Alias Mythology Guide Season Two

MYTHOLOGY GUIDE

2X1 THE ENEMY WALKS IN

The Run Down:

Taipei: Irina Devrevko confronts her daughter Syd. "I've waited almost thirty years for this. You must have known this day would come. I could have prevented all this, of course. You were so small when you were born. It would have been so easy. Tell me... Sydney... who sent you here? You must tell me." When Syd refuses to answer, Irena shoots her in the shoulder. Syd escapes the chair and eludes The Man's security, even shooting dead one guard. She searches for Vaughn but can't find him. A large collection of scientists in hazmat suits examine the ruined Mueller Device and test the water. Vaughn escaped the water by swimming into an air duct but was quickly captured by Khasinau's security. He doesn't remember anything until France.
Syd tells Jack that Irena shot her and that Khasinau works for her. Syd tells Will the truth about her role in the CIA and SD-6, and Jack's as well. Syd says SD-6 "undermines governments and industry in an attempt to take over the world".
Dixon tells Sloane that Syd used a non SD-6 callsign in Argentina and that he caught her breaking into an SD-6 faculty last Thursday night. Jack takes full responsibility, claiming he gave Syd an independent callsign because he didn't trust Sloane with Syd. He tells Sloane that Will was kidnapped and they destroyed Khasinau's faculty, fracturing his organization and proving their loyalty. Jack broke protocol and would be killed by the Alliance. Syd is arrested but quickly released. Dixon apologizes to Syd for distrusting her.
After Will's disappearance the SD-6 story is printed in the paper and a large manhunt is on to find him. Jack tells Sloane he'll ensure Will will never write another article again; he's too high profile to kill now. Jack gives Will a dose of heroin and has him arrested at a crack house, exposing him as a drug addict. He publicly states SD-6 was a drug-induced fantasy of his, that he's been on heroin for 3 years, and quits his job. Francie is crushed but Syd finally has a confidante. Syd has bug killers in her apartment to prevent surveillance. Sloane tells Syd it saved his life.
Syd tells CIA psychologist Dr Barnett about her adventure in Taipei. Barnett expresses skepticism at Syd escaping with a bullet in her shoulder, but she says adrenaline is a powerful drug. Syd refuses to talk about her mother. Weiss meets with Syd in lieu of Vaughn.
Cap Ferrat, France: the estate of Jean-Marc Ravais of the French National Assembly. He is a financier for Khasinau and has been exposed by the Taipei mission. Syd is sent to plant a bug in Ravais' office, but the CIA censors what SD-6 learns. "Doctor" Khasinau is performing lobotomies on survivors of the Taipei faculty, including Vaughn. He's about to saw open Vaughn's rib cage when Syd finds them. She briefly fights Khasinau who flees. Syd escapes with Vaughn after shooting him in the heart with adrenaline.
The Ravais tap tells the CIA about "The Bible", an operations manual for their cartel; contacts, weapons and tech inventory, objectives. Khasinau and Irena need it to rebuild their operation. An operative fled with it from the Taipei complex.
Port of Barcelona, Spain: Syd, Vaughn, Weiss, and a CIA team observe Khasinau meeting the operative. The CIA team storms in but Irena kills the operative with a sniper rifle and wounds Weiss, allowing Khasinau to escape. Irena leaves her rifle firing by itself to distract the CIA team. Syd catches Khasinau, but Irena shows up and kills him then leaves with the Bible. "Truth takes time".
Sloane asks Syd to speak at Emily's funeral service. She met Emily when she started working for Credit Dauphine and Sloane invited her home to dinner; she quickly became a mentor figure. Meanwhile, Irena turns herself in to the CIA and offers cooperation.

Analysis:

So why was Irena contemplating killing Baby Syd? Because it would be an emotional investment when she was using Jack to get CIA secrets? Or does it have something to do with the Rambaldi Prophesy? Is Syd prophecized as the one to destroy Irena's plans, or merely as a competitor to the Prophesy from last season which Irena embodies?
Why was Irena so desperate to learn who sent Syd? The CIA or SD-6? She wasn't sent there, she was ordered there by Khasinau and thus by her, to ransom Will. So what kind of question is that? Either she's wondering which agency she went to for logistics, and thus which agency knows she just got attacked... or Khasinau did the entire kidnapping plot without her knowledge. Unlikely!
This series has always had a problem with lax security and Syd's escapes, but this opening has to be the most shameful one ever. She is shot in the shoulder and she escapes The Man's security complex??? Either Irena let her escape on purpose, or she has some extremely lame security, which would be a disappointment. Hopefully this is all part of Irena's master plan.
For the first time in the series, Syd shoots a gun, and actually kills someone! It's about frickin' time! The only thing to come close is having Noah fall on his own knife while fighting her in "Snowman". And later this episode she actually uses a gun! About time!
So apparently that water/liquid in the Mueller Device had some unusual properties if the scientists had to wear hazmat suits while examining the wreckage. Is it radioactive or otherwise poisonous? Do they know what its properties are yet? Will Vaughn be affected by his exposure to the water?
SD-6 is trying to take over the world, eh? How come we've never heard of this before? A little too megalomaniac... whatever happened to plain old making money and uncovering Rambaldi secrets? Or do they want the Rambaldi secrets to take over the world?
Okay so Jack tells Sloane that he gave Syd her own call sign because he didn't trust him with her. But how does this explain Syd breaking into an SD-6 page to steal an invaluable Rambaldi page? Did he tell him that as part of the truth about ransoming Will? I guess even that will go unreported since it meant that Syd was able to destroy Khasinau's Taipei lab. But Khasinau still has that page!
Nice to hear that Syd's apartment is bug proof, but wouldn't that raise suspicion if SD-6 ever tried to bug it?
So Khasinau is a doctor now? Of what? He's former KGB!
Judging by the appearance of Khasinau's living autopsy victims, it looks like he was examining all the injured and killed guards found at the Taipei lab. Why? Because they were exposed to the Mueller Device water! Just like Vaughn! But why was the one man getting his skull cut open, while Vaughn was getting his rib cage cut open? Is it because Vaughn probably swallowed some of the water? All this suggests that Irena and Khasinau don't actually know what the Mueller Device does or how it works and they want to know more.
It looks like Irena was planning to kill Khasinau before the CIA ever showed up. Why? Did he betray her or fail her? Or is she planning on killing him now to complete the appearance of the destruction of their organization, while she continues it in secret? Is this why she wanted to know who sent Syd? As in who knows about her organization?
What did Irena mean by "truth takes time"? Is Irena a good guy in some twisted sense?
So why in the world did Irena turn herself into the CIA? Surely it isn't to help them. She probably wants a chance to talk to Syd, or to spread further disinformation amongst her enemies. Or to get close to something she needs that the CIA has... the Khasinau vial perhaps? But she just got it used in "Almost Thirty Years" on the Rambaldi Page showing the Hundred Segments.

