SYDNEY BRISTOW
Episode 22 – Resurrection
“You Were Never Supposed to Have Found This.”

This episode left us with a huge number of questions dealing with almost everyone on the show. It was filled with a lot of action and little dialogue. Some of our main characters were seen only in one scene or two. However, we did get one problem solved: Lauren Reed is dead finally. (I hope she’s not back—resurrected so to speak-- and so does every other Sydney and Vaughn shipper.) Still her death sent Sydney into an episode ending crying jag as Jack watched.

Okay…lets start from the beginning. Sydney is entering the CIA’s Rotunda with ease, going through all the protocols in order to be admitted. She is also dropping items a long the way: lipstick, cell phone, and other unidentifiable objects. Marshall says Hi and walks to Dixon’s office. Dixon wants to know how soon they will know the code. Marshall tells him 8 hours probably as it is 92% broken. He says it is written in something like a pre-Gallileon algebra. He leaves.

Sydney walks into Marshall’s office and begins to look at something on the screen. In Lauren’s voice, she tells Sark who is in a garage somewhere that she is beginning the download. He compliments her on her disguise. She tells him she’ll keep wearing it so his fantasy will come true. She watches the screen and Marshall enters looking for something he misplaced. Marshall finds what he’s looking for, then sees what Sydney is up too. He stops and questions her why she is looking at the Rambaldi code. She pulls out a gun and shoots him. She leaves with a disc and speaks through a Comlink to SARK? Wait…! Suddenly the Rotunda is hit by a series of explosions as she leaves. Sark is setting them off one by one, giving her the cover to leave. Marshall hits the security button on his desk before dropping to the floor unconscious. Vaughn sees Sydney and calls after her. She does not respond, so he chases after her. At the bottom of a ramp leading to the outside, he loses sight of her. Suddenly he is struck and kicked. Lauren pulls off her Sydney mask and runs off.

She expects Sark to pick her up. However, upstairs in the Rotunda, Weiss and Jack have located where the download from the computer went and sends the CIA after Sark. edics are called to help Marshall. Huge sedans loaded with agents catch up with Sark in the underground garage a few blocks away. Lauren, left on her own, stops a car, kills the driver, and pulls away, escaping. This first act was shorter than usual.

Of course we know now its Lauren, not Sydney, so what is going to happen when Syd turns up at the Rotunda? Naturally, she’s taken for questioning since “she’s” on camera during the “raid” on the Rambaldi files. Her interrogator, Hank Foster, shows her the shooting of Marshall. She is shocked and wants to know how he is. He wants to know where she was that night. She says she went to see her sister and to take her a sandwich. She tells the other agent finally that it was Lauren, not her. “We’re through talking here.” She gets up to leave. Foster tells her she is assigned to a desk job until he’s finished with the investigation.

In the meantime, Jack has told Dixon that considering what Sark did to him, Vaughn should be the one to question him. Vaughn gets to interrogate Sark. Dixon tells him (tongue in cheek of course) that the interrogation protocol is not to include beating. (Sure, but we don’t know what Vaughn has in mind considering what Sark did to him. However, it isn’t going to be a bed of roses for our nasty boy.)

In the interrogation room, Vaughn questions Sark, who will tell him all that he wants to know if he will give him something in return. No deal, says Vaughn and he smacks Sark to the table. Sark tells Vaughn that he pitied him. Not a good idea, because we see Vaughn later tell Sark he doesn’t plan to kill him, only to take his pretty boy looks away until people who see him will pity what happened to his face. Vaughn does a masterful job of getting his information. He tells Sark he’s going to be sure that he pays for everything he did. We know he’ll get the location. Vaughn has finally got it! His fair play morals are overcome by the hate he has for Lauren and her betrayal.

Going out into the Rotunda, Sydney sees the damage that was done. Weiss tells her that eighteen agents, including Marshall were injured. He also says that Vaughn showed restraint when questioning Sark even though he didn’t get the information.

He receives a phone call from Sydney who begs him not to kill Lauren. He cuts off the conversation as a car pulls up.

He walks in the rain across a parking lot when he sees Lauren. She takes a brief case out of the car – the Rambaldi document – and enters the building. Vaughn closes in and watches as a technician runs the document files. Finally, it stops at a location: degree in latitude and longitude where Rambaldi’s final answer rests. It is located at Latitude 38 degree 7 minutes north, longitude 13 degrees 31 minutes East.

