Season 5 Is Irina Derevko Evil?

[TXbulldozer]

Okay, it's over. I'm just as distraught as the next Alias fan that "our" show is over, but let's discuss this ending. First off, the whole ICBM plot device was weak and unwarranted. I realize the world needs to be in jeopardy so Syney can save it, but it made no sense and I (and I sense others) don't buy it. This is a trivial point and you can talk about, but for my money the real issue here is....Irina ultimately evil? Her little throw away line about still loving Sydney fell on deaf ears. Despite all the duplicitous and nefarious acts Irina has foisted on the CIA, Jack, Sydney and anyone worthy of our attention, she had proven herself to be a woman of honor, integrity with a considerable capacity for love and compassion (despite the fact that she can be a scary bitch with few limitations whan it comes to vengance). This power lust did not ring true for me and her rejection of Sydney was as dissappointing as it was hollow. Jack went out with style befitting him and Sloan got his cumuppance, so why not let Irina do what she does best; stay one step ahead (of everyone), kick someone's ass and slide back into being a fugitive phantom. Overall a good ending, but one of my favorite characters had an ending that went off track.

 

[Dark Avenger]

so why not let Irina do what she does best; stay one step ahead (of everyone), kick someone's ass and slide back into being a fugitive phantom.

Well, with Irina now dead, that point's kind of moot - but I think that, like what Sloane did with Nadia, Irina's putting of Rambaldi above everything else, at the expense of things that should matter more (particularly her own daughter), did end up making her evil in the end.

 

[irinarules]

I really liked the finale, but I have to say that I was a little perplexed on how they wrote Irina's character. I hope someone can enlighten me if I am missing something.
In Season 2, Irina was half bad, half good, which was awesome. She betrayed the CIA and still was obsessed with Rimbaldi, but she never betrayed Jack or Sydney. She even said that her love for them was never contrived. Then, in Season 4, she was straight-up GOOD. When she warned Vaughn about his investigation into Prophet Five, she never threatened him or told him to stop - all she said was to tell Sydney the truth.
So when she comes back like this in Season 5, it's a little vexing. In "Maternal Instinct" I could still see some of that goodness in her - even when she said those mean things to Sydney, I took it that there was a very good reason for her to say those things. I fully expected in the finale to see Irina, still obsessed with Rimbaldi maybe, but I thought her true colors and love for her family would shine through. Instead they made her as insanely evil as her sister.
As I said, I really like the finale - except for this one thing. I have loved these writers and producers, but I think they sort of missed the mark with Irina. I don't mind that she died (although how cute would it have been if she and Jack lived on that deserted beach with their grandbabies and Syd and Vaughn), but they kind of destroyed her mystery and character for me.

 

[verdantheart]

I think they wanted to wrap her story, which basically means solving her mystery. If they wanted to leave that open, they would have to leave her basically out of it, I think. However, the fact that Irina left her family is a strong indicator that she puts something else ahead of family--unless there were something that she had to accomplish (1) to protect them that (2) she could not inform them about . . . now there's an almost impossible proviso to match. Especially since Jack is the trustworthy sort (if anybody should know that, it would be Irina) and they share an unbreakable code and all.

The problem with anything from season 4 is that it is totally out-of-step with anything that was established before. Irina was never so weak (imprisoned for an entire year? against her will? Irina?), nor sickly sweet and motherly. Personally, I didn't even recognize the character.

In season 2, she came to use her ties to her family--when that was done, she left. That does not mean that she had no feelings nor regrets, it just means that her priority is Rambaldi. It showed this season as well. She wanted the information--but not at the expense of Sydney's child. Who knows, maybe she held back in that last fight. She no doubt sees her affection for her family as a weakness . . . she let her guard down and let Jack tag her that once when she could have gotten away clean, after all. She obviously has no feeling at all about the vast majority of humanity, which she is willing to wipe out without compunction. But she has gone out of her way to save Sydney on more than one occasion. However, is she willing to let Sydney stand directly between herself and her long-awaited and so-carefully-planned-for goal? I doubt it.

I think this ending is in keeping with the original vision of the character.

 

[GarnerForEmmy]

I think this ending is in keeping with the original vision of the character.

