money. Jack points out that it seems aimed to elicit the most suffering possible in Sloane, so it indicates an “acute hatred” for him--so it could be anyone.
But then Irina spots the fact that Briault always used a credit card when travelling--except in Peru. Jack checks and finds he always declared $70,000 cash at these times. Irina suggests that Briault might have set up his own extracurricular syndicate in Peru. Then she goes on to suggest how Jack could identify his contact: “When I was your wife, I would meet my case officer in his hotel room. I suggest you find out where Briault stayed and pull the hotel security footage.”
Back in Nice, Sydney and Vaughn’s date ends in disaster as Alliance security forces identify Vaughn as CIA and move in. Fortunately, Sydney and Vaughn are able to turn the tables on the agents and kill them before they are able to report to Kane. Vaughn instructs Sydney to turn over the real guidance system to SD-6 because she absolutely cannot afford any further suspicion following this debacle. Weiss wants Vaughn to blame the problems on him, feeling guilty at having encouraged the date, but Vaughn is skeptical.
Jack discovers Kane with Briault on a hotel security tape and that she opened an account in Monaco. “I can’t stand that I didn’t put that together myself!” he complains to Kendall. He then takes a huge gamble. Rather than verify the account through CIA resources, which would take 48 hours, he goes to SD-6. He is feeling the pressure of time and wants to get to SD-6 and solve the problem before her return so that he can prevent her capture. (Why does that phrase “balls of steel” come surging back to mind?)
At SD-6, Jack accesses a computer in a server room and gets the information from the Monaco bank. But Kane is alerted and Jack is accosted by security forces in a hallway. Before he can make his escape, he’s shot by a tranquilizer dart and taken to an interrogation room and the gentle ministrations of McCullough.
He awakens to find Kane looking at him: “Hello Jack. There’s a plane waiting to take us to London, but I thought we should wait for your daughter to return. I came to investigate a blackmail, but you’ve proven far more compelling than a simple thief.”
Jack is injected with sodium pentathol, but Sloane enters and takes Kane into custody in the nick of time (recalling 1:10 “Spirit,” in which Jack exchanges Russek for Sydney). Sloane had seen an email that Jack had sent from the server room confirming Kane’s involvement with Briault and her connection with the Monaco account.
Jack meets with Irina to let her know how it all turned out. He tells her that he’s even been put in charge while Slone is out of town. But both Jack and Irina are struck with the same thought--it’s odd, they think, that Sloane specifically requested Kane to investigate the blackmail, considering that she was the only one with a motive to be the perpetrator.
Meanwhile, Sloane meets with a technician who gives him a special device designed to overcome the Alliance implant. Sloane accepts it with thanks, then dispassionately dispatches the technician with a few shots. He then heads out to the Philippines, where he gratefully reunites with his beloved Emily.
Analysis . . .
Both Sydney and Vaughn throw caution to the wind--in the midst of a hurricane. Sure, I can see going out on a date, it’s risky, but do-able if--and here’s the sticking point--well planned. Here the timing and the method are, well let’s be blunt, brainless. They leave the airport undisguised and go to a public restaurant. Vaughn has underestimated Kane from the beginning (thinking that a few ticket stubs and receipts would be enough to satisfy her), but after Jack had to hit the ground running, he should have realized that Sydney might already be under increased scrutiny--and Sydney should be extra careful in view of Jack’s situation. What are they thinking? Oh, that’s right, they aren’t thinking, or, rather, something other than their brains are doing the thinking for them. Predictably, their date ends in disaster and they barely escape capture. Vaughn must instruct Sydney to turn over the real gizmo instead of the fake one. It’s only the fact that Jack and Sloane put Kane away that allows Sydney to switch the guidance system as planned and the couple to hide their lapse. However, it looks probable that they have been scared into keeping things on a professional level, at least for a while. Next time, guys, leave separately, shake any tails, check for suspicious characters where you meet--oh, and a disguise wouldn’t hurt, either.
They’d be wise to keep this to themselves if they don’t want a dressing down. Jack would jump right down Vaughn’s throat for taking such a risk with his daughter, and who can blame him? Meanwhile, Sydney could expect at least the patented spy-dad lecture. Kendall, of course, would be livid, and I can’t see how he would allow Vaughn to remain as Sydney’s handler.