2X2 TRUST ME The Run Down:

Derevko is imprisoned in the Operations Center for the US Joint Task Force on Intelligence, hidden in downtown Los Angeles. FBI AD Kendall ("Q&A") is in charge. Jack says she's playing them all and Syd wants her executed in spite of being against the death penalty. Derevko refuses to talk with the FBI or reveal where her Bible is; she will only talk with Syd. Syd refuses but Kendall orders her to. Kendall will prosecute Vaughn for "Q&A" if Syd doesn't cooperate. Vaughn thinks she should use Derevko to destroy the Alliance but it's too hard. The Man's Organization controlled leaders in NATO, the UN, and the World Bank, and the CIA doesn't know how far their reach is or what their goal is. Vaughn's Father was only identified by his dental records. Weiss is recovering in the hospital.
London: Sloane is inducted as a Full Member of the Alliance. Ramon, Christophe, and the Head of Alliance Security ("The Solution") attend. He is injected in the neck with a yellow serum (lidocaine?); Christophe asks "you have been made aware of the initiation procedure, and the reasons for it?". Syd is convinced Sloane killed Emily for the Partnership. Sloane counsels Syd about her mother.
Will pleads guilty to the heroin charges; he must perform community service and undergo counseling, and offers to help Gracie's place.
The Alliance knows Khasinau is dead and believes Derevko is in hiding; they're going after their organization and assets. Derevko used blackmail extensively on important people to compromise them. All her dirt is kept on one disk; Derevko operative Mohammed Naj in Rabat received it last week. Vaughn asks her about the disk, but she only speaks when he calls Syd by her first name. Derevko says pulling the fire alarm will disable the alarm on the safe. As Vaughn leaves she says "you look just like him". Jack says don't trust her.
Rabat: Syd refuses to follow her mother's advice, setting off the alarm. She escapes with the blackmail disk but because of the alarm she does not get it to the CIA and only to SD-6. Syd is now willing to take her mother's information despite Jack's insistence. Syd meets Derevko; she says SD-6 will first go after Peter Fordson but refuses to say why, "trust me, because I'm your mother".
Helsinki: 1 year ago the Pentagon contracted Fordson to make a Terahertz Wave Camera with ground-penetrating satellite imagery that could see into NORAD. Last month Fordson claimed the project was a bust, then sold it to Derevko. Syd and Vaughn steal the camera from Fordson's lab under the nose of Fordson and Sloane, who has come to use the blackmail to get the camera. When Sloane finds the camera missing, he has Fordson shot. Syd agrees to a professional relationship with Derevko.

Analysis:

What exactly is the Joint Task Force on Intelligence? A nebulous concoction of CIA and FBI? Why do they get Derevko?
If Vaughn can be prosecuted for breaking Syd out of custody in "Q&A", then why doesn't Kendall go after Jack too? Because he recognizes Jack is too important infiltrating SD-6?
If Vaughn's Father was only identified by his dental records, maybe he's actually alive.
What did the Alliance inject into Sloane? Probably some kind of location marker, like the one they put in Sark's blood in "Rendezvous". But they called it an initiation procedure, which makes it sound like a hazing!
So where Derevko get all this blackmail information in the first place? And what happened to promising their members with Rambaldi technology immortality, as Haladki implied in "Almost Thirty Years"?
If Derevko is trying to ingrain herself with the CIA, why does she taunt Vaughn with the fact that she killed his father, and that she knows he's the son? Is it just her sadistic side peeking out for a moment?
Assumedly Fordson sold the camera to Derevko instead of the US because of the blackmail, so he's not in the loop with her.

2X3 CIPHER The Run Down:

Fortson's camera that Syd stole was just a prototype. The real deal is being launched into orbit by the Asiatic Space Agency (ASA), a former Russian organization founded after Communism's Fall, operating out of Sri Lanka, on the payroll of Sark. The ground penetrating satellite camera can see through solid matter to a depth of 100 meters. Sark has assumed control of The Man's organization, and Kendall asks Syd to ask Derevko what he's after. Derevko is a "certifiable Rambaldi expert" and knows all about global organized crime.
Syd sees Derevko. She uses autocircadian meditation instead of sleep. She says that music can be represented as a mathmatic frequency. Sark is looking for a Rambaldi music box, which plays a tune that carries an equation for Zero Point Energy, a fuel source with unlimited military applications. Sark is trying to decipher the combination to play the box. Derevko asks about a Thanksgiving play that took place just after she left; Syd says her memory of that time is a blur. Syd realizes she has memory gaps from that time.
Sloane gives Syd Emily's antique seed box and tells her Emily's garden has died but it's like she's still living in the house. Sloane returns home to find Emily's garden mysteriously in bloom again. Sloane asks Jack to monitor him, he fears Emily's death is having too great an impact on him. Sloane continues to feel her presence around him but he is not a spiritual man. He receives a mysterious phone call from the hotel that Emily was planning to take them to just before he killed her.
Sri Lanka: Syd and Dixon infiltrate the ASA launch pad. Sark oversees the launch. Syd adds a tap to the satellite by sneaking through the exhaust ports but is nearly killed when Sark realizes she's there and launches the rocket early. The CIA and SD-6 will see the feed.
Will meets Vaughn and keeps asking about Syd. Will's original report of his abduction mentions Sark working on a lap top. The CIA wants to give Will a regression hypnotherapy, hoping he'll see the code Sark is working on for the music box. Will's regression reveals Sark working on a code of 4 Russian authors on the plane to Taipei.
Sark's satellite searches an Siberian ice field and locates a massive underground cavern which draws out the seeing eye symbol of Rambaldi. At the cavern center is the music box. Syd, Dixon, and an SD-6 team are sent to take the box before Sark arrives. Syd gets Derevko to decode Sark's Rambaldi Russian author code for him. She warns him Sark is willing to kill Syd and that "I don't want to loose the chance to explain myself someday".
Jack asks Dr Barnett to help him manipulate Syd into avoiding Derevko. Barnett refuses to get involved. Jack tells Syd he trusts her judgment. Jack sees Derevko for the first time in 21 years; she says their marriage wasn't always a sham, but the love is over now. Jack promises he'll be the one to kill her if she hurts Syd, and she will never be forgiven. Derevko asserts he hasn't told Syd what he did to her after she disappeared. Jack doesn't answer.
Siberia: Syd, Dixon, and an SD-6 team locate the ice cavern. Syd plays the code for the CIA then destroys the box. Sark's men take out the SD-6 team from under the ice. Sark confronts Syd and takes the box. She hits him in the leg with an ax but is trapped underwater.

Analysis:

How does the CIA know that Derevko is a certifiable Rambaldi expert? Was this established in "Trust Me"?
Zero Point Energy is the "vibrational energy retained by molecules even at a temperature of absolute zero", when physics say that there should be no energy since there is no motion. I'm not sure how useful this is as a fuel source, since it sounds like a minuscule amount...
Where did Sark get the Russian author code list? Was he working with Derevko on it? Isn't it an amazing coincidence that he was reading it during the flight with Will to Taipei during "Almost Thirty Years"?
I'm quite positive that Sark is continuing to follow Derevko's standing orders and is not betraying her.
I think it's much more probable that someone is trying to drive Sloane insane rather than him being haunted by Emily's ghost. It's probably the Alliance trying to test his sanity, and that mysterious injection he was given in "Trust Me" is probably what's driving him insane. But to what end? He has to come out of it tempered and stronger? Or are his enemies within the Alliance, like the Head of Alliance Security from "The Solution", behind it? Or is it Jack? After all, he was the one who was told about the hotel plans.
At least one of the four Russian author names, Chekov, is from the 19th Century. Since Rambaldi's music box worked on a code off these names, it proves that Milo Rambaldi was alive and well 400 years after his death, and is in fact an immortal. Either that, or the Followers of Rambaldi are continuing his work, but that's much less dramatic ("Time Will Tell").
How in the world does Rambaldi make these massive underground caverns? The one in Argentina in "Time Will Tell", and this massive ice cavern which actually draws out his symbol! He must use some kind of advanced machinery/technology.
Sounds like Jack gave Little Syd memory-dampening drugs or something. Derevko says he did something to her when she disappeared, and Syd finds she has strange gaps in her memories from that period. He wanted her to forget her mother ever existed probably.
Prediction: Sark escapes with the ruined music box, Dixon uses a gun to shoot out the ice floor and rescue Syd.