The tech says, “What the hell is located in Palermo?” Lauren smiles, tells him he isn’t being paid to ask questions, and kills him.

She leaves carrying the briefcase. Oh oh, is she going to make it outside? Oops, she is hit with something and we hear Vaughn say, “Hi, Honey.” (I loved that!)

Act 3 opens with Sydney trying to find Vaughn. She asks an agent to locate him, but the information is marked classified by Jack Bristow. Sydney talks to Jack about what happened and Vaughn. Jack tells her that Vaughn has to have closure in order to be able to live a life with Sydney. He goes on to say that he has never had the closure Vaughn has a chance to have. Jack tells Sydney he loves her too much not to let Vaughn have the chance. closure. It would be a cancer that would eat at him every day Lauren was alive.

In the meantime, Lauren has been strung up by Vaughn. She begs him not to kill her using numerous excuses. Vaughn pays her no heed as he tells her she is going to disappear and that no one will ever find her. He demonstrates with acid. Suddenly, without warning, Vaughn is stabbed in the back.

The next scene shows Arvin Sloane in the safe house with Nadia. He has only 3 minutes before the heat sensors tell the guards the perimeter was compromised. They talk and Sloane wants her to know she is the only one who can help find Rambaldi’s ‘sphere of life’. He leaves her with directions where to find him.

Vaughn is located and taken to the hospital. Sydney talks to Jack again there about the situation. She will kill Lauren. Jack said he told Vaughn only because Lauren was his wife. Sydney doesn’t care. Lauren is going to pay.

In the next scene, Lauren is put into the jail cell next to Sark. Wait? When did they capture her? She sees Sark, saying, “Did you give me up!” He looks penitent, but she forgives him saying she would have done it too. She asks him to come to the bars separating them so she can look at what they did to him. His arm is in a sling and his face looks a mess. She touches his face tenderly.

“My mother hired a lawyer.” She asks if they had the equation backed up and he tells her where. He tells her. She reaches through the bars and grabs him. She tells him Lauren won’t be alive long, pulling off her Lauren-mask.

Aha, it’s Sydney. Oh well, turnabout is fair play I guess.

Sydney, using the information from Sark, locates the correct longitude and latitude. Jack tells her back in Los Angeles that he should go. Sydney says no that he should cover for her with the CIA. He hesitates for a moment and she wants to know what else he has to say, but instead he replies, “We’ll talk when you get back.” This did not happen as we find out.

Sydney gets to Palermo and then to the coordinates outside the city. She drops down from a cliff and sits behind some boulders waiting for nightfall. The Covenant is already on the site, digging.

Meanwhile in L. A., Vaughn wakes up and tells Weiss he was stabbed by Katya Derevko! Weiss tells him Foster ordered a lockdown, considering what Vaughn did. Vaughn wants help because he knows Katya is going to set a trap for Sydney. Supposedly taking Weiss hostage, Vaughn gets out of bed. He leaves the hospital in spite of his wound, which could cause a collapse of his lung. Tough guy, especially now that he knows Sydney could be in severe danger.

In Palermo, it is dark as Sydney waits for the men to leave the site. She senses someone is behind her. In a swift movement, she turns to see her Aunt Katya standing over her with a gun. She takes it from her. They talk. Katya makes an excuse for standing over her niece with a gun. Sydney gives her back her gun. She turns her back on Katya, who pulls the trigger only to find Sydney had expected it. She has the clip. She shoots Katya with the tranquilizer. Lauren shows up and Sydney, who was waiting for her, shoots the guards with her gun.

Meanwhile back in Los Angeles, the safe house guards want to get food, but discover Nadia is gone. We see her walk toward Sloane. She tells him she altered the code and that the longitude and latitude are not what she wrote. The Covenant are at the wrong site. She and Sloane have a long trip ahead of them.

Back in Palermo at the site, Sydney starts hunting Lauren. She disappeared when the guard she was talking to is shot by Sydney. Suddenly Lauren grabs Sydney from behind with what looks to be a bandana. She pulls it tight around her throat, then throws her to the ground.

