This is a longer column than usual, but wow, what a finale.

IRINA DEREVKO
The Telling – Episode 22
“My love for you, for your father…”

This season finale was even better than last season, which, by the way, was a heart stopper in itself.

We left last week’s episode with Will in deep trouble with the CIA and the FBI after he escaped. Of course, whom did he call, but Francie, whom we know is the second double. Poor Sydney once again betrayed by her mother, who used a taser on her while removing the DNA truth from Dr. Markovic’s server farm. She also proved to be utterly ruthless when she killed the Chief of Security by cutting his throat. Except all of us must remember, she was trained to kill. She does not pontificate nor does she have any high-minded moral obligations to keep an enemy, who would strike back, alive.

Back to this episode: Marshall is telling Weiss about his date with Carrie when he receives an incoming piece of Intel. He runs to Sydney, pulling paper from the printer. It’s from Irina Derevko. It is a printout of the DNA of the second double. Within hours Will, who was about to be poisoned by Francie/Allison, is back in CIA hands undergoing testing. Syd tells him he’s cleared and Francie was sent home. He asks if there was a name attached to the DNA file and she tells him, A.G. Doren.

Sydney and Vaughn are at a hockey rink. Vaughn wears pads and old shirt. It’s obvious he’s been playing. A cell rings as he talks about going to Santa Barbara (up the coast from where I live). Sydney hands it to him. Weiss tells him he’s needed at JTF. After a mild protest, Vaughn leaves. Syd says she’s going to practice for a while so she can beat his butt.

She’s alone pushing the puck around. She senses suddenly that there is someone else. Turning, she sees her mother standing on the ice near the boards. (Irina aka Lena Olin looks terrific. This is an aside comment.) So how did Irina know Sydney would be alone at this moment? I still think Irina has a contact in the CIA that let’s her know when her daughter will be alone or where she is at all times. This has happened in too many instances not to be suspicious.

Now Irina tells Sydney, that Will Tippin has been cleared as she promised, she wants a favor. She gives her daughter an address of a warehouse where Sloane has hidden his Rambaldi artifacts. Syd is still angry about Irina’s actions and betrayal. She skates toward Irina, hockey stick poised. With ease that comes with years of experience, Irina takes the hockey stick from Sydney who falls flat on her back, hitting her head on the ice. Irina then proceeds to tell Sydney that she meant to betray the CIA, but not her daughter. She reveals that she downloaded the information required to locate the artifacts that Sloane needed to build the Rambaldi invention.
“When the time came for my escape, it was painful because my love for you, for your father, was not a contrivance.”

Hooray, we J/I shippers were vindicated at last. She did love her daughter and she loves Jack. Hooray! Sydney has felt for some time that she was just a by-product of her mother’s “job” with the KGB. As I said before, no KGB agent would have been permitted the luxury of a family. Irina took a huge risk when she got pregnant. There was a scene between Jack and Sydney last season where he meets his daughter at a merry-go-round and they talk about her school. He tells Sydney that he and her mother would bring Sydney here. They would talk about their day, including sometimes Jack confesses about the CIA, while Sydney was riding. To continue with our episode…Irina states…

“Sydney, I know our relationship is complicated, but I’m your mother. I have to believe that would be the case under any circumstances. Go to Zurich.”
“You’re insane,” Syd responds.
“One more thing I’ll need to do and I’m sorry for this.” Irina elbows Sydney in the face.

Yes, a little rough on her daughter, but Irina is quite aware that Sydney would try to stop her. We know Sydney has a cell phone. She’d call the CIA immediately. So where is Irina going? She must have a place in LA. The writers don’t tell us. They let us fill in the details.

Next we see Francie with Sark and in the ensuing scene, we see that their relation- ship is more than agent and handler. Shades of Sydney and Vaughn! He tells her that they cannot reverse the process. Markovic’s lab has been destroyed.

Of course, the artifacts Irina told Sydney about are not at the warehouse. Sloane probably removed them. Sydney is furious with her mother. At the same time, Jack and NAS Assistant Director Brandon are moving the Di Regno heart to a safe destination. Back at the JTF, Will and Weiss talk and find out that Eric’s related to Harry Houdini, a great magician. Houdini’s real name was Eric Weiss. He’s the great, great uncle of our Eric. Hummm! Interesting!

Will is being taken to a safe house, but first wants to check something on his computer. He tells Eric his password is “Sydney.” (Aha! I could bet on that in my sleep.) Will checks his files and see Allison Georgia Doren was one of the children who attended a camp run by the CIA as a part of Project Christmas. He now investigates the report that Allison had been killed in a bus accident when she was little.

