IRINA DEREVKO
PASSAGE I – Episode 8
THE FAMILY VACATION

Hardly time to catch your breath then Alias plunges into another adventure. Jack is unbending in his belief that his ex-wife is up to no good. Sydney and he are discussing Sark’s appearance on the scene to become a part of SD-6. Is it a coincidence? Besides, she knew Jack and Sydney were double agents, therefore Jack believes she must have told Sark.

Sydney goes to see her wanting to know if she told Sark she, Sydney, was a double agent. With wide eyes staring at her, Irina says calmly, “Sydney, no!” Of course, if Sydney had asked the question differently, how would Irina have answered? How about this one: “Did you and Sark know I was a double agent before you turned yourself in?”

Would Irina say yes? After all she wants Sydney to trust her. And Jack, why didn’t he tell Sydney that Hadlaki had known about them and was an informant for Khasinau, Irina’s second-in-command? I mean there’s a lot of loose ends here that are not being addressed.

Now Sydney tells her mother about the information Sark was passing to Sloane. He wants some codes, which can be used to track troop movements and terrorists attacks. He wants Sydney and Dixon to get the codes.

Agitated by the news, Irina wants Sydney to get Kendall to allow her out on a pass for 48 hours with a special forces unit. “Why?” Sydney wants to know. Irina won’t tell her either where or why.

“Yeah, well, it’s asking too much!” is Sydney’s final decision.

The interaction between mother and daughter has been fast and when Sydney states she’s not going to ask, Irina bangs her fist against the glass wall separating them. She gets Sydney’s attention.

“I cannot give you details because I don’t trust the CIA. They almost had me executed two weeks ago!” Then she goes on to say to keep her value to the CIA is to tell her only what Sydney needs to know to keep ahead of Sloane.
Jack is not helpful to Sydney, when Kendall wants to know his opinion. He negates the request, much to Sydney’s disgust.

She goes to Uzbekistan and gets the codes for a brief case full of money. Returning with the codes, which were also turned over to the CIA, she learns they were not for troop movements as Sark indicated, but were control codes for six portable nuclear warheads that had been missing for several months. Now she realizes this was what her Mother was talking about.

In her cell Irina faces Kendall, Jack, Sydney and Vaughn. Of course she knew about them and when asked where they were she tells them “Kashmir.” Why didn’t she say so? Because, she says, she knew Kendall probably would have sent Sydney in with false control codes, which Sark might have known were just that. She was not about to risk her daughter’s safety. Kendall wants DOD to permit an air strike, but Irina warns against it as it could cause detonation.

So Kendall tells Irina she’s going to lead the operation into the facility, but she declines. He threatens her with solitary. Sydney intervenes. She wants to talk to her mother alone. Once a suspicious Jack, a worried Vaughn and Kendall have left, Sydney faces Irina and tells her she is going with the strike force and she wants Irina to help by accompanying them.

Jack, when he hears about it, tells her he is not going to let Irina near six nuclear weapons supervised only by Sydney. Sydney tells him the plane leaves in an hour.

Now, once more, Jack and Irina face each other, this time in her cell. He has a C-4 impregnated necklace, which he will put around her neck. He tells her if she tries to take it off, it will blow her head off, and if he thinks she is trying to escape or sabotage the mission, he’ll activate the trigger. She responds by lifting her hair, allowing him to place the necklace on her while calmly staring straight into his face and eyes.

What a wonderful scene. There is so much tension, especially as they are now only inches apart and staring at each other. Jack has to be filled with both anger, tension, and his heart has to be aching as the memories crowd back into his mind as he looks directly into her face. And Irina? What does she feel? At this point, does she still love him? Her life, since she left her family, has not been enriched with much in the way of warm, intimate memories. If anything, her memories of Sydney ended at six years of age; her memories of Jack and their life together, ended at ten years with twenty years intervening. We know so little of that period or her life.

Next, the three of them are on a plane heading toward Kashmir. Irina takes the opportunity to tell Sydney that Vaughn doesn’t sleep when Sydney is in the field. She tries to get Sydney to think of her own happiness. Jack doesn’t think she has the right to give relationship advice nor does she know any of these things after spending only a “cumulative half-hour” with Sydney. Irina states that a mother knows these things.

“Your motherhood is a biological fact with no substantive value in Sydney’s life!”

Sydney snaps at both of them and Jack ends up staring at the floor while Irina smiles. Of course, as Sydney states, Irina was baiting Jack and he was falling for it. It was as though they were still married and having an argument about their daughter as any ordinary Mom and Dad might.

