Alias 4.12: "The Orphan"
Written by Jeffrey Bell and Monica Breen
Directed by Ken Olin
In which Nadia finds herself facing her difficult past when a mission puts her face to face with an old criminal partner in Argentina, while Vaughn continues to hunt for his father’s legacy…
Status Report
Thus far, Nadia has been an enigma. Her life was more or less described in a few short sentences at the end of the third season, and since then, her motivations have been difficult to ascertain. Despite being on the receiving end of her father’s Rambaldi-driven plans, she was willing to forgive him and move on. Sydney has always had a difficulty with Nadia’s almost casual dismissal of Sloane’s past wrongdoings, but this episode places Nadia’s life in context.
As it turns out, Sydney and Nadia are mirror images of one another in more ways than already covered. Even their past histories have significant parallels. Where Sydney grew up with a false sense of security with a distant and aloof father figure, Nadia had only whatever security she could create for herself on the streets.
Both Sydney and Nadia found themselves father figures in their deceptive bosses: Sloane in Sydney’s case, and Roberto in Nadia’s case. At some point, probably very close in terms of the series continuity, Sydney and Nadia were faced with the truth about the men to whom they had given allegiance. Sydney became a CIA agent to destroy Sloane, but in the end, she couldn’t simply kill him and exorcise those demons. Nadia killed Roberto, and then became a true agent for Argentine Intelligence.
In both cases, the young women appeared to have natural talents. While it’s clear that those talents were taken advantage of in Sydney’s case (when her father gave her the subconscious Project: Christmas training), it’s not as clear whether or not Nadia was given similar training. The woman who ran the orphanage in Argentina was tasked with Nadia’s protection; it’s certainly hinted that this “protection” was more than just a question of a roof and three squares a day.
Now, some years after the events that defined their lives, both women are in a similar position. But where Sydney has never really had the chance to take her vengeance for the deaths of so many loved ones, all under Sloane’s watch, Nadia took her vengeance and has serious issues of guilt for doing so. The result is an odd opposition between the two women in terms of the fathers in their lives.
Sydney trusts her father, even though she knows that his past contains at least the same level of morally questionable activity as Sloane’s resume. Sloane, of course, she cannot forgive. Sydney has every reason to consider herself on the moral high ground compared to Sloane, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Sydney doesn’t currently act out of positive emotions. Sydney’s entire life, since learning the truth about Sloane and SD-6, has been dominated by psychologically damaging and emotionally crushing negativity and hate. Without the balance of friends and family, Sydney teeters on the edge, kept from stepping over the edge by her sense of right and wrong.
Nadia, on the other hand, doesn’t necessarily trust her father, because of his past history and her own experience with Roberto. But because she regrets killing Roberto, after everything he represented in her life, she wants to give Sloane the benefit of the doubt. She never had an aloof father in the picture; she was essentially alone. Though she received the satisfaction of killing the man who betrayed her trust, she wants to find a better way of living. So in terms of her new life, Nadia finds promise: a potential family, friends, and something close to a normal life.
The plot structure for the season continues to evolve towards a possible meltdown for Sydney. For one thing, there’s the alliance between Jack and Sloane, which may or may not also involve her mother Irina. It’s quite possible, given the many hints this season thus far, that Irina is alive but undercover as “Sentinel”. Considering that Sydney was the one who had to bury her mother, and that she was ready to disown her father for apparently assassinating Irina in the first place, a betrayal of such scale could easily send Sydney over the edge.
This episode also happens to elaborate on the mystery of Vaughn’s father, who as mentioned in the third season, was hunted down by Irina for nabbing Nadia, presumably for the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. It’s clear that the writers intend to tell the “real” story now, thus placing the earlier references to Vaughn’s father and his death within the realm of “cover story”. That doesn’t always work, but the fact that Vaughn’s father was connected to Nadia, and not necessarily in a good way, will likely have major implications as the season marches on.
For one thing, Vaughn is going to find himself caught between the world of the Rambaldi prophecies (as followed by the Order and supposedly his father) and Sydney. If Sydney already feels betrayed by her father in terms of his alliance with Sloane, and she looks to Vaughn for some kind of emotional anchorage, it’s not clear if he would be there for her. On the one hand, if he were to reject his father, it would place him closer to Sydney. But if not, and his loyalties are torn, Sydney could feel even more isolated. That would not do Sydney’s mental health much good.
This episode was all about the flashbacks, the common thread for every little thing, so the success or failure of the episode is largely dependent on how those flashbacks were handled. Usually subtitles are a challenge for the audience, since it takes a certain amount of investment in the story for someone to take the time to read half the dialogue. It’s just so easy these days to change the channel to something requiring little or no thought. Thankfully, the black/white style of the flashbacks lent the story more gravitas.
