Alias 5.16: Reprisal
With the collected Prophet Five documentation at hand, the APO team spreads out across the globe to take photos of the different Prophet Five members. Once they had gathered all the photos and information at the office, they decide that they need to make the arrest simultaneously to avoid tipping the rest of the members off, including Sloane. Jack tasks Marshall to track all their activities so they can coordinate an arrest.
Meanwhile, Sloane talks to Sark and Peyton and proposes that they solidify their position in Prophet Five so they would be less expendable. In spite of Peyton's initial hesitation, she agrees.
Tom visits Rachel in her apartment. She consoles him in his sadness and he leans in to kiss her. When Rachel goes in the kitchen, Tom leaves. Later, Rachel gets abducted by Sark. Around the same time, Marshal is abducted from his home and is brought to Sloane's hideout. With Peyton, Sloane asks Marshall to hack into the government system and locate an underground cavern by accessing the federal ground-penetrating satellite. When Marshal refuses, Peyton tortures him.
Syd and Jack visit Carrie, Marshall's wife, who called them for support in finding Marshal. When Syd reveals to her that Marshal is still working for the CIA, Carrie volunteers to help and provide technical support in Marshal's absence. As soon as Carrie arrives in the APO office, she cracks the password for Marshal's program to track Prophet Five members.
Later, Sloane confronts Sydney in the parking lot as she was carrying Isabelle. Sloane tells her to talk to Marshal, who is determined to not give in. Syd then tells Marshall to do what Sloane says and asks what he wants to tell Carrie. He asks Syd to tell Carrie to finish reading the book "The Littlest Fish" to their son.
Rachel arrives in the same room as Marshal is in. Marshal tells her that he needs her help in doing Sloane's bidding. To ease Rachel's confusion, Marshall tells her that he had spoken to Sydney. Marshal suggests that they leapfrog across the network so they would not get caught in their hacks. With an understanding that Marshal actually wants to get caught, they begin to work on their laptop. Later, Rachel locates the cave that Sloane wanted in central Italy.
Vaughn relays Marshal's message to Carrie, where Carrie figures out that the lead character in "The Littlest Fish" is named Noah. With Sloane's motives, she concludes that Marshal must be referring to NOAA the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-something that Marshal must be hacking currently. Going with this possible lead, Carrie sets up trip wires to monitor government hacks and pinpoint Marshal's location. Later she finds Marshall triggering network security protocols. She narrows his location down to Ixtapa and Jack sends a rescue team.
In the basement, Rachel picks her handcuffs with an underwire and with Marshal, they escape the guard who was sent to kill them. Followed by other guards, they run through a corridor in time to be rescued by the APO Team who just arrived.
At the APO office, Carrie reports to Jack that based on Marshal's tracker, the Prophet Five members seem to be gathering in Zurich. Jack assumes that Sloane must be presenting the information that Marshall and Rachel uncovered -he then assembles a team to strike. Retrieving information at Sloane's safehouse, Rachel mentions that Sloane is going to Umbria. Sydney realizes that he must be going to Mount Subasio.
Climbing the snow-covered mountains, Vaughn propels Sydney down to the icy underground cavern, where she finds Sloane with the Rambaldi amulet. When Syd holds him at gunpoint, Sloane says that a shot will trigger a cave in. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Sark sets a timer for a planted bomb.
At the APO office, Tom reports that based on the files in Sloane's hideout, bombs are being planted around the APO office through the subway system. Jack tells them to clear the office while Tom and Dixon sweeps the tunnels for the bomb. Marshal and Rachel are tasked to evacuate civilians. Later, Tom finds the bomb and reports that it can't be dismantled because of the fail-safe components. He suggests freezing the timer with liquid nitro to extend the countdown.
Peyton goes to Zurich and meets Prophet Five members. Standing in the middle of the room and expected to present the amulet, Peyton opens the briefcase and pulls out two semi-automatic weapons. She kills all the members of Prophet Five and their bodyguards who arrived shortly.
When the last of the civilians were cleared out of the tunnel, Jack tells Tom to get out of the train and run to safety. Instead, Tom asked to be patched to Rachel. He tells Rachel that if they had more time, he would have asked her out. Sensing that Tom is giving up his life for this cause, Rachel tearfully replies that she would have said yes. At that moment, the building implodes.
Sloane holds the amulet against the light. He tells Sydney she is not allowed to see it and he shoots the icy ground she is standing on. Syd falls through and is rendered unconscious.
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Alias 5.17: All the Time in the World
Vaughn finds an unconscious Sydney and administers CPR. In a flashback, Sydney recalls the time when Jack told her that her mother has died and he asks her to be strong. Syd wakes up.
Peyton tells Sloane that she was able to make contact with their ally in Hong Kong, and reveals Rambaldi's Sphere of Life -they have a deal. When Sark asks if they want to go through with this global genocide, Sloane confirms as they look on nuclear missiles.
In the safety of a hotel in Sienna, Sydney remembers her childhood where she assembled building blocks she found lying around. Not realizing that this was part of Project Christmas - meant to test people's aptitude for being operatives, Sydney shows her father what she had done. Jack tells her she is a special girl.
Later Sydney reads a report where two missiles were stolen, and assumes Sloane's involvement. Syd concludes that if Sloane had killed all Prophet Five members, he must have all their assets, and would have bought these missiles from someone. Marshal then hacks into the Russian bank network and looks into the phone records. Via satellite, they were able to locate Peyton.
