Alias - Alias 1x17 - "Q & A" Episode Re-Discussion

Andie · 07-27-2008, 11:02 PM

Episode description -

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Sydney wears a short-haired wig, and is behind the wheel of a big American car, fleeing from a squad of police cars...Where is she trying to go? ...And where did she escape from? The high-speed pursuit ends on a pier, with Syd surrounded by cops. With nowhere else to turn, she slams her foot to the accelerator and plunges her car into the water...

We find Sydney chained to a chair. It is a day earlier, and we are in the moments immediately following the FBI taking her into custody. FBI Special Officer Kendall now questions her, before a team of interrogators... The CIA are out of the picture, and the questioners are delving into Sydney's background, and her connection to the Rambaldi prophecy. They ask her to start from the beginning -- the very beginning.

She explains how she was recruited by SD-6, trained at Credit Dauphine...and in a painful moment, she must also relive SD-6's murder of her fiancé, Daniel Hecht.

Sydney explains how she learned the truth about SD-6 from her father... She then joined forces with the CIA and became a double-agent. She confirms much of what they already know -- that her father is in the same situation, and that Arvin Sloane recruited her, and brought her into a life of espionage...But which does the FBI want to believe more -- Sydney's truth...or The Prophecy?

Meanwhile, Jack tells Vaughn that her cover with SD-6 will be destroyed if she remains in FBI custody much longer...According to Rambaldi, the woman in The Prophecy will never have seen Mt. Subasio in Italy. Vaughn has a wild scheme to break her out of custody and prove her innocence... Vaughn and Jack agree that she must get to the mountain somehow. If successful, their action would defy The Prophecy.

Through a chance conversation, Vaughn learns that Haladki used to be with the FBI. He asks Haladki about Sydney's location... but gets no help.As the questioning intensifies, Sydney talks about her mother -- a deceitful woman who worked for years as a KGB spy... and while being pursued by an FBI agent, she went off the road, and disappeared with her car into a river...

Sydney goes on to explain how her life as a double-agent works: SD-6 gives her a mission, then she meets with Vaughn who gives her a CIA counter mission. She refers to the explosion at Badenweiler, to illustrate how contradictory this situation can be.

Jack uses brute force and a deadly threat to force Haladki to divulge Sydney's location. The daring plan is put into action... Jack, Vaughn, and Weiss rescue her and explain the proposed solution to the Rambaldi prophecy. Sydney is angry at first, as her escape now makes her a fugitive... but she agrees to travel to Mt. Subasio.

hen Haladki learns of the rescue, he immediately knows who was behind it. He discovers that four unmarked cars were taken out, and reports these license plate numbers to the FBI.

Wearing a short wig as a disguise, we find Sydney's drive to the airport interrupted, when the police quickly give chase...And in an ironic moment across town, Will and Francie watch the pursuit on television, unaware that their best friend is the subject.

After plunging the car into the water, Sydney has a burst of insight... and breathes the oxygen from the tires. She stays submerged for over ten minutes -- long enough get away.

Before boarding the plane, she meets with her father and reveals how she escaped. And, if Sydney managed to fool the police this way, couldn't her mother have done the same...?

THE PROPHECY:

"This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks. Signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works. Bind them with fury. A burning anger, unless prevented. At vulgar cost, this woman will render the greatest power unto utter desolation. This woman, without pretense, will have had her effect, never having seen the beauty of my sky behind Mt. Subasio. Perhaps a single glance would have quelled her fire."

**Big Head want Dolly** · 07-29-2008, 04:02 AM

Ahhh...the recycled episode

**Yellow Mustang Girl** · 07-29-2008, 10:24 AM

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Originally Posted by Big Head want Dolly (View Post)

Ahhh...the recycled episode

The recycled episdoe?

**Big Head want Dolly** · 07-29-2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow Mustang Girl (View Post)

The recycled episdoe?

Either I read it somewhere or it was said in the DVD commentary that they were running short of money and had to recycle a lot of scenes

**Yellow Mustang Girl** · 07-30-2008, 10:26 AM

Ah.... it had lots of flashbacks, if I remember correctly... was this the one designed to catch up new Alias fans... it aired in January or sometime after the Christmas break, I think

Fortyseven · 08-03-2008, 06:11 PM

Actually it aired in March and there was no hiatus before it... I believe it was all a plan to attract new viewers and help them catch up. I suppose ABC didn't do those 'recap' episodes back in the day so they tried to recap everything during a regular episode.

Anyway, I love this one.

I'm impressed with the way they pushed the storyline forward while still focusing on the flashbacks. It also set the theme for the rest of the season - Sydney's search for Laura/Irina.