That's the way I was seeing it as well. Irina Derevko was a Rambaldi zealot much like Sloane, who dedicated the majority of her life, as did he, to solving Rambaldi's ultimate mystery. And in the end it cost both of them their families and their lives. She put Rambaldi ahead of everything else, including her daughter. As much as some fans would like to think otherwise, I do believe she used her family (Jack & Sydney) to get herself closer to Rambaldi's endgame, which was her endgame as well. So I did think it was appropriate that her character ended up the way she did. She made her choice. She chose the life Rambaldi was supposed to give instead of a life with her family. In fact, she made that choice years ago.

 

[irinarules]

That's the way I was seeing it as well. Irina Derevko was a Rambaldi zealot much like Sloane, who dedicated the majority of her life, as did he, to solving Rambaldi's ultimate mystery. And in the end it cost both of them their families and their lives. She put Rambaldi ahead of everything else, including her daughter. As much as some fans would like to think otherwise, I do believe she used her family (Jack & Sydney) to get herself closer to Rambaldi's endgame, which was her endgame as well. So I did think it was appropriate that her character ended up the way she did. She made her choice. She chose the life Rambaldi was supposed to give instead of a life with her family. In fact, she made that choice years ago.

Excellent points to the last two posts! As you can see from my name, I really have always loved Irina. But I never thought about it backwards before - that maybe her character in season 4 was the one that was way off, not this season. I think after seeing her so sweet and motherly before, I sort of got carried away down that road of "oh, maybe she never really did all those horrible things, maybe it's all been a cover", etc.
Thanks for the persepctive!

 

[DeathbyLena]

Warning long rant ahead.

With the series "completed", I guess we can fully analyze Irina's character. And logically speaking, while I always believed that Irina was fundamentally good there is no way the finale's interpretation of her character supports that. Even in season two which is by far the best depiction of the character, Irina was ultimately a true villain. There were two main actions that stood out to me as a viewer that shattered the "she's innocent" facade I wanted to believe. First in 2.18 "Truth Takes Time" Irina is party to the detonation of a bomb in a public place. She saves both Sydney and Vaughn but there are many innocent casualties. Second, she never tells Sydney even after she supposedly has betrayed Sloane on Sydney's behalf that the second double was Francie when she had the opportunity to confess on the rooftop in 2.22 "The Telling".
That may have been because Irina's agenda did at one point coincide with Yelena's and the Covenant's... If the finale proved one thing it was that Irina above all was a follower of Rambaldi. Maybe she was involved in the ultimate second coming of Rambaldi plot played out in 3.11 "Full Disclosure", which isn't unbelievable considering the truth about Sydney's missing years was told to Kendal by an extremely untrusting Sydney... regardless this is all just a tangent of Irina's behind the scenes intentions.
My personal interpretation of the character is now that the cold unfeeling Irina portrayed in the finale was the true Irina. That Jack and Sydney were at best, parts of her former cover as a KGB agent that she would later use to obtain the answers to the ultimate Rambaldi mystery. And due to the connectivity between Sydney and the world of Rambaldi Irina milked the hell out of her position as spy-mommy.
All of this may also clear up some of the controversy over Katya Derevko's motives as well. Before I had the belief that Katya's involvement in the Covenant was due to Irina's double deceiving her, which didn't exactly fit, now I suppose that all three Derevko sisters were allied in the Covenant at one point. The question being what caused the true falling out between Irina and Yelena that resulted in Irina's killing of Yelena.
I'd like to make honorable mention to Verdantheart's speculations last season of all three Derevko's manipulating APO. It fits with this definitive incarnation of Irina.
My two cents concerning the unified Derevko covenant and the eventual confrontation between Irina and Yelena lie with Irina's time with the KGB. Yelena's initial target was Savogda a Russian city and eventually the populations around the world infected with the orchid and chemical agents from Omnifam. Omnifam as a world relief organization wouldn't be relieving the United States or other industrialized nations. The people infected and whom "The Flood" would annihilate would be third world countries. I think ultimately Irina's decision to launch against Washington and London could very well be a testament to her innate hatred and fear instilled by the Cold War and the KGB of the superpowers. Perhaps Irina disagreed with Yelena over who deserved an apocalypse most...
The truth of the matter is that I long ago realized that there never would be a single cohesive story that came out of ALIAS. There was no master plan. There was way too many "final endgames of Rambaldi" that in no way connected to each other. And unfortunately that means that there is no absolute answer to those questions and above all to the enigma of Irina Derevko. We as fans can only hope to stretch the pieces together, or hope for one hell of a commentary from J.J. Abrams on the season five dvd set. But that is life and we must deal with it. As a three times deceased schizophrenic Russian spy once pulled out of her ass, "Truth Takes Time".