Armed men capture Jack and the Di Regno heart. Brandon is killed and Jack disappears. It obviously is Sloane’s doing.

Irina stands on the roof of a building, looking out. There are tears in her eyes. It’s obvious something has made her sad. Where is the building, somewhere in Los Angeles, probably? So why is she tearful? Is it because she knows Sydney didn’t find the artifacts and/or that Sloane has captured Jack? In either case, someone had to tell her what happened.

We find that Sloane does have Jack who is being held prisoner. He is strapped down on either a gurney or a high table. His wrists are held close to his side. Sloane tells Jack he is keeping him alive, “because we’re friends, Jack.” Now, that’s scary.

Next, we see Irina standing on the same rooftop? She is calling Sydney and tells Sydney she doesn’t know where Sloane has gone, but Sark does and he’s going to be at a nightclub in Sweden at ten o’clock tomorrow night.

Sydney snarls, “How stupid are you to think I would ever believe you again?”
“Ultimately, you will do what you want. That’s what free will is all about.” Irina replies.

Sydney stares at her computer screen, thinking. Does she need to act on her mother’s Intel? She looks at Vaughn and tells him they’re going to Sweden. They enter the nightclub and don’t see Sark. Sydney is not disappointed. She thinks Irina’s sent her on another wild goose chase. Sark does appear, confusing Sydney.

Sark is captured and reveals that Jack is with Sloane in Mexico City. Meanwhile in the room where Jack is being held, he hears grinding noises, power surges and the door rattles.

Sydney and a strike force, which includes Dixon and Weiss, go to Mexico City. Sark tells Kendall from his cell at the center (you know the one Irina was in for a period of time) the code to unlock the alarm system. After it’s been disarmed, Syd and Vaughn join the strike force as it storms up the stairs to the floor where Jack is being held. In addition, Sloane is telling Jack that Rambaldi’s machine is almost ready. A guard, telling Sloane there’s a tactical team on it’s way up, interrupts them. Sloane orders the machine disassembled and put into a truck. Moments later, Dixon and Weiss find Jack.

Now we are about to experience a very exciting sequence. Sydney and the strike force catch up to Sloane and his guards. There is an exchange of gunfire. One of Sloane’s guards tells him to leave. He fires a long burst and Sloane rushes out with another guard. Two men stay behind to cover the escape. Sydney and Vaughn are pinned down when suddenly out of nowhere, steps Irina firing at the two guards, killing them. She’s dressed in black and wears twin holsters into which she shoves the guns. What a Mom!

“Go after Sloane,” she tells Sydney.
Sydney tells Vaughn, “You get Sloane.” She takes off after her mother, who races up the stairs. At this point, we hadn’t discussed what floor they are on, but I’ll give you one guess, one guess only! Yes, you’re right. They are on the 47th floor. Up on the roof, Sydney finds her mother crouched on the ledge.

“Freeze, I’ve shot you before. I will do it again. Keep your hands in the air.” She then speaks into her Com link. “I’ve got Derevko.” The agent she speaks to is Eric Weiss.
“Get OFF the ledge!” Sydney commands.
“I’ll tell you what you need to know.” Says Irina
“Get off the ledge NOW.” Responds Sydney,
“Sloane believes he’s been chosen to realize the word of Rambaldi. But you too have been chosen.”
“If you think I’m bluffing.”
“It’s you in the prophecy, Sydney, not me. Only you can stop him.” She smiles at her daughter. “Good luck, sweetheart.”
There is a hesitant look on Sydney’s face as the words become clear to her. “Get down now.”
“I love you.” Irina says as she falls backwards off the building.

What happens next is heart stopping. Sydney thinks her mother jumped to her death at that moment, but as Irina falls, she begins firing at the windows. She’s wearing a bungee cord. When the cord bounces her up, she pulls a gun from a holster on her back, firing a cord into a now open window of the building. The dart at the end of the cord pierces the wall and tightens, banging Irina against the side of the building. She finds a window she has shot out and climbs inside. Sydney, at first horrified, now watches, telling the men inside what she is witnessing. It’s Weiss, who responds. He wants to know which floor, but Sydney can only make a guess from her viewpoint – the eighteenth or nineteenth she says. What an exit!