2X4 DEAD DROP The Run Down:

Siberia: Syd shoots her way free of the ice with a dead soldier's rifle and is rescued by Dixon.
Sark escapes with the Music Box but Syd tells Sloane that it was corroded. Sloane questions why the Box would be damaged by the elements after taking the trouble to build catacombs in Siberia. Syd coolly says it is a mystery. CIA is analyzing the Box's tune now. The Alliance tracked Sark to a Falkland Islands safe house and retrieved the ruined Box. Sark escaped the shoot-out. They also found Klaus Richter being tortured. He was in Barcelona three weeks ago when Derevko gave him The Man's Bible, which contains all the information they've amassed over the past 10 years.
Vaughn tells Syd that she can talk to him about Derevko, who she is slowly beginning to trust. He will always be her ally. Jack insists on sending away Derevko but Pendall won't hear of it if she's still helping them. Jack says Syd is feeling emotional for Derevko now after the school play talk, and she's making the same mistakes he did because she's so desperate for a mother.
Sloane tells Jack about the mystery phone call from Sonoma and has him send Dixon to investigate. The Alliance can't know he's investigating this. He suspects someone is trying to get to him. They were unable to trace which hotel room the call came from, but Emily Sloane's signature is on the sign in book.
Jack interrogates Richter for SD-6. He is dying of exposure to something that Sark might have given him, the first sign was bleeding from the fingernails. Richter says "Derevko is a great woman". Under duress he gives up the location of the Bible, in a book in FAPSI HQ in Moscow. Jack gives SD-6 a fake map to the Bible while Syd gets the location herself. Syd wants to consult Derevko but Jack refuses. Syd tells Derevko, who offers an alternate escape route. In return, Derevko asks for her earrings back, for sentimental value. Jack is infuriated that everyone is falling for her charms.
Sloane sends Rebecca Martinez to make sure Will isn't still onto the SD-6 story. He refuses to aid this pseudo conspiracy theorist and says he made up the story. Security Section declares Will a non-threat.
Moscow: Syd enters FAPSI HQ dressed as a Russian Major. She gets the book with the location but is caught by Sark. Sark offers her to join his organization; "if you took the time to hear a comprehensive offer, you might actually say yes". Syd sets off an alarm and Sark is captured by security. Syd escapes with the map using an escape route from Derevko. Derevko asks Vaughn, "How do you say thank you to the woman who killed your father?" He says you don't.
Derevko's earrings are returned but checked for anything suspicious. She received them from her mother when she graduated from the Academy at the age of 21. Derevko decodes the Bible map; its in a cabin in Madagascar. Derevko reports the building is clean of traps or explosives. Jack hires an old associate with an old debt to reach Madagascar before Jack and Vaughn.
Madagascar: Syd, Vaughn, and the CIA team reach the cabin. Jack alerts the team that the cabin is wired with explosives. Syd is shocked that Derevko lied after helping them get so far. Sark arrives with a team and suspects the CIA of having a source in addition to Richter. His team enters the cabin and sets off the explosives. Sark disappears. Pendall immediately transfers Derevko to Camp Morris for unconditional interrogation. Syd apologizes to Jack.

Analysis:

Rebecca's website, www.conspiracygirl.com, actually exists. One of the articles (http://www.prahlad.org/pub/bearden/scalar_wars.htm) mentions Zero Point Energy, which is Music Box will reveal. It says the Nicolas Tesla discovered free energy in the 1950s but then his work was repressed since it would mean the end of oil and energy as a money source. "both theory and experiment have shown that there is a non-thermal radiation in the vacuum and that it persists even if the temperature could be lowered to absolute zero. Therefore, it was simply called the “zero point” radiation." This would indeed be the ultimate technological advancement for Rambaldi to bestow on humanity, right after immortality anyway; unlimited free energy!
So apparently The Man's operation has existed for 10 years. That means it started in 1992, just one year after the Alliance of Twelve was formed by Alain Christophe. Ironically, the global hunt for Rambaldi only started in March 2000 ("Parity"); Derevko has had an eight year head start on the rest of the world.
Since we surely had a body at Emily's funeral, this signature of Emily's must be a forgery by the people drying to drive Sloane nuts.
Was Richter really dying from something that Sark did to him? Or was it exposure the Mueller Device in "Almost Thirty Years"? Remember in "The Enemy Walks In" we saw Derevko's scientists examining the wreckage in hazmat suits! And if so, this doesn't bode well for Vaughn, who took a prolonged dunk in the serum. How long before Vaughn's fingertips start bleeding...?
Once again we see a subordinate of The Man expressing fanatical praise for his boss. Richter must have known about the immortality serum too; will SD-6 beat it out of him, or will he die of the exposure before that?
Why is Sark so confident that Syd would join The Man given the chance to explain himself? It is only because of the promise of immortality? Or is it because Derevko actually wants Rambaldi's inventions to better the world? Immortality and Zero Point Energy would certainly create a utopian society, one in which governments and conspiracies would have little power.
How did Sark escape the FAPSI security? It's pretty obvious the entire FAPSI HQ was in on The Man's plan. Richter hides the map there, Derevko knows all the ins and outs of the place. Hell, they're probably part of the organization! The shoot-out between Sark and the security guards was purely to convince Syd otherwise. All part of Derevko's master plan to manipulate Syd and the CIA.
Why does Derevko taunt Vaughn about killing his father? Isn't this breaking her "alias" of helping the CIA?
Clearly there IS something in Derevko's earrings that the CIA just couldn't find. Rambaldi technology invisible to detection?
When Derevko speaks of graduating the Academy, she presumably refers to the KGB Academy. She was born and raised in Russia, right? The ABC Site says she was born in 1955, and this happened at age 21, so that places this at 1976. But her recruitment by the KGB happened in 1970! Syd was born to her in 1974! She did all this before ever graduating? 1976 also happens to be the same year that Derevko murdered 12 CIA officers. Sounds like she was just Syd, an agent extraordinare at a young age.
Jack is the man! He frames Derevko for trying to Syd, even endangering Syd's life, just to get them separated. And his plan succeeded! How much of a wrench is this in the plans of Derevko? Will she able to compensate? Or will she just have her organization break her loose now? When she explains that the cabin was secure, will she cast suspicion on Jack?
Sark is probably working with Derevko in all this. His suspicion of the CIA having a second source was probably just for show.

2X5 THE INDICATOR The Run Down:

Five weeks after turning herself in, one week after Madagascar, Senator Douglas and the Joint Intelligence Committee have decided to charge Derevko and seek the death penalty. Syd finds Derevko left her earrings behind in her cell. Jack has now been promoted within the CIA by Devlin and has operational approval over Syd's missions.
The Triad guns down Neils Hater in the streets of Vienna. Hater was Triad but was selling information to SD-6. The Triad is "a loose coalition of organized crime entities, they deal mainly in drugs and prostitution but over the last couple years they've made a significant foray into weapons". Vaughn doesn't know what the Triad is. Hater learned the Triad was planning to develop 16 "Next Generation" weapons. The NGs are in a testing facility in Budapest; Sloane sends Syd to ID the weapons.
Vaughn is suspicious of Jack and Madagascar; Jack ordered in a special satellite that could see the rigged explosives. Syd refuses to believe it, in spite of the Rusik incident ("Mea Culpa"). Weiss is still recovering. Vaughn's friend Craig arrests Manolo as he returns from Madagascar. Vaughn mentions that until a couple of years ago, terrorists would have civil rights. Manolo tells Vaughn that he was following Jack's orders. Jack learns that Vaughn saw Manolo; Vaughn doesn't tell the CIA but threatens to tell Syd if he doesn't. Jack says "evil must be eliminated by whatever means necessary".
Budapest: Syd breaks into the testing facility. She hacks the NG files and sends them to the CIA while giving SD-6 false information. Syd's new CIA callsign is "Mountaineer". She locates the Next Generation weapons; 16 children being taught to assemble guns.
Sloane tells Jack he thinks the Emily haunting is being done by one of the men he beat out for the Partnership. He tells Jack that Emily learned his connection to SD-6, thinking he worked for the CIA. He confesses to murdering Emily to become a Partner instead of letting the cancer eventually kill her or the Alliance murder her. The doctors said in spite of the remission she would die soon anyway. He gave her sodium morphate to cause a heart attack in her sleep. That night Sloane finds a glass of wine left in his bathroom and his security disabled. Analysis shows the wine has VTX, the antidote for sodium morphate in it, which temporarily simulates death.
The NGs are 6 year old children being trained to be sleeper agents with highly creative abilities. The Triad bought the company that gives every European student a standardized test, to test for the characteristics; 28 candidates were found, 16 accepted to join an education program. They are sent home with "reset" memories, they only remember satisfaction. When they grow up, they'll be contacted and recruited. The CIA suspected the KGB of attempting this in the 1980s. The man behind the project is Kholokov, former leader of KGB's PsychOps division, now with the Triad. He was found in Buenos Aires. The CIA will watch the NG kids. Jack tries to dissuade Syd from going after Kholokov.
Buenos Aires: Syd and a CIA team grab Kholokov. Syd sees a children's puzzle there that she instinctively solves.
Syd undergoes hypnotic regression with Agent Kerr, suspecting Derevko, and learns that as a 6 year old child, after Derevko left, she assembled the puzzle and the pistol under Jack's care. Syd confronts Jack. She knows he worked on Project Christmas, the reason Derevko seduced him, "an operation to train to children to be American spies". She deduces he set up Derevko in Madagascar to protect his secret. She blames him for taking away her choices in life and can never forgive him.

