Alias 4.17: "A Clean Conscience"
Written by J.R. Orci
Directed by Lawrence Trilling
In which the woman who once protected Nadia in Argentina, Sophia, comes looking for sanctuary, but as things go badly for Dixon’s mission and Jack’s health, the truth is revealed…
Status Report
This is one of those episodes that would have gained a great deal from a lack of promos or previews. The network seemed to think that this episode was going to reveal the secret history of Jack Bristow, right down to the real explanation for the final scene of the third season finale. Of course, it might have helped if the one who created the promo/preview had actually watched the episode in question. It might have eliminated some of the disappointment that was hard to avoid, once the true direction of the episode was evident.
Three plot threads interweave as the episode progresses, and in all cases, it’s all about character. The first plot thread involves Sophia, Nadia’s old protector at the Argentine orphanage, and her apparent concern about personal safety. The second plot thread involves Jack and his medical situation, which forces him to consider explaining his pact with Sloane. The third plot thread involves Dixon’s moral dilemma, when a field op forces him to weigh the needs of the many against the needs of the few.
When Sophia contacts Nadia and ends up being beaten, Nadia and everyone connected to her is horrified. Everyone, that is, except for Sloane. The writers neatly begin by having Sophia sing Sloane’s praises, calling him a good man and father, which after the previous episode is something even Nadia has a hard time hearing. But of course, as some have speculated, Sophia is not the innocent protector that she seems to be, and Sloane is no fool. When he starts looking into her background, behind Nadia’s back, it seems like a betrayal of trust.
Of course, the truth is far more complex. Sloane has been reminded of the lengths to which a person will go to fulfill the Rambaldi obsession; indeed, the imposter Sloane is still out there. Sloane knows that Sydney and Nadia are in danger. He has every reason to be suspicious of anyone and everyone who seems to have a connection to his daughter. And for all that he’s easily fooled by Sophia, his instincts are extremely good when it comes to detecting deception.
Sydney, on the other hand, has every reason to distrust Sloane’s motivations. She sees what Nadia asks her to see: the woman who was the shining light in her terrible childhood. For Sydney, Sloane is once again showing his true colors, and she’s the only one willing to say anything about it. In a sense. Sydney is throwing Sloane off the trail by making him bad about his suspicions. It would be ironic if Sloane’s attempt to protect his daughter (and by extension, Sydney) were derailed because of his concern that Nadia might think badly of him.
Sophia appeals to what she has in common with Sloane, to engender sympathy. Whatever else might be true, Sophia was Nadia’s guardian and she took the role seriously, if only for her own reasons. She uses her connection to Nadia to gain another source of intelligence within APO. She even has Sydney defending her. It’s yet another example of how incredibly thorough Yelena has been in constructing her endgame.
As long speculated, Yelena Derevko is at the center of the threat that Jack and Sloane came together to combat. Much of the second half of the third season (and perhaps all of it) has now been clarified; even the second season begins to make more sense. According to the very short and sweet explanation at the end of the episode, Irina and Yelena have been vying with one another for control over the same thing: the Rambaldi legacy and the fate of the two sisters at the heart of the prophecies. Irina’s insistence that “truth takes time” must have presaged the idea that the true threat to Sydney (and, additionally, Nadia) would come from another related source.
Is it possible that Irina’s organization was not the precursor to the Covenant, but rather, competition against it? Was her pact with Sloane about protecting Sydney (and eventually Nadia) by exploring the Rambaldi legacy in order to understand it? Once Irina and her organization were out of the picture, the Covenant appropriated many of the same people and gained prominence; shortly thereafter, Nadia was discovered by everyone. Was Irina’s goal to protect Sydney, perhaps aware that Nadia was already in Yelena’s hands?
Yelena’s break with Irina took place after both Sydney and Nadia were born. Yelena gained control over Nadia, as Sophia, after Nadia was abducted by Vaughn’s father, who was a member of the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. The implication is that Yelena was the head of the Covenant, working to bring Rambaldi’s works to fruition. The trouble is that it’s hard to know how each distinct group learned about the prophecies when they are always presented as being discovered by Sloane for the first time; the mythology rests on the idea that there are multiple sources for the same information, all held by different yet related organizations.
So when it comes to Rambaldi, the real threat is Yelena. She took care of Nadia in hiding while attempting to gain control of Sydney. Irina appears to have been trying to save both her daughters by playing Sloane, a Rambaldi-obsessed associate, against Yelena. Irina must have been terrified that Sydney, as Sloane’s agent, would be set in opposition with Nadia without anyone being fully aware of it. Indeed, it seems that the events of “The Orphan” demonstrate that the similarities in the lives of the two women were intentional; Yelena saw to it that Nadia gained the same training as Sydney, though under different circumstances.