The result was something like an Argentine version of “La Femme Nikita”. While this could seem highly derivative, it’s really more of a symptom of the world in which these characters live. Recruitment is going to take place in rather predictable ways, and Sydney’s initial contact by SD-6 was purposefully against cliché. If Nadia is Sydney’s opposite but equal, wouldn’t her story start off in a far more predictable manner?
The fact is that Mia Maestro is capable of pulling off a full range of alternative personalities, and thus the younger and more naïve Nadia is entirely convincing when set against the older and wiser version working at APO. In both cases, Mia’s incredible beauty shines. The scene at the café with Cesar in the second half of the episode, when she lets her hair down, is like watching a vision. What’s more amazing is that this Latin goddess still looks, in most cases, like Irina Derevko.
This episode was written by a combination of existing “Alias” writers and new arrivals from “Angel”. The mixture is incredibly strong in almost every possible area. Marshall always has personality, but sometimes, it feels like Wiseman is doing all the work, considering some of the dialogue he’s forced to regurgitate. This time around, it’s clear that the writers were working to give him something to work with, and it was most appreciated.
Unlike last episode, which focused mostly on a stand-alone mission for Sydney with little or no character development in the process, this episode uses the time needed to flesh out Vaughn’s plot thread to explore Nadia’s psychology. Considering that this series often involves the complex questions surrounding hidden motives, the psychology of the main characters is a necessary component. If Nadia’s decisions become important later in the season (and of course, they will), then understanding where she comes from is key to understanding those decisions in the future.
As the second half of the season begins, the plot is definitely moving forward, and the network reshuffling of episodes is at a relative end as more serialized plot elements creep back into the woodwork. Looking back on the first half of the season, the weaknesses seem rather apparent. Where the episodes were directly related to the season arc, the writing was almost uniformly strong. The stand-alone episodes were more mixed, with success and failure depending on how well those episodes delved into the psychology of the characters. Episodes like “Nocturne” and “The Road Home” failed because they avoided a true exploration of the characters at the center of the story. Episodes like this one succeed because they provide the context necessary for the arc-driven episodes to have proper scope.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was a nice departure from the norm, using a unique flashback format to give Nadia’s past history the scope necessary to understand her motivations. The writers continue to paint Nadia as Sydney’s equal but opposite number, which will likely be important as the season unfolds. Vaughn’s plot thread, in the meantime, continues to be intriguing and foreboding.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.12): 7.4
Directed by Ken Olin
In which Nadia finds herself facing her difficult past when a mission puts her face to face with an old criminal partner in Argentina, while Vaughn continues to hunt for his father’s legacy…
Status Report
Thus far, Nadia has been an enigma. Her life was more or less described in a few short sentences at the end of the third season, and since then, her motivations have been difficult to ascertain. Despite being on the receiving end of her father’s Rambaldi-driven plans, she was willing to forgive him and move on. Sydney has always had a difficulty with Nadia’s almost casual dismissal of Sloane’s past wrongdoings, but this episode places Nadia’s life in context.
As it turns out, Sydney and Nadia are mirror images of one another in more ways than already covered. Even their past histories have significant parallels. Where Sydney grew up with a false sense of security with a distant and aloof father figure, Nadia had only whatever security she could create for herself on the streets.
Both Sydney and Nadia found themselves father figures in their deceptive bosses: Sloane in Sydney’s case, and Roberto in Nadia’s case. At some point, probably very close in terms of the series continuity, Sydney and Nadia were faced with the truth about the men to whom they had given allegiance. Sydney became a CIA agent to destroy Sloane, but in the end, she couldn’t simply kill him and exorcise those demons. Nadia killed Roberto, and then became a true agent for Argentine Intelligence.
In both cases, the young women appeared to have natural talents. While it’s clear that those talents were taken advantage of in Sydney’s case (when her father gave her the subconscious Project: Christmas training), it’s not as clear whether or not Nadia was given similar training. The woman who ran the orphanage in Argentina was tasked with Nadia’s protection; it’s certainly hinted that this “protection” was more than just a question of a roof and three squares a day.
Now, some years after the events that defined their lives, both women are in a similar position. But where Sydney has never really had the chance to take her vengeance for the deaths of so many loved ones, all under Sloane’s watch, Nadia took her vengeance and has serious issues of guilt for doing so. The result is an odd opposition between the two women in terms of the fathers in their lives.
Sydney trusts her father, even though she knows that his past contains at least the same level of morally questionable activity as Sloane’s resume. Sloane, of course, she cannot forgive. Sydney has every reason to consider herself on the moral high ground compared to Sloane, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Sydney doesn’t currently act out of positive emotions. Sydney’s entire life, since learning the truth about Sloane and SD-6, has been dominated by psychologically damaging and emotionally crushing negativity and hate. Without the balance of friends and family, Sydney teeters on the edge, kept from stepping over the edge by her sense of right and wrong.
