V
verdantheart
Guest
In “The Orphan” (4.12), we begin with the first of many flashbacks to Nadia’s past, when a man enters her orphanage and attempts to remove a girl. She fights him, then disappears. The matron there seems particularly concerned that Nadia left.
In the present, we find Nadia out running. Sydney is a little concerned because that’s what she does when she has a lot on her mind. But before Nadia can answer, they are called into the office.
At last, Vaughn discusses his father’s journal with Sydney. She agrees to look into the classified missions for him.
At the next briefing, it turns out that the Byelorus Institute of Science is developing a next-gen optical component, or amplifying glass, capable of boosting a laser pulse 10,000 times. They have intel that the Jakarta Faction has hired Cesar Martinez to steal it (Nadia recalls robbing a store with Cesar in her youth). Nadia has been tasked with drawing up his profile. He is a freelancer whose reputation was made with the execution of Argentine intelligence officer Roberto Fox. Sydney is tasked to steal the glass first, taking the opportunity of the dedication of a new wing of the Institute. (Nadia remembers going over her take with Cesar and getting caught by the police.) Nadia tells Sydney that she knew Roberto Fox, but that she’ll make the mission work.
Marshall gets curious about what Vaughn’s doing, but Vaughn is reluctant to open up, saying he’ll tell him later.
In Minsk, Dixon locates the architect and steers Sydney to him. Sydney clones his PDA via WiFi, but must get his autograph to decrypt it. Meanwhile, Nadia lifts an access card from another man. (She recalls jail and meeting Roberto Fox for the first time. He tells her that eluding capture through 130 crimes at 17 must take talent, not luck. He’s there to offer her a job--and “a life [she] could never imagine.”) She spots Cesar. (She recalls talking with the orphanage matron, who apologizes, saying “I should have protected you.” But she encourages Nadia to take the job offer, saying “I believe that people come into our lives for a reason.”) Dixon suggests they wait, that Martinez might be on recon, but Nadia insists that he’s making a play. It immediately becomes apparent that she is correct because his team breaks in with automatic weapons. They catch Sydney with the goods. Nadia enters and greets Martinez. He whispers in her ear, then tells his crew to simply tie them up.
Sloane chastises Nadia for withholding information. She admits that she knew Cesar when they were young and that they got in trouble with the police. Sydney points out that this connection means that Nadia can use Cesar to get the glass back. (Nadia recalls a class where Roberto was teaching them about bombs.) Sydney reminds Nadia that when they’re in the field together that they have to have a “level of trust” and asks what Cesar whispered in her ear. She says he wanted her to call him. (She remembers a martial arts class where Cesar was angling for a kiss and Roberto reminded him to keep it professional.)
Vaughn and Sydney get together and Vaughn puzzles over missions that don’t seem to exist. Sydney wonders if there might be a reason for that and tries using them in a substitution cipher. As Vaughn stares at her, she explains that her father encrypted her crossword puzzles when she was a child. Vaughn says he’ll take it from there.
In Buenos Aires, Nadia meets with Cesar and explains that because they were not able to obtain the glass, she’s now in trouble with her employers. Cesar says he’ll help, but he must be sure they’re not followed. Nadia drops her hair clip, stunning Sydney and Weiss. They follow Cesar and Nadia.
Back in LA, Vaughn works the cipher and comes up with Portugal.
Back in Argentina, Sydney and Weiss continue to follow Cesar and Nadia, but lose them as they exit through a store front. (Nadia remembers her “graduation” or first mission, as Roberto Fox gives her a necklace and a kiss. She meets up with Diego, a fellow student, but he is in bad shape. He’s discovered that the disk that he was to pick up contains intelligence documents. Roberto has made them traitors. He’s corrupt, a double agent, a criminal.)
Sloane tells Sydney that Cesar Martinez owns several properties in Buenos Aires, including Roberto Fox’s old training facility
Cesar brings Nadia into Roberto’s old training facility, which he has taken over for himself. He commented that Nadia mentioned that Roberto made her who she was today--his death made Cesar who he is today. “I was suddenly somebody to be feared,” he said. “The thing is, I didn’t kill him.” He goes on to say that he’s always wondered whether Nadia might have done it--and the look on her face confirms it. (Nadia recalls returning to the training area with the disk and meeting with Roberto. He asks what happened and she tells him--then shoots.)
Nadia tells Cesar that “Everything that he told us was a lie.” But Cesar argues that “If it wasn’t for him, we’d be in prison or dead” by now. They fight. At last Nadia gets the upper hand and the gun. As Sydney and Weiss come in, Nadia comes out with Cesar. Sydney and Nadia embrace.