In New Delhi, at the train station, the family is being interviewed by an official. He is ready to stamp their passports, allowing them on the train, which will take them close to their destination. The official comments on the necklace around her neck. Irina responds that it was an anniversary gift from her husband. Without warning, she puts a hand on his face and kisses him twice. Both Sydney and Jack look at her stunned.

Was she baiting him again? Did she do it because she really wanted too? This is the first time she’s been with her ex-husband and daughter for a long time and in a relatively safe environment. Did she do it because it was part of an overall plan she had? No, I believe she had a sudden impulse to kiss him. It was so great.

Now they are in the train compartment together. Time to change into their traveling CIA clothes. Jack unzips the bag, taking out a hanger full of clothes and turns to find Irina wearing only her bra. He stares at her, remembering. She is mentally asking him to say something about her, but he doesn’t. He turns back to the bag. Minutes later, they are in the baggage car where Sydney has found the suitcase containing their parachutes.

Again Jack and Irina bicker, just like married people do much to Sydney’s disgust. It was as though they had never been apart. “Shut up!” Sydney yells and jumps. Jack hurls Irina after her and jumps himself.

The three gather below and Irina points to a blinking light. Minutes later they meet with Saeed, the CIA contact who has their supplies and a jeep. He gives them each a gun, but not Irina, at Jack’s direction. They leave and drive toward their destination. Unfortunately they meet with a group of the Peoples’ Revolutionary Front rebels who obviously knew they were coming.

Saeed is killed. The three are pushed into a kneeling position, guns at their heads while the leader watches one of his men going through the jeep and its supplies. Irina looks at Sydney and at Jack. Sydney turns slightly to look at her father. Using her eyes, she indicates Irina wants his attention. He looks and Irina glances down at the necklace, which is covered with C-4. He looks back at the leader who addresses him and then when he looks away, Jack nods at Irina.

In the ensuing action, the family works together as a team, Irina catches the necklace Jack releases. At the same moment, Sydney kicks back and her guard falls. Jack does the same. As Irina hurls the necklace at the jeep, Jack pushes the button that ignites it, blowing up the jeep and its contents. Irina fires the first burst, Sydney and Jack follow and the rebels are killed. Sydney cries out. Irina is in front of her asking if she is hit. Sydney says it’s a scratch. There is the sound of a bullet being injected into a chamber and Jack demands Irina drop her weapon.

She does, but turning says, “Jack we’re in enemy territory and the PRF knows we are here. We need to start trusting each other right now.”

There’s the operative word again. Throughout the entire season more trust me, you, her, him etc. were evident in each episode. In this case, we have to be on Irina’s side. She could have easily turned the gun on Jack and Sydney if she wanted to escape. It has to be obvious she did not plan for this to happen. They all could have been killed.

So the three head out for Pakistan where Jack hopes to contact the CIA station chief.

Here's the second part of the column: Passage II B)

PASSAGE II – Episode 9

Back in Los Angeles, the explosion at the Kashmir site has been noted by one of the computer operators. They can’t tell what happened exactly. Was Irina Derevko dead? Combat was also detected. Vaughn who was being given the information, wanted to know if there were any survivors. When told they couldn’t tell, he responded:

“We need new satellites.”

Meanwhile on the road to Kashmir, the family is walking thru the countryside. Sydney stops, having sustained a bad scrape on her leg that is bleeding. Both parents are concerned. Irina walks away a few steps to a bush covered with berries. Jack is momentarily suspicious. She returns crushing the berries, putting the juice on Sydney’s leg. Irina tells her it promotes healing.

As they start off again, Irina presses Jack to head for Srinagar, which is closer than Jaipur. She has a contact there that will supply them with the right equipment. But Jack firmly declines, reminding her she is still a prisoner and “the only reason you’re momentarily breathing fresh air”, is her knowledge of the nukes and where they are.

“We’re not having this conversation again,” he states flatly.

Oh me, oh my, control issues between Mom and Dad. Still Jack has the operational control and he is not about to relinquish it to the woman who betrayed him. Deep inside he might think she is being truthful, but his demeanor is not trusting at this point.

Later, they see a train below in a small town. They quickly climb aboard. They have found food and drink of some kind. Sydney eats flat bread while Jack is drinking something other than milk. He hands Irina the bottle. She takes a drink, then looks away briefly.

For the first time, we are given a glimpse of their married life as they recall the toaster fire and the stay at a hotel when Sydney was four. That was such a good scene with Sydney watching her parents reminiscing with some warmth and laughter. You know Sydney would love this moment not to end because now, at least, they aren’t at each other, bickering and arguing. What are Irina and Jack feeling when talking about what happened?