 

[Obsessed with Jen]

I'm really glad to see that I'm not the only one who think the ending of Irina was fitting and expected. Verdantheart, I wholeheartedly agree with you.

 

[Dark Phoenix]

There is no doubt that she loves her daugther, because if she really wanted Sydney dead she could just have killed her in MI when Sydney gave her the gun! But her obsession with Rambaldi and this eternal life was gone to far for her..

 

[syd-157]

i think in the end irina was evil which i what i was expecting....still love her though


i think the right think was the way syd got her in the end

 

[evil_silence]

I think Irina was straight up evil. I know that in the past she showed compassion for her family, but in the end, she turned selfish and gave up everything for power. She wanted power, that's all that mattered to her. When Irina told Sydney she truly did love her near the end was quite sad, that she could never give in to love or compassion for others and in the end destroyed her life. She chose being a spy over a mother, maybe she should have re-evaluated her decisions.

 

[ParadiseKendra]

I personally don't view Irina nearly as evil as Sloane. Sloane was SO much worse to me. Irina did awful things and definitely had evil in her, but she also had a beauty and a love and a strength.

Irina's problem was her own obsession, her own need for power. It wasn't her lack of love for Sydney or Jack. She couldn't let go. And that was very very painful for me to watch. *sigh*

She gave everything to her daughter that she could...but herself.

 

[syd-157]

i have not got a clue what she is to be honest with yah all

 

[verdantheart]

The truth of the matter is that I long ago realized that there never would be a single cohesive story that came out of ALIAS. There was no master plan. There was way too many "final endgames of Rambaldi" that in no way connected to each other. And unfortunately that means that there is no absolute answer to those questions and above all to the enigma of Irina Derevko.

True enough. Sometimes I got the feeling that great twists took precedence over great storytelling--you can easily twist yourself into a predicament you have a hard time getting yourself out of storywise. The first two seasons felt so cohesive story- and character-wise that the following seasons have been somewhat disappointing by comparison. I would have welcomed a stronger overall vision of certain characters, particularly Irina.

 

[undercover_spy]

I think Irina's character was written off very fast, and wasn't given the time that it deserved and needed to be fully explained, but I guess that's what you get when you only have two hours to wrap up a show like Alias.

Irina to me was always the crazy, 'who knows what she's thinking', evil Spy Mommy. In my mind she was ultimatly evil, but with Sydney and Jack's well being in her mind. There is no way that her love for Sydney and Jack was all fake. There are too many indications throughout the series that prove the fact that she did love them. I think in the end she just let Rambaldi overtake her. This time I think she just took her obbsession over the edge with no regard or reget for Sydney's feelings. In season 2 when ever she did something too hurt Sydney (betraying the CIA) she always felt regretful, but this time (finale) there was none of that, which I guess is what makes me mad. Ya, she did say she loved Sydney, but that was just overshadowed by the fact that Irina was trying to KILL Sydney. I didn't want Irina's character to end all happy and sweet, and I didn't have a problem with her dying in the end; it was just the way it was done and explained that bothered me.

~Andrea

 

[bzion]

Let's try to remember that Irina was an asassin who killed a dozen CIA agents in the past, and in the course of the show's timeframe slit throats and gunned down people even when killing was not essential. The nuke issue was of course notably more cold-blooded, but lets face it someone who kills "only" dozens of people freely is already sufficiently evil in their character that showing compassion for a few close loved-ones cannot redeem them.

B Zion

 

[Alias_Day]

To say that Irina Derevko was evil is a way too simple word to describe her.

 

[allaboutvaughn]

I was kinda annoyed the way they ended it with Irina. I didn't mind if she died either, but the way they did it...
I always had the hope that she would end up choosing Sydney over Rambaldi and power. When I first knew she kidnapped Syd to get information out of her, I was like, "Oh good, it's Irina. I'm sure she's doing it to protect Syd and help save Nadia." I still believed in her, which made it very hard to see her ready to kill Syd for power.
Besides, what's up with the end of Season 4? There she was helping save the world and being all good, and loving. And all the sudden she isn't? I mean I know she was bad, and used people like in Season 2. But I was hoping she wasn't truly all evil and would choose her family in the end.
I think the plot ending was a little sketchy, and that it would have ended a lot better with the Season 4 ending
It made a lot more sense. And I would have been happy with Irina. Well, all I can say it that she definitely drew me in and I love her!