Meanwhile, Jack is kicking himself for not connecting the dots earlier. But, as I’ve been suggesting over the past few weeks, perhaps our buttoned-up friend is not thinking as clearly as he’s used to, either. He has found a major distraction in a certain prisoner being held over at the CIA. Besides, doesn't he really kind of want to ask for a little help for once? Read on, kind Alias fan . . .
The fact that he goes to Irina to brainstorm is extremely interesting. When Irina points out that the CIA must have resources to help with that, Jack answers that they do but does not answer her unvoiced question: why then do you want my help? His long silence is heavy with meaning. He lets Irina make of it what she will. My first thought was relatively simple: Here was an opportunity for Jack to work with Irina on a problem on which they were on equal footing--she and he both had the same knowledge about the problem and he could perhaps get a feel for her intentions.
But, no. I don’t think that’s it. Let me put on my hip waders and sally forth into this pause and make of it what I will. Jack has just barely escaped death, rescued by his daughter. He knows he has little time before the Klieg light of Kane’s investigation swings around to bear its full weight on Sydney, who doesn’t have his experience in dealing with such creatures as Kane. He doesn’t want to wait until Sydney’s return from France to make his move. My thought is that--if he cannot discover the blackmailer--he plans to let Alliance forces catch up to him, and this time, kill him, perhaps leading them away from Sydney at the same time. The reason he wants to do his brainstorming with Irina is that this could be his last opportunity to spend time with her, the woman whose betrayal and “death” turned him inside out and tore him apart and whose subsequent reappearance has reawakened hope in his parched heart. So, in a way, he really may be saying goodbye, after all. Does Irina sense this? She asks no further questions, but agrees to help Jack.
They work together as though they had been working together for some time, don’t they? How could Jack simply set aside her betrayal of him so easily? Perhaps her betrayal doesn’t seem as important in light of the possibility of a swift end to his life. It’s as though they were meant to be together, the way they mesh, one idea flowing from one mind into another idea in the other and back, almost as though they become one extended intellect. Jack even exchanges small smiles with Irina, despite his predicament. Contrast their easy interaction with Sydney and Vaughn’s, first combative, then tentative and uneasy. How quickly Jack and Irina’s relationship has changed since “Passage” (2:08-2:09). The simpatico that is growing between them doesn’t end when Jack’s problem is solved, either. He returns to tell her the story of his reprieve, and they find themselves in synch again, both coming up with the same question about Sloane (he specifically asked that Kane investigate), both knowing what the other is thinking (Toaster!). How quickly one falls in love when one is already in love. If Irina should happen to have any dark plans for Jack, he may well be doomed.
Yet their renewing relationship is not without it’s dark shadows. Irina finds herself bringing up the painful subject of how she subverted their marriage when she lets Jack know how to identify Briault’s contact. She suggests Jack pull the hotel security tapes because she used to meet her case officer in his hotel room. With deep sadness in her eyes, she watches as her husband’s face becomes shuttered and hardened.* Yet doesn’t her willingness to bring this fact up say something? She could have suggested pulling the tapes without referencing something so painful. (Yet, a suspicious mind could wonder if she’s testing him with something small.)
Now, let’s step back for a moment and take an admiring look at the subtle masterpiece that is Sloane’s plot. Sloane is not one who enjoys being dictated to, and that’s exactly what the Alliance was doing. They presented him with a choice that was no choice: either kill Emily and gain a seat on the Alliance board, or lose both Emily’s life and your own. So Sloane hatches a plot to have it both ways: get the place on the board, have Emily, and punish the Alliance for being bastards about it to boot. But he has to plan in advance, and he has to get Emily to help him out with it. In advance, he chooses a likely fall guy, Ariana Kane, who is a good choice because she has a revenge motive (through her connection to Briault) and she can be brought close to the affair through an investigation of it.
Sloane does poison Emily, but not before he provides her with an antidote. He probably slips her out of the mortuary. He arranges to have her make the calls from the bed and breakfast and leave the glass of wine for him to discover. He has her make the appearance for him to chase her and Jack to witness. Emily has a really tough task in that she must chop off her own finger (!) and send it to Sloane as proof of life. Sloane arranges for the Alliance to provide the ransom money (in the form of bearer bonds) and tells Emily how to defeat Marshall’s tracer. She goes to Monaco where she opens an account as Kane and converts the bonds to cash.