In the darkness of the boxcar, they can have a certain degree of fondness for each other in the shared experience. Jack can remember “Laura” as the woman he was so in love with as they shared a bottle of some alcoholic beverage. Did his heart give a lurch as he thought of that particular night? He was feeling something as Sydney joins their talk about the hotel where she had a sundae every night.

Irina, sitting with her back to the stacked boxes, no doubt feels something about this family moment. She laughs fondly and the parents, torn by their history, look at each other. They had, in these few moments, forgotten the series of terrible events that had split the family. It was a very poignant scene and ends when Jack goes to the edge of the car looking straight ahead and thinking…what?

They arrive at Jaipur only to find the supplier to his CIA contact has died. Now what? Jack tells him he will take what he has. Irina adds to the list. But his contact cannot give him the necessities needed to gain admittance to the prison. Meanwhile the Indian has insisted they get out of their clothes and wear something more suitable for the country they are in. Sydney, when finished dressing, takes the satellite phone and calls CIA headquarters in L. A.

Vaughn asks about the blast and about her parents. Sydney makes a very wry comment:

“You know, some people go miniature golfing with their parents. We go to India and look for nukes.”

Sydney tells her parents the bad news. The nukes are being activated the next day at 1700 hours. They had better get moving. Jack borrows his friend’s truck, which has a foam filter. Again Irina objects. The truck, she says, won’t get them there. Jack insists. Sydney snaps at them both and tells them they don’t have time to waste.

At the truck, which is carrying grain bins, Jack puts their equipment and Irina in the empty bins. Sydney is horrified. “Can she breathe in there?” Of course, she can. They travel for a period of time and then the scene catches them by the side of the road.

Jack lets Irina out. Sydney hands her mother a water bottle. It had not been a pleasant ride. Finished, Irina looks around. They are not where they should be. Of course, the air foam filter was clogged. She is not happy, but tells them they’ll have to hike ten miles and then go through a minefield. Both Sydney and Jack are appalled. This was something they hadn’t planned on, but Irina is adamant.

“I just spent 5 hours in a grain bin. It’s my turn now. Let’s get to it!”

Scene shifts to the minefield as they move in single file towards the sewage tunnels that lead to the inside of the prison and now, the PRF stronghold. Jack hears something and tells them to stop. Suddenly there are rebels ahead of them firing at them. Sydney jumps behind a tree and Irina tells Jack to go to his left. Irina wants a gun and as Jack tosses it to her he’s hit. Irina and Sydney kill the rebels then turn to Jack who is about to get up.

“Don’t move. You’re on a mine.” Irina cries.

Now Jack is at the mercy of his ex-wife. She identifies the type of mine and defuses it with Sydney’s help. Jack has to feel a little chagrined at his own stubbornness. They continue to the prison and end up in a basement. There, now in control of the mission, Irina outlines their duties. Sydney is to up the room temperature of the R&D lab; Jack is to change the voice recognition system. She will go to the office to disconnect the surveillance system. Jack says no. She was an officer here.

We then get a little bit of information about Irina Derevko we didn’t have before. She tells Jack and Sydney it was a prison for traitors and that she was not an officer, but a prisoner, that was why she memorized exits, entrances and the minefield so she could escape. Is she lying? I doubt it, as it was well known that the KGB did not welcome their “illegals” (spies) back home. They suspected the spy was a double agent and therefore a traitor. Who in their right mind would leave the United States to return to Russia?

She promises to join them in the R&D lab within five minutes. She does, but not as they expected. Cuvee, the head of the PRF, arrives with Irina, who puts her arm on his. She has betrayed them again. Jack and Sydney are chained and put in cells. Irina and Gerard Cuvee are long time acquaintances: she was the agent and Cuvee was the supervisor who gave her the assignment to marry Jack. He taunts Jack, who jumps him, only to have Irina hit him. Cuvee wants to kill him, but Irina says no, they have to find out if Sark is going to double cross them and who his new partner is.

Of course, we know she knows the answer is Sloane. Cuvee leaves to take a phone call from Sark. Irina stays behind to get the answer from Jack. The guard stands outside at a distance where he cannot hear her. As she shoves the gun, against Jack’s neck she grabs his right hand. In a hurried low voice she tells him that she was caught. She hits him and leaves.

Across the cellblock, in another cell, Sydney witnesses this in agony at her mother’s treatment of her father. They had been working together as a team, a family, and now this seemingly traitorous act by her mother is devastating. Sydney was beginning to feel something for her. Was it love? Maybe. Friendship? Possibly. Sydney’s desire to have her mother back close to her was being battered by Irina’s callous act of striking Jack with her gun.