In Lisbon, Vaughn goes to the address he decrypted from the journal. He meets the orphanage matron. She explains that a blood-covered William Vaughn brought Nadia to the orphanage one day. He said that Nadia was in danger and stayed only until he was well enough to travel after recovering from a shot in the shoulder. Vaughn asks that if he knew her in Buenos Aires, why did he encode this address in Lisbon? She says that she doesn’t know. Vaughn asks if there are any other details she might remember and she thinks and says perhaps the word “Nightingale” has importance to him because she heard him mention it once on the phone and it seemed so. Then she asks how Nadia is.
Analysis:
Roberto Fox picked Nadia off the streets and transformed her into a spy. Hmmmm . . . well, that isn’t the first time we’ve heard this sort of story, is it? And he took Cesar, her partner as well. I wonder what backgrounds his other protégé’s had? It would be interesting to know. Were they criminals, all the better for his criminal enterprise (if they found out, they might be less likely to mind, like Cesar)? Or should we be a little more suspicious of his motives? That is, did Roberto Fox know what he had in Nadia?
Well, is Roberto Fox big-time enough? Could he be trusted with the care of someone like Nadia, really? Or was he being used by more careful players, like our erstwhile orphanage matron? I mean, this would give her a great place to stash Nadia, where she would know where Nadia was, where Nadia could be trained--and no one would have to know where Nadia was but those she trusted. Now, that’s a good question.
In any case, it looks like Fox wasn’t counting on the patriotism of some of his trainees--particularly Nadia’s. Nadia seems to take Fox’s disloyalty to his country--and his lies--as a personal affront. And she makes him pay the ultimate price for his crimes. She dispenses with any due process and simply blows him away, letting Cesar take the credit and make his reputation on it.
Meanwhile, Cesar takes a different point of view. To him, what Roberto Fox did for them is more important than what he stood for. He lifted them from the streets and gave them a better life, he points out. And Nadia repaid him by killing him. To Cesar, Nadia is the betrayer, not Roberto. Meanwhile, Nadia sees Roberto as the betrayer because he told them all that they were serving their country, a higher purpose, but they were only serving him, themselves--lies and emptiness.
Meanwhile, Vaughn continues his own family journey--at last with a little help from Sydney. And she doesn’t even try to get in touch with his feelings too much--ain’t that grand! She realizes that some of the missions listed aren’t real missions at all, but simply part of a cipher. Vaughn uses the cipher and comes up with a current address--for the matron of Nadia’s orphanage! Can we say, “altered journal”? Because it seems likely that she didn’t move there until after 1982 . . .
At any rate, he gets there, discovers that Nadia arrived at the orphanage in B Vaughn’s bloody arms, and picks up the probable code word “Nightingale.” So now we know who delivered Nadia to the orphanage: B Vaughn. Finally!
Random thoughts:
Thanks to Azalea for filling in the blank spot created by an ill-timed snow storm. And I thought we were past those for the season . . .
Discuss:
Vaughn finally recruits Sydney's help with his father's journal. Why do you think he does this, and why do you think he delayed? Why do you think he's reluctant to let Marshall in on the secret? Do you think it's that he doesn't trust him, or that he thinks he might let it slip? And speaking generally, why doesn't he just bring this to Jack or Sloane in the first place? (I know, but it should be asked!)
Cesar and Nadia have different views: Cesar considers loyalty to a person more important, whereas Nadia considers loyalty to what a person stands for more important. Fox betrayed what he stood for, but Cesar thought that unimportant because he was loyal to Fox. Nadia felt that Fox betraying what he stood for made all the difference, and she killed Fox. Do you agree with Nadia that Fox deserved to die? Why or why not?
So what do you think? Was Roberto sent? Set up? Or was he just an opportunity? (By “set up” I mean he didn’t know Nadia’s importance, but she was pointed out to him as a possible recruit.) If he was sent or set up, who do you think was behind it?
Just how “big-time” do you think Fox was? How much do you think he knew?
It seems like our unnamed orphanage matron seems to know a lot. Do you think she knows Nadia’s importance? Who she is? Do you think that whoever sent Vaughn the journal already knew where she was (after all, the current address was encoded in it).
Who do you think sent the journal to Vaughn? Why? Do you think they wanted him to meet the orphanage matron?
What do you think of B Vaughn from what you know about him so far? What do you think his mission was? How did he get to the orphanage with Nadia? Sentinel, Nightingale . . . any idea what this Nightingale is?
Going back a couple of episodes and recalling the baby and Sentinel . . . Do you think the baby is Nadia? Why or why not? Sloane and Jack reflect that the Russians are looking for Sentinel and that they “have to move up their timetable.” Do you think they know where Sentinel is? (That statement does not mean that they do not know where Sentinel is. They might be protecting that information.) Why or why not? (I’m not asking directly about Sentinel because I already got spoiled--and in the episode forum, too.)