Now here’s the beauty of it: Sloane arranges for the action to occur when Jack’s out on missions. He knows that Jack plays it loose and Kane is sure to smell a rat around him. After all, when Jack returned from Taipei, he admitted that the Alliance would probably have killed him for doing all he did without authorization. Sloane’s pretty sure that Jack will be Kane’s prime suspect and the pressure on him will cause him to follow the scant breadcrumbs Sloane provides straight back to Kane. Sloane can’t afford to give too much, but he knows Jack won’t need much, especially when properly motivated--and when the pressure extends to his daughter, he’s sufficiently motivated.
He then returns to the technician he previously contracted with to defeat the Alliance tracer technology. No doubt this was done through written communication. After verifying that the gizmo works (a ring), he kills the technician to make sure no one knows about it. He can go anywhere, talk to anyone, and return without the Alliance being any the wiser. He then returns to Emily’s arms, rejoicing in his freedom from the Alliance’s oversight.
Sloane probably enjoyed the hell out of sending his boy against Kane and seeing how he held his own against her! I’m sure he was greatly satisfied to find that his confidence that Jack would follow his breadcrumbs was not unfounded. Meanwhile, I think that in Sloane’s twisted mind, using Briault’s death to save Emily somehow justified and vindicated his murder.
For all Sloane’s obvious love of Emily and all he went through to save her, let’s look at it in perspective. A week ago he was ready to sacrifice Marshall with little more than a second thought and in fact seemed a little irritated when he had to send out a team to save him (is he getting tired of listening to Marshall’s amusing tangents?). Meanwhile, he’s more than willing to use murder former (Briault) and present (Kane, who doubtlessly will be executed, and the technician), and risk the lives of people he supposedly cares about (Jack, Sydney), to achieve his ends. As for Emily, look how much harder the experience has made her.
Random thoughts . . .
Sydney coming to Jack’s rescue: how cool is that?
I wonder how Sydney knew where Jack was?
Jack walking cool as a cucumber back into the lion’s den so that he can get the goods on Kane before Sydney gets back. Now that’s courage.
It only would have taken a couple of questions for Sloane to get something interesting out of Jack under the influence of sodium pentathol. Thank goodness he didn’t ask any. He still seems to trust Jack implicitly.
Kane was a great adversary for Jack. In her, he just about met his match--although had the CIA not botched the job on his cell phone SIM card, he would have at least had more time (they failed in matching his exactitude). He must be greatly relieved to have her out of the picture. If she survived, she would not rest until she had him and his daughter thoroughly examined.
Punk Sydney. Loved the ‘tude. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her.
This episode highlighted three relationships: Sydney and Vaughn, Jack and Irina, and Sloane and Emily. It’s interesting that the two relationships that feature the most deceit (Jack and Irina, Sloane and Emily) were the most comfortable. Yet this is to be expected. These relationships are the long-term ones, and despite the deceit, both apparently are couples who have genuine love for one another (even Irina, it seems). Whereas Sydney and Vaughn are still feeling one another out--and Sydney was recently angry with Vaughn for hiding things from her (“Your life is complicated, Sydney. Forgive me for trying to make it easier!” “I don’t need you for that!”). They’re not sure what the shape of their relationship should be--they still aren’t sure at the end of the episode. This is not to say that they don’t love one another! Obviously, they have strong feelings, indeed. They just don’t know how to make them fit into the context of their lives.
All three couples are coming together after separation. For Sydney and Vaughn, it's trying to come together for the first time; for Sloane and Emily, after a separation caused by external forces; and for Jack and Irina, what would seem to be perhaps the most difficult, beginning to approach one another after betrayal and a long absence of twenty years. The ease with which Jack and Irina step into the roles of collaborators says a great deal about their marriage. We know from what Jack told Sydney that, beyond Irina's bugs and spying, Jack openly (and foolishly) broke protocol with his wife, suggesting that they had been in a very equal relationship all along. One can only wonder what their courtship might have been like. Meanwhile, one must assume that the plot that Sloane and Emily pursued was all Sloane's--it was so intricate. My guess is that Sloane has always taken the lead in their relationship. Meanwhile, we have witnessed the evolution of Sydney's relationship with Vaughn. He may try to protect her, but she refuses to let him take a protective, fatherly (Sloane-like) role. She wants support, not insulation ("I don't need you for that!"). She can expect it from Jack, and she accepts it with minimal grousing as she drives him to the relative safety of CIA headquarters, but from Vaughn it's too much. What she wants is a more equal, sharing, mutually supportive relationship (more like what Jack and Irina must have had?).
