Alias 01/26/03 - Phase One (1 Viewer)

[Ryan_C]

Could someone do me a huge favor and post a detailed summary of what happened, sounds like I need it! I missed the show due to the fact that I am an hour from Tampa, and at 1:30 EST in the morning they still had ongoing coverage of the Bucs win. I honestly have no idea when, if ever, the abc affiliate here showed last night's episode.

Thanks!

 

[Craig P]

OK, massive spoilers, but you shouldn't be reading this if you haven't seen the ep (aside from Ryan, that is), right?


Plot summary:
Open with Sidney on a plane, modeling lingerie for some guy who doesn't speak English and is accompanied by a bodyguard. She dons something he likes, he sends out his bodyguard, they get a little closer, and she pulls out a wire and gets him to tell her where "terminal 47" is located. She opens it up, does some spy stuff, moves out into the main cabin looking for the bodygard, who gets the drop on her. They fight, she wins, previous man having recovered from a nasty elbow to the face shows up pointing a gun at her. Cut to 24 hours earlier...

Meeting at the CIA. Immediately prior, Vaughan talks to Sidney, says he doesn't think this is working; he can't concentrate on his work because he's thinking of her too much (i.e. he finally tells her more or less straight out how he feels). In the meeting, the CIA says that Sloane has been MIA for five days and the Alliance is sending in a replacement about whom the CIA knows nothing. Jack and Sidney are assigned to get close to him, so that they may continue their infiltration.

Headquarters of SD-6 -- Sidney meets with the provisional head of SD-6. He seems a little cold. He grills her about why she would be willing to continue working for SD-6 (and Sloane) when they killed Danny. He seems satisfied with her answer. On the way out, she bumps into Sark, who tells Sidney that the new guy found evidence of Sloane's disloyalty by hacking "Server 47".

Headquarters of CIA -- They discuss this, through exposition we learn that the Alliance has 46 secure servers at fixed locations. The previously secret 47th is determined (don't recall how) to be on a 747 with a satellite link that stays airborn except to refuel. The man running it gets women at refueling stops. The CIA plans to substitute Sidney for one of them to hack the server.

Cut back to the teaser, this time intercutting Vaughan and his sidekick on a trailing cargo plane. When the bodyguard gets the drop on Sidney, they give her a suggestion to get an opening to attack. We continue from where we left off before - she ducks before the in-charge guy can shoot her, they fight, she gets a gun and shoots out the window on the door, which gives way and flies into the engine. Bad guy is sucked out, Sidney manages to get a parachute and jump out (after much suspense).

Back at CIA HQ, the info from server 47 has given the CIA all they need to take down the Alliance, but head CIA guy doesn't want to go ahead until they confirm it. Jack will go into SD-6 and get a confirmation code.

At SD-6 HQ, the new head is meeting with a security guy, who says he can play back a surveilance of the keystrokes from Sloane's terminal. They do this, and see text that Sloane typed, and erased, identifying the Bristows as double agents. They arrive at Jack before he has a chance to get the confirmation code, and force him to call in Sidney.

Back at CIA HQ, Sidney receives the phone call, and breaks down because her father had used a code phrase indicating he was compromised. She has another idea on how to get that confirmation