Analysis:

If Jack now has operational approval over Syd's missions, why did he let her go to Buenos Aires? Obviously he feared that if Syd met Kholokov she might learn about Christmas. Was he afraid of protesting too much and thus calling her suspicion?
How in the world can Vaughn be ignorant of the Triad??? Other than viewer exposition, that is... Sounds like another standalone bad guy organization like FTL in Season One. But with them growing more powerful in past few years, are they connected to The Man?
Why isn't Kholokov working for K-Directorate, which is the former KGB? Or SD-6, which also has former East Bloc countries?
Vaughn says terrorists had civil rights until a couple years ago; does this mean that September 11th happened in the Alias Universe? This would be the first real mention, aside from the FBI's paranoia in "Q&A".
Apparently Vaughn didn't tell Syd about Jack, she figured it out on her own. So will Vaughn and/or Syd tell the CIA?
Sloane's stalker is capable of disabling his security. So it's either the ghost of Emily, or a very highly placed member of the Alliance. Suspicion is falling more and more on Jack; he gets told about the poisoning and that night the antidote shows up at Sloane's.
So apparently the KGB was successful at their own Christmas program through Kholokov, and the CIA's own Project Christmas was the opposite number being developed at the same time. Derevko's intel from Jack was probably instrumental to its success. We first learned about Project Christmas in "Snowman", but it's great to also plug up one of the larger plot holes of the series, namely why is Syd such an incredible brilliant spy, and why was Sloane so interested in recruiting Syd. Of course, this also explains why Syd's memories of the time after her mother left are so hazy. Was is just a coincidence that Derevko faked her death just before Syd began the training? Did Jack decide to give Syd the training because of Derevko? But it fits the same 6 year old time frame!
So it was just a big flaming coincidence that an SD-6 mission exposed Syd to the clues leading her to Project Christmas, just a week after Derevko got sent away because Jack was protecting the Christmas secret? Oy...

2X6 SALVATION The Run Down:

Sark is developing a bioweapon synthesized from an unknown virus. Richter ("Dead Drop") was exposed to this virus before being captured by SD-6. The first sign is a large build up of normal flu anti-bodies, similar to the Ebola virus, but this virus breaks down bonds between cells. In a few days his body will melt apart. Sark transported three victims to a Geneva hospital to study the virus.
Jack tells Syd he tested Christmas on her so she would never be a victim to other's lies in a cruel world. He regrets never telling her the truth. He wanted her to join the CIA after college, but Sloane got to her first.
Senator Douglas and the Joint Intelligence Committee begins the trial for Derevko. Derevko pleads guilty to all counts and will be given the death sentence. Syd writes a letter to Devlin telling him that Jack framed Derevko. Jack intercepts the letter and tells Syd pleading guilty is a play for sympathy since she knows Jack framed her. He knows she knows if Syd sees her trial, the evidence of her crimes, Syd would loose her sympathy for Derevko. Syd tells Jack he must think she is his greatest mistake.
Will is running out of money and can't get a job with his tarnished reputation. The CIA can't employ him because he has a criminal record now. Vaughn pays him to research how the KGB's Christmas IQ test for children shows similarities to US IQ tests. Will doesn't know about the KGB connection. Vaughn fears the Soviets were raising sleeper agents in America but Devlin is uninterested. They don't have the resources and the KGB doesn't exist anymore.
Geneva: Syd and Jack enter the hospital as patients. Syd draws blood from patient zero, who recognizes her as Derevko. Jack downloads data on the virus. Syd holds off security with two guns to make their escape. Derevko had Sark expose some of her own operatives to the virus in order to study it. The CIA got the blood and data too.
Sloane tells Jack about the antidote in the wine. Jack warns him someone could be trying to convince the Alliance he broke his word and spared Emily, in which case all of SD-6 would be declared rogue and eliminated. Sloane sees Emily on the street and chases after her but she disappears into a church. Jack thinks he's suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and offers a solution. Sloane unearths Emily's coffin and finds it to be empty.
Jack confesses to Devlin about framing Derevko. Jack tells the JIC that Derevko remains a threat but Syd forced a change of heart in him and he wants to redeem himself for her. Senator Douglas considers him a rogue for his actions, past and present. Jack is prison bound and Derevko will be executed anyway. Syd kidnaps Douglas and convinces him to save Jack and Derevko; she tells him the Alliance has a US Senator in its pocket and Syd needs them both to investigate the matter or turn it over to the FBI. Jack tells Syd he will respect her decisions from now on. Derevko is returned to the Ops Center.
Five weeks ago Syd destroyed the Mueller Device in Taipei. Now the CIA tests Syd and Vaughn. The Device was the source of the virus that Sark is now developing. Syd is cleared but Vaughn's tests are inconclusive, and his fingernails begin bleeding.

Analysis:

Well, I guess I was wrong, the Mueller Device doesn't create the immortality serum, it creates some kind of killer virus. But why would Rambaldi be introduced in creating a virus? All his inventions thus far have been of a positive note. Perhaps this still is the immortality serum, but it takes you to the point of death before making you immortal? Or perhaps this is a perversion of a Rambaldi invention.
Well this explains another long standing plot hole; why Sloane recruited Syd into SD-6 and feels such a connection to her. Because she was programmed to be a spy since the age of six!
Is Jack correct in guessing Derevko's actions? Why did she plead guilty? Was this part of her plan? It's possible that Derevko has already taken the immorality serum and would survive a lethal injection and then have her "corpse" smuggled out of the CIA.
Looks like Will, as in Season One, will get in over his head investigating something, but at least he'll have Vaughn to hold him back. Since Will is investigating it, I'm sure there really are KGB sleeper agents in America about Syd's age now.
Devlin seems awfully blasé about the KGB being gone, since elements of it joined K-Directorate, The Alliance, and The Man...
Did Syd kill any of those guards she was shooting wildly at with? If so it would be her first killing since "The Enemy Walks In".
Once again Jack is the prime suspect for Emily's haunting; he suggests digging her up, and she's not there. Of course Jack raises an interesting point; if the Alliance decides Sloane and all of SD-6 is rogue, then all their necks are on the line!
Senator Douglas seems awfully suspicious here. Maybe he's on the bankroll of the Alliance and that's why Syd's lie worked to make him change his decision. Why is he so gung-ho about going after Jack?
Will Syd and Jack have to continue selling this lie of investigating a US Senator on the Alliance payroll?
It makes sense that Vaughn and not Syd would be exposed; she never really got hit with the liquid, unlike Vaughn.
This ep takes place 5 weeks after the ending "Almost 30 Years". But last episode took place 5 weeks after the ending of "The Enemy Walks In". Surely the events of "The Enemy Walks In" took place over a number of days...