D.O.A. is a film noir classic that provides amusing meta-narration for the opening scene (Jack’s contact is DOA). The staging and cinematography of the opening also recalls classic film noir and is a pleasure to watch. Look at the low-light, heavy contrast picture with little color; the use of silhouettes against single light sources, such as the projector or screen. Yum. Unfortunately, I can’t remember enough about the intricate plot of this film to tell you if it has any bearing on Alias, and the stupid local chain (yes it’s the national one) doesn’t carry many classic, lesser-known films (typical!). I’ll amend this column if I can get my hands on a copy and get the goods on the plot again.
Discuss . . .
What do you think of the punk look?
Think Syd and Vaughn should try it again (dating)--given sufficient care and planning, that is?
What do you think of how Jack and Irina are getting along? Encouraging, or scary?
Do you think I’m right about Jack’s plans? Do you think his stop-gap plan was to sacrifice himself to save Sydney? Do you think they should have gone into hiding instead? (Yeah, OK, I think I know the answer to that one!)
Next (following the re-run of "Cipher"):
The very exciting post-Superbowl episode airs at last! The line I heard Sydney say (and I replayed it several times) was “I think someone’s trying to kill my Dad.” However, in true promo fashion, it sounds odd, as though it were spliced or looped between "kill" and "my Dad," and there's a cut at the same location. (And if it's "me," why is does she seem to be talking to Dixon?) So you can't trust whether it'll be the same in the actual episode! I also saw a glimpse of Mr Sark (for the Sark fans out there).
* Mr Garber is somehow able to do this while barely changing expression. This is a man who has spent most of his career on stage, too, where you must emote to a crowd who sees you as a tiny figure. When I read "actors" saying that there's nothing to acting, that it's simply a matter of "knowing your lines," I think of actors like Mr Garber (let's include most of the cast while we're at it). The ones who say all you have to do is know your lines never seem to "disappear into their roles"; they always seem to be "playing themselves." It's talent and skill, people, that separates the actors from the celebrities. 'Nuff said. Getting off my soapbox now.
~~~
(OT: I am so pleased with my Christmas gift, a DVD recorder, which allows me not only to record to DVD, but to pause exactly--unlike my stupid VCR--and go slo mo or step forward or back frame by frame. I can’t tell you how convenient it is for doing these columns. It’s especially nice for the promos, so that I can go back and check a short clip frame by frame. I often found myself attempting to anticipate a frame so that I could pause the VCR exactly the right amount of time in advance so that it would stop on a particular frame so I could see who was in a certain shot--yikes, that’s difficult!)
As Sydney drives, and later at the CIA, Jack brings Sydney up to speed on what’s been happening--the Alliance has been blackmailed over trouble with Sloane’s wife Emily, and Jack’s the prime suspect. He didn’t want to tell Sydney, he explains, because he didn’t want there to be any suspicion that she could be his accomplice. Sydney wants to call in sick, but Jack insists that she go in as usual lest she arouse suspicion.
At SD-6, Sloane outlines a mission to steal a guidance system from the Triad, one that contains an advanced quantum guidance system. Later, as Vaughn and Sydney go over the countermission, Vaughn reassures her that they’re doing all they can to help Jack. Sydney is angry to have found that Vaughn has left her in the dark again, having knowing the straits Jack was in, but avoided telling her for two weeks. “He was almost killed! I saved him!”
Meanwhile, at the CIA, Jack receives an email from Sloane explaining that he had to contact Kane after Jack met with him because of the device that the Alliance implanted when he joined the board. This deviced tracks his whereabouts and transmits conversations. Sloane also let Jack know that his leads came up empty, but provided one of his own: Sloane’s murder of the Alliance board member Jean Briault could have led someone to seek revenge.
