Re-watching S3....Lauren question.

[Sarky]

Ok, obviously, anyone who's not seen S3 stop reading! I'm not sure if the spoiler rules still apply but just in case........



Alright then. Am going through the whole series again, and i'm a few eps into S3. Now something is bothering me. I guess my question would be....did they decide to make Lauren a traitor halfway through the series?

Because when you watch her actions and reactions with the benefit of hindsight nothing she does seems to point to her being a traitor. Eg Why doesn't she sabotage some of the anti-Covenant missions that Sydney is sent on. Specifically she's there at the briefing where Sydney and Marshal are going to China? and pretend to be cheating at cards to get into the back room and corrupt some gizmo or other before Sark and Bhomani get there. Or more obviously, why when Sloane is taken by Sark and Bhomani and offers to work for the Covenant and then goes back and tells Sydney and Lauren that he'll be a double agent for the CIA...why doesn't Lauren tell the covenant of this?

Also Lauren's seeming guilt over the way Linsey treats Sydney when she's captured and taken into custody doesn't seem quite right. I can see why she'd help spring Sydney from the NSA....the Covenant want Sydney....but why all this apparent soul-searching when she's alone! ...it's not like she's acting for the benefit of someone.

All this leads me to think that at some writers meeting someone says..."Oooh, I know, let's make Lauren a traitor!"

But, i'm prepared to be wrong...in fact I hope I am, because this little niggle is spoiling an otherwise enjoyable season for me. The only thing I can come up with myself as an explanation is that she's working directly for QT/McKennas Cole...who wants to get rid of the Covenant so has ordered Lauren not to interfere.....but i'm not sure that theory holds water.

Ill be happy to read a better one!

 

[Marshy47]

Lauren didn't know Sark was on her side until later, did she? And Sark didn't know about Lauren? She obviously knew she was a traitor...

 

[superintelligentone]

I agree with Sarky that the writers did suddenly decide to make Lauren evil.

Alias always had the problem with having lower ratings than it should have, so JJ & the writers were under pressure from the network to improve. They must have listened to and read about what the S&V fans had to offer in their comments & suggestions, then tried to use them to give the fans what they wanted.

Unfortunately, that is just like politicians who follow polls, rather than following their head & heart.

I'm certain that JK Rowling had a master plan for Harry Potter. I'm not certain that JJ Abrams had a master plan for Alias & if he did, he changed the plans to try to meet the network & fan expectations.

It's better to have a good plan & stick with it than to try to adapt to outside opinions.

 

[aayotte25]

I think JJ did rather well at making the transition for whatever reason. I am an optimist so I tend to think of Lauren as a sleeper agent just collecting information and biding her time until she was called into action. I am finishing up Season 2 again and can't wait for the beginning of season 3. I love the twist and the heart breaking moments it brings. The tension is great. I wish more info was given on The Covenant and the time Syd spent as Julia Thorne. I will keep my eyes open for clues on Lauren.

 

[beachdreaming10]

Alias always had the problem with having lower ratings than it should have, so JJ & the writers were under pressure from the network to improve. They must have listened to and read about what the S&V fans had to offer in their comments & suggestions, then tried to use them to give the fans what they wanted.

JJ strayed from his plan back when he ended SD-6 early because the network wanted him to do so. It was too hard for the newbies and casual viewer to know who was good and who was bad.

So in the end who knows what JJ's original plan was. I thought he had a general outline done for 7 years if I remember correctly.

As for Lauren, I never understood why JJ & Co didn't start laying the ground work for Lauren to go evil right from the start? I mean they had to have know Lauren wouldn't be around for many seasons. Fans would grow tired of her and would want Syd & Vaughn back together. After all, the entire Lauren/Vaughn setup was weak at best. Especially with MG.

 

[superintelligentone]

JJ strayed from his plan back when he ended SD-6 early because the network wanted him to do so. It was too hard for the newbies and casual viewer to know who was good and who was bad.

So in the end who knows what JJ's original plan was. I thought he had a general outline done for 7 years if I remember correctly.

As for Lauren, I never understood why JJ & Co didn't start laying the ground work for Lauren to go evil right from the start? I mean they had to have know Lauren wouldn't be around for many seasons. Fans would grow tired of her and would want Syd & Vaughn back together. After all, the entire Lauren/Vaughn setup was weak at best. Especially with MG.

I remember the demise of SD-6 being rushed and the explanation that Alias was too hard for the casual viewer to understand. :angry:

And how about Sydney having to be in bra & panties on the Suepr Bowl episode? If that isn't pandering, I'd hate to imagine what else they could have done... Actually, they could have done like Aaron Spelling did when they introduced Cheryl Ladd as Farrah Fawcett's replacement. Her first 'undercover' mission was at a nudist camp.

Okay, back to JJ's Master Plan: remember that Jennifer Garner said that the writers had a bulletin board that contained the master plan that they were keeping secret from the cast? She said that she had to sneak into the writer's room after hours like Sydney would, and took a peek.

I guess the wind must have blew the Post-it notes out the window, so the Master Plan got lost.

 

[Sydney Derevko Bristow]

They just lost it by the end of season 2.

 

[LovinLauren]

In regards to the soul-searching, I think Lauren basically did feel bad. Even after she turned evil, we saw that she had a heart on a few occasions. She couldn't kill her father and she told Sark to cut Dixon some slack when his kids were kidnapped. I like to view her as a "not so bad" girl who had a bad job to do.

 

[TheNumber47]

I remember reading somewhere that Lauren's true allegiances were planned for the beginning and were not based on the fan reaction, but Wikiopedia has been known to be wrong on occasion

 

[IWishIWasACarrot]

JJ did state that laurens character was planned from the begginning and that her role was also set in stone. Basically Lauren is a traitor. But she doesnt think so. She thinks the cause she is working for is "just" so thats how she deals with it. She has a heart and does form attachments. Like Sydney.

In the begginning of the series lauren has a sense of innocence surrounding her. They try and keep that innocence going for a while. One thing that would EXPLAIN EVERYTHING is in one of the later episodes of seasons 3... no wait its the season 4 episode where sark goes to see laurens body. he says something along the lines of "you know when the covenant asked lauren to marry you years ago and she did. By the time sydney had come back round. She hoped the covenant wouldnt contact her. Because she truly loved you. But she could see it. the way that vaughn didnt need her with sydney back around"

or something like that. basically the concept of lauren being a sleeper agent is correct. In fact her character was set to be bad from the begginning its just they try to keep the innocence of her going for a while. So all in all lauren was in fact a sleeper agent and was only called upon somewhere in the early parts of season 3. In fact the covenant may have chosen vaughn as the target for lauren to marry as to create friction and tension in the agency once "julia" went back. Although theres no evidence for that now.

hope my little rant answered your question.