2X7 THE COUNTERAGENT The Run Down:

Vaughn asks Derevko if Khasinau found a cure to the Rambaldi liquid. She agrees to help on the condition that he tells her his feelings for Syd; "I don't have the advantage of observing casual behavior". Vaughn has developed a blood coagulation disorder. Derevko tells Syd the cure is in a former Russian sub base in Paladski, Estonia run by Sark. But the antidote is as dangerous as the infection; it creates a custom cure for the patient's blood. Jack tells Sloane he's sending Syd on a Triad recon op in Baku. Vaughn only has 3 days to live. Syd briefly meets Alice, Vaughn's girlfriend, who thinks he works in the State Department's Bureau of Arms Control.
Will researched 20 years of standardized tests without a hit, but the 1982 test is missing from all records. Syd tells him about Project Christmas and that Vaughn suspects the KGB is using it. Will has Abby get the test from the Dept Education and she finds no suspect questions on the 1982 test. But the test references Grenada, which happened in 1983. Will meets the test writer who is shocked to find a spatial relations question; ETS confiscated all the originals. Only one in 10,000 kids could answer it; 5 million were given the test.
Sloane tells Jack he found an empty coffin and that he's convinced Emily is alive. He told Christophe someone is trying to make it look like he faked Emily's death. SD-6 has been performing poorly lately; they lost the Terrahertz Wave Camera ("Cipher"), the Zero Point Energy formula ("Dead Drop"), Derevko's Operations Bible. Christophe is meeting Sloane in Tokyo; he needs an immediate victory. Sloane and Jack attempt to interrogate Richter for Derevko's home base but he resists. Richter is now suffering from ascending paralysis but he can still feel his legs. Sloane, cracking under the pressure, orders him killed.
Paladiski, Estonia: Syd infiltrates the base from underwater and makes the cure, setting off an alarm. She is captured by Sark in an acid shower and agrees to work with him; the cure for capturing Sloane in order to kill him. Sark says they're destined to work together. Kendall is incensed, but Jack agrees with her; they must work behind Kendall to save Vaughn. Syd says the CIA does not kill; Jack says he hoped Syd would never have to commit pre-meditated murder.
Tokyo: Sloane stays at a Yakuza resort where Syd in disguise knocks him out and gives him to Sark. Jack is given the antidote. Sark tells Sloane that Rambaldi's Puzzle can only be solved by the two of them working together. He proves himself by saving Sloane from an assassination attempt, and by a mysterious letter. Sark joins SD-6 to help hunt for Derevko and her organization. Sloane is now in good graces again. Sloane orders Syd to debrief Sark about Derevko. Sark says he looks forward to working with Syd.
Vaughn tells Derevko that living his normal life is harder with Syd around, and that the CIA has rules about romantic entanglements.

Analysis:

So why is Derevko so interested in how Vaughn feels about Syd? Is it just to drive a wedge between their relationship? Or just a general interest in Syd herself? Or does it factor into her evil master plan?
Syd was part of Christmas as a prototype in 1981, so that means all these kids that got the Christmas test from persons unknown are now going to be one year younger than Syd. Sark is probably one of them.
So, 5 million children, 1 in 10,000 are applicable. That's 500 kids.
How does Christophe feel about this Emily revelation? I still think that injection in "Trust Me" is behind this breakdown...
It's in the CIA's best interests to maintain Sloane in power. He's the devil they know, and he has a friendship with Syd and Jack. They'll have a much better time manipulating him than a new leader. They should give SD-6 victories to keep him in power!
It's great to see Syd finally captured without any hope of escape!
Why is Jack so interested in keeping Vaughn alive? Just to keep in Syd's good graces? He certainly doesn't get along with Vaughn!
Wasn't Syd worried that Sloane would recognize her in Tokyo, even in that whiteface? Did he? He seemed to give her a nasty look when introducing her to Sark at Credit Dauphine...
So is this the ultimate goal of Derevko? To infiltrate CIA while Sark infiltrates the Alliance, so that she can use all three of the organizations to solve the Rambaldi Puzzle, since she can't solve it on her own? I'm surprised Sloane is so willing to work with Sark after all the betrayals they've faced from The Man; and what the hell was in that letter???

2X8 PASSAGE (part 1 of 2) The Run Down:

Syd threatens to Sark that if he tells Sloane she conspired to kill him she'll tell him the same. Sark promises to keep silent. Jack is concerned that Derevko knew Jack and Syd were double agents and may have told Sark. Jack suspects a connection between Derevko being inside the CIA and Sark being inside SD-6. Sark was debriefed by McCullough and will be offered immunity. Dixon and Syd protest working with a terrorist and mass-murderer. Sark will be accompanied by Security Section wherever he goes, even when meeting his contacts to keep his new loyalty secret. Derevko tells Syd that she never told Sark she was a double agent. Sark tells Sloane that Syd may suspect he didn't really turn himself in, and counsels him to keep Jack in the dark on this mission.
Sark tells SD-6 about Sokalov, a Russian freelance merc, selling him a set of communication codes from Uzbekistan's border forces. He's telling them to neighboring rebels who would destabilize the region. When Derevko hears of this she insists on being temporarily released under escort to retrieve the codes or "everything you've worked to accomplish will be lost". She doesn't trust the CIA since they tried to execute her 2 weeks ago; she must hold her knowledge. Kendall refuses; Jack says he just likes to overrule people.
Sloane gets a call; "we have your wife". He will give them all SD-6 investment account numbers or they'll tell the Alliance he failed to execute her. Sloane demands proof and threatens to hunt them down. He gets a severed finger mailed to him.
Uzbekistan: Syd and Dixon buy the codes from Sokalov, but they need the fingerprints of a military officer that Sokalov assassinated. They break into the military hospital and get the prints. The CIA gets a copy of the codes.
Will tells Vaughn about the 5 million kids given the Christmas test in 1982. Devlin has ordered him to stop using Will since he's a security risk. It's been given to the FBI for further investigation. Will investigates on his own and finds 40 names with perfect scores while the FBI still has found nothing. Vaughn tells Syd she broke his heart when they met on October 1st; she reciprocates.
The codes are actually for 6 missing Uzbek nukes. Sark secretly send the codes to an unknown party. Jack was never told by Sloane. Derevko didn't tell them because if they gave SD-6 false codes Sark might have realized it and blown Syd's cover. Derevko tells them the nukes are under a People's Revolutionary Front stronghold in Kashmir. Sark sent the PRF the codes so an airstrike could detonate them. Syd convinces Derevko to join her on the Kashmir mission; Jack accompanies to keep an eye on her. Derevko is given a rigged explosive necklace to prevent her escape, and Jack has the trigger. Derevko taunts Syd about Vaughn's feelings to bait Jack.
Kashmir: Syd, Jack, and Derevko meet their contact but they are observed. They are ambushed by a PRF force, but Derevko's necklace gives them the upper hand. The Bristow trio guns down the troops and moves on. Derevko can't keep the weapon.

Analysis:

How can Syd even possibly suspect that Sark doesn't know she's in the CIA? He was Khasinau's right hand man throughout Season One, and all during Season One, Khasinau was using Will to get to Syd. In "Rendezvous", Sark kidnapped Will to get to Syd. Why would he do this if she was just another random agent at SD-6? In "Almost Thirty Years" he saw Syd and Jack on their own rogue operation to Taipei. Sure it was later explained away to SD-6, but it's just too much to swallow. The REAL question is, why hasn't Sark told SD-6 that Syd is a double agent? Clearly, Derevko wants Syd to remain in power there.
Did McCullough give Sark a lie detector test? Doesn't matter, Syd managed to beat hers.
So Sloane has made a secret alliance with Sark for the Rambaldi Puzzle, but as far as the Alliance knows Sark has turned himself in for immunity and it has nothing to do with Rambaldi.
How much you wanna bet that the secret prize the PRF has is not nuclear bombs, but another piece of the Rambaldi Puzzle? Derevko says if SD-6 gets it, everything they've worked for will be lost. Sark led them to it as part of his alliance with Sloane. How could this possibly deal with nukes? Is this the final missing piece of the Puzzle? What else could be so important?
Obviously Sloane will have the finger tested and it will prove to be from Emily. So I guess she is alive after all! Maybe she ran to the real CIA and they're trying to get information from Sloane without telling Syd about it. Jack is probably in on it though. It probably isn't someone within the Alliance or else why would they need the account numbers?
So who are these forty kids with a perfect score on the Christmas test? Is Sark one of them? Will? Vaughn? Francie? Heh.
Obviously the PRF is just another faction of Derevko's organization. That's why Sark is working with them in secret. The purpose of the ambush was to get the explosive necklace off of Derevko, so that she can now do what she wants at will.
We actually get to see Syd murder some people! Woo hoo!