Jack goes to Irina for help looking at the available evidence. He explains that what they have isn’t much, but points out that the alternative, a life in hiding, is not acceptable to him--he doesn’t want Sydney looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life. Their conversation:
Irina: If you’re not here to say goodbye, why do you bring this to me?
Jack: I need someone to brainstorm with.
Irina: Surely the CIA has teams that specialize in these matters: forensics, profilers?
Jack: Yes, they do.
A long pause.
Irina: Have Information Resources pull everything they have on Briault.
At SD-6, Sloane objects as Kane pulls Sydney’s computer. She already suspects Sydney as Jack’s accomplice because of her participation on the missions he designed. Not only does she suspect them as culprits in the blackmail, but as involved in something perhaps more “long-term.”
In Nice, Sydney pulls off her mission without a hitch and turns over the gizmo to the CIA. As they work on the hardware to create a fake, Vaughn convinces her to have dinner with him.
Jack and Irina continue brainstorming. Irina wonders why such an elaborate plan was used to obtain the Alliance money. Jack points out that it seems aimed to elicit the most suffering possible in Sloane, so it indicates an “acute hatred” for him--so it could be anyone.
But then Irina spots the fact that Briault always used a credit card when travelling--except in Peru. Jack checks and finds he always declared $70,000 cash at these times. Irina suggests that Briault might have set up his own extracurricular syndicate in Peru. Then she goes on to suggest how Jack could identify his contact: “When I was your wife, I would meet my case officer in his hotel room. I suggest you find out where Briault stayed and pull the hotel security footage.”
Back in Nice, Sydney and Vaughn’s date ends in disaster as Alliance security forces identify Vaughn as CIA and move in. Fortunately, Sydney and Vaughn are able to turn the tables on the agents and kill them before they are able to report to Kane. Vaughn instructs Sydney to turn over the real guidance system to SD-6 because she absolutely cannot afford any further suspicion following this debacle. Weiss wants Vaughn to blame the problems on him, feeling guilty at having encouraged the date, but Vaughn is skeptical.
Jack discovers Kane with Briault on a hotel security tape and that she opened an account in Monaco. “I can’t stand that I didn’t put that together myself!” he complains to Kendall. He then takes a huge gamble. Rather than verify the account through CIA resources, which would take 48 hours, he goes to SD-6. He is feeling the pressure of time and wants to get to SD-6 and solve the problem before her return so that he can prevent her capture. (Why does that phrase “balls of steel” come surging back to mind?)
At SD-6, Jack accesses a computer in a server room and gets the information from the Monaco bank. But Kane is alerted and Jack is accosted by security forces in a hallway. Before he can make his escape, he’s shot by a tranquilizer dart and taken to an interrogation room and the gentle ministrations of McCullough.
He awakens to find Kane looking at him: “Hello Jack. There’s a plane waiting to take us to London, but I thought we should wait for your daughter to return. I came to investigate a blackmail, but you’ve proven far more compelling than a simple thief.”
Jack is injected with sodium pentathol, but Sloane enters and takes Kane into custody in the nick of time (recalling 1:10 “Spirit,” in which Jack exchanges Russek for Sydney). Sloane had seen an email that Jack had sent from the server room confirming Kane’s involvement with Briault and her connection with the Monaco account.
Jack meets with Irina to let her know how it all turned out. He tells her that he’s even been put in charge while Slone is out of town. But both Jack and Irina are struck with the same thought--it’s odd, they think, that Sloane specifically requested Kane to investigate the blackmail, considering that she was the only one with a motive to be the perpetrator.
Meanwhile, Sloane meets with a technician who gives him a special device designed to overcome the Alliance implant. Sloane accepts it with thanks, then dispassionately dispatches the technician with a few shots. He then heads out to the Philippines, where he gratefully reunites with his beloved Emily.
Analysis . . .