Next:
What if the buried secret was you?
In the present, we find Nadia out running. Sydney is a little concerned because that’s what she does when she has a lot on her mind. But before Nadia can answer, they are called into the office.
At last, Vaughn discusses his father’s journal with Sydney. She agrees to look into the classified missions for him.
At the next briefing, it turns out that the Byelorus Institute of Science is developing a next-gen optical component, or amplifying glass, capable of boosting a laser pulse 10,000 times. They have intel that the Jakarta Faction has hired Cesar Martinez to steal it (Nadia recalls robbing a store with Cesar in her youth). Nadia has been tasked with drawing up his profile. He is a freelancer whose reputation was made with the execution of Argentine intelligence officer Roberto Fox. Sydney is tasked to steal the glass first, taking the opportunity of the dedication of a new wing of the Institute. (Nadia remembers going over her take with Cesar and getting caught by the police.) Nadia tells Sydney that she knew Roberto Fox, but that she’ll make the mission work.
Marshall gets curious about what Vaughn’s doing, but Vaughn is reluctant to open up, saying he’ll tell him later.
In Minsk, Dixon locates the architect and steers Sydney to him. Sydney clones his PDA via WiFi, but must get his autograph to decrypt it. Meanwhile, Nadia lifts an access card from another man. (She recalls jail and meeting Roberto Fox for the first time. He tells her that eluding capture through 130 crimes at 17 must take talent, not luck. He’s there to offer her a job--and “a life [she] could never imagine.”) She spots Cesar. (She recalls talking with the orphanage matron, who apologizes, saying “I should have protected you.” But she encourages Nadia to take the job offer, saying “I believe that people come into our lives for a reason.”) Dixon suggests they wait, that Martinez might be on recon, but Nadia insists that he’s making a play. It immediately becomes apparent that she is correct because his team breaks in with automatic weapons. They catch Sydney with the goods. Nadia enters and greets Martinez. He whispers in her ear, then tells his crew to simply tie them up.
Sloane chastises Nadia for withholding information. She admits that she knew Cesar when they were young and that they got in trouble with the police. Sydney points out that this connection means that Nadia can use Cesar to get the glass back. (Nadia recalls a class where Roberto was teaching them about bombs.) Sydney reminds Nadia that when they’re in the field together that they have to have a “level of trust” and asks what Cesar whispered in her ear. She says he wanted her to call him. (She remembers a martial arts class where Cesar was angling for a kiss and Roberto reminded him to keep it professional.)
Vaughn and Sydney get together and Vaughn puzzles over missions that don’t seem to exist. Sydney wonders if there might be a reason for that and tries using them in a substitution cipher. As Vaughn stares at her, she explains that her father encrypted her crossword puzzles when she was a child. Vaughn says he’ll take it from there.
In Buenos Aires, Nadia meets with Cesar and explains that because they were not able to obtain the glass, she’s now in trouble with her employers. Cesar says he’ll help, but he must be sure they’re not followed. Nadia drops her hair clip, stunning Sydney and Weiss. They follow Cesar and Nadia.
Back in LA, Vaughn works the cipher and comes up with Portugal.
Back in Argentina, Sydney and Weiss continue to follow Cesar and Nadia, but lose them as they exit through a store front. (Nadia remembers her “graduation” or first mission, as Roberto Fox gives her a necklace and a kiss. She meets up with Diego, a fellow student, but he is in bad shape. He’s discovered that the disk that he was to pick up contains intelligence documents. Roberto has made them traitors. He’s corrupt, a double agent, a criminal.)
Sloane tells Sydney that Cesar Martinez owns several properties in Buenos Aires, including Roberto Fox’s old training facility
Cesar brings Nadia into Roberto’s old training facility, which he has taken over for himself. He commented that Nadia mentioned that Roberto made her who she was today--his death made Cesar who he is today. “I was suddenly somebody to be feared,” he said. “The thing is, I didn’t kill him.” He goes on to say that he’s always wondered whether Nadia might have done it--and the look on her face confirms it. (Nadia recalls returning to the training area with the disk and meeting with Roberto. He asks what happened and she tells him--then shoots.)
Nadia tells Cesar that “Everything that he told us was a lie.” But Cesar argues that “If it wasn’t for him, we’d be in prison or dead” by now. They fight. At last Nadia gets the upper hand and the gun. As Sydney and Weiss come in, Nadia comes out with Cesar. Sydney and Nadia embrace.