2X9 PASSAGE (part 2 of 2) The Run Down:

CIA sats watche the Bristow trio get their cover blown. Kendall refuses to send assistance since it would tip off India to the nukes. Vaughn's friend Craig shows him an intercept; the nukes are about to be activated. When India learns the rebels got nukes and the CIA kept it secret they insist on airstrike. Pendall lets Kendall go to India to rescue them; he spent 2 years in India as did his dad.
Srinagar: Jack and Irena reconnect remembering when they accidentally started a house fire when Syd was 4. Jack gets supplies from an old friend, but his best supplier died 2 months ago. The Bristow trio infiltrates the base through a land mine field Irina learned 19 years ago. They have a shootout with guards and Irina saves Jack from a landmine.
Sark speaks with PRF leader Gerard Cuvee for Sloane; the nuclear cores will be activated and the results uploaded to them. Sloane gets another call from The Voice; he wants 100 million, "everything is about money".
Kashmir: The Bristows reach the base. Irina deactivates surveillance from Cuvee's office. Irina claims she was held prisoner here and interrogated for suspected treason before she escaped. Syd and Jack find the nukes with their cores missing and are captured by Irina and Cuvee. Cuvee thought Irina was dead but she says she was captured by the CIA 3 months ago and manufactured this mission to escape. Cuvee was the one who sent Irina to seduce Jack; Jack wasn't the only prospect. Irina and Cuvee ask Jack how Sark is going to betray them after their deal; "we know Sark has a new partner- who is it?".
London: Sloane tells the Alliance (including Ramon and Christophe) that someone saved Emily from him and is now blackmailing him. The finger from 1 week ago proves Emily was alive when it was removed. 2 days ago Security Section spotted Emily in Santiago and London. Since only the Board knew about the order, Sloane suspects a leak so suggests pay the blackmailer to track down the leak. Sloane accepts that even if he finds Emily she will still have to be killed. Sloane drops off the money but they somehow deactivate the tracer and leave behind photos of Emily held hostage.
Kashmir: Irina slips Jack the keys so Syd and Jack can escape. They're not detonating the nukes but using the cores to open a Rambaldi Artifact. "Among the things Rambaldi experimented with was self-sustaining cell regeneration... Rambaldi's proof of endless life". The six cores are linked to a metal egg; when activated it opens to reveal a single flower. Just then the Indian air strike begins. Irina betrays Cuvee and the Bristows escape with the flower and the cores thanks to Vaughn's arrival.
Irina returns to her cell. She tells Syd that Cuvee was with her in Taipei; she shot Syd to prove her loyalty, then let her escape. Otherwise he would have killed them both. Early analysis of the flower says its between 400 and 600 years old.

Analysis:

Irina claims that she escaped from the Kashmir base 19 years ago, 1983, which is 2 years after she returned to Russia when her cover was blown in America. She tells us that she was a prisoner suspected of treason and she escaped; yet she seems quite friendly with Cuvee in this episode! I don't buy her sob story about how Cuvee would kill her in Taipei if she didn't shoot Syd. Irina is The Man, the leader of her fanatical organization! She has no equal! I do buy her letting Syd escape in "The Enemy Walks In" though.
Well since Jack was in Kashmir this whole episode, The Voice blackmailers can't be him. Oh well! And why are they only after money?
Since Cuvee thought Irina was dead these past 3 months this means he's not in on the Master Plan like Sark is. Cuvee knows Sark is working with someone new, but he doesn't know that it's the Alliance. And yet he is trusted enough by Irina and Sark to unlock the secret to immortality all by himself? Perhaps that is the real reason for this whole episode; Irina wanted to be there in person when the immorality secret was unlocked so she had Sark orchestrate this whole nuke cover to get her out of prison and there. But now the CIA has the immortality flower! Perhaps she needs the CIA's expertise on the flower before she steals it back.
In "Snowman" we learned that Khasinau sent Irina to America for Jack; now it's Cuvee?
You have to admire Sloane for telling the Alliance about Emily! This new leak is probably another Irina plot like in "The Prophecy".
If cells constantly regenerate without the normal breakdown of information over time that is the process of aging, then you can be immortal! Perhaps the cellular secret is locked in the genetic structure of the flower, or more likely in its flowers and seeds. Or maybe it's just another clue leading to the next piece. But after a year and a half of hints, this is the first conclusive proof that Rambaldi had immorality, after the hints in "Time Will Tell" and "Almost Thirty Years".
It's fascinating that it takes six nuclear cores to open Rambaldi's Egg! Did he preconceive the existence of nuclear bombs? Why would they have to be the key to open the Egg? Perhaps Rambaldi didn't want immortality found until the nuclear age? Humanity must prove itself with technological innovation before it is worthy of his inventions?
So the flower comes from somewhere between 1400 and 1600, and Rambaldi officially died in 1503. ("Time Will Tell")

2X10 THE ABDUCTION The Run Down:

Kendall lets Irena outside twice a week now, at Syd's request for a reward. Irina tells Syd she was 18 when the KGB recruited her, and it was a great honor and a career for a woman in Russia. But her daughter became more important. Irina hugs Syd, prompting them to be separated by armed guards.
Sloane threatens Sark with torture for his failure to deliver in Kashmir. He suspects betrayal or incompetence. Sark claims the Indian airstrike destroyed the Rambaldi Artifact, and that Cuvee thinks Sark betrayed him now.
Devlin approved Will for doing CIA research if he passes the Mogal-Reich allegiance test. It tests psychology not knowledge. He'll be cleared to read Classified material and will get a government salary.
Francie is growing suspicious of Syd and Will's newfound intimacy. It's Francie's birthday. Alice's father died and she's not handling it well. Vaughn and Alice run into Syd and Will at a restaurant; CIA pulls the security camera footage.
The Echelon satellite system taps all satellite communications for the NSA. Sark reports that Cuvee has an Echelon access terminal in Paris and that he's dealt with Cuvee for several years. Since Cuvee thinks Sark betrayed him, he'll move the terminal. Syd and Sark intercept the terminal convoy in Paris; the CIA gives a bug to wipe out the terminal when SD-6 activates it. Sark considers Irina a mother and wonders why Syd isn't curious about the time he spent with her, but she dismisses any interest in her mother.
Marshall's cover job is a Global IT services for the bank and he allegedly travels around the world. He's very close to his mother.
Jack confronts Irina; she passed the chance to betray them in Kashmir so her strategy is long-term. Jack knows Sark is working with her and they've both infiltrated CIA and SD-6. Jack offers her a deal; live out the rest of her life in a house under surveillance in return for confessing her master plan. She declines. Jack and Irina are still legally married. Irina will let herself be debriefed by Jack too now.
Ariana Kane, Head of Alliance Counter-Intelligence, investigates the Emily matter. She plugged the leak last year at SD-9 who tried to frame her as the mole. Sloane tells her Jack knows everything he does. Jack names himself as the prime suspect. Kane questions Jack. He's known Sloane for 30 years since being his superior at CIA. They both grew disillusioned with the corrupt US government and when Jack quit the CIA he was invited to join SD-6. They believe the Alliance will eventually achieve global dominance. She questions Jack's feelings on Sloane secretly recruiting Syd to ensure his loyalty. He refuses to answer if he's had sex over the past decade. Kane suspects Jack but Sloane is convinced of his innocence. Kane cleared all the other SD Cell Heads; they're all afraid of Sloane. Kane promises Sloane that Jack is hiding something.
Cuvee duplicated the Echelon software and stored it in a London storage facility. Only Marshall can break the code manually; he's a mathematical genius and has photographic memory. Marshall isn't Field Rated but he's going anyway. Echelon is too important to fall into SD-6's hands, so CIA is going to kidnap Marshall after the mission and hopefully bring him into the fold.
London: Syd and Marshall steal the access card from Thatcher Powell, Cuvee's Head of IT Security. They steal the files but Marshall gets hit with a tranq gun and Syd must kiss him to keep him awake. Marshall tells Syd he loves her while he's drugged. They are observed by Suit and Glasses in a wheelchair ("Truth Be Told", "Almost 30 Years"), who then abducts Marshall before the CIA can.

