SYDNEY BRISTOW
Episode 7: PRELUDE
“I Can’t Keep Running Forever.”

This week’s episode was a barnburner from start to finish. Moreover, as things went it certainly didn’t look too good for our hero. She wakes up screaming and shaking from a nightmarish dream that has her scared and scared enough to head for the Stafford Navy Hospital and the doctor who runs the “lost time” group. She is desperate to learn what happened to her those two missing years, especially in light of what she has learned, that she assassinated a Russian diplomat.

He shows her what happened to an agent under similar circumstances who also wanted to know and permitted them to do the neurostimulation procedure. He essentially had an electric lobotomy and she sees him in the padded cell wandering about aimlessly in circles.

In the meantime, in Mexico, the police catch Javier Perez and the chief of police tells him he has his choice of where he wants to be sent in view of the three countries who want to get their hands on him: Spain, France, and Cuba. He opts for the US and tells the chief that he knows the identity of a CIA operative who killed a Russian diplomat. Oh, oh, more trouble for Sydney and Jack, who has been watching her back since he got out of prison.

Next scene cuts to CIA headquarters. Dixon commands everyone to shut down their computers as non-cleared personnel are on their way into the offices. When the hooded visitor enters, the hood is removed and we find Sloane, whose meeting with Dixon is rather strained. In the briefing room, Sloane tells everyone (except Vaughn and Lauren who are briefing for another mission) that the Covenant is no longer content to use his organization as a cover, but now want him to do something for them. It wants him to steal the operating system of a maser, which China has developed. Sloane wants Sydney with him. She is the “best” according to his assessment.

Of course, Sydney agrees to go, ending with: “But I also know that if we’re caught, we’ll be standing side by side in front of a Chinese firing squad, which means…this time our interests are in line…and if you betray me, I will just kill you myself.”

After the meeting, Jack accosts Vaughn and finds he is on his way to Nogales. Lauren is briefing him as they travel. Jack tells him he knows the Nogales police apprehended Javier Perez. Vaughn remembers Perez as he almost killed him. Jack reminds him that Perez also knows that Sydney is Julia Thorne. He wants Vaughn to tell Lauren he knows the man they are going to interview and that a conflict of interest should recuse them from the case.
Vaughn essentially refuses, believing that when Lauren finds out she is their best chance of keeping the information from the NSC. Jack believes Vaughn is being very naïve about what his wife will or will not do, especially since it concerns Sydney.
Sydney’s relationship with Lauren never got off on the right foot from the first moment she told Dixon she still had feelings for Vaughn.

Off to Marshall’s office where he shows Sydney the mini-car he has built for the mission. He tells her what to do and where to put it. It is a remote-controlled car whose top blends with whatever it is running across, i.e. a rug, floor covering, etc. He shows her how the little car will disable the security system once inside the control room so she can get to the maser device without discovery. She is very impressed and that is hard to do, since Sydney has seen many of Marshall’s inventions both at SD-6 and at the CIA.

When she and Sloane arrive, the security bell goes off. She hands the guard her purse and he sees the makeup kit she carries. It is really the mini-car in disguise. Sloane gives her a chance to leave and she enters the ladies room and reassembles the car. Back inside the hall, she sits down, carefully putting the car on the floor. Dialing Marshall, she gives him the go-ahead.

Sloane tells her she should dance with him and Sydney looks as though she is saying “over my dead body”. However, he persuades her and they dance. Sloane tells her that they should argue because the Chinese Minister suspects she is sleeping with him. Enraged, she slaps him...hard. Marshall in the meantime has managed to disable the security system so Sydney can get into the safe w the prototype maser is stored. He tells Sydney to be sure to wear her so as not to be recognized. Once there, she opens the safe, gets the prototype out and starts the corrupting sequence.

Meanwhile Lauren and Michael are waylaid outside of Nogales by what seem to be bandits. They were not nice to Vaughn. The bandit chief makes a call to someone suspiciously looking like Jack who says to keep them for two hours and then let them go.

