Alias Mythology Guide Season One

MYTHOLOGY GUIDE

Transcripts: http://www.alias-online.net/season1/episodeguide.html

1X1 TRUTH BE TOLD

The Run Down:

Sydney Bristow attends graduate school and has a part time job at the bank Credit Dauphine. She lives with her friend Francie, a caterer. Her other friend is Will, a reporter. British doctor Danny Hecht proposes to Syd. She is estranged from her father who exports airplane parts and her mother is dead. Danny called Jack Bristow to ask his approval for marrying Syd but was roughly told off. They've been dating two years. Syd is actually a secret agent for the CIA. Credit Dauphine houses the secret headquarters of SD-6. Syd's partner is Dixon. The boss is Sloane. Marshall is the eccentric tech guy. Sloane doesn't like Syd being in grad school. Dixon has married to Diane for 12 years, but she thinks he's a investment analyst. They're forbidden from telling their loved ones.
Oskar Mueller was a brilliant alchemist until he died in a car accident last month in Berlin. His only notes were recovered by FTL in Taipei, Taiwan. They're written in an ancient "demonic" language. Their mole in FTL, Quintero, disappeared. Syd and Dixon are sent to learn what happened to Quintero and surveil the FTL offices.
Syd tells Danny that she's an agent for the CIA where they can't be surveiled. During Syd's freshman year in college she was approached. "I fit a profile". SD-6 is a covert branch of the CIA. After six months she entered agent training with flying colors. She swears him to secrecy before leaving on the mission to Taipei. Danny gets drunk and leaves a message on her machine. SD-6 records the message. Sloane tells Jack, another SD-6 agent, that he had to order Danny's murder.
Taipei: Syd and Dixon attend a dinner. Syd sneaks away to surveil the FTL office and photographs the Mueller device.
Syd returns home to find Danny's body in her bathtub. Syd confronts Sloane who tells her she knew the rules and put everyone here at risk, even though he despises it. Syd is interrogated by McCullough to test her loyalty with a lie detector, then released. She's been with SD-6 for 7 years.
Three months later, Syd is still ditching duty. Dixon confronts her. FTL has built the Mueller device and they need Syd. Quintero is dead. If she doesn't return to duty, she becomes a liability. Later Syd is attacked by a pair of agents but is saved by Jack. Jack tells her he works for SD-6, undercover at Genis Aerospace. A decade ago, the Alliance of Twelve was formed. A group agents went freelance from Russia, Libya, China, Ethiopia, and others. They are anti-US mercenaries, and SD-6 is a covert branch of it. All lower level agents are told they work for the CIA. Jack wants her on a plane to Switzerland but she refuses. Syd gets Will's covert help to get a flight to Taiwan using his sister's passport.
Taipei: Syd is captured breaking into the FTL office. She's held captive by FTL and is given a truth serum to no effect. They pull out one of her molars before she escapes. She flees with the Mueller device. The Mueller device was levitating a ball, which exploded when she cut the power.
Syd hands over the Mueller device to Sloane, and is reinstated for duty. Syd turns herself in to Director Devlin of the L.A. branch of the CIA. Michael Vaughn and Weiss question her. She joins the CIA as a mole into SD-6. Jack is the second mole in SD-6, and they'll be working together but she wants nothing to do with him.

Analysis:

Dixon married Diane in 1989. In 1991 the Alliance was formed. Syd was recruited by SD-6 in 1994. Syd started dating Danny in 1999.
So what exactly is FTL? Apparently it's set in Taiwan. Is it a Chinese intelligence service? Since Capitalist Taiwan is the enemy of Communist China, was this one of their operations on enemy territory? Or is this a Taiwan-based organization? Do they operate outside of Taiwan?
What exactly is a "demonic" language? A language of demons? Or just a crazy or unknown language? And where did this ancient language come from? And who can read it today?
Alchemy is the fictional science of turning base metals into gold, what does that have to do with a device that levitates a ball in the air and makes it explode if the power is cut off? And what was the significance of that device? It looked like some kind of magnetic levitation device, but why did the ball explode? Was it an unstable field or something? Does this mean the device doesn't work?
Exactly what kind of profile did Syd fit to be recruited by SD-6? Is there any deeper significance to this? (With the Prophesy perhaps?)
Either Syd is an idiot for not convincing Danny they'll kill him if he confesses knowledge of SD-6, or Danny is an idiot for getting drunk and blabbing the secret in spite of the warning. Who's to blame?
If the Alliance comes from Russia and China, they sound communist. Libya is more of a dictatorship. And Ethiopia?! So how exactly did this mercenary organization manage to recruit so many CIA officers?
Presumably the serum they injected into Syd before questioning her was a truth serum. How did she manage to fight it off? Is this just a normal capability of hers? Or did she take something before going in? (In "Rendezvous" Jack gives Will an anti-truth serum)

1X2 SO IT BEGINS The Run Down:

Syd reports to Vaughn. She first met Leonard Dreyfus in Paris three years ago, stealing technology for him. He's a slimy bankroller for SD-6 operations and runs a division in Geneva. SD-6 is supplied custom firearms by Anni Hassan in Memphis Egypt. She first met him with Dixon six months ago, when he killed an aide that screwed up. There is also a geneticist in Kuala Lumpur.
Vaughn readies Syd for her double agent job. She works as normal as SD-6, signaling the CIA on paperbags. They will give her a countermission, contacting her by "Joey's Pizza" wrong call. Syd thinks it will take two months to destroy SD-6. Vaughn shows her a map of the SD-6 connections, with thousands of names. The map has only grown during Vaughn's career. They could have taken out the L.A. cell three years ago. This is a long term assignment to destroy the entire organization.
Syd moves in to live with Francie. Her boyfriend is Charlie. Will's young aide Jenny hits on him. Will has known Syd for three years. Vaughn's girlfriend is Alice. Will questions what Syd did with his sister's passport and starts investigating Danny's murder; he tells Syd he was booked on a Singapore flight that night. He apologizes for telling her and promises to stop.
Files on the Russian nuclear arsenal were stolen out of the GRA headquarters by Sudan military attaché Abul Navour. He's going to deliver the files to Chebekov and Kapochev of the Russian Mafia in Moscow. Syd and Dixon are sent to steal the files. They encountered Navour last year. The CIA has been after Navour for attempting to buy nukes for six months.
Sloane introduces Syd to Jack, so that they can work together. When he admits to knowing about Danny's murder, she slaps him.
Moscow: Dixon poses as Navour and meets with the Russians while Syd steals the money, only to find it fake. Syd steals the files from the Russians as Dixon is recognized. They escape. Syd passes the files to Vaughn to be duplicated before turning them in to SD-6.
Virginia: In December 1989 the US learned six Russian nukes were smuggled into the country and confiscated them. The stolen files locate a seventh nuke, buried in a cemetery since 1974. Syd digs up the nuke and deactivates it with Marshall's help.
SD-6 recovered and sold the nuke to Hassan. Vaughn is removed as Syd's case worker. Jack will cover for Syd's trip to Memphis. He tells her he tried to grab Danny and send him to Singapore but he was too late. Syd thanks him.
Cairo: Syd breaks into Hassan's complex to steal the nuke. She removes the uranium core but is caught by Hassan.