The final act opens with Lauren and Sydney fighting over and around the digging.
They taunt each other. Lauren, I thought had the most telling words.

“If you kill me, you’ll never know the truth.” Crash, bam, crash.
Lauren continues, “You think the CIA couldn’t find you when you went missing or that you learned it by chance?” Crash bam bang!
“Do you think your mother has been helping you since you left or haven’t you ever spoken to her?” Lauren says as they continue their knock down fight.
Crash, bam, and Lauren snarls, “There’s a bank in Wittenberg. A numbered vault. Proof!”
Bam, bang, and Lauren pants, “We’re both pawns in the same game. The difference is I know who controls me.”
Sydney says, “Who controls me?” She’s on her back.
Lauren has a gun in her hand pointing it at Sydney’s head, saying, “I guess we’ll never know.”

Vaughn shows up just then and Lauren holds Sydney hostage, telling him that if he loves Sydney he will put the gun down. He slowly drops the gun, and she says, “You really are a boy scout.” He swiftly brings the gun up and shoots her and she falls. Sydney and Vaughn kiss. As they do, Lauren slowly gets up her gun pointed at Sydney. Vaughn pumps three bullets in her.

Lauren gasps out, “One, zero, six—two.” He shoots again and she tumbles into the shaft, hopefully dead. He asks Sydney what that was about? She says it was nothing.

However, in the last scene of the show, we see Sydney, wearing a disguise, enter the bank vault area with the bank director. He goes to one box and opens his side with a key. He leaves Sydney alone. She proceeds to break into the box using Marshall-like acid. She opens it to find a file cover. At the top is the CIA seal. Inside the cover is another black file that looks blank. She takes out a blue light bar and starts at the top. Again, it has the CIA seal.

Then: Project Initiated: April 17, 1975
Name: Sydney Ann Bristow
Status: Active

And below that:
Senior Project Director: Jack Bristow

Tears are beginning to flow as she opens the file and begins to read. As she flips through the first few pages, someone comes into sight.

“Sydney!” It’s Jack. She looks up, tears running down her cheeks. “You were never supposed to have found this.”

Wow! Now what? We have to wait until JANUARY? Hummm, maybe some show will “die” and we’ll find out sooner.


RANDOMIZING

Funny that of all the dialogue she said as Lauren Reed, nothing was as powerful as what she said during the fight. The dialogue was very telling, leading to another ending with so many more questions unanswered.

What about Jack telling Sydney he had one chance and didn’t take it (to kill his betrayer). There were plenty of times in Season 2 when he could have ended Irina’s life. In a Dark Turn as well as in both Passages I and II, he could have found away.

I wish I could travel by CIA planes. They must be the fastest on earth considering the quickness agents seem to get from here to there.

They gave Isabel Rosselini, special guest star status and she was in exactly one scene.


DISCUSS

Why didn’t Jack kill Irina if he had the chance? He told Sydney had one chance and didn’t take it. Your thoughts on the matter.

How involved is Jack—and Irina—together in the Rambaldi game? Given that Irina is the mother of both Sydney and Nadia, is she the key here? Is there a genetic code implanted in both of them?

Why do you think Nadia trusts Sloane now, even after he gave her so many injections of the green goo? After all it was Sydney who rescued her.

Who is the angel Nadia has referred too?

Sydney is the Chosen one. We still don’t know for what? Do you have any guesses here?

Dixon said that they are looking for Rambaldi. Sloane says it’s the essence of Rambaldi—his sphere of life. Is it a person or not?

Who exactly is Katya Derevko? Is she working for Irina or for herself?



Finale and we’re still up in the air. :rolleyes: (Sigh)

OOOHHHH!

Waiting 'till January ... darn it.

It is possible that Katya is working for herself ... unless Irina is more involved than we currently believe. Katya did endanger her apparent role in the SVR by 'helping' Sydney and Vaughn in finding Nadia .... I suppose we'll have to see what Katya's allegiances are in Season 4.

I am not sure what 'the essence of life' is exactly. It could be a thing, as in a device, .... as for it being a person, well I'm not sure. But then again this is Alias and JJ could turn that into something entirely different. Lol.