Both Sydney and Vaughn throw caution to the wind--in the midst of a hurricane. Sure, I can see going out on a date, it’s risky, but do-able if--and here’s the sticking point--well planned. Here the timing and the method are, well let’s be blunt, brainless. They leave the airport undisguised and go to a public restaurant. Vaughn has underestimated Kane from the beginning (thinking that a few ticket stubs and receipts would be enough to satisfy her), but after Jack had to hit the ground running, he should have realized that Sydney might already be under increased scrutiny--and Sydney should be extra careful in view of Jack’s situation. What are they thinking? Oh, that’s right, they aren’t thinking, or, rather, something other than their brains are doing the thinking for them. Predictably, their date ends in disaster and they barely escape capture. Vaughn must instruct Sydney to turn over the real gizmo instead of the fake one. It’s only the fact that Jack and Sloane put Kane away that allows Sydney to switch the guidance system as planned and the couple to hide their lapse. However, it looks probable that they have been scared into keeping things on a professional level, at least for a while. Next time, guys, leave separately, shake any tails, check for suspicious characters where you meet--oh, and a disguise wouldn’t hurt, either.
They’d be wise to keep this to themselves if they don’t want a dressing down. Jack would jump right down Vaughn’s throat for taking such a risk with his daughter, and who can blame him? Meanwhile, Sydney could expect at least the patented spy-dad lecture. Kendall, of course, would be livid, and I can’t see how he would allow Vaughn to remain as Sydney’s handler.
Meanwhile, Jack is kicking himself for not connecting the dots earlier. But, as I’ve been suggesting over the past few weeks, perhaps our buttoned-up friend is not thinking as clearly as he’s used to, either. He has found a major distraction in a certain prisoner being held over at the CIA. Besides, doesn't he really kind of want to ask for a little help for once? Read on, kind Alias fan . . .
The fact that he goes to Irina to brainstorm is extremely interesting. When Irina points out that the CIA must have resources to help with that, Jack answers that they do but does not answer her unvoiced question: why then do you want my help? His long silence is heavy with meaning. He lets Irina make of it what she will. My first thought was relatively simple: Here was an opportunity for Jack to work with Irina on a problem on which they were on equal footing--she and he both had the same knowledge about the problem and he could perhaps get a feel for her intentions.
But, no. I don’t think that’s it. Let me put on my hip waders and sally forth into this pause and make of it what I will. Jack has just barely escaped death, rescued by his daughter. He knows he has little time before the Klieg light of Kane’s investigation swings around to bear its full weight on Sydney, who doesn’t have his experience in dealing with such creatures as Kane. He doesn’t want to wait until Sydney’s return from France to make his move. My thought is that--if he cannot discover the blackmailer--he plans to let Alliance forces catch up to him, and this time, kill him, perhaps leading them away from Sydney at the same time. The reason he wants to do his brainstorming with Irina is that this could be his last opportunity to spend time with her, the woman whose betrayal and “death” turned him inside out and tore him apart and whose subsequent reappearance has reawakened hope in his parched heart. So, in a way, he really may be saying goodbye, after all. Does Irina sense this? She asks no further questions, but agrees to help Jack.
They work together as though they had been working together for some time, don’t they? How could Jack simply set aside her betrayal of him so easily? Perhaps her betrayal doesn’t seem as important in light of the possibility of a swift end to his life. It’s as though they were meant to be together, the way they mesh, one idea flowing from one mind into another idea in the other and back, almost as though they become one extended intellect. Jack even exchanges small smiles with Irina, despite his predicament. Contrast their easy interaction with Sydney and Vaughn’s, first combative, then tentative and uneasy. How quickly Jack and Irina’s relationship has changed since “Passage” (2:08-2:09). The simpatico that is growing between them doesn’t end when Jack’s problem is solved, either. He returns to tell her the story of his reprieve, and they find themselves in synch again, both coming up with the same question about Sloane (he specifically asked that Kane investigate), both knowing what the other is thinking (Toaster!). How quickly one falls in love when one is already in love. If Irina should happen to have any dark plans for Jack, he may well be doomed.
Yet their renewing relationship is not without it’s dark shadows. Irina finds herself bringing up the painful subject of how she subverted their marriage when she lets Jack know how to identify Briault’s contact. She suggests Jack pull the hotel security tapes because she used to meet her case officer in his hotel room. With deep sadness in her eyes, she watches as her husband’s face becomes shuttered and hardened.* Yet doesn’t her willingness to bring this fact up say something? She could have suggested pulling the tapes without referencing something so painful. (Yet, a suspicious mind could wonder if she’s testing him with something small.)