Analysis:

So what is that SD-6 geneticist doing in Kuala Lumpur?
What happened three years ago that the CIA could have taken out the L.A. office of SD-6? Hasn't Jack been with them for decades?
Did the CIA's map of SD-6 include just SD-6 in America, or the entire Alliance organization which spans across the globe?
Is it mere coincidence that Syd met Will in the same that the CIA could have taken out the L.A. office? In 1998.
How did the US learn about the smuggled Russian nukes? Did the Russians tell them, or did they find out themselves? The grave marker indicates the nukes were placed there in 1974. (A couple years before Laura Bristow was "killed", connection?)
Why would SD-6 immediately sell off a nuke to Hassan? Don't they have any interest in keeping it for themselves?

1X3 PARITY The Run Down:

Cairo: Syd subdues Hassan and escapes with the uranium core by CIA extraction.
Mueller's Device ("Truth Be Told") remains a mystery, but Mueller was not the designer. He created it based on the designs of Milo Rambaldi, Pope Alexander VI's chief architect who died in 1496. He was ex-communicated for heresy and sentenced to death for suggesting that "science could allow us to know God". His work was destroyed, scattered, and forgotten. Until March 2000 when a female Russian historian happened across his work and found plans for transistors and cellular phones; he was a prophet. Rambaldi is an SD-6 priority now, to learn his secrets before anyone else. SD-6 acquired one notebook from San Lazaro with binary code. The other half of the code is on an artifact owned by Eduardo Benegas in Spain. He suddenly refused to sell it to them, possibly tipped off by K-Directorate, who are also pursuing Rambaldi. His key was stolen from him by "Ana" during sex. Ana has a tattoo of an eye on her left hand. Syd and Dixon are sent to Madrid to steal the artifact from Benegas' museum.
The CIA is also after Rambaldi, but Vaughn has never heard of him before. Ana Espinosa was born in Cuba and raised in Russia. She's a "wet work and active measures" agent for K-Directorate. Syd met her a year ago in Yugoslavia when Ana assassinated her contact. Vaughn tells Syd he's not her case worker anymore. His replacement is Lambert. Weiss thinks Vaughn has a crush on her.
Will gets some of Danny's stuff from his apartment for Syd. He finds a traffic camera covering the area, but all footage is missing the night of Danny's murder on June 8th. Syd gets drunk and kisses Will. Gracie thinks Charlie is cheating on her.
Madrid: Syd attends a car revealing at the museum. Ana beats Syd into the vault and steals the artifact, setting off the alarm. Ana beats Syd in a fight, but Syd shoots loose the artifact as Ana flees, taking it.
Lambert meets with Syd to introduce himself. He's insulting and inept. SD-6 has a division that tracks its own agents and report suspect activity, she's endangering him. She refuses to accept his orders blindly and demands Vaughn be reinstated or she quits.
Sloane calls in Jack, their best game theorist, to help on the case. They have the box, K-D has the key. Jack contacted K-D; Ana and Syd will meet at a neutral location under mutual protection and open the box together. Mutually reinforcing action is one of the most stable strategic paradigms. Syd decides to try and connect with Jack and ask him questions, but he rebuffs her. Jack later admits her mother knew he was CIA and that she died in the accident. But Sloane and Jack know he was lying.
Berlin: Syd and Ana meet in an abandoned stadium while SD-6 and K-D snipers watch. They open the box.

Analysis:

So Rambaldi was out to use science to "know God". What does this mean? Apotheosis? Elevating human beings into godhood? Unlocking the scientific secrets of the universe? Or simple immortality? And what does this have to do with transistors, cellular phones, strange levitating devices, and binary codes? Were these just miscellaneous things that Rambaldi saw/predicted?
(Was this female Russian historian Laura Bristow by any chance? She was an English professor during her cover, which is not too far removed from history. And Laura has probably been in Russia ever since her feigned death. If so, this would explain why Khasinau is such a Rambaldi expert. He was the first.)
So Danny was killed on June 8th. The bottom half of the pilot took place three months later, so in September 2001.
If there's an entire SD-6 division made for observing their own agents, how the hell is Syd sneaking away to meet Vaughn and Jack constantly? How does she explain the missing time? How does she explain meeting the same man every time? Even the most rudimentary observance of her would reveal Vaughn's presence, and surely they could identify him as a CIA agent!
What exactly does it mean that Jack is a "game theorist"? Just for drafting plans for intelligence operations and so on?
SD-6's strategy of co-operation with K-Directorate is very interesting. Apparently the intelligence world operates on the theory of détente and mutually assured destruction, just like the Cold War. The strangely friendly rivalry between Syd and Ana is a great microcosm of this concept. Obviously they're not at war with each other, even though they are enemies.
Why did Jack lie to Syd about her mother's fate? Just to keep her from investigating it and bringing up painful old memories?