Nadia for some reason believed Sloane's motives regarding what happened previously before Sydney rescued her. Was it mistrust for the CIA ... or was there some part of her that wanted to trust Sloane, him being her father .... or was it the visions of what she saw/felt while she was injected with the elixir in the previous episode? Or was this the 'way' of Rambaldi ... Does this have to do with what we were told previously about the 'fight' between the Passenger (Nadia) and the Chosen One (Sydney) ... the warning that Vaughn was given and expressed it as well?

Since Nadia and Sydney are linked with Rambaldi's prophecies it is likely that Irina might figure into it .... as the mother of both the Passenger and the Chosen One.

What ever Sydney's Rambaldi designation 'The Chosen One' means, .... hehehehe, I suppose we'll be more closer to finding out in Season 4 as JJ adds more complexities into the mix of Sydney's life ... as well as perhaps explaining what this secret CIA project in involving Sydney that was headed by Jack exactly was. The year mentioned was 1975, during Sydney's childhood, ... we know that she was involved in project christmas.

Hmm

my overall reaction was OMG they did what to jack??


the epppy felt like it was a bit out of sync with the previous one - yet the masks were very MI:2.

I think we really need to remember S2 details in order to decode S3

irina never said "jack" - she says "My love for you for your father was never a contrivance"

Jack was hooked up to IV and all of that nonsense in mexico city

irina has two daughters and a supposed affair with sloane

dixon knew of syd's two years missing but that was never discussed

Jack was never seen discussing these things with Syd and when he was waiitng for Katya in Syd's apartment he was casually reading a novel.

why was that dialogue with bob lindsey knowing jack spent two weeks in germany in 1982 so enraging to Jack?

Could Jack have known about Irina all along and his betrayer was someone else?
Could jacks lack of a past or a family mean something?

Jack could pull off such an acting job- the ultimate game as it were

Could jack have or be rambaldi?

he is the only one who is never obsessed with ramabaldi and he has changed his tune towards sydney a lot this past year- he is never seen in places he should be- as a father or an agent. he does say a lot that sounds like love for syd but only actual word love is used in S 3

everthing is for sydney
in service of sydney
to protect my daughter



remember S1 he said this closeness between us is temporary
temporary could mean a few years ---

Sydney may have been one of many experiments- I bet lauren and sark are as well - perhaps even vaughn - nadia

superchildren - created to serve a higher purpose- unite the communists with the USA and create some sort of failsafe trigger for nuclear war god only knows what else?

it could be that jack and or irina fell in love with the baby and discovered that love and humanity are more important than all that rambaldi stuff - but it was too late

Katya needs a lot more exploration- is she someones mother like lauren or sark?

Could irina be covering for katya?

could jack have been behind irina's extraction?

no doubt in fan fic and spoilers we will all develop ideas and theories but alas it does seem as though we have to wait until january

in that way the show can have us catch up to them in real time as well- is it not '05 in sydneys world? - or maybe 06

My thoughts

Bren

that's funny cause my friend said the exact same thing.

that was truly disappointing.

he did have plenty of chances to kill her but I guess, the writer's were thinking of a more sniper point of view, just a hunch.

very freaky, if that's the case let's hope Irina comes back for another season.

maybe she's possesed by Rambaldi too, but I guess maybe she just wants a decent family, no matter what the cost.

have no idea, not too religious myself.

yeah, I thought they mentioned something about the chosen one and the passenger having to battle and that neither would win. (the scene a couple episodes ago,where Vaughn's in the hospital)

I'm pretty sure that scientifically it's not possible to find a 600 year old man, so my guesses are with the sphere.

I thought she was covenant, but that might just be me.

I don't know about you but I can't wait till January!!!

Some very good thoughts by you all.
Bren: Interesting thot Re Jack in Sydney's apartment reading a novel: Did you know he was reading "Alice in Wonderland" the copy that Weiss gave Syd in Episode named Reunion? There have been huge numbers of scenes, remarks etc all pertaining to the Lewis Carroll book during all three seasons.

Bob Lindsey was intriguing in that not only did he allude to Jack's Swedish disguise while in Germany, but also his attempt to make Sloane get an assassin to kill Sydney. Now what was that all about? He tells Sloane he knows what his endgame is? How would he know?

Sloane was always protecting SYdney? Why? Did he really think she was his child? Come on..I don't think so. If so, when did he change his mind (after telling Dr. B) OR was it a ploy on his part to get the doctor to give out false info? See how one question begats another and another...