Analysis:

Irina claims she was recruited into the KGB at age 18. In "Snowman" we learn Khasinau recruited her in 1970, which would place her birthdate in 1953 (and make her 49 today). But the ABC website puts her birth in 1955. She couldn't have been recruited in 1973 because she (assumedly) met Jack in 1970, and Syd was born in April 1974, so she was conceived around July 1973. Is Irina lying to Syd about such an easily checkable fact, or is the ABC Site wrong?
Was there some greater import to Irina hugging Syd? Did she plant something on Syd that was later picked up by Sark? Wouldn't that be a delicious way for Irina and Sark to exchange information, using Syd?
Obviously Cuvee doesn't think the Rambaldi Artifact was destroyed since he was taken out by Jack and Irina. Therefore, Sark is still working with Cuvee. Therefore, this entire pretense of tracking down the Echelon system from Cuvee is all arranged by Sark. Presumably in order to draw Marshall out into the open and get him kidnapped by Suit and Glasses, who of course works for Irina. What is so important about Marshall to Irina / Sark / Cuvee? Probably his genius is needed to unlock a Rambaldi Artifact!
According to the ABC Site, Francie was born on January 3rd 1975, so this episode takes place around January 3rd. Yet we've only moved forward three months since Irina's capture, which according to LAST season's timeline took place in May! However, there appeared to be a large time gap between "Snowman" and "The Solution", so perhaps that jump was from April to September, which would then make the timeline work out. So Syd spent 5 months grieving over killing Noah?
Was it just a bad coincidence that Vaughn walked in on Syd in a public place? Or did he go there on purpose?
Sark is clearly taunting Syd with the fact that he knows she's been regularly meeting with Irina under CIA custody. But to SD-6's eyes this must be quite suspicious. Syd spend the last third of last season in an obsessive quest for her mother; now she doesn't care?
Good for Jack, realizing that Irina and Sark are working in tandem to infiltrate CIA and SD-6! But does he tell anyone else?
Kane is the one who discovered Poole worked for The Man last year ("The Prophecy", "Rendezvous"). Apparently Poole claimed that Kane herself was the mole to defend himself.
So Sloane is disillusioned with the US government, yet he himself does so much worse. This is the first hint aside from his sensing a coming darkness in 1969 ("Spirit") as to why he does what he does.
Jack officially quit the CIA and was then recruited by Sloane into SD-6. This happened in January 1982 according to the ABC Site. This is why Kane asks if Jack's had sex in the past decade; he's been with SD-6 for 10 years.
If it isn't one of the Alliance heads as Sloane suspected, and it's not Jack (which it still could be), it's probably Irina.
Apparently Will's injection of the truth serum into Suit and Glasses really did paralyze him. ("Almost 30 Years") Hah!

2X11 A HIGHER ECHELON The Run Down:

Cuvee used his Echelon tap to pick up secure military communications and destroy a US military lab in Dresden. Syd shut down Cuvee's Echelon access in London. Suit and Glasses tortures Marshall for the Echelon operating system and threatens his mother. Marshall agrees to recreate the code he sent to SD-6. CIA connects Marshall's abduction team with Charles Williamson, a Cuvee associate. Before he was captured Marshall e-mailed the Echelon operating system to SD-6, but a malfunction trapped several data packets in Ho Chi Minh City. Sloane changes Marshall's access codes and abandons him; SD-4 will send an Op Tech replacement.
Two things are needed to access Echelon; the operating system and the access point. If they can find Cuvee's access point they can lock him out despite Marshall's help. CIA can't find Cuvee's access point; Irina says he used Swarm, the Russian version of Echelon. She demands unrestricted access to Echelon to find the access point, claiming only she can find it, but Kendall refuses. She is forbidden from access to computers and telecommunications in her immunity agreement.
Ariana Kane revokes Jack's security clearance. She questions his mission placements in Taipei and Istanbul ("Almost Thirty Years", "Passage Part Two") when Emily was killed and when Sloane was blackmailed. Jack has the CIA create hard evidence of his missions in Taipei, Istanbul, and Karachi, Azerbaijan. His normal covers will only stand up to a cursory investigation and Kane will be thorough. A forensic report on Jack's pistol finds brain matter that day of Emily's murder; that of CIA agent Steven Haladki.
Syd tells Francie she has a crush on a guy at the bank, Michael. Francie tells Will who defends her life at the bank. Will passes his psych report and is hired by the CIA to be a desk analyst. He'll review classified documents undercover as a journalist for a travel magazine. Will tells Vaughn that Syd cares for him and that he should respect her.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Syd and Dixon break into a Vietnamese military facility and steal the missing Echelon data packets. Dixon gets the packets before Syd does so SD-6 gets the real deal and CIA gets nothing. Sloane is delighted; SD-6 will soon be able to access Echelon, giving them equal intelligence capabilities as the CIA.
An MI-5 team in London tracks down Marshall's abductors to a house where they are killed in a booby trap. Four are killed. The CIA's search for Marshall is canceled. CIA tries to find Cuvee's access point on Swarm but are hit with a computer virus that Irina knew about. Kendall lets Irina access Echelon to find the access point with Jack's approval. She sends an access code that may or may not be a signal to her organization. Irina finds an overlapping access point with Echelon and Swarm in Prague, Czechoslovakia. When the CIA shuts it down, SD-6's Echelon access is cut off before it can begin. Sloane must report failure to Christophe.
Mexico City: Marshall secretly pings the SD-6 mainframe while reconstructing the Echelon operating system for Suit and Glasses; he claims to be downloading music. They trace the location; Syd and Dixon insist on doing the rescue mission. Dixon speaks 9 languages. Marshall finishes the code; it's a fake. Suit and Glasses is about to kill Marshall when Syd rescues him and escapes. With the Echelon system dealt with, the CIA no longer has motive to bring over Marshall.
Jack meets with Kane with Security Section agents waiting nearby. She confronts him on Haladki's murder while Vaughn and Craig listen in. He says he had to kill Derevko's mole in the CIA but it was too high-profile to tell Sloane about. She asks for his phone to track cell records; the CIA makes a hasty swap leaving wet ink, which Kane notices. Kane orders Jack to be arrested but he escapes. Jack visits Sloane at his home, claiming he's the patsy for Kane, and delivers evidence for Sloane to investigate. Sloane promises confidentiality, then reports to Kane that Jack just left his house.

Analysis:

When did Jack's alleged mission in Azerbaijan take place? When the Blackmailers first contacted Sloane?
If only Jack didn't have his gun right up to Haldaki's temple when he blew his brains out, then all this would never have happened!
How does Echelon make SD-6 as powerful as the CIA? Echelon is an NSA system, and CIA has plenty of its own intel sources!
Perhaps Irina getting on Echelon and sending some code to her organization was the real point behind this entire operation. That, and taking away Cuvee's access. Apparently Irina has turned on her former henchmen Cuvee at this point. Of course, she had access to Echelon all these years before; this must have been her major source of blackmail!
Why didn't Syd kill Suit and Glasses? He's now tortured her, Will, AND Marshall! He's evil!
Something tells me Kendall will not be terribly troubled that Jack killed Haladki...
How in the world will Jack explain away his fake phone records? He can only clear his name by catching Sloane's Blackmailers at this point, thus negating the reason for Kane's investigation and making him a hero to the Alliance.