Back in China, Marshall sees the system blink and tells Sydney the guards see her. She wants to know how much longer he needs. He says a minute. When the guards arrive, Sydney keeps them very busy by engaging in a dazzling fight with cord from the drapes, knives, and a sword. Finishing them off, she grabs the phone and leaves.

Back in Mexico, Lauren and Vaughn go to the jail only to find that Perez has killed himself. Vaughn is suspicious, but says nothing to Lauren about what he is thinking.

In the limo taking them to the airport, Sloane gives Sydney a letter he received in his office the day she was resurrected in Hong Kong. The letter is addressed to her in her own handwriting. Inside are a key and a piece of paper with some sort of code on it. Sloane admits that he tried to decipher the code, but could not.
In Los Angeles, Vaughn accosts Jack and accuses him of being behind the kidnapping of him and Lauren. Jack admits nothing. Vaughn is extremely angry and threatens Jack with death if he ever puts his wife in danger again

Then Jack responds, through gritted teeth, “Then perhaps…you finally understand the moral compromises you’ll make…when someone you love is in danger…”

HOORAY for Jack! I wondered how long it would take him to point out how difficult it is to remain morally ethical when someone you love is in danger. It is obvious that Jack struck a nerve in Vaughn.

Next, we see Sark accosting Lauren with a gun to her head. He gets into her car and talks to her about Lazeray’s murder. He gives her a portfolio with pictures in it that clearly show Sydney Bristow as the killer. Lauren is in shock. Sark tells her she cannot leave the car for thirty minutes as he has activated a bomb in her car
.
Now Sydney is on a plane back to Los Angeles. Sloane obviously went to his base of operations in Zurich. She is having the same nightmare as she had in the opening sequence. Her cell phone wakes her up. It is her father. She asks if he got her transmission of the code. They talk about the envelope and its contents.

Sydney says, “…it was written in my handwriting.”
“The cipher text as well?”
“Yes, why?”
“Remember when I told you that during the time you were missing, I contacted your mother? That cipher text was encoded using a method that she devised.”
“What does this mean? That I was in contact with Mom during the two years I was gone?”
“If that’s true, she failed to mention it during our last communication.”
“Can you break the code?”
“Yes, I learned the code from your mother last year.”

In addition, he tells her it is an address of an apartment in Rome. That apartment was purchased a year ago, owner remaining anonymous. This happened when Jack went to prison.

Now we see Vaughn approaching his wife in the garage where Sark left her. Techies are going over the car. They talk and Vaughn learns that Lauren now knows it was Sydney who killed Lazeray. They argue. They discuss the invasive procedure and Lauren insists they wouldn’t use it on an agent. Vaughn says Lindsay wouldn’t hesitate to break the rules. He knows then that she has reported it to Lindsey. He runs off.

Sydney is on the CIA plane landing at Los Angeles. Her cell rings and she learns that Lindsay knows about her as Julia. Vaughn tells her to meet him at Terminal 1 and he will pick her up. She cannot go back to her apartment. He drives her to Dover airfield where there is a plane ready to take her anywhere. Hesitant at first, she decides on Rome.

Now we have a scene between the two former lovers in which neither can actually say or act upon their deepest desires. Each wants that near-kiss to happen, but reluctantly it is Sydney who draws away, saying in a choked whisper, “Thank you.” Good for her!

Sydney arrives at the apartment house and goes by elevator to the top floor. On her way down the hall, she passes an Italian talking on his cell phone. At the stairway, he stops, turns and looks back as she stops in front of a door. Sydney opens the door to the apartment.

Back in Los Angeles, Lauren asks Dixon to speak with her privately. Jack and Vaughn had been talking to him about Sydney’s whereabouts. They both told him they did not know where she was.

Jack speaks to Vaughn. “The NSC knows that Sydney is responsible for Lazeray’s murder, don’t they? I presume you’re the one who helped her disappear last night. Tell me, what else are you willing to do to see Sydney through this?”
Vaughn responds quietly, “What do you have in mind?”

At last, Michael Vaughn is faced with the facts: Sydney is in dire trouble and he compromised to get her out of Los Angeles and avoid arrest. Now Jack wants to know how much further he will go. How far we will see, probably next episode.