Irina is gone. She escapes. Question: If she knew where Jack was, she could have told Sydney but then Sark would be exposed. Did she want him captured and held out of harm’s way? Why? If she didn’t know about Jack, how the hell did she suddenly show up to help Sydney? Furthermore, she was ready for action: guns, bungee cord and a dart gun. I think she has an informant at the CIA. Irina knows much more than Sloane, especially about the prophecy. Evidently, Conrad didn’t tell Sloane about Sydney. So where is she getting her information?

Back in L. A. Will has returned home and is studying papers when Francie comes into the room. He tells her he needs an Aspirin. When he leaves, Francie studies his papers and realizes he will soon know she is the second double. In the bathroom, Will discovers the Provacillin and calls Sydney; leaving a message he believes the second double is Francie. He hears a noise and sees the front door has been opened. As he walks past the kitchen, toward the door, Francie/Allison attacks him. He ends up with a knife in his gut with Francie sobbing.

Sydney drives up with Vaughn. They talk a moment and he tells her he made the reservation for Santa Barbara for three nights. He will pick her up after the debrief. This is interesting? Why wouldn’t Sydney be at the debriefing? Okay, it’s Alias. She enters the apartment to find Francie reading. Sydney gets some coffee ice cream out of the fridge and sits down opposite Francie. She picks up her cell phone and starts listening to her messages. She hears Will tell her that he thinks the double is Francie.
Talk about shock, but Sydney doesn’t blink. She offers Francis some of her ice cream, which she accepts. Sydney leaves to change clothes, but instead grabs a gun she keeps under her mattress and checks the load, just as Francie/Allison enters also carrying a gun pointed at Sydney. She remembered too late that Francie doesn’t like coffee ice cream.

There ensues a classic battle between the two women. Sydney at one point falls into the bathroom and sees Will lying, almost dead, in the bathtub, just as she had found Danny. The apartment is demolished as they battle. They finally end up in the bedroom. Francie smashes Sydney into the full-length mirror by the bed. Both women are covered with blood from the effects of the fight and flying glass. Francie reaches for the gun that lies at Sydney’s side. Sydney slashes her with a shard of glass. Francie/Allison staggers back. Sydney takes the gun and shoots Francie in the arm and both shoulders. She falls. Sydney drops the gun and, bleeding from the many cuts, collapses on the floor amidst the broken mirror, trashed apartment and dead and dying friends.

The next scene opens with Sydney lying in an alley. She is wearing a heavy turtle- neck sweater and black pants. She obviously is waking up from either being drugged or having slept. She finally makes it to her feet, staggers out to a sidewalk and, looking around her, sees she is in Hong Kong. She makes her way to a phone booth and calls JTF and Kendall sends her to a safe house.

Sydney has obviously showered and put on clean clothes. She is wondering about the scar on her lower abdomen. Vaughn enters the room staring at her. She hugs him. He sits her down and proceeds to tell her they know about Francie and that Will is alive much to Syd’s surprise. She wants to know how and Vaughn tells her “You…sit down.”
He doesn’t know how to begin and looks at the floor. Finally,

“ We thought you were dead. They asked me to come back to…to explain.”
“Come back from what? What are you talking about?”
Vaughn rubs his face with his left hand on which is a wedding ring.
Sydney seeing it, says, “Vaughn…why are you wearing that ring?”
“Syd…since that night…you were missing. You’ve been missing for almost two years.”

Wow! Shock for Sydney and shock for Alias fans, but especially the S/V shippers of which there are legions. This leaves everyone up in the air until the next season and boy speculation runs rampant! I mean RAMPANT! It’s just what JJs team wants. The questions are many…and it’s hard to know if we should really tackle it. The next season is just around the corner and speculation is not relevant at this point. In less than two weeks, we will know what JJ had in mind when he left us dangling.

Of course, the primary question is where has Sydney been for two years, with whom and doing what??? Who found her and removed her? I think Irina could have done it. The CIA didn’t find her, Vaughn didn’t find her (otherwise he wouldn’t be married), and Jack didn’t find her because if he was around, I’m sure Kendall would have sent him. Sloane wouldn’t have found her, because he escaped and probably went into hiding. I believe Irina knew where Sydney was or maybe was checking up on Allison and found her daughter hurt. I know some believe Sydney regained consciousness checked on Will, called for help and then staggered out into the night and nothingness. No, No!

Vaughn supposedly was at a debriefing and he was going to pick Sydney up so they could have those three days in Santa Barbara together. Therefore, between the time he left her and the time he came to pick her up…Sydney, after the fight, disappeared.

I will read it but AAAARGHH!!!! There is a test this morning, and the instant I read about it, you'll get my normal blurb at the bottom, promise!