Now, let’s step back for a moment and take an admiring look at the subtle masterpiece that is Sloane’s plot. Sloane is not one who enjoys being dictated to, and that’s exactly what the Alliance was doing. They presented him with a choice that was no choice: either kill Emily and gain a seat on the Alliance board, or lose both Emily’s life and your own. So Sloane hatches a plot to have it both ways: get the place on the board, have Emily, and punish the Alliance for being bastards about it to boot. But he has to plan in advance, and he has to get Emily to help him out with it. In advance, he chooses a likely fall guy, Ariana Kane, who is a good choice because she has a revenge motive (through her connection to Briault) and she can be brought close to the affair through an investigation of it.
Sloane does poison Emily, but not before he provides her with an antidote. He probably slips her out of the mortuary. He arranges to have her make the calls from the bed and breakfast and leave the glass of wine for him to discover. He has her make the appearance for him to chase her and Jack to witness. Emily has a really tough task in that she must chop off her own finger (!) and send it to Sloane as proof of life. Sloane arranges for the Alliance to provide the ransom money (in the form of bearer bonds) and tells Emily how to defeat Marshall’s tracer. She goes to Monaco where she opens an account as Kane and converts the bonds to cash.
Now here’s the beauty of it: Sloane arranges for the action to occur when Jack’s out on missions. He knows that Jack plays it loose and Kane is sure to smell a rat around him. After all, when Jack returned from Taipei, he admitted that the Alliance would probably have killed him for doing all he did without authorization. Sloane’s pretty sure that Jack will be Kane’s prime suspect and the pressure on him will cause him to follow the scant breadcrumbs Sloane provides straight back to Kane. Sloane can’t afford to give too much, but he knows Jack won’t need much, especially when properly motivated--and when the pressure extends to his daughter, he’s sufficiently motivated.
He then returns to the technician he previously contracted with to defeat the Alliance tracer technology. No doubt this was done through written communication. After verifying that the gizmo works (a ring), he kills the technician to make sure no one knows about it. He can go anywhere, talk to anyone, and return without the Alliance being any the wiser. He then returns to Emily’s arms, rejoicing in his freedom from the Alliance’s oversight.
Sloane probably enjoyed the hell out of sending his boy against Kane and seeing how he held his own against her! I’m sure he was greatly satisfied to find that his confidence that Jack would follow his breadcrumbs was not unfounded. Meanwhile, I think that in Sloane’s twisted mind, using Briault’s death to save Emily somehow justified and vindicated his murder.
For all Sloane’s obvious love of Emily and all he went through to save her, let’s look at it in perspective. A week ago he was ready to sacrifice Marshall with little more than a second thought and in fact seemed a little irritated when he had to send out a team to save him (is he getting tired of listening to Marshall’s amusing tangents?). Meanwhile, he’s more than willing to use murder former (Briault) and present (Kane, who doubtlessly will be executed, and the technician), and risk the lives of people he supposedly cares about (Jack, Sydney), to achieve his ends. As for Emily, look how much harder the experience has made her.
Random thoughts . . .
Sydney coming to Jack’s rescue: how cool is that?
I wonder how Sydney knew where Jack was?
Jack walking cool as a cucumber back into the lion’s den so that he can get the goods on Kane before Sydney gets back. Now that’s courage.
It only would have taken a couple of questions for Sloane to get something interesting out of Jack under the influence of sodium pentathol. Thank goodness he didn’t ask any. He still seems to trust Jack implicitly.
Kane was a great adversary for Jack. In her, he just about met his match--although had the CIA not botched the job on his cell phone SIM card, he would have at least had more time (they failed in matching his exactitude). He must be greatly relieved to have her out of the picture. If she survived, she would not rest until she had him and his daughter thoroughly examined.
Punk Sydney. Loved the ‘tude. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her.