Nadia, on the other hand, doesn’t necessarily trust her father, because of his past history and her own experience with Roberto. But because she regrets killing Roberto, after everything he represented in her life, she wants to give Sloane the benefit of the doubt. She never had an aloof father in the picture; she was essentially alone. Though she received the satisfaction of killing the man who betrayed her trust, she wants to find a better way of living. So in terms of her new life, Nadia finds promise: a potential family, friends, and something close to a normal life.
The plot structure for the season continues to evolve towards a possible meltdown for Sydney. For one thing, there’s the alliance between Jack and Sloane, which may or may not also involve her mother Irina. It’s quite possible, given the many hints this season thus far, that Irina is alive but undercover as “Sentinel”. Considering that Sydney was the one who had to bury her mother, and that she was ready to disown her father for apparently assassinating Irina in the first place, a betrayal of such scale could easily send Sydney over the edge.
This episode also happens to elaborate on the mystery of Vaughn’s father, who as mentioned in the third season, was hunted down by Irina for nabbing Nadia, presumably for the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. It’s clear that the writers intend to tell the “real” story now, thus placing the earlier references to Vaughn’s father and his death within the realm of “cover story”. That doesn’t always work, but the fact that Vaughn’s father was connected to Nadia, and not necessarily in a good way, will likely have major implications as the season marches on.
For one thing, Vaughn is going to find himself caught between the world of the Rambaldi prophecies (as followed by the Order and supposedly his father) and Sydney. If Sydney already feels betrayed by her father in terms of his alliance with Sloane, and she looks to Vaughn for some kind of emotional anchorage, it’s not clear if he would be there for her. On the one hand, if he were to reject his father, it would place him closer to Sydney. But if not, and his loyalties are torn, Sydney could feel even more isolated. That would not do Sydney’s mental health much good.
This episode was all about the flashbacks, the common thread for every little thing, so the success or failure of the episode is largely dependent on how those flashbacks were handled. Usually subtitles are a challenge for the audience, since it takes a certain amount of investment in the story for someone to take the time to read half the dialogue. It’s just so easy these days to change the channel to something requiring little or no thought. Thankfully, the black/white style of the flashbacks lent the story more gravitas.
The result was something like an Argentine version of “La Femme Nikita”. While this could seem highly derivative, it’s really more of a symptom of the world in which these characters live. Recruitment is going to take place in rather predictable ways, and Sydney’s initial contact by SD-6 was purposefully against cliché. If Nadia is Sydney’s opposite but equal, wouldn’t her story start off in a far more predictable manner?
The fact is that Mia Maestro is capable of pulling off a full range of alternative personalities, and thus the younger and more naïve Nadia is entirely convincing when set against the older and wiser version working at APO. In both cases, Mia’s incredible beauty shines. The scene at the café with Cesar in the second half of the episode, when she lets her hair down, is like watching a vision. What’s more amazing is that this Latin goddess still looks, in most cases, like Irina Derevko.
This episode was written by a combination of existing “Alias” writers and new arrivals from “Angel”. The mixture is incredibly strong in almost every possible area. Marshall always has personality, but sometimes, it feels like Wiseman is doing all the work, considering some of the dialogue he’s forced to regurgitate. This time around, it’s clear that the writers were working to give him something to work with, and it was most appreciated.
Unlike last episode, which focused mostly on a stand-alone mission for Sydney with little or no character development in the process, this episode uses the time needed to flesh out Vaughn’s plot thread to explore Nadia’s psychology. Considering that this series often involves the complex questions surrounding hidden motives, the psychology of the main characters is a necessary component. If Nadia’s decisions become important later in the season (and of course, they will), then understanding where she comes from is key to understanding those decisions in the future.
As the second half of the season begins, the plot is definitely moving forward, and the network reshuffling of episodes is at a relative end as more serialized plot elements creep back into the woodwork. Looking back on the first half of the season, the weaknesses seem rather apparent. Where the episodes were directly related to the season arc, the writing was almost uniformly strong. The stand-alone episodes were more mixed, with success and failure depending on how well those episodes delved into the psychology of the characters. Episodes like “Nocturne” and “The Road Home” failed because they avoided a true exploration of the characters at the center of the story. Episodes like this one succeed because they provide the context necessary for the arc-driven episodes to have proper scope.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was a nice departure from the norm, using a unique flashback format to give Nadia’s past history the scope necessary to understand her motivations. The writers continue to paint Nadia as Sydney’s equal but opposite number, which will likely be important as the season unfolds. Vaughn’s plot thread, in the meantime, continues to be intriguing and foreboding.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.12): 7.4
posted by John Keegan | 11:08
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