Inside Dixon’s office, Lauren tells him that Lindsay is on his way to take over and the office is to be locked down until he and other Federal agents arrive. How much do you want to bet that Jack and Vaughn have already left the building?

In Rome, Sydney goes through the apartment in a daze. She lies down on the bed. She stares in horror at the window above her: her nightmare is beginning to take real shape and form. Running to the bathroom, Sydney splashes water on her face and then looks in the medicine cabinet. She sees a prescription bottle with Julia Thorne’s name on it. She puts it back; then opens it again to see if there are any more clues. As she closes it again, we see a man who appears to be a police officer standing behind her. He grabs her and drags her out to the living room where five or six more men wait.

“Get down on the floor,” he orders as he pushes her down.
“Quick! Handcuff her,” says another officer.
Slammed down on the floor, they handcuff her as the first police officer recites:
“In conjunction with the NSC of the United States of America, you are under arrest.” Sydney is panic-stricken.

The title of the episode is Prelude and it is acted out in several threads. First, is it possible the nightmares she experiences are the beginning of the return of Julia? The arguments between Michael and Lauren could mean the end of the marriage. Naturally, every Sydney/Vaughn shipper would love to see it happen now. However, I don’t think that is going to happen immediately. Prelude is also the beginning of what Sloane already knows is true: that Jack is going to work with him again. Based on the promos, it looks like Sloane will help Jack and Vaughn rescue Sydney. Finally, we have yet to see Irina, but Mom seems to be more involved than Jack or Sydney first suspected. I am sure that, as the weeks continue, her unseen hand in the affairs of Julia Thorne will be unraveled. By the way, she never did get back to Jack about Adrian Lazeray, did she?

Discuss:
Do you believe Sloane has orchestrated what has happened? Is he behind the Covenant? Did he supply Sark with the pictures of Sark’s father’s killer?

Is Vaughn about to lose his moral compass by which he has been steering his life for the past two seasons much to Jack’s disgust?

Do you think Irina is behind Sydney’s transformation to Julia Thorne? Why? Do you think she is using her daughter for something having to do with the Prophecy? Remember, she seems to be the one who knows more about it than Sloane.

How far will Jack go to protect Sydney? We have seen him execute Javier Perez and kill Simon Walker already in season three and in the previous two seasons, kill Hadlaki and set his wife up to take the fall for Sydney’s near death encounter in Madagascar.

Why do you think Lindsay is after the Bristows? Is it something other than a power-grab or hatred?

Next Episode: Breaking Point
Does this mean Sydney’s breaking point? Is she in for neurostimulation?

this was a great episode. My friend was laughing at me because I was trying to eat popcorn at the same time as Sydney was pulling that tube out of her stomach* YICK!

I'm still wondering how Sark got those pictures.

I'm not too crazy about Lauren. The vaughn/lauren kissy-kissy scenes make me cringe :wacko:

I think she knows something, but her character is going to be completely absentee this season since Lena Olin has chosen not to come back :angry:

I think Jack will do anything it takes.

Celtic Jedi Posted on Nov 16 2003, 07:00 PM

Unless they pay her top dollar as a guest star...that would be terrific. Oh well, I'll be happy if they just use her in abstentia... :rolleyes:

Popcorn during that scene? Oh well, who knew? :blink:

B)