While her motivations and connections are still sketchy, there’s little question that Yelena has a massive organization and considerable resources. She had enough information on APO and Vaughn, based on her connection to Vaughn’s father, to know how to manipulate Vaughn into getting her (through the imposter Sloane) the coil from Project: Nightingale. She was connected to the mission involving Dixon and Vaughn in this episode, though it’s hard to see how it would fit into the rest of the mythology. It’s even possible that she’s aware of Jack’s medical condition; it’s hard to believe that Yelena would fail to gain access to the medical status of Sydney’s main protector.
Ultimately, the revelation of the pact between Jack and Sloane is a disappointment, but as already mentioned, this is mostly due to the promos and previews that promised far more information. As long theorized, the pact is all about protecting Sydney and Nadia against the designs of Yelena Derevko; the only question is how those plans intersect with the existing mythology in the past. It should be interesting to see how the sisters react to this information. Will Sydney think better of Sloane, and will this help Nadia understand if she learns that Jack killed Irina (however mistaken that is)?
Jack’s character continues to gain more and more depth as the series marches on. There’s little question now that Jack’s life will be saved through some Rambaldi device; the real concern is whether or not it will compromise the goal of protecting Sydney and Nadia. It’s interesting to see a man of such questionable morality, the kind of man that Dixon struggles not to be in this episode, placing his daughter’s well-being above all else. It’s even more interesting considering the fact that he was willing to manipulate her horribly as a young girl to that same end. Perhaps, as death closes in, Jack is finally beginning to realize what his decisions have cost Sydney over the years; he doesn’t seem to want to add to the suffering now, though he always does as he believes is necessary.
While Jack is considering clearing his conscience, as per the episode title, Dixon finds himself in a situation where his own conscience is likely to be tested. A CIA agent named Raimes appears to have turned, having killed more than a dozen people while apparently working for the terrorist he was assigned to stop. Dixon and Vaughn are sent to find Raimes and determine whether or not he has turned. The two discover that things are a little more complicated than that.
Dixon has always dealt with his job with a certain amount of morality. He would happily eliminate those who set themselves as the enemy (at least when that’s what the mission profile told him to think), and he’s always been concerned with innocents. He has personal experience with the price that being an agent can exact, and knows on a certain level that the danger to his own family has always been real. But killing innocents and those on the right side of the law is another thing entirely.
Yelena is clearly aware of the mission, and one has to believe that there is something for her to gain from either the terrorists themselves or the effect of the mission on Dixon and Vaughn. All season long, the agents have been forced into darker territory: Sydney refusing to forgive, Jack assassinating old allies, Vaughn running with terrorists, even Marshall killing (though by accident). All of these things psychologically undermine the “good guys” and their resolve, while Yelena is even more certain of the rightness of her actions.
This episode, at least until the very end, was a highlight reel for Carl Lumbly. His undercover alias are always some of the most amusing, and that is definitely true in this case as well. But the best scene is when his cover is blown, and Raines gives him an out, even sacrificing himself to atone for his wrongs, which only serves to transfer the same guilt to Dixon if he takes that offer. Dixon shots Raines, careful not to actually kill the man, but it doesn’t absolve him of the moral cost. He’s making the same kind of decision that he previously chided Raines for making, and he knows it.
Other great moments were strewn throughout, most of them involving Jack and his medical condition. Early into the episode, the writers dropped hints that Sophia might be Yelena, but they carefully kept it from being obvious. That said, Jack’s decision to extract the device from his hand was given an unnerving context; was it really just something related to his mediciation, or was it something implanted for the sake of Yelena’s endgame?
It’s probable that the network was aware of the positive reaction to the past few episodes, and wanted the audience to think that this episode would be equally chock full of revelations. In a certain sense, this episode is another important step on the road to the season finale, which is shaping up to be a huge event. Like the beginning of the season, the network made a massive error in judgment. It would be very easy for viewers to let the disappointment engendered by the deceptive promo blind them to the fact that this is another quality episode.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode is another strong installment of the season arc, but the deceptive promos from the network were bound to create a sense of disappointment. Taken objectively, this episode has a lot to offer: a good dose of Dixon in the field, Jack’s deterioration, and the final act brings the season firmly into the “resolution” phase of the arc. Future episodes will need to delve into the details, but for now, this is more than enough to keep up the narrative pace!