In Lisbon, Vaughn goes to the address he decrypted from the journal. He meets the orphanage matron. She explains that a blood-covered William Vaughn brought Nadia to the orphanage one day. He said that Nadia was in danger and stayed only until he was well enough to travel after recovering from a shot in the shoulder. Vaughn asks that if he knew her in Buenos Aires, why did he encode this address in Lisbon? She says that she doesn’t know. Vaughn asks if there are any other details she might remember and she thinks and says perhaps the word “Nightingale” has importance to him because she heard him mention it once on the phone and it seemed so. Then she asks how Nadia is.
Analysis:
Roberto Fox picked Nadia off the streets and transformed her into a spy. Hmmmm . . . well, that isn’t the first time we’ve heard this sort of story, is it? And he took Cesar, her partner as well. I wonder what backgrounds his other protégé’s had? It would be interesting to know. Were they criminals, all the better for his criminal enterprise (if they found out, they might be less likely to mind, like Cesar)? Or should we be a little more suspicious of his motives? That is, did Roberto Fox know what he had in Nadia?
Well, is Roberto Fox big-time enough? Could he be trusted with the care of someone like Nadia, really? Or was he being used by more careful players, like our erstwhile orphanage matron? I mean, this would give her a great place to stash Nadia, where she would know where Nadia was, where Nadia could be trained--and no one would have to know where Nadia was but those she trusted. Now, that’s a good question.
In any case, it looks like Fox wasn’t counting on the patriotism of some of his trainees--particularly Nadia’s. Nadia seems to take Fox’s disloyalty to his country--and his lies--as a personal affront. And she makes him pay the ultimate price for his crimes. She dispenses with any due process and simply blows him away, letting Cesar take the credit and make his reputation on it.
Meanwhile, Cesar takes a different point of view. To him, what Roberto Fox did for them is more important than what he stood for. He lifted them from the streets and gave them a better life, he points out. And Nadia repaid him by killing him. To Cesar, Nadia is the betrayer, not Roberto. Meanwhile, Nadia sees Roberto as the betrayer because he told them all that they were serving their country, a higher purpose, but they were only serving him, themselves--lies and emptiness.
Meanwhile, Vaughn continues his own family journey--at last with a little help from Sydney. And she doesn’t even try to get in touch with his feelings too much--ain’t that grand! She realizes that some of the missions listed aren’t real missions at all, but simply part of a cipher. Vaughn uses the cipher and comes up with a current address--for the matron of Nadia’s orphanage! Can we say, “altered journal”? Because it seems likely that she didn’t move there until after 1982 . . .
At any rate, he gets there, discovers that Nadia arrived at the orphanage in B Vaughn’s bloody arms, and picks up the probable code word “Nightingale.” So now we know who delivered Nadia to the orphanage: B Vaughn. Finally!
Random thoughts:
Thanks to Azalea for filling in the blank spot created by an ill-timed snow storm. And I thought we were past those for the season . . .
Discuss:
Vaughn finally recruits Sydney's help with his father's journal. Why do you think he does this, and why do you think he delayed? Why do you think he's reluctant to let Marshall in on the secret? Do you think it's that he doesn't trust him, or that he thinks he might let it slip? And speaking generally, why doesn't he just bring this to Jack or Sloane in the first place? (I know, but it should be asked!)
Cesar and Nadia have different views: Cesar considers loyalty to a person more important, whereas Nadia considers loyalty to what a person stands for more important. Fox betrayed what he stood for, but Cesar thought that unimportant because he was loyal to Fox. Nadia felt that Fox betraying what he stood for made all the difference, and she killed Fox. Do you agree with Nadia that Fox deserved to die? Why or why not?
So what do you think? Was Roberto sent? Set up? Or was he just an opportunity? (By “set up” I mean he didn’t know Nadia’s importance, but she was pointed out to him as a possible recruit.) If he was sent or set up, who do you think was behind it?
Just how “big-time” do you think Fox was? How much do you think he knew?
It seems like our unnamed orphanage matron seems to know a lot. Do you think she knows Nadia’s importance? Who she is? Do you think that whoever sent Vaughn the journal already knew where she was (after all, the current address was encoded in it).
Who do you think sent the journal to Vaughn? Why? Do you think they wanted him to meet the orphanage matron?
What do you think of B Vaughn from what you know about him so far? What do you think his mission was? How did he get to the orphanage with Nadia? Sentinel, Nightingale . . . any idea what this Nightingale is?
Going back a couple of episodes and recalling the baby and Sentinel . . . Do you think the baby is Nadia? Why or why not? Sloane and Jack reflect that the Russians are looking for Sentinel and that they “have to move up their timetable.” Do you think they know where Sentinel is? (That statement does not mean that they do not know where Sentinel is. They might be protecting that information.) Why or why not? (I’m not asking directly about Sentinel because I already got spoiled--and in the episode forum, too.)
Next:
What if the buried secret was you?