Great! What a way to spend an non-Alias eppy Sunday! :D
Okay, I think Sloane IS a part of the Covenent, but not too sure how deep or how high up. And I believe he knows way more about where Sydney has been then letting on, and that he's waiting for the right moment to use what he knows. And I do think he was the one to provide those pictures of Julia killing Sark's father to him,...or had told someone to do it. :)
I think Vaughn is going to do exactly what he's always done since the moment Sydney Bristow walked into his life. Do whatever it takes to keep her safe and unharmed. If that means doing something that's against his morale and what he's believed in his whole life, so be it; he'd do whatever it takes without a second glance wherever and whenever Sydney is concerned. :wub:
I don't think Irina is behind the trasformation of Julia, but I think that whoever transformed Sydney into being her is also someone Irina is familiar with and most likely the same person/people who had something to do with training Irina to be who she was all those years ago. I don't think Irina would use Sydney like that, even if she does know more about the Prophecy than Sloane....but I don't know about her being completly hands off of it either. She does know that it has to do with her daughter, just what it does, is anyone's guess. JJ's mind is a scary place sometimes! :unsure:
I think Jack is on the same boat as Vaughn. He'd do anything and everything to protect his only little girl. But on a different level than Vaughn, a level Vaughn isn't at yet..he hasn't known Sydney his whole life, working that long in keeping her out of harms way and safe like Jack has. I think Jack is willing to do just about anything for her and it wouldn't surprise me if he killed someone else for her safety in the future. He's her father, her only parent there while she was growing up, her only relative she's ever known. And he probably feels guilty for making her a part of what her mother has put them through with leaving them, faking her death, Project Christmas, working as a spy, and now the Prophecy thing. Any father would, even though there is no way to blame them for something that was inevitable. :huh:
And as far as Lindsey...boy I REALLY hate that @ss!! :ph43r: Boy, I wish Sydney would tear him a new one and kick his butt too!! :ph43r: I think there is a jealousy thing with him over the infamous Bristow's, he's jealous of there fame so to speak...but I have a inkling about him. :angry: Something about him irks me...makes me watch him VERY closely :huh: ....guess will have to wait and see! :lol:
Till next time kiddies! :reallyexcited:
Colly E. :bunny:

Interesting theories you bring up, unfrotunatly I will not have the anwsers to those questions and like many others can only wait to find out on sunday. The episode was very good, exactly what you expect from alias, and so was your column. I can't wait till sunday, but I supose I'll have to and can hardly wait for the very thorough column, thanks for taking the time to write them they're most enjoyable and thanks for pm-ing me. Sorry I wasn't able to reply earlier but my grandpa died so I've been occupied, but alias always seems to cheer me up.

Colly E. Posted on Nov 16 2003, 08:48 PM

OK Sydney does know her Mom (last season) and she knew her until she left when Sydney was six. Jack is responsible for PRoject Christmas and indoctrinating her, not Irina, although she certainly suspected Jack and rightly so after seeing her daughter in action.

Aww man! This was one of the est eppy's in a long time!!!

Go Syd!!! I'll help you kill him! He holds too many cards...he's giving me a migrane! :P

This whole Paragraph is out of whack? and you missed the part where she got to slap him! I think that is important! :lol:

Those moves...Jen learned that from her time as Elektra...same little ceremonial knife thingies. Just a point I noticed and thought I would point out :)

You know, this is the first time I have ever seen Vaughn with any sort of Passion...it has taken 3 seasons for the writers to give him some passion...it's not enough to save him in my eyes though.

Excuse me!?!?!?! I can't be the only one who wants answers for this...Sorry, but if he didn't tell her the code, then who did???

It annoys me that she is the one who pulls away, but he is the one who is married!!! What is up with that???

Ay...

I don't want to say anything else...but I think that Lindsey is after blood, and lets face it...Sydney made him REALLY mad earlier...

Another great column! Going to read the other one now...

Aww man! This was one of the est eppy's in a long time!!!

Go Syd!!! I'll help you kill him! He holds too many cards...he's giving me a migrane! :P

This whole Paragraph is out of whack? and you missed the part where she got to slap him! I think that is important! :lol:

Those moves...Jen learned that from her time as Elektra...same little ceremonial knife thingies. Just a point I noticed and thought I would point out :)

You know, this is the first time I have ever seen Vaughn with any sort of Passion...it has taken 3 seasons for the writers to give him some passion...it's not enough to save him in my eyes though.

Excuse me!?!?!?! I can't be the only one who wants answers for this...Sorry, but if he didn't tell her the code, then who did???

It annoys me that she is the one who pulls away, but he is the one who is married!!! What is up with that???

Ay...

I don't want to say anything else...but I think that Lindsey is after blood, and lets face it...Sydney made him REALLY mad earlier...

Another great column! Going to read the other one now...