Who took Sydney ?

On the one hand, if Sloane has taken Sydney then Jack and Irina will try to find her, together (i'm a J/I shipper).

On the other hand, i would prefer that Irina took Sydney to take care of her and perhaps to make up for the lost years far away of her daughter.

I answered "Sloane" in all likelihood. He needs her to fulfill the Prophecy.

Great column, by the way.

I'd like to think that Irina took Sydney to protect her . . .

but it is also likely that Sloane took her to use a rambaldi device . . .
lol . . . I'd love to have seen Jack and Irina work together to get Sydney back if that were the case.

Arrgh . . . I'm thinking of a more close percentage here between these two captors . . . Sloane 50% - Irina the other half . . .

Although Sydney did have a weird scar on her it could be either a tracking device or something Rambaldi designed.

I voted for Irina anyways.

I know i sure was happy.

And that thing about Irina haveing a contact at the C.I.A., never thought of that before.
Seems very possible, now you got me thinking of who it could possibly be.
This is gonna drive insane. Anyways thank you for the pm's and i so truly can't wait to read more.

IDB Posted on Sep 17 2003, 11:31 AM

I don't think Sloane would want to help Sydney, unless he didn't know about the prophecy. Not Irina, but Sydney will destroy him. So it's possible, but not for that particular reason. Of course, if he knew about the Prophecy he might believe it is Irina. :huh: Oh my we are going around and around. :rolleyes:

AgentGill Posted on Sep 17 2003, 12:14 PM

Do you mean Il Dire? :ph43r: That is possible...and then all of us could be way off track. JJ has a way of (ha ha) double-crossing all of us. :lol: We'll have to wait to see.

The scar was well defined and keloid in type. These days surgeons stitch so that scars are barely visible. Something planted inside? :( Well, the doctors of the CIA will find out in a hurry, so that would be a waste of time and effort. :wacko:

Naughty Will. He can hide with me though :wub:

Go Irina! She showed us how ruthless she can be, she showed us that she isn't afraid of consequences. She showed us that she gets what she wants regardless.

Let's be honest, Alias is about 'Kill or be Killed'. Of course, Irina chose to kill.

Talk about cutting it close! Sheesh!

:wub: *loud sigh* She really loves her Spy Family!

Roger that lenafan! She's lookin hot!

lol. Now any mum who can do that to their own child is truly super mum! Wow. Irina really does flip extremes!

:wub: Will loves Syd! *sigh*

No kidding! Their friendship ended when he recruited Sydney into SD-6. ;)

WHY DID SHE DO THAT!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! TIPPY!!!!! *sobs hard into pillow*

Poor Syd. Poor poor Syd. And poor Will. But maybe this is sort of Irinic, and perhaps evn an over-lay in the plot. The two men Syd loves lying dead in a tub? SHe might not love him like that, but she loves him.

I'm so glad he's not dead. BUT WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!?!?!

forget the coming back. What does he have to explain? Let's read itno that!

I agree with this, but I want to know who saved Will Tippin? A lesser question, but me not being a S/V shipper, and loving Will Tippin, I want to know that more than most else (except where the hell Syd has been, off course).

I promised I'd read and Review, and I did! Sorry it took me so damn long. Life is hectic, but you know that ;)

I couldn't agree more. . . :sigh: beautiful.

Believe me, I was SOOOO happy when she said this. I mean, I knew it all along, but to actually hear her say it means that J.J. is hopefully going to give us some explanations . . . eventually. maybe. or not. But I don't care, as long as she stays on the show!

Seriously, that cell is getting a lot of use since Irina left!

Go, Irina! :D

Interesting theory.

I'd really like to think that it was Irina who took Sydney (at least we'd know nothing too terrible happend to her, because Irina certainly wouldn't allow that) but I really think it was Sloane. Although why he would let her go and end up in an alley in Hong Kong is beyond me. Maybe she escaped??? I really have no idea.

My only wish for Season 3 is that Irina gets more (or at least, no less) screen time. *sigh* ONLY 8 MORE DAYS! you wouldn't think I'm excited or anything, now, would you? :D *jumping up and down in excitement*

Anyway, after babbling on for a long time, I really enjoyed this column! Are you going to be doing them for Season 3?

Ciara32 Posted on Sep 20 2003, 05:56 PM

Yep! Irina may not be in every one, but I cant stop now! :blush01:
Nicely critiqued. Thanks K. Ackles and Ciara and all of you...
B)

Our pleasure! Hats off to lenafan!