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.17): 7.6
Directed by Lawrence Trilling
In which the woman who once protected Nadia in Argentina, Sophia, comes looking for sanctuary, but as things go badly for Dixon’s mission and Jack’s health, the truth is revealed…
Status Report
This is one of those episodes that would have gained a great deal from a lack of promos or previews. The network seemed to think that this episode was going to reveal the secret history of Jack Bristow, right down to the real explanation for the final scene of the third season finale. Of course, it might have helped if the one who created the promo/preview had actually watched the episode in question. It might have eliminated some of the disappointment that was hard to avoid, once the true direction of the episode was evident.
Three plot threads interweave as the episode progresses, and in all cases, it’s all about character. The first plot thread involves Sophia, Nadia’s old protector at the Argentine orphanage, and her apparent concern about personal safety. The second plot thread involves Jack and his medical situation, which forces him to consider explaining his pact with Sloane. The third plot thread involves Dixon’s moral dilemma, when a field op forces him to weigh the needs of the many against the needs of the few.
When Sophia contacts Nadia and ends up being beaten, Nadia and everyone connected to her is horrified. Everyone, that is, except for Sloane. The writers neatly begin by having Sophia sing Sloane’s praises, calling him a good man and father, which after the previous episode is something even Nadia has a hard time hearing. But of course, as some have speculated, Sophia is not the innocent protector that she seems to be, and Sloane is no fool. When he starts looking into her background, behind Nadia’s back, it seems like a betrayal of trust.
Of course, the truth is far more complex. Sloane has been reminded of the lengths to which a person will go to fulfill the Rambaldi obsession; indeed, the imposter Sloane is still out there. Sloane knows that Sydney and Nadia are in danger. He has every reason to be suspicious of anyone and everyone who seems to have a connection to his daughter. And for all that he’s easily fooled by Sophia, his instincts are extremely good when it comes to detecting deception.
Sydney, on the other hand, has every reason to distrust Sloane’s motivations. She sees what Nadia asks her to see: the woman who was the shining light in her terrible childhood. For Sydney, Sloane is once again showing his true colors, and she’s the only one willing to say anything about it. In a sense. Sydney is throwing Sloane off the trail by making him bad about his suspicions. It would be ironic if Sloane’s attempt to protect his daughter (and by extension, Sydney) were derailed because of his concern that Nadia might think badly of him.
Sophia appeals to what she has in common with Sloane, to engender sympathy. Whatever else might be true, Sophia was Nadia’s guardian and she took the role seriously, if only for her own reasons. She uses her connection to Nadia to gain another source of intelligence within APO. She even has Sydney defending her. It’s yet another example of how incredibly thorough Yelena has been in constructing her endgame.
As long speculated, Yelena Derevko is at the center of the threat that Jack and Sloane came together to combat. Much of the second half of the third season (and perhaps all of it) has now been clarified; even the second season begins to make more sense. According to the very short and sweet explanation at the end of the episode, Irina and Yelena have been vying with one another for control over the same thing: the Rambaldi legacy and the fate of the two sisters at the heart of the prophecies. Irina’s insistence that “truth takes time” must have presaged the idea that the true threat to Sydney (and, additionally, Nadia) would come from another related source.
Is it possible that Irina’s organization was not the precursor to the Covenant, but rather, competition against it? Was her pact with Sloane about protecting Sydney (and eventually Nadia) by exploring the Rambaldi legacy in order to understand it? Once Irina and her organization were out of the picture, the Covenant appropriated many of the same people and gained prominence; shortly thereafter, Nadia was discovered by everyone. Was Irina’s goal to protect Sydney, perhaps aware that Nadia was already in Yelena’s hands?
Yelena’s break with Irina took place after both Sydney and Nadia were born. Yelena gained control over Nadia, as Sophia, after Nadia was abducted by Vaughn’s father, who was a member of the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. The implication is that Yelena was the head of the Covenant, working to bring Rambaldi’s works to fruition. The trouble is that it’s hard to know how each distinct group learned about the prophecies when they are always presented as being discovered by Sloane for the first time; the mythology rests on the idea that there are multiple sources for the same information, all held by different yet related organizations.
So when it comes to Rambaldi, the real threat is Yelena. She took care of Nadia in hiding while attempting to gain control of Sydney. Irina appears to have been trying to save both her daughters by playing Sloane, a Rambaldi-obsessed associate, against Yelena. Irina must have been terrified that Sydney, as Sloane’s agent, would be set in opposition with Nadia without anyone being fully aware of it. Indeed, it seems that the events of “The Orphan” demonstrate that the similarities in the lives of the two women were intentional; Yelena saw to it that Nadia gained the same training as Sydney, though under different circumstances.