This episode highlighted three relationships: Sydney and Vaughn, Jack and Irina, and Sloane and Emily. It’s interesting that the two relationships that feature the most deceit (Jack and Irina, Sloane and Emily) were the most comfortable. Yet this is to be expected. These relationships are the long-term ones, and despite the deceit, both apparently are couples who have genuine love for one another (even Irina, it seems). Whereas Sydney and Vaughn are still feeling one another out--and Sydney was recently angry with Vaughn for hiding things from her (“Your life is complicated, Sydney. Forgive me for trying to make it easier!” “I don’t need you for that!”). They’re not sure what the shape of their relationship should be--they still aren’t sure at the end of the episode. This is not to say that they don’t love one another! Obviously, they have strong feelings, indeed. They just don’t know how to make them fit into the context of their lives.
All three couples are coming together after separation. For Sydney and Vaughn, it's trying to come together for the first time; for Sloane and Emily, after a separation caused by external forces; and for Jack and Irina, what would seem to be perhaps the most difficult, beginning to approach one another after betrayal and a long absence of twenty years. The ease with which Jack and Irina step into the roles of collaborators says a great deal about their marriage. We know from what Jack told Sydney that, beyond Irina's bugs and spying, Jack openly (and foolishly) broke protocol with his wife, suggesting that they had been in a very equal relationship all along. One can only wonder what their courtship might have been like. Meanwhile, one must assume that the plot that Sloane and Emily pursued was all Sloane's--it was so intricate. My guess is that Sloane has always taken the lead in their relationship. Meanwhile, we have witnessed the evolution of Sydney's relationship with Vaughn. He may try to protect her, but she refuses to let him take a protective, fatherly (Sloane-like) role. She wants support, not insulation ("I don't need you for that!"). She can expect it from Jack, and she accepts it with minimal grousing as she drives him to the relative safety of CIA headquarters, but from Vaughn it's too much. What she wants is a more equal, sharing, mutually supportive relationship (more like what Jack and Irina must have had?).
D.O.A. is a film noir classic that provides amusing meta-narration for the opening scene (Jack’s contact is DOA). The staging and cinematography of the opening also recalls classic film noir and is a pleasure to watch. Look at the low-light, heavy contrast picture with little color; the use of silhouettes against single light sources, such as the projector or screen. Yum. Unfortunately, I can’t remember enough about the intricate plot of this film to tell you if it has any bearing on Alias, and the stupid local chain (yes it’s the national one) doesn’t carry many classic, lesser-known films (typical!). I’ll amend this column if I can get my hands on a copy and get the goods on the plot again.
Discuss . . .
What do you think of the punk look?
Think Syd and Vaughn should try it again (dating)--given sufficient care and planning, that is?
What do you think of how Jack and Irina are getting along? Encouraging, or scary?
Do you think I’m right about Jack’s plans? Do you think his stop-gap plan was to sacrifice himself to save Sydney? Do you think they should have gone into hiding instead? (Yeah, OK, I think I know the answer to that one!)
Next (following the re-run of "Cipher"):
The very exciting post-Superbowl episode airs at last! The line I heard Sydney say (and I replayed it several times) was “I think someone’s trying to kill my Dad.” However, in true promo fashion, it sounds odd, as though it were spliced or looped between "kill" and "my Dad," and there's a cut at the same location. (And if it's "me," why is does she seem to be talking to Dixon?) So you can't trust whether it'll be the same in the actual episode! I also saw a glimpse of Mr Sark (for the Sark fans out there).
* Mr Garber is somehow able to do this while barely changing expression. This is a man who has spent most of his career on stage, too, where you must emote to a crowd who sees you as a tiny figure. When I read "actors" saying that there's nothing to acting, that it's simply a matter of "knowing your lines," I think of actors like Mr Garber (let's include most of the cast while we're at it). The ones who say all you have to do is know your lines never seem to "disappear into their roles"; they always seem to be "playing themselves." It's talent and skill, people, that separates the actors from the celebrities. 'Nuff said. Getting off my soapbox now.
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(OT: I am so pleased with my Christmas gift, a DVD recorder, which allows me not only to record to DVD, but to pause exactly--unlike my stupid VCR--and go slo mo or step forward or back frame by frame. I can’t tell you how convenient it is for doing these columns. It’s especially nice for the promos, so that I can go back and check a short clip frame by frame. I often found myself attempting to anticipate a frame so that I could pause the VCR exactly the right amount of time in advance so that it would stop on a particular frame so I could see who was in a certain shot--yikes, that’s difficult!)
Guess we shall see.