2X12 THE GETAWAY The Run Down:

Jack meets a contact for info on 5 Alliance Partners but he's already murdered. Alliance Security pursues Jack but Syd helps him escape. Jack murders at least one agent. Jack hasn't reported into Kendall since last night so they sent Syd. Jack tells Syd about Sloane's Blackmailers. The Alliance think Emily was killed by the Blackmailers ("Passage Part Two"). Syd is incensed to learn that Vaughn has known about Jack for 2 weeks without telling him; also about Manolo, talking to Irina, and getting back with Alice.
The Triad has developed a quantum gyroscope missile guidance system, more accurate than US tech and cheap. Last month SD-5 agents identified it in the Triad's R&D faculty in Nice, France. Syd and Dixon will steal the prototype off courier Karl Shatz en route to Berlin. Syd is to give SD-6 a defective copy of the gyroscope.
Sloane emails Jack; he had to tell Kane about his visit because his initiation into the Alliance last summer included a neck implant. It tracks his whereabouts, vital signs, and transmits all his conversations to the Alliance; it's done to ensure loyalty. Jack's leads were dead ends but Sloane has one for him; his murder of Jean Briault ("The Prophesy"). Briault has a wife and adult son but neither have the capability to be the Blackmailers. The Partners considered him soft and were glad to see him go.
Sloane is incensed when Kane searches Syd's computer; 3 months ago Dixon reported Syd was acting freelance for Jack but it was all cleared up. Kane notes that Jack sends Syd on his missions all the time.
Jack consults Irina for help on investigating Briault. Irina notes there are easier ways to blackmail the Alliance; this is about making Sloane suffer. The Alliance has no permanent operations in Peru, but 6 times in the past year Briault went to Lima and dropped $70,000 each time. Irina suspects Briault created his own organization and they want revenge for his death. Irina met with a case officer in a hotel room while she was married to Jack. CIA finds Briault hotel security videos for last February, November 2001, September 2001. The September 2001 footage shows Briault with Kane; they were having an affair.
Nice, France: Agent Weiss returns to duty after 3 months in the hospital; Weiss tells Vaughn to tell Syd how he feels. Syd and Dixon steal the gyroscope off Shatz. Taking Weiss' advice, Vaughn takes Syd out to dinner where they are IDed by Kane's agents. Vaughn claims the nearest Alliance cell is in Zurich and they haven't tracked any Security Section agents here. Vaughn went through Clandestine Service Training and forgot his manual on the first day. They seem to be considering spending the night together. Kane's agents ID Vaughn as a State Department official, deducing he's CIA. Weiss learns of the hack and warns Vaughn. Syd and Vaughn attack the arriving agents and kill them before they can contact Kane. Syd must give SD-6 the real gyroscope to prove herself now. Weiss convinces Vaughn not to tell Kendall what happened; it's their feelings for each other that makes them such a formidable team.
Jack goes to SD-6 to prove that Kane is the Blackmailer. The same day Sloane gave the Blackmailers $100 million, Kane opened a secret bank account in Monaco. Only Credit Dauphine could find the information soon enough to prevent Syd from falling under suspicion too. Jack checks the account at Credit Dauphine and finds it empty. Kane arrests him and begins his interrogation with a truth serum. Sloane arrives and arrests Kane as the Blackmailer and has her interrogated, thanks to Jack's information. Kane did deposit the funds into the Monaco account but immediately transferred it away. Jack is cleared by Sloane and put in charge for a week while he takes a vacation. Sloane requested Kane to investigate; the one person with a motive to blackmail him. Irina and Jack are suspicious.
Syd agrees that Vaughn shouldn't tell Kendall about Nice. Syd realizes nothing can ever happen with Vaughn and decides to drop it. With Kane arrested Syd was free to give SD-6 the fake gyroscope.
Sloane pays a tech 10 million to create a ring that negates the Alliance neck implant. He approached him 3 months ago; it took 89 days. It transmits false signals to cover the truth. Sloane kills the tech.
The Philippines: Sloane visits Emily of the 9 fingers on a house by the sea. "We did it. We're free!"

Analysis:

Sure Jack was the victim of a witch hunt, but he murdered one or more Alliance agents! Is even that glossed over?
Speaking of glossed over, how come we got zero repercussions to Jack murdering Haladki from the CIA?
Is a simple Polaroid of Emily with a bloody bullet hole in her head enough to convince the Alliance she's now dead? Why would the Blackmailers go through so much trouble tormenting Sloane only for $100 million?
Vaughn claims the closest Alliance cell to Nice, France is in Zurich, Switzerland. But we hear about SD-5 making an operation in Nice. Christophe named the Alliance cells "Section Desparu", which is French. Surely one of the Alliance's 12 Cells is in France! Perhaps Vaughn only meant that the French cell, presumably in Paris, is further away than the Switzerland cell in Zurich. The city of Nice is in Southeast France so it is closer to Switzerland than Paris. So SD-5 must be in Paris, France.
So every single conversation any Full Partner ever has is recorded and available to the rest of the Board. Of course, nobody knows this except for the Partners; Sloane was only told of this when he was initiated ("Trust Me"). This explains several things from Season One, like how the Alliance learned that Sloane assassinated Briault ("Rendezvous") and why Poole feigned innocence when Sloane concluded he was working for Khasinau ("The Prophecy"). Obviously Poole found a way around this in his alliance with Khasinau, which Kane found a way around ("The Abduction"). Either he found a way to side-step the implant like Sloane did, or he simply never spoke aloud his complicity, and did it only through non-verbal communication. When we saw him get in the car with Khasinau at the end of "The Prophecy", neither man ever said a word to one another.
Briault was killed in March 2002, so his 6 visits to Peru over "the past year" must have occurred from March 2001 to March 2002.
Obviously Sloane couldn't have created every fact that Jack uncovered. So: Briault and Kane really were having an affair in Peru during Season One. When Sloane knew he had to murder Emily to become a Full Partner, he created a master plan to fake her death, then manufacture a blackmailing threat, then have Kane investigate, then frame her as the blackmailer to clear his name. He knew back then that Kane was having an affair with Briault (possibility because they were good friends) and so he specifically requested her to be the one leading the investigation, knowing she could be the only one he could frame. Apparently Jack was always supposed to have fallen under suspicion, only to be later cleared; it was only when Kane went after Syd that his plan seemed to be malfunctioning.
Good gravy, were Syd and Vaughn really going to have sex??? His girlfriend's father just died!!!
Isn't it fortunate that Kane's agents in Nice decided to capture Syd and Vaughn before actually telling anyone that Syd was meeting with a CIA agent... then again they probably just went into confirm it with their own eyes, and then walk right out again to call Kane. It was Syd and Vaughn who attacked them. Lord knows what could have happened if they misreported such a thing!
Obviously, Kane's secret Monaco bank account was created by Sloane. In "Passage Part Two" he delivered the money to his accomplices, who then gave him the money back, and he laundered it into an account allegedly created by Kane before using it to set up Emily's secret life or whatever.
Jack says he was five minutes away from exposing their double agent status to Kane because of the truth serum. Yet in "Rendezvous" Jack injected Will with a counter-agent to the truth serum to prevent him from spilling the beans; why didn't he inject himself with this before going into Credit Dauphine, just as a precaution?
It sounds like Jack didn't actually prove Kane was the Blackmailer, more like he pointed to the account and then Sloane filled in the rest with his trumped up information. Was Sloane going to show up with that information whether or not Jack found it? Or would he have sacrificed Jack and then later 'discovered' the information on his own?
Let's review the Blackmailer plot over Season Two: "Cipher": Sloane has his agents replant Emily's flower garden at his house and then make the phone call from their motel. He begins telling Jack a sob story about feeling Emily's ghost. "Dead Drop": Emily's signature is placed at the motel. Emily is working with Sloane after all. Sloane tells Jack the Alliance can't find out, even though he plans to tell them later. "The Indicator": Sloane tells Jack he blames a fellow Partner. Sloane has a glass of wine planted in his home, disabling the security himself, filled with the counteragent he gave Emily when he poisoned her. "Salvation": Sloane glimpses Emily on the streets and chases her into a church, under Jack's watch the entire time. Jack convinces Sloane to unearth her empty coffin. "The Counteragent": Sloane confesses to Christophe, and might have been killed had he not formed an alliance with Sark. But that couldn't have been planned in advance, so how did he know he could survive this low point of his plan? "Passage Part One": Sloane is called by his accomplices and sent a severed finger of Emily; she had to sacrifice the finger, just like Sloane did in "The Box Part Two", to provide physical proof she was alive and held under duress. "Passage Part Two": Emily is spotted at airports. Sloane forms a plan with the Alliance to pay off the blackmailers and trace them, but they disappear with the money and leave a picture of a dead Emily. Sloane pockets the money himself then uses it to blackmail Kane. "The Abduction": Kane is called in to investigate.

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