Vaughn, Dixon and Sydney interrogate Peyton, where she reveals that she does not know where the missiles are stored now but she knows that Sloane is targeting two cities with high civilian concentrations. Jack remarks that Sloane is not interested in devastation -he wants to profit from the reconstruction. Sydney also finds out that Sloane is in Mongolia.
As Syd was getting ready to fly to Mongolia, Rachel reports that she and Marshall are trying to hack into optical satellites to locate the missiles. They later realize that Sloane had hacked into the network with information uploaded from a contact in Hong Kong. With Dixon interrogating, Peyton reveals who their contact is. Sloane and Sark go inside the cave in Mongolia.
Later, Sloane says that the next step is for him alone to do. Sloane journeys down to a chamber that turns out to be Rambaldi's burial place-and filled with awe, he takes the sphere and puts it on top of Rambaldi's tomb. The Sphere of Life glows and activates Rambaldi's Mueller device with the red hovering ball.
Vaughn, Syd and Jack infiltrate the camp set up outside of Rambaldi's tomb. Syd sneaks into the underground chamber and holds Sloane at gunpoint. Meanwhile, Vaughn and Jack get surrounded by Sark and his men. Syd grabs the Rambaldi sphere and the liquid from the hovering ball drops to the ground. When she was about to destroy it, Sark arrives holding Vaughn and Jack at hostage.
Now having Syd at gunpoint, Sloane urges her to give the sphere back. Sloane turns around and shoots Jack. Syd drops the sphere to go over to Jack and Vaughn takes this opportunity to hit the guards and fight with his captors. Syd shoots Sloane several times and Sloane falls into a pool of liquid that came from Rambaldi's device. He dies and Sark picks up the sphere.
Syd flashes back to when she hands her father one of her first paychecks. When she mentions that she started working for Credit Dauphine, Jack tells her to quit immediately. Confused, Sydney argues that she will do what she wants and what she believes is the best for her.
They carry a severely wounded Jack out the chamber where they attempt to perform first aid. Vaughn reports that Sloane died and Sark must be headed towards their contact in Hong Kong with the Rambaldi sphere. Vaughn adds that it is Irina Derevko.
Later, the team receives a report that while Marshall can access launch protocol, they can't stop the initializing sequence. Jack advises them to go to Hong Kong. When Syd wanted to stay, Jack urges that she is the only one who can stop her mother. He adds that he never wanted this life for Sydney, but Sydney is far too driven and strong to let anyone stop her. Syd tells her father that she loves him and leaves hesitantly.
In Hong Kong, Sark comes to Irina and reports that the missiles are ready. When Irina tells him to target London and Washington D.C., Sark goes to a control room where he commands his men to initiate the countdown.
When Sydney arrives, Irina tells her that power is the only currency -and through Rambaldi, they can live forever. Syd and Irina fight furiously. Meanwhile, Vaughn breaks into the control room where Sark is in and they engage in combat. Vaughn shoots Sark and demands for the code to stop the missile launch. With Marshal's help, the launch is aborted. Meanwhile, in Mongolia, the bullet holes in Sloane heal and he is restored to life. As he starts to walk out the chamber, a wounded Jack stops him.
Jack apologizes for not believing in Rambaldi but since Sloane caused Sydney so much pain, he is determined to not let Sloane do it again. When Sloane says he can't be hurt anymore in his immortality, Jack points out that he can keep him in that underground cave with him. He lights explosives and the chamber caves in.
Still in combat, Sydney and Irina end up on a roof deck. Sydney then kicks Irina and she falls on top of a glass roof. When Syd urges her mother to crawl back to her since the glass roof can't hold her weight, Irina insists on grabbing the Rambaldi sphere that rolled a few inches away from her. As she moved forward, the glass shattered and Irina falls through the roof, and dies.
In Mongolia, half of Sloane's body is buried underneath the rubble and is alive -with no one around to hear his calls for help. He talks to Nadia's ghost, who tells him that now, he has all the time in the world and she will not be there to keep him company. She disappears.
Years later, a 7-yr old Isabelle plays by the ocean. As Dixon arrives, Vaughn and Syd emerge out of their beach home to greet him. When Dixon asks Syd for some help in an assignment, Vaughn suggests discussing this after dinner. Meanwhile, Isabelle finds wooden building blocks -the same ones that Sydney played with that made Jack realize Sydney's innate aptitude for being an agent. Isabelle assembles the blocks effortlessly and runs out with Sydney, Vaughn and Dixon for a walk by the beach.
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Now I'm officially freed from any regular series television program, since this one program I watched faithfully has ended.
Several characters predictably died, one was buried alive and other charachters came back to help close out their story lines. Sydney and Vaughn live happily ever after in a house in the beach somewhere secluded. However, Dixon shows up at the end, after about five years have passed and offers Sydney and Vaughn a simple mission....
Thus opening the door for more adventures of Sydney Bristow, CIA Agent, sometime in the near future.
There was one minor part of the episodes tonight that baffled me because it didn't fit in with earlier events in the series. Marshall's wife Kerry volunteers to help the CIA after Marshall is kidnapped, which she does. She assumes that her husband just designs video games and it is revealed to her through the story line that her husband actually works for the CIA. Hello? Marshall met his wife during season three when she came to work for another government organization that was working with (sort of) Marshall's CIA unit. Hello!!!
Whoever wrote the script should have known this.
Whoever proofreads these scripts before shooting should have caught this.
Disappointing.