You say that by January they can catch up to Sydney's world? Real time. According to their timeline, it should be 2005! It's sometimes difficult to know how much time has passed according to the writers though.

Superchildren? Well, maybe Sydney, or even Lauren and Allison, but not Vaughn! He's five years older than Sydney according to time of events. He was ten when his father was killed by Irina. That was before Project Christmas got off the ground. Jack was born in 1950 and was 25 when Sydney was born; Irina was 24. I don't think, knowing what we know about Vaughn that he was ever included in the Project Christmas affair.

Katya needs a lot of explaining and has some to do. It could be she is not who she says she is! Why would she kill her niece? Sydney was saved by her in Korea and then in the lab? If she wanted to do so, she could have let events take their course.
Why wait until Sydney is at the site (wrong coordinates of course)?

More questions begat more....

Agent Gill posted

The date on the folder Sydney found was April 17, 1975. That was the date of Sydney's birth.
Irina told Jack in S2 that "You never told her what you did to her after I left."
which means he used Sydney to start a Project Christmas trial, probably without anyone's knowledge at that time. It has been suggested that Sloane pushed Jack to do it, but we cannot be sure.

However now we see from the date of her birth, Sydney was a CIA project! Oh Gad, how awful for her to find this. What was she reading that caused her to cry? DId Irina know Sydney was to be a project? Or was she an unsuspecting KGB agent who was also a pawn in this game. Her function was to bear a child. Oh double gad! See what I mean: Jack is way more involved in the Rambaldi game than Irina or Sloane can know.

as I get more and more time to think and review I learn more

I did know aboput the alice in wonderland theme

it is actually discussed in alias magazine - JJ says it is just for fun but do we believe him LOL

I do not thinK vaughn is a superchild any more .- I do wonder about jack using Irina and perahps this whole you should not read this is simply a way to get us all hopping over soemthing we already know JJ can and will do anything so it could be bizarre or it could be that jack is really trying to protect her from more knowledge about Xmas

tomorrow I am sure I will have more ideas LOL but for now

Bren

And where was she before this? Buying the sandwich!!!

Actually, I think Dixon told Vaughn that he wasn't allowed to authorise beating...I don't recall him saying that Vaughn couldn't beat him ;)

Okay, can I say that FINALLY after three seasons, it's nice to see Vaughn with a little bit of passion! I mean, there's only so much angst a person can take!!

It looked like a crowbar, and that was a great line!!!

Can't...breathe...symbolism...choking...me...

This was a good scene...Katya and Sydney...hehehehe...

I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS!!!!

No...I think that he means before that...just after when he found out...

And without jet lag or 'airplane hair'! Mommy I want a CIA plane please!!! But me one for Christmas! :lol:

That's not true...she got the most exciting part...when Vaughn gets stabbed AGAIN! And let's be honest here, she's Isabella Rosellini If it was only a picture of her face I would've given her guest-star status!!!

Another reference to Abraham on the mountain, perhaps?

It's his Id. *snickers* no...but it could be like his conscousness...after all...he is/was Milo Rambaldi...it could be his way of preserving his mortality. And can I say that Milo is getting on my nerves a tad? I wanna know what the dude is up to!!!!

Chuckle, chuckle, he, he. You've done it again #1 fan. I do get a bang out of what you comment on... :rockband01:
The angel comment has to do with when Abraham was going to sacrifice his son to God and an angel :angel 1: appeared yada yada yada.... :rolleyes:
OK I'm waiting for you to read all my stuff you've got saved.

I've just almost finished 15 chapters of the Rambaldi Stone. My beta/ed is working on them now. Will post tomorrow as promised and I'm telling you, the Queen of the Cliffies :wave: has some smashing turns to keep my fans on the edge of their seats, screaming in unison across the internet... "Ohhhhhh Nooooooooo! You didn't?"


Ahhhhh, but I did, after all, this is ALIAS. :ph43r: All I've got to say is too bad JJ doesn't use some of my stories! :innocent:


B)

Well...I write my last exam next week monday, and I have the rest of the week off, so after I have my season3 Alias-a-thon (I taped them all without ads) then I will read all your stuff!!! YES! This should be exciting!!!