While her motivations and connections are still sketchy, there’s little question that Yelena has a massive organization and considerable resources. She had enough information on APO and Vaughn, based on her connection to Vaughn’s father, to know how to manipulate Vaughn into getting her (through the imposter Sloane) the coil from Project: Nightingale. She was connected to the mission involving Dixon and Vaughn in this episode, though it’s hard to see how it would fit into the rest of the mythology. It’s even possible that she’s aware of Jack’s medical condition; it’s hard to believe that Yelena would fail to gain access to the medical status of Sydney’s main protector.
Ultimately, the revelation of the pact between Jack and Sloane is a disappointment, but as already mentioned, this is mostly due to the promos and previews that promised far more information. As long theorized, the pact is all about protecting Sydney and Nadia against the designs of Yelena Derevko; the only question is how those plans intersect with the existing mythology in the past. It should be interesting to see how the sisters react to this information. Will Sydney think better of Sloane, and will this help Nadia understand if she learns that Jack killed Irina (however mistaken that is)?
Jack’s character continues to gain more and more depth as the series marches on. There’s little question now that Jack’s life will be saved through some Rambaldi device; the real concern is whether or not it will compromise the goal of protecting Sydney and Nadia. It’s interesting to see a man of such questionable morality, the kind of man that Dixon struggles not to be in this episode, placing his daughter’s well-being above all else. It’s even more interesting considering the fact that he was willing to manipulate her horribly as a young girl to that same end. Perhaps, as death closes in, Jack is finally beginning to realize what his decisions have cost Sydney over the years; he doesn’t seem to want to add to the suffering now, though he always does as he believes is necessary.
While Jack is considering clearing his conscience, as per the episode title, Dixon finds himself in a situation where his own conscience is likely to be tested. A CIA agent named Raimes appears to have turned, having killed more than a dozen people while apparently working for the terrorist he was assigned to stop. Dixon and Vaughn are sent to find Raimes and determine whether or not he has turned. The two discover that things are a little more complicated than that.
Dixon has always dealt with his job with a certain amount of morality. He would happily eliminate those who set themselves as the enemy (at least when that’s what the mission profile told him to think), and he’s always been concerned with innocents. He has personal experience with the price that being an agent can exact, and knows on a certain level that the danger to his own family has always been real. But killing innocents and those on the right side of the law is another thing entirely.
Yelena is clearly aware of the mission, and one has to believe that there is something for her to gain from either the terrorists themselves or the effect of the mission on Dixon and Vaughn. All season long, the agents have been forced into darker territory: Sydney refusing to forgive, Jack assassinating old allies, Vaughn running with terrorists, even Marshall killing (though by accident). All of these things psychologically undermine the “good guys” and their resolve, while Yelena is even more certain of the rightness of her actions.
This episode, at least until the very end, was a highlight reel for Carl Lumbly. His undercover alias are always some of the most amusing, and that is definitely true in this case as well. But the best scene is when his cover is blown, and Raines gives him an out, even sacrificing himself to atone for his wrongs, which only serves to transfer the same guilt to Dixon if he takes that offer. Dixon shots Raines, careful not to actually kill the man, but it doesn’t absolve him of the moral cost. He’s making the same kind of decision that he previously chided Raines for making, and he knows it.
Other great moments were strewn throughout, most of them involving Jack and his medical condition. Early into the episode, the writers dropped hints that Sophia might be Yelena, but they carefully kept it from being obvious. That said, Jack’s decision to extract the device from his hand was given an unnerving context; was it really just something related to his mediciation, or was it something implanted for the sake of Yelena’s endgame?
It’s probable that the network was aware of the positive reaction to the past few episodes, and wanted the audience to think that this episode would be equally chock full of revelations. In a certain sense, this episode is another important step on the road to the season finale, which is shaping up to be a huge event. Like the beginning of the season, the network made a massive error in judgment. It would be very easy for viewers to let the disappointment engendered by the deceptive promo blind them to the fact that this is another quality episode.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode is another strong installment of the season arc, but the deceptive promos from the network were bound to create a sense of disappointment. Taken objectively, this episode has a lot to offer: a good dose of Dixon in the field, Jack’s deterioration, and the final act brings the season firmly into the “resolution” phase of the arc. Future episodes will need to delve into the details, but for now, this is more than enough to keep up the narrative pace!
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.17): 7.6
posted by John Keegan | 18:35
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