1X4 A BROKEN HEART The Run Down:

Berlin: Syd and Ana memorize the binary code before the box destroys the paper. Vaughn orders Syd to give SD-6 the correct code over her objections. SD-6 and K-Directorate leave in peace. Syd says Ana was the enemy for 3 years, but now they're both after SD-6. The CIA considers K-Directorate a larger threat than SD-6. The code points to Athens. Sloane's wife is ill.
Rambaldi wrote the code in 1489. Some of his drawings include part ID numbers of technology only just manufactured this year. The last decade of his life was spent on a single project; a weapon? a fuel source? a transportation system? The technology is beyond anything before seen. Anthony Russett transfers to SD-6 from Jennings to work on the UCO file. SD-3 sent a team to Athens before K-D but found nothing. Marshall realized the code instead points to a 500 year old church in Malega Spain, for a "golden sun".
Malega, Spain: Syd grabs a sun out of a stained glass window. Ana attacks her, but Syd subdues her and escapes with the sun. The sun piece was made of synthetic polymers 500 years before the material existed.
Syd and Gracie watch Charlie meet a woman. Will kisses Syd again, but she turns him down. Vaughn had a big fight with his girlfriend. Syd asks Jack out to dinner. Jack is given a psych evaluation by McCullough. He flashes to Syd as her mother, saying she'll eventually learn the truth. Jack ditches dinner with Syd but watches her at the restaurant. Syd commiserates to Vaughn and he comforts her.
This year's United Commerce Organization summit in Sao Paulo is under threat. Terrorist Luc Jacqnoud has been released early from French prison and is meeting someone in Morocco. Syd and Dixon are sent to ID his contact. Recent SD-6 recruit Mochtar is their aid.
Morocco: Syd and Dixon observe Jacqnoud meeting with Suari, whose bodyguard recognizes Syd from Corsica 2 years ago when he broke her arm. Mochtar is killed but Syd and Dixon escape. Suari is a demotions specialist who plans to plant a bomb on Patel, the Indian UN Representative and human rights activist, in order to destroy the UCO.
Will learns that Danny's flight to Indonesia was paid with cash and he was going to travel with Kate Jones not Syd.
Sao Paulo: Suari drugs Patel at a party and makes off with him. Syd and Dixon follow them to a warehouse. Syd watches Suari and Jacqnoud surgically implant a bomb in Patel's chest.

Analysis:

So why was the binary code destroyed when the box was opened? Was there some additional security measure that Benegas had in addition to the key they Syd and Ana didn't have? And what happened to the artifact the code was written on? It was just a slip of paper. Or was the artifact just a journal page?
Last episode Syd said she first met Ana a year ago. This episode she says Ana has been an enemy for 3 years. Does this mean that Ana has been working for K-Directorate for 3 years, and Syd just never actually met her until a year ago? Or was Syd just mentioning an important meeting with Ana last episode, and not the first time they met? Sounds more likely.
Why is K-Directorate a larger threat than SD-6 in the CIA's eyes? Is K-D larger and more dangerous? Is it because they're Russian, while SD-6 is more of an international coalition. More likely it's because SD-6 is the devil you know, thanks to Syd and Jack.
Rambaldi's knowledge of modern day product ID numbers is shockingly specific knowledge of the future! It's beginning to sound more and more like Rambaldi is a time traveler rather than a visionary. Perhaps he lived in the future and then traveled back to the past. Perhaps the Device he was building in his final years was a time machine to return home. The fact that his final technology is beyond modern days suggests he can see or is from even further in the future. Perhaps from a time when time travel is possible...? How else could he possess modern polymers unless he brought them the future; surely he couldn't possess the physical capabilities to produce them in 1500s Italy, regardless of what he knew. Rambaldi could draw all sorts of future technology, but he was obviously incapable of producing it. Except for his final Device, which took a decade to make, and we don't even know if he was successful. Sounds like he got stuck in the past against his will and was looking for a way back.
Russett transferred from Jennings, Jennings Aerospace. So he was doing the same thing Jack was, working undercover in a major military industrial provider.
Apparently, SD-3 is stationed in Greece or nearby.
What did Vaughn and his girlfriend Alice have a fight over? His commitment to his duty over their relationship?
(Syd's mother turning into Syd in Jack's dream foreshadows the fact they both apply to Rambaldi's Prophecy.)
Why does SD-6 wish to protect the UCO? Are they an organization towards globalization and one world government for the Alliance?

1X5 DOPPELGANGER The Run Down:

Sao Paulo: Syd is discovered by the bodyguard and flees. Dixon abducts Patel from the UCO Conference. Syd and Dixon flee with Patel in a stolen ambulance. Jacqnoud chases after them to activate the bomb while Dixon performs open heart surgery on Patel. Dixon removes the bomb and throws it at Jacqnoud as he detonates it, killing him. SD-6 was protecting an Alliance minister, but Syd was unable to ID him for the CIA.
Vaughn gives Syd a copy of Jack's CIA file jacket. There is a missing file 332L concerning an FBI Agent Calder who suspected Jack of selling secrets. Jack tells Syd he's busy overseeing six cases and can't meet with her, but she doesn't want to.
Francie throws a halloween party that Dixon attends. Syd has known Francie since at least 7th Grade. Will tells Gracie to call Charlie.
Will tries to locate Kate Jones, Danny's seatmate on the airplane. Francie tells him to stop. Will finds Kate Jones just flew to Sao Paulo with a fake social security number. Kate Jones meets Will in person and claims Danny started an affair with her. Will confronts her with the fact that her social security numbers says she died in 1973. She runs off.
Hensel Coporation is a German chemical conglomerate involved in Nazi medical R&D in WWII. Their leading biotech engineer Schiller is offering a vaccine against bio weapons to SD-6 in return for smuggling him to the US. He's been in contact since August. Syd and Dixon will extract him and copy the vaccine files.
The US research is behind the Germans. Hensel has created micro-encapsulated cytocines to activate immune cells in the respiratory tract, so that your own men can be protected from bio weapons. The CIA has prepared an impersonator for Schiller, Kelvin, an old friend of Jack's, who will be swapped for him in Germany and turned over to SD-6. Syd wants to tell Dixon the truth about SD-6, but Vaughn refuses. Dixon might already know the truth, but Syd trusts him.
Berlin: Syd meets Schiller and copies the file while Dixon gases the security. The CIA grabs Schiller, and Syd meets Dixon with Kelvin.
Schiller refuses to tell the password to Vaughn, and he doesn't believe that Sloane isn't CIA. Kelvin gave Sloane a bogus program that gives the CIA a back door into the SD-6 computer system, giving them access to the entire network. It was Vaughn's idea.
Sloane asks Kelvin where the plant that's making the vaccine inhaler prototypes is, but he doesn't know. Sloane grows suspicious of Kelvin and Syd but Dixon backs her up. Dixon asks Syd is something is wrong, but she placates him. Syd contacts Jack. Syd begs Schiller for help and he tells her the plant is in Badenweiler. Sloane calls in Jack to interrogate Kelvin. Jack breaks his arm while slipping the location to Kelvin so he can confess.
Sloane's suspicions are alleviated. Syd and Dixon are given the mission to steal the prototypes and destroy the factory; Sloane claims they're making them for Neo Nazis. Sloane wants to avoid the 5 years it took Hensel to develop a prototype from the formula. Kelvin and Schiller both safely escaped. Syd will hand off the prototypes to a waiting CIA team and disable Dixon's explosives.
Badenweiler: Syd and Dixon break into the factory. Syd grabs the inhalers while Dixon sets the explosives. She hands them off to a CIA team and meets Dixon outside. Dixon uses a secondary detonator to blow the factory, unwittingly killing the CIA team inside.

Analysis:

So the only reason SD-6 was out to stop Jacqnoud from bombing the UCO conference was because one of their head honchos was in the council there? That still indicates there's something corrupt about the UCO.
Syd seems to indicate she met Francie in 7th Grade. Let's see, I was 12 to 13 during 7th Grade. It's surprising they were in the same grade since they were born almost a year apart. Syd was born in '74 and Francie in '75 so they probably met in '87.
It's surprisingly easy how quickly Will smokes through Syd's airplane alias. Perhaps these sorts of things were not meant to be able to withstand any real inquiry. But sending an actress out to play Kate Jones seems pretty sloppy given the other mistake!
Now that the factory and the prototypes have been destroyed, is the bioweapon vaccine technology totally lost? Hopefully to Hansel and the Alliance, but the CIA got the formula from Schiller (though it will take 5 years to produce it).
Why doesn't the CIA nab Dixon and tell him the truth? Syd is vouching for his character, and her job would be infinitely easier if Dixon was working with her. Sure they have to be careful, but it seems like a justifiable risk.
Obviously when Schiller contacted SD-6, he thought he was talking to the real CIA. Guess he's not that bad a guy then. But if Schiller is the one who approached SD-6, how did he unwittingly contact them and not the real CIA? Is the Alliance interrupting CIA calls or something?
What happens when SD-6 learns about the CIA's backdoor program in their system? Will they know where it came from?
Why in the world would Sloane specifically call Jack in just to beat up Kelvin/Schiller? Surely they have an entire division of expert torturers! Jack is an operations man!

1X6 RECKONING The Run Down:

Syd meets Helen Calder, the widow of FBI Agent Calder. He investigated CIA agents suspected of spying for Russia. He died of a car crash in 1981, but the paper claims he and Syd's mother died of a car crash together 20 years ago. Syd was told that Jack was in the car with her mom when a postal worker hit them. But Calder was pursuing Jack, who was working for the KGB. Syd wants to tell the CIA, but Vaughn tells her they need him to fight SD-6.
Charlie tells Francie he was sneaking away for singing lessons with Rachel and his new band. They get back together.
Will tracks Kate Jones' license plate number. Her real name is Eloise Kurtz. Will confronts Kurtz but she sends him away. She later confesses they paid her to lie, and tells him to come by later. Will finds her apartment empty and repainted.
Jack completed his assignment at Jennings Aerospace, and moves to work for SD-6, with a cover as portfolio manager at Credit Dauphine. Two months ago FTL evacuated three bases, and SD-6 teams found music greeting cards left behind. The musical code lead them to a FTL ship used as a floating R&D lab. SD-6 commandos stormed the ship in the Panama Canal and recovered FTL's latest code machine before the ship self-destructed. They haven't broken the code yet, and only 8 coders were produced. One is held in John Smythe's London photo gallery. Syd and Dixon are sent to retrieve the coder and learn where FTL disappeared to.
Thus far, the CIA program into SD-6 has only copied 2 percent of the mainframe. Syd tells Vaughn that she briefly confronted Jack over it against his objections. He tells her his father, a CIA agent, died when he was 8, and he's giving the funeral for the agents lost at Badenweiler. Jack tells Syd she isn't cleared to know about her mother, and that she shouldn't draw conclusions on limited information.
London: Dixon distracts Smythe at the photo gallery while Syd breaks in the office and steals the coder. She plants a CIA bug as well.
The FTL coder and the greeting cards work by creating a DNA code. Parkishoff received a card as the FTL cell leader in Rabat, but he's dead and they can't find his body. He was assassinated by Martin Shephard, whose subconscious is programmed to kill when hearing a codeword without remembering it. They know the code. Shephard checked himself into a nut house in Bucharest, Rumania.
Marshall finds the SD-6 mainframe is sluggish and finds the CIA program. He cuts the hardline. Sloane calls Alain about a mole.
Romania: SD-6 Agent Fisher checks Syd into the nuthouse as a mental patient to Dr. Krushnik. When she recites the code to Shephard, he attacks her. The guards take Syd, knowing her real name. Weiss is told Krushnik is K-Directorate. Syd discovers Fisher murdered.

Analysis:

So Calder's widow told Syd that Calder died in a car crash in 1981, which is 20 years ago, and therefore when Syd's mom died.
If Jack was in the car with Syd's mom, how did he survive? He probably wasn't.
So SD-6 just pays off some girl hard on her luck to lure away Will? This is horribly sloppy! You'd think they'd have trained actors to masquerade as their agents' aliases if need be! And disappearing her like this is horribly suspicious!
So what was Jack doing at Jennings Aerospace, and how was the assignment completed?
So FTL abandoned three bases, SD-6 investigated and found these code cards, which lead them to the boat which lead them to the coder in London... isn't this just a little too easy? Is FTL really sloppy enough to just leave behind code keys at their abandoned bases? This seems like a rather obvious trap to lure Syd into the K-Directorate run nut house in Rumania. Was this a general trap to screw over SD-6 by taking advantage of a rival organization, or are FTL and K-D working together now?
So was this a typical move into new bases so that FTL's enemies can't track them, or was there something greater behind this? And was this whole trap just an added bonus to move? Surely they wouldn't evacuate three bases just to catch Syd for K-D!
If the greeting cards work off a DNA code, how did SD-6 manage to decode the signal before finding the coder?
Obviously SD-6 is responsible for creating a Manchurian Candidate out of Shephard, how else would they know the code? It's funny how Sloane never mentions who did this to him or where he got the code from!
(Sloane calls Alain about a mole, who is of course Alain Christophe founder of the Alliance.)

1X7 COLOR BLIND The Run Down:

Rumania: Krushnik electrocutes Syd in a tub to learn if Shephard told her where Perkashov's body is. Syd claims FTL created Shephard. K-Directorate's main recruiting ground is Georgia, Russia. Syd makes a deal to get Shephard to tell her. Krushnik claims she'll get life in a Chechnyan internment camp. Shephard recognizes Syd and refuses her help; he wants to die. Syd tells him he's a programmed killer but he's remembering the murders so he's color blind.
Vaughn meets with Jack for the first time. Jack's handler is Cretchmer. The CIA knows there's a K-Directorate agent in the nut house and Vaughn wants to send in a CIA squad to rescue her. Jack says that could expose her. He's pissed Vaughn pulled his file and accuses Vaughn of having a crush on Syd. Vaughn wonders why Jack was checking on him.
Will learns Eloise Kurtz was murdered. He tells his publisher but she needs more proof. The police prove strangely uninterested, and Will is reluctant to publish the first piece and hurt Syd but the publisher insists.
Marshall cleaned the mainframe of the virus. Sloane claims it was a Security Section drill. Marshall has a minor form of scoliosis.
Rumania: Shephard recalls murdering Danny and seeing Syd's picture there. Syd fails in an escape attempt but Shephard helps her escape. Syd takes Shephard to a safehouse and calls Vaughn. Shephard tells Syd he killed Danny, and that McCullough is responsible for his programming. To help her destroy SD-6, he tells where Perkashov is buried on the Louisana/Texas border.
Syd tells Sloane that Shephard committed suicide, but tells Vaughn he's still alive. The CIA wants him though. Vaughn tells Syd that Jack knows his file was pulled. Jack shows Syd an official FBI report clearing him of KGB involvement during the Carter era. After Boyce and Lee were caught in '77 everyone was under suspicion. The FBI was after him but it lead to Syd's mom's death.
It's Thanksgiving! Will takes Jenny, who is under 21 and whose parents are in Europe. Charlie proposes to Francie.
SD-6 found Perkashov's body and used the DNA to decode the FTL message. FTL just completed a vast dig in Tunisia for a Rambaldi artifact, which is why the three bases were evacuated. The shipment was tracked to Oxford where it is being analyzed by the Dept Engineering Science. Syd is sent to a professors reception.
The CIA wants pictures of the Rambaldi artifact. Ana was spotted leaving the Romanian nut house and is on the case. Vaughn broke up with Alice and spent Thanksgiving with his mother. Shephard sends a postcard to Syd, thanking her.
Alain tells Sloane that Security Section believes there is one or more moles in his department, and they're going to make an example.

Analysis:

Why does Syd say that FTL created Shephard? Did Sloane tell her this off-screen last episode?
Two facts point to the fact that K-Directorate is directly connected to the Russian government. One, most of their agents come from Georgia (which admittedly isn't part of Russia anymore, but it's former Soviet Union). Two, Krushnik claims that he can put Syd in a Chechnyan internment camp. The Russians have been at war with the Chechnyan rebels with awhile, and they would obviously run the internment camps there. So while Russia was splintered, its intelligence organization remains whole.
Why was Jack checking on Vaughn? Probably just concern for Syd and general paranoia for his own neck.
The police's disinterest in Kurtz's murder suggests that SD-6 has ties in the police as well. Or maybe it was just a very vanilla murder.
Why did Sloane lie to Marshall about the virus? It suggests that he knew it was CIA, or just that he doesn't want Marshall to know about the mole problem because he might inadvertently warn the mole, or be the mole himself.
Marshall has a slight case of scoliosis, which is a sideways curvature of the spinal cord.
Given the fact that Syd called Vaughn first thing when she got to the cabin, it was probably a CIA safehouse not a SD-6 one.
Using a Manchurian Candidate to murder Danny is extremely clever and deniable, which is surprising given how inept the Eloise Kurtz thing has been so far. This opens a huge can of worms though, if SD-6 has this sort of capability at their use! They could kill anybody without fear of getting caught!
Apparently Syd just let Shephard go, without turning him in to SD-6 or the CIA. Guess she took pity on him enough to screw the CIA.
Jack was cleared by the FBI sometime between 1977 and 1980, Carter's final year as President. But Syd's mom was killed in 1981. So how is the FBI investigation of Jack at fault for Syd's mom's death? (Because the investigation of Jack lead to Laura, that's why!)
Who are Boyce and Lee? Is this a real life situation, or are they fictional? Presumably they were spying in the CIA for the KGB.
So now SD-6 and K-Directorate are both chasing after FTL to get their hands on this new Rambaldi artifact! Guess this means that FTL wasn't allied with K-D after all when they lead Syd into the K-D controlled nuthouse. Either that, or alliances are shifty!
Why did Vaughn break up with Alice? Because of his work hours? Did she know about Syd?
What makes Security Section believe that there are two or more moles in SD-6? Has Jack done something suspicious?

1X8 TIME WILL TELL The Run Down:

Oxford: Syd sends FTL guards after Ana while she breaks into the lab and steals the Rambaldi artifact.
Jack confronts Sloane over Kurtz's death 2 days ago. She was a new promotion to SD-6 and Sloane had her killed. Jack sent her to Will without telling Sloane. McCollough recommended her. Sloane wants to know how Will learned the name Kate Jones and wants to kill him, but Jack wants to spare Syd the pain and promises to get Will off the story. Will's boss June insists on publishing the piece but Will refuses to interview Syd about it. Jack takes Kate Jones off the passenger manifest, discrediting Will's story. Will picks up Kurtz's car from the shop and finds a flower lapel that interferes with phone signals. Will takes it to a tech and he says its government issued.
Syd attacks a man tailing her. He's been following her 3 days and planted a bug on her car. Syd confronts Sloane over it but he says security has been heightened. Jack has a 60 second radio jammer. Jack is 1 of 5 agents at Credit Dauphine that knows the truth about SD-6, but Sloane is keeping him out of the loop. The CIA virus was discovered and Carl Dreyer is coming to give everyone lie detector tests. Syd needs special preparation to pass it. Vaughn helps train her for it and learns she's interested in someone.
The Rambaldi artifact is a clock made by master clockmaker Giovanni Donato, commissioned by Rambaldi. Donato, who died in 1503, is the only man he ever worked with. Rambaldi hid codes in art designs. The clock is uncannily accurate but has a gear assembly with no purpose. It lists a date of no significance. The clock doesn't work so Syd is sent to Donato's descendent in Positano to fix it.
Syd uses a collection of books that Jack bought for her mother Laura. She's been on 7 trips this month. Syd finds hidden codes in the book pages. She tells Vaughn that Jack got the books from a Prague bookshop to receive KGB cipher codes 20 years ago.
Positano: Syd meets a shocked Donato and shows him the clock. He says Donato refused to make his perfect clocks for kings and queens, only for Rambaldi. Rambaldi promised "he would live an impossibly long life, he even revealed to him when he would die". The <0> symbol on the clock is "the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. Rambaldi's most loyal followers entrusted with safeguarding his creations. Sadly, like most things that once were pure, criminals now use this symbol to infiltrate the order". Ana arrives with agents. She has the Rambaldi Order tattoo on her hand. Donato doesn't know what the date means, and lets slip that Rambaldi never told him. A piece is missing, but it will tell time. Donato starts the clock. "The clock is fixed. Now, it's over". Donato stands as an agent shoots at Syd and is killed. Syd escapes with the clock.
SD-6 thinks the sum of Rambaldi's inventions are greater than its parts, and the clock proves it. When the polymer sun disc is placed in the clock, and set to 12:22 1/22, the clock moves on its own and reveals a star chart, acting as an ancient GPS system. The date on the back of the clock is August 16th 1523 at 12:23am GMT, the location is Mt. Aconcagua on the Chile-Argentina border.
Dreyer gives Syd the lie detector test asking if she is a double agent. The results aren't in yet but she remains under observation. Vaughn offers to put her in a protection program, but she refuses to live in hiding. Dreyer tells Sloane he's found the mole.
Argentina: Syd and Dixon reach the location. They find a buried shaft to a vast underground complex. Inside Syd finds Rambaldi's Journal and takes pictures for the CIA. Ana and K-Directorate arrive with Dixon topside. Ana shoots Syd and steals the Journal. Syd is protected by a vest but Ana escapes.

Analysis:

If McCollough recommended Kurtz, then why did she turn out to be so horrible? Just because she was a fresh recruit? It's also possible that Jack intentionally make the cover up sloppy, in the hopes that Will could expose SD-6.
Obviously the flower pedal is an SD-6 bug to keep an eye on Kurtz. When they learned she was confessing to Will they killed her.
So SD-6 is never going to get suspicious that there's a constant radio interference whenever Jack and Syd get alone in a room together?! Given how often they use this in future episodes, it's pretty ridiculous.
So only five people in the Credit Dauphine office know the truth about SD-6. Sloane, Jack, McCollough, and two others. Who?
Why doesn't McCollough give the lie detector tests? Perhaps they want to bring in an independent person to be safe.
So the unnecessary gear assembly was the thing to hold the sun disc into place and light the star field, right?
Syd has been on 7 trips in the past month. Going back, that's Oxford, Rumania (106-7), London (106), Badenweiler (105), Berlin (105), Sao Paulo (104-5), and Morocco (104). So that means 104-107 all took place in November. That only leaves 102-3 for October! Perhaps there was a long pause between the end of 101 and the beginning of 102.
(If the KGB codes were really for Laura, then how could it be Jack who was buying the books for her? Did the KGB just take advantage of Jack buying books for her, and he never knew about it?)
Well this episode proves that Rambaldi was capable of gifting immortality to people. This sets up everything to come afterwards. And we already knew about his future vision ability, to know when Donato would die.
(Well here we learn about the Magnific Order of Rambaldi, and we learn that people like Ana are infiltrating that organization today. But this is the last we ever heard of the Order or of Ana! Whatever happened to this! What is the Order doing, and what do they have to do with The Man and Khasinau? Perhaps they're working for The Man? Given the fact that the Order was entrusted with safeguarding his creations, they'd probably be enemies of The Man. Rambaldi seemed to be a good person after all.)
How did Donato know about criminals infiltrating the Order? Was he a part of the Order? What exactly has he been doing for the past five hundred years?
It looked like Donato intentionally stood so that the assassin's bullet would kill him and not Syd. How did he know an assassin would shoot at her through the window, even given the fact that he knew it was time to die? Was it coincidence that he stood then? Or was he intentionally protecting Syd? (Perhaps he saw Rambaldi's Journal, and he knew that Syd could be the Prophecized One).
If the disc starfield was created on August 16th at 12:23am, what does "12:22 1/22" mean? This wasn't the date of the episode, since the episode takes place days after Thanksgiving. Could it have been when the clock was created by Donato?
The fact that Rambaldi's Journal was buried 27 years after his alleged death strongly suggests his death was faked.
How in the world did Rambaldi dig out this massive cave system? Or did he just take advantage of a naturally occurring one, then sealed off the opening? Why did Rambaldi bury his Journal in Argentina? Surely he's still alive today. Was it intentionally set loose to be one day discovered by Syd, so that the world would learn of the Prophecized One?

1X9 MEA CULPA The Run Down:

Argentina: Syd finds Dixon shot in the chest and near death. She calls in a CIA team using the codeword "Freelancer", which Dixon dimly overhears. They're flown to a hospital in Buenos Aires and Syd claims she drove him there. Dixon is taken to Angel of Mercy in LA, an SD-6 hospital. Syd tells Diane, Dixon's wife, he was shot in a bank robbery. Syd fears that Dixon will remember "Freelancer".
When the US froze Anini Hassan's bank assets, he send in a team of bank robbers to transfer the funds. Hassan has been missing for 2 weeks and is relocating; now SD-6 must take him down. Hassan's accountant is Logan Gerace and he's throwing a party in Tuscany. Syd is sent alone to steal Hassan's account number from Gerace's computer and dead drop it at Dinatti Park.
Dreyer tells Sloane that Syd is the mole, but Sloane refuses to believe it. She passed her test, but too perfectly. And she keeps failing in missions like in Argentina. Dreyer threatens to go straight to the Alliance but Sloane promises to take care of her. Sloane tells Syd that he understands why she hates him, after Danny's murder, that he begged Security Section not to do it. Sloane has known Jack since 1971, and Laura too, and he always felt Syd was a daughter to him even though he was out of the country for most of her childhood. Sloane sends a message through Server 5 to SD-4 in Rome for Spinelli, ordering Syd's assassination at Dinatti Park.
Will takes the Kurtz flower bug to a tech. It's Microelectrical Systems technology, very state of the art, and it's still broadcasting. Will talks into the flower and asks for a meet. Kurtz was wearing it the day they met and Will isn't dead yet so they must not want him dead. Will and Francie get drunk and play with the bug. The Source calls Will and tells him to stop talking about the bug. The Source later calls Will again and asks if he's ready to investigate this. Will agrees. He later finds a garbled tape in his car of Kurtz being questioned about meeting Will then executed.
Hassan actually turned on SD-6 because when Syd stole his nuke he thought it was SD-6. He took their money and ran on a missile deal last week, now SD-6 wants to send a message to their dealers. The CIA wants to bring Hassan to justice. SD-6 has a base in Oman they're looking to fortify.
Tuscany: Syd visits Gerace's party, breaks into the office and copies the files.
The CIA learns of the Dinatti Park hit through the SD-6 mainframe virus. Vaughn calls Jack but he says do nothing. Jack learns the message was sent on Server 5, unconnected to the mainframe since the Security Section "drill". Vaughn puts a CIA team in Dinatti Park. Jack tells Vaughn its a setup to draw out the CIA. Vaughn reluctantly calls down the CIA team. Syd makes the drop. Dreyer is still not convinced Syd isn't the mole, and questions that Sloane would have let Syd disappear with her agency is she was the mole.
Hassan's account numbers were not in Gerace's files, only the name of the bank. Syd and Rusik are sent to Geneva Switzerland to find the account numbers from the bank. The CIA will track what SD-6 does with the funds.
Geneva: Syd enters the bank vault on a tour and copies the account numbers for Rusik and the CIA. Rusik transfers the funds.
Marshall tells Dreyer that an additional transmission came out of Geneva while Syd was in the vault. Dreyer tells Sloane. Dixon wakes up and tells Syd he doesn't remember what happened. Syd is captured by SD-6 agents on Sloane's orders.

Analysis:

SD-6 owns an entire hospital in L.A.?! Is that really necessary? Or do they just have a bunch of agents in there?
What was Sloane doing out of the country so much in the late 70s? CIA missions? SD-6 missions?
(Is there another reason why Sloane feels so paternal to Syd? Does he know she could be the Prophecized One? It's probably unlikely, since before finding Rambaldi's Journal in "Time Will Tell" they would have no opportunity to see Page 47, which itself was not revealed until the CIA the painted it with the Rambaldi vial of ink.)
Sounds like SD-4 is based in Rome under the leadership of Spinelli.
(So from this episode on, The Source helping Will is actually Khasinau. However the flower bug is SD-6, so Khasinau must have a way to listen to this signal as well. The real question is how did he know to listen in on the this vanilla coverup of Syd's alias for her reporter friend? It strongly suggests that Khasinau already knew Syd was SD-6 before this! Perhaps Haladki has already told him. But where in the world would Khasinau get surveillance of Kurtz's murder? This suggests he's been following this case from the get-go, and was able to get around SD-6 security. Unless that tape is faked to keep Will's interest.)
Obviously The Source is not loyal to SD-6. He seems to think that if Will blabs to the bug long enough, SD-6 will assassinate him for knowing too much. So The Source wants Will alive to expose SD-6. Jack is a possibility.
How big is this Alliance base in Oman that they need Stinger missiles to fortify it with? Up till now, we haven't really heard anything about the Alliance having any sort of real military power, just shadowy intelligence assets. Oman is a country in the Middle East.
Sloane's little trap for Syd is based on the assumption that Syd was responsible for the CIA virus in the SD-6 mainframe, since it was the discovery of the virus that set off the investigation to begin with.
Why does Sloane give Syd and opportunity to freely escape SD-6 if she is indeed the mole? Does he care for her enough to go against the best interests of the Alliance? Or does he know something very important about Syd? (Namely the Prophecized One bit)
Marshall only says that another transmission came out of Geneva while Syd was in the vault. That's not very localized to the bank itself. Who's to say that Syd or Rusik were responsible for that in such a large target area?

1X10 SPIRIT The Run Down:

Sloane explains to Rusik that they will threaten to torture him to death if Syd does not confess, since they will claim that he's working with Syd. Rusik is thrown in a cell with Syd and asks her to confess. Syd never admits guilt. Jack learns Syd has been arrested from Steven from Security Section. Syd is released when they learn the transmission came from Rusik to K-Directorate. Sloane tells her Syd has been under suspicion for 3 weeks, but now she's cleared. Vaughn gives Syd a Christmas present.
Hassan has been selling arms to K-Directorate. His last appearance was in Madrid a month ago. Last week Syd seized the assets, and that lead to Semba Island off Kenya, a haven for criminals. Severin Driscoll has lived there for 12 years since leaving England, he's a master forger who gave Hassan a new identity. Syd is sent to locate Driscoll. Rusik was killed last night.
Will has the Kurtz murder tape analyzed, which is from the flower bug surveillance. He hears the word "SD-6". Will is having sex with Jenny. Will searches for SD-6 and finds a single reference in a court trial for David McNeil. He was a computer programmer who started a business and when he refused to let a company buy him out, the same day he was investigated by the government. He was charged with larceny after trust and sentenced to 16 years. He plea bargained because his wife died allegedly of suicide and he wanted to protect his daughter, who now lives with his friend who tried the case Robert Stoller. Will meets McNeil in prison to ask about SD-6, but he refuses to talk and demands he leave them alone.
Kenya: Syd meets Driscoll and breaks into his hotel room. She finds Hassan's new face after plastic surgery.
Syd reported failure but Sloane learned that Hassan is living in Havana under the name Hasad. Sloane sends Jack to kill him. 2 years before Sloane met Jack, while he was new at the CIA, he gave his first Far East briefing at the White House. He was elated but felt a darkness coming. This was before the CIA betrayed him and his wife was diagnosed with lymphoma. He had not met his wife yet.
Jack meets with Vaughn before leaving; the CIA wants Hassan for his client list. Jack will tell Hassan SD-6 sent him to kill him, and then offer to fake his death for his client list. Jack will claim to be turning on SD-6, but Hassan will never be released from the CIA. Vaughn confronts Jack over faking the transmission to frame Rusik, but he was just guessing. Rusik was innocent.
Syd realizes that Jack framed Rusik for death, but Vaughn tells her Rusik was an early member of SD-6 who knew the truth about them. He lead over a dozen operations to steal arms and chemicals.
Havana: Jack sets a meeting with Hassan but gets captured. Syd enlists Vaughn's help to send her to rescue him. Jack offers the deal to Hassan. Isaac Lochan and Ulee Shroeder were similarly killed. Syd goes to rescue Jack but gets captured. Hassan demands that Jack kill Syd to prove his claim to be against SD-6.

Analysis:

Sloane says Syd was under suspicion for three weeks. Marshall discovered the CIA virus in 106 "Reckoning", and Syd was tested by Dreyer in 108 "Time Will Tell". So did the three weeks begin with Syd's testing? Isn't that a long period of time?
The fact that the Kurtz murder tape from the flower bug makes more sense. (This means Khasinau was copying the bug transmission from the get go but had no actual assets in the field. It's unlikely that the bug is his since a) it's government issue and b) how else would SD-6 have learned about Kurtz confessing to Will to begin with? But if he was listening in from the very beginning, then it means he already knew Syd's identity.)
Why didn't SD-6 just kill McNeil? Because they might need his technical expertise? And is Stoller in on it?
How did Sloane learn about Hassan's new identity if Syd didn't tell him?
What was Sloane doing giving a Far East briefing at the White House? We later learn he was in Chile under Allende, which is a completely different area of knowledge. Did he start in China/Vietnam and move on to South America?
Sloane says this happened in 1969, but according to the ABC Site he was recruited into SD-6 on January 25th of that year. Then again the Site was also wrong on when Dixon got married by several years so...
How did the CIA betray Sloane? If they did, then he has a pretty good motivation for turning to SD-6!
Last episode Jack said only 5 in SD-6 know the truth. Now that list is Sloane, Jack, McCollough, Rusik, and a fifth.
It's funny how easily Syd gets taken down by a single soldier given her expertise at fighting before!

1X11 THE CONFESSION The Run Down:

Havana: Syd and Jack escape with Hassan. They fake Hassan's death and he gives them his client list. Jack heard about Syd meeting Hassan in Eygpt 2 years ago. Jack knew the truth about SD-6 when he joined. Syd asks why he didn't tell her when she joined; he says it would have exposed his position. Syd understands why Jack sacrificed Rusik last week to save her now.
Jack bought the books and Laura had them imported 25 years ago. NSA confirmed the cyrillic codes as KGB orders to kill over a dozen undercover CIA officers, who were all murdered 25 years ago. Vaughn insists on reporting Jack, but Syd says they need him for SD-6. Vaughn records their conversation but confesses to her later, and that one of the murdered agents was his father William Vaughn.
After Hassan's death, his aide Sakulos began contact clients over the past 2 days to continue the business. He's selling a new device they've been hearing about for months. Syd and Dixon retrieve the specs from Sakulos' office in Greece.
Hassan refuses to help the CIA unless they retrieve his wife and son from Argentina. He tells them of a weapons storage in Crete off Greece where the new device is kept. Syd gives the intel to Jack to give to Sloane. The device is an EM refractor for cloaking missiles.
Crete: Syd breaks into the storage silo but is caught in a trap. Hassan gives the password when they agree to grab his family. Sakulos attacks her but is killed in the explosion. Syd retrieves the refractor.
Syd and Vaughn meet CIA Director Devlin. Jack tells Syd that Laura was the agent who got the KGB codes and murdered the agents.

Analysis:

In "So It Begins" Syd tells Vaughn she met Hassan in March 2001, now she meets him 2 years ago.
Jack knew the truth about SD-6 when he joined. According to the ABC Site this was in January 1982. So was he approached by the Alliance and then he immediately reported it to the CIA? Or did the CIA send him out to be recruited?
Boy, Dixon sure did return to duty quickly without any mention of his injury!
Why would the KGB use an agent in a long term undercover assignment, as a wife to a CIA officer, to assassinate the enemy? Why not send someone else? Doesn't it blow her cover to make all these side trips?
Is it just a huge coincidence that Vaughn's Father was killed by Syd's Mother?
Why is the truth about Laura so classified that Vaughn and Syd weren't just told about it?

1X11 THE CONFESSION The Run Down:

Havana: Jack blinks morse code to Syd and they escape with Hassan. They fake Hassan's death, he gives them his client list, and Syd leaves with Hassan in a CIA copter. Syd isn't good at morse code. Jack and Syd speak Arabic. Jack started in SD-6 knowing the truth.
Vaughn translated the Cyrillic codes on Syd's mother's books; they were KGB orders to kill undercover CIA agents 25 years ago; Jack murdered them and Vaughn will report him. Hassan refuses to help the CIA unless they retrieve his wife and son from danger. Syd doesn't want to expose Jack because they need him to destroy SD-6, but Vaughn records their conversation.
Sloane claims ignorance of Hassan's death. His second Sakulos is contacting clients to continue the work, including a new mystery weapon. Syd is sent to Greece to retrieve the specs from his office, with retina copiers for the security; the CIA wants her to present false specs to SD-6 while they get the real ones. In Athens Syd meets Sakulos at a party and copies his retinas, but Dixon gets the specs instead of her and saves her, ruining the CIA mission.
Hassan tells the CIA about a weapons depot in Crete where the new weapon is stored. Vaughn gives Syd the tape and tells her that his father was one of the agents killed, and that he's still reporting it. Syd goes to Will for comfort. Syd gives the stockpile info to Jack to give to Sloane so Syd is sent. The new weapon is an EM Refractor to cloak missiles.
Crete: Syd enters the depot on Hassan's instructions, and is locked inside a oil death trap. Hassan tells her the kill code when Devlin signs an agreement to rescue his family. Sakulos returns and is killed in the sparked explosion.
Syd and Vaughn meet CIA Director Devlin about the KGB codes. Jack tells them Syd's mother was the KGB killer.

Analysis:

If Jack started out in SD-6 knowing it was really The Alliance, then he might have been involved with the creation of the cell alongside Sloane. They did know each other back in the CIA days. At what point did he start working for the CIA then?
In the next episode Jack says K-Directorate (the present day version of the KGB assumedly) would never directly strike against SD-6 because they would retaliate. Then why was the KGB willing to expose and murder a dozen CIA agents back in 1976? Weren't they afraid of the CIA's reprisals, or do they only fear SD-6 because it's not bound to any government?
What a coincidence that Syd's mother killed Vaughn's father!
How does an EM Refractor cloak a missile? And why do you need to cloak a missile? Anti-missile systems aren't very advanced.
With Hassan under CIA arrest and Sakulos dead, is the Hassan arms ring officially dead?

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