And the whole Nadia/Sydney angle should be interesting...maybe some Lena Olin next season as well??? I hope they sign her back on...and maybe a few more guest appearances by our favourite reporter (*cough**Will**cough*!)

Will probably have more to add after the Alias-a-thon, so will see what I can come up with!!!

Loved the column, glad it gave you a laugh!

GOSH I'm sooo sorry lenafan for the delay!! :unsure:
My internet went to the sh**s and I've just got it back recently, on top of the fact that I had installed a whole security system and...since I ain't very computer savvy...didn't know that I had to unblock all my friendly emails to come through...yeah, going through like 400 emails is very annoying, I don't reccomend it. :blink:

okay!! That FINALE!! Whoe nelly!! Where do we start??? :P

I don't think Irina is the one he's referring to that betrayed him! It affirms my guess that Jack said he had only ONE chance and didn't take it, and he had more than one shot to take Irina out if she was the one who betrayed him. I don't think Irina is the one he's talking about. Haven't a clue who else...but we'll see. :D

I think Jack is just as involved as Irina. If Nadia and Sydney are both genetically a part of Rambaldi, and Nadia has Irina who obviously is, and now Sloane is a part of it all, then Jack has to be a part of this Rambaldi prophecy just as much as Sloane is...he's Sydney's father afterall. It only makes sense since Sydney is a part of it, a huge part at that.

See, I don't think Nadia trusts Sloane that fully, I think she's playing him along to see what he's up to...I think that some part of her trusts that he'd protect her somewhat from danger being her father, but when it comes to Rambaldi, he'd go to whatever lengths to find what Rambaldi is all about. I think that when Sydney brought her that sandwich they made a pact or plan and that it's all a set up to see what Sloane is up to.

OOHH! hehe..I have some ideas about this one! I think that this 'angel' Nadia is referring to has to do with Michael and William Vaughn....I believe that they have something to do with this prophecy just as much as the Derevko/Bristows. I think this angel is Michael cause he is the one that wants to stop this 'apocalypse' from happening and protect Sydney and keep Sydney and Nadia from this 'battle to their deaths'. It's what his name means afterall, doens't it? :D

Hmm...I think she's the Chosen one, but not for the 'end of man kind' I think she's the oppisite.....kinda vague in all this, but just that she's not gonna be bringing the destruction of the world but rather STOP the destruction. *shrug* Not sure, really. :rolleyes:

I think that it is a person....but this person hasn't been born yet. I think that both Dixon and Sloane are right, only Sloane is looking for what this essence of Rambaldi now and Dixon is referring to what this essence WILL be....after it is born. :huh: It's hard to 'splain, I hope that makes sense..... :huh: now, who I think this person IS?!! hehe....goes with believing that Sydney and Vaughn were meant to meet...that it was Destiny.... :D hehe..we'll have to see!

Oh I totally think she's working for either herself, but more believing that she's working for Sloane here. She has never settled well with me and I really don't believe she's working for her sister. I think that all those messages that had 'supposedly' been from Irina to help Sydney were actually Katya, like how Lauren said that to Sydney, that how come she never saw her mom all those times she was 'helping' save her. Totally think that was Katya this whole time...and that even Jack was fooled on that one. But..my whole idea of who Jack is/was has been blown to smitherens, I don't even know what to think of that whole situation. :wacko:

And now we have to wait till Janurary before we know anything else....*sigh*
At least we now have peace to know that our two fave shippers are back together.
I just can't wait to see when Spy moma gets back into the picture...I for one don't think she knew or was a part of what Sydney found in the end.....and that Spymoma is going to be one mad mommy when she finds out that her baby was used like that......all I's got to say is that WATCH OUT! Heads WILL roll! :P

Till next time! OH OH! Are you gonna be critiquing when Season 3 comes out on DVD? Can you? That'd be AWESOME! :reallyexcited:

Colly E. :bunny:

Hey Colly
I already critiqued Season THree. I will just sit back and enjoy watching without commercials. B)

PS The angel she referred too, was the "angel" that told Abraham he didn't have to sacrifice his son to God.

:blink: I don't remember that! :huh:
I must watch the finale again! :lol:
Thanks for the reminder! :)
And no prob with the DVD's...just might be poking at you with a Q every now and then.:D
Colly E. :bunny: