Alias 5.10: Solo & Alias 5.11: Maternal Instinct

Alias is back for the first time since December. It's about time, though after tonight there are only five episodes left. That will bring the season total to 16, which is six episodes short of a full, normal, 22 episode season. I feel used. I want the full monty. I just hope that in these next five weeks that all of the loose ends get tied up as the series ends. Though I can just see sometime in the perhaps not too distant future an "ALIAS" movie, transitioning the TV series to an occasional feature length film, since storylines of government intelligence agencies battling the "bad guys" are virtually limitless.

So the weekly ALIAS updates on this blog resume, starting tonight. From abc's website:

5.10: Solo

At sea on a cargo ship, Sydney hurries to the lower deck, finds a radio, and issues a distress signal.

At APO, Jack tells Sloane that Prophet 5 has Syd. Marshall recovers Sydney's transmission but it's deleted by a Langley insider before he could listen to it - meaning Prophet 5 has infiltrated the CIA. They determine to go to Langley to recover the message.

Marshall and Dixon join a group of tourists at CIA headquarters. Meanwhile, Tom goes to the Payroll Department to complain about a missed paycheck. Rachel, pretending she has an interview, leaves her cell phone with the guard. The cell phone is actually a device that infiltrates security. Tom commandeers a Payroll Dept. desktop and, using the data sent from the cell phone, grants Rachel security access to the CIA server room. He also unlocks the Witness Protection records room.

Marshall distracts onlookers by announcing he's cracked the code that appears on a monument. Dixon sprays a surveillance camera, causing an "Anthrax alert." Rachel then slips into the server room but finds that Syd's transmission was purged. Jack tells her to pull the hard drive, knowing that it will raise the alarm and cause a lockdown. He calls Weiss for help.

Weiss arrives and apologizes to Dixon, whom he calls "Ambassador." While he escorts Dixon and Marshall out, he gives Dixon the key to get Tom. Marshall ducks into an office, locates Rachel with surveillance cameras and guides her through a maze of servers.

On the boat, Syd holds Peyton at gunpoint and asks her to explain the ultrasound images posted in a room. She faints, however. She wakes to find herself being prepped for surgery.

At APO, Marshall and Dixon inspect the hard drive and discover that the person who purged the records had Alpha Black clearance. Only seven directors have this clearance. They also find the secured cell phone numbers that enable these men to access the code. Marshall says he can trace which phone was used to access the server.

Tom uses Marshall's PC to decode the info he downloaded from the Witness Protection records. The data contains photos of his murdered wife along with the name and location of a man. Later, Tom pays a visit to the man.

Jack convenes a meeting with the seven directors, Marshall locks in a match and calls that phone. When Director Davenport's phone rings, Jack immediately shoots him and forces him to divulge Sydney's whereabouts. CIA security arrests Jack.

The doctors perform an amnio on Syd and decide to operate. Dixon arrives on the ship and realizes it's abandoned except for the infirmary. He spots the post-op Syd and takes her to the helicopter.

At the hospital, Jack tells Syd that the baby is fine, that the mysterious surgery actually corrected a placential abruption. After a few minutes, an armed guard tells Jack that it is time to go and a confused Sydney says reluctantly goodbye to her father.

5.11: Maternal Instinct

After Davenport's ambulance is ambushed, he's assassinated -- by none other than Irina Derevko.

Jack informs Syd of Davenport's death and says that CIA Director Devlin suspects a mole in the APO office. Since APO is under investigation, and because a condition of his release is to close the Prophet Five case, Jack vows to continue the investigation without documentation.

Syd tells Jack that Prophet Five wanted to know about "Leo-47 Norte." Jack and Dixon recall that it was an SD-6 mission that took place in a French territory. Jack assigns Dixon to fly to France and contact Renee Rienne. Jack also directs Sydney to go to a safe house.

Irina waits for Syd at her apartment. Irina admits knowledge of Prophet Five. She says that Prophet Five wants to pursue "The Horizon," which they believe Sydney knows about. Sydney says that she doesn't but that she had shared the name of the French mission with her father.

Despite Devlin's ongoing investigation, Jack enlists Marshall's help to break into their archives and look up a contact for the "Leo-47 Norte" mission. He finds out about Jean Bertrand's involvement and forwards this information to Dixon. With Renee Rienne, Dixon forces Bertrand to reveal more about The Horizon, which is stored in a safety deposit box in a Vancouver bank.

Posing as an Italian family, Irina, Jack and Syd infiltrate the bank. As Jack and Irina inquire about safety deposit boxes, Syd hacks into the bank manager's computer.

With Rachel's help, Syd locates The Horizon's box and relays the info to Jack. Irina tranquilizes the manager and starts to work on retrieving The Horizon.

With the lead that Irina had provided them, Peyton and her armed men from Prophet Five arrive in the Vancouver building and kill the guards.

With the The Horizon -- which is booby trapped -- in Jack's hands, Irina attacks him. Jack deflects her as Syd enters. It dawns on Sydney that Irina orchestrated her abduction for Prophet Five. When Irina insists that Peyton will kill her too, Jack responds by saying he will kill Irina first. Suddenly, Sydney's contractions begin.

Believing she's helping Jack and Syd, Rachel, under Sloane's direction, deletes records of Sloane's outgoing transmission to his Prophet Five contact.

With Peyton's team on the move, Irina leads Syd and Jack to the roof, where a helicopter will extract them. Peyton watches them on a surveillance camera. She picks up a rocket-launcher and blasts the copter to pieces. Jack tells Syd to keep a gun on her mother as he goes back down to fight Peyton's team. After killing her henchmen, Jack squares off with Peyton. He takes aim at a nearby fire extinguisher, which explodes, killing her. Or so he thinks.

Irina tells Syd that the KGB forced her to bear Jack's child to ensure his loyalty. When Syd was born, she says, she had to choose between being a good agent or being a good mother -- or fail at both. She chose being a good agent. At this moment, Sydney goes into labor.

Jack arrives to calm Sydney down as she goes into labor. With both her parents' support, Sydney delivers a baby girl. Irina bolts with the pouch containing The Horizon, while Sydney and Jack swaddle the baby. Marshall receives a call from Irina, who tells him that Sydney and Jack need extraction.

In Bhutan, a horseman speeds to an isolated hut by the hillside. He relays a message to a monk sitting calmly in the middle of the room. The monk then walks to another room and shares the news of Sydney's infant daughter with Michael Vaughn.