Sitting on her bunk, Sydney is half in tears and very angry. Then her cell door opens and Jack stands there telling her that it had been an act. Irina had slipped him the handcuff keys. She made it possible for Jack and Sydney to use Cuvee’s office to call the CIA.

In the office Jack hunts for Cuvee and Irina using the surveillance system. Sydney calls operations and Kendall tells her India is about to blow the prison apart in an air strike. Jack tells Kendall he’ll either hear from them or he won’t. He tells Sydney that their assignment from the CIA is to bring Irina back.

This raises an interesting observation. If Jack is right about Irina he could have just left her there and taken Sydney out. Instead he tells Sydney it’s their job to get her back into the CIA’s custody. Their actual job was to get the nukes; at least that’s why they went to Kashmir. Jack obviously still has feelings for Irina that he is not willing to admit to Sydney yet.

They find Irina in the R&D lab with Cuvee. The nuclear heads are activated in order to open a Rambaldi artifact which would prove his theory in self-sustaining cell regeneration. The black ball opens to reveal a flower still blooming. Irina tries to get it from Cuvee by doing a power kick. Cuvee pulls a gun on her. Jack jumps him and knocks him out. Jack and Irina stare at each other. What are they thinking? Sydney grabs the flower and they leave after packing up the nukes.

The final scene is back at operations. Irina, wrists handcuffed behind her back, is led to her cell. Once the guards leave, she and Sydney face each other. Irina then tells Sydney it’s time she knew why she shot her in Taipei. Cuvee was there in the next room watching. He would have killed them both if he thought Irina would betray him. She shot Sydney in order to give them both time and Sydney a chance to escape. Sydney smiles at her, accepting the words she hears. She calls her “Mom” for the first time to her face. Tears appear in Irina’s eyes as Sydney leaves and she smiles.

End of family vacation: Mom in prison cell, Dad checking in with SD-6 and Sydney on her way to play miniature golf.

This was a really excellent two-part Alias. We got to see Jack and Irina together and to see that the 20 years apart hadn’t changed some of their feelings for each other. This was especially true when they were reminiscing about the toaster fire while in the boxcar. Irina was concerned about Jack when he landed on the mine. She cared about Sydney’s two minor injuries just as a mother would. She went through with the mission without trying to escape even though she had a couple of chances: one at the ambush and the other at the prison.

Jack’s reactions were not so predictable. Her kissing him in the New Delhi station certainly caught him off guard. As I said before, I think it was an impulse on her part in that moment. Maybe there was a little irony in her action since the necklace, the anniversary gift, could blow her head off if he pressed a button. He didn’t want to abandon her in the prison, which might have been blown up by the air strike. Of course, he couched it in terms that made his daughter cringe with their callousness. But then, that’s Jack, hiding his emotions. He was surprised when it was Cuvee she was double-crossing and not he or Sydney. What was her game? You could see it in his face as he looked at the keys in his hand.

One final note: Derek de Lint, who also played the role of Franz in The Unbelievable Lightness of Being in 1988, played Gerard Cuvee. Lena Olin, who was one of the three stars in the same movie, played Sabina, a very sensual bohemian artist. Derek and she played lovers. This was a most interesting piece of casting by JJ Abrams and company.

Great summary and commentary lenafan!!!!!!! Thanks a lot for the PM. That last piece of fact was also interesting and JJ did make a good casting call for that episode.

Brilliant column again, of course. Here's a few points I came across as I read it.

I know that at this stage in the season, we think they are ex-husband and wife, but they aren't really, and knowing that and then reading back really makes you wonder about some of the things Irina was doing. Maybe she was softening him up?

The way she said this, Sydney may have been feeling a bit out of place, and unconventional, but I really think that she was happy to have both of her parents working together. I personally think that she enjoyed that mission way more than she lets on.

Irina has a way, doesn't she? The way she sneakily brings this up, and without complaining, really shows us how tough she can be. Absolutely amazing, I really think that Irina is an powerful and outstanding woman, if not a model citizen.

Good question! I'm wondering the same thing myself...? What were Irina's motives to do that, if she knew it would land her in Kashmir if she was caught?

I think that this must be the first time that we have ever actually known something in Alias that the characters concerned haven't. But then again, Irina probably knows, and doesn't tell Cuvee :rolleyes:.

This was the most emotional moment I have really ever seen in ALIAS. Even when Syd and Vaughn are together in Phase One, this still tops that. This was a very powerful moment, and reducing Irina to tears, even tears of joy, takes a lot of doing. Watching this put a tear in my eye as well!!

Thank you for bringing this to the fore. It slipped my mind when I watched it, but the irony is certainly amazing, and also extremely symbolic of the relationship which Jack and Irina share. The ball has moved from Irina's court into Jack's, and, after so long, Jack finally has some control over her, even if it is limited.

My final question/point:

Where on earth did you dig this piece of information from? JJ really has a knack of hiring people who knew eachother before hand, doesn't he?

Another amazing column lenafan. I really enjoyed reading this!

K. Ackles Posted on Aug 2 2003, 03:16 AM

I think even Irina didn't think they were still married at this point. Jack could have divorced her, declared her dead (after 7 years) or he could have gotten the annulment. She may have had a hunch during the scene in Abduction and that's why she said, "we may even still be married."

She may not have known returning would land her in prison as a traitor. She ran because Calder (her handler) told her the FBI was going to arrest her for being a spy AND killer. That would send me running fast back home. Also she had been in the US for ten years! THings change. She had no reason to believe they wouldn't trust her. Remember when she told Sydney why she became an agent -- to feel empowered, etc.

When I saw the episode I knew I'd seen him recently. THen I remembered he was in the movie! I had just bought the movie a couple of weeks before (Unbelievable Lightness of Being) and watched it. OMG, it's the same guy who played Franz in the movie. Sure enough, memory was served.

Thanks for all the next comments. B)

Surely Irina would have known they would throw her in prison? She wasn't completely stupid, afterall. But maybe that was worth it. Maybe she was running from more...

You have a good memory. I saw chocolat the same day I watched ALIAS and didn't even recognise Lena Olin! Same with Queen of the Damned!!!

Do you think that perhaps Irina was fishing when she told him they might be married?

K. Ackles Posted on Aug 3 2003, 02:35 AM

No, she wouldn't! First of all, she left Russia in 1972 (Alias storyline) to marry Jack (her assignment). She lived in the US for ten years. She had no contact with the KGB except with her handler..so she personally had no knowledge of what would happen to her when she returned.

To be honest I'm not sure, but when she gave herself up to the CIA, her intentions as we know now was to NOT stay in their clutches. She, IMO, went for two reasons, to get to know her daughter who was in the same line of business, much to her horror (IMO again) and to get the information that would lead her to the rest of the CIA's Rambaldi artifacts. She may have known she would/could/might see Jack, but both in Taipei and in Barcelona, she had only seen Sydney. Now she knew Jack was a double agent (thanks to Hadlaki), but still married--that would have been a possibility. I think after Passage, she might have had a glimpse of his still deep love for her (as Laura, of course). :wub:
That was some scene in the boxcar as they remembered the night of the Toaster.
B)

Okay, so she wouldn't have known about Kashmir. Glad she got out of it though :P

And I think she may have been baiting Jack...she probably knew...did a bit of research or something...

Lenafan and K. Ackles, i just read your interventions about J and I's marriage.

I find funny how Jack and Irina know they are still husband and wife. What ? Jack has gone at the city hall or seen a lawyer :

"huh, just a question. If my wife who died and buried for twenty years, wasn't really passed away, are we still married?" :wacko:

But if he didn't really love her (and lets face it, he does) but he would have got her death certified, and hey, probably had the marriage annuled, which begs the question, why didn't he?

Technically if she comes 'back from the dead', and the wedding wasn't annuled, or they weren't divorced before death, then they are still married. Something about 'til death do us part' :P :rolleyes: :huh:

IDB Posted on Aug 4 2003, 01:12 PM

K. Ackles Posted on Aug 5 2003, 04:04 AM

I don't think Jack ever thought about having Laura declared dead. Right after her accident and the FBI disclosure, he was put in prison for interrogation and when he got out, Arvin Sloane, proposed he leave the CIA too and join him. Then the CIA told him he could still be on the payroll but he had to go with Arvin. :ph43r:

THen he had SYdney to take care of albeit not as a loving father. He was slowly becoming the taciturn, stiff and deadly agent he was when we first saw him. Then, of course, he found out that "Laura" was still alive, back in Russia. That turned a knife in him and he buried the fact. :(

When they found the old video tape (Season One) of Irina's debriefing by the KGB and Sydney learned her mother was alive, but a KGB agent he was too busy shelving up his daughter to even think about annullment etc. No, I think, his devotion to his wife Laura when she was alive just kept him from doing anything about ending the marriage to the woman he'd loved so much. :wub:

B)

Exactly. He really did love her. Even after he found out she was Irina, he still loved her as Laura. I think he somehow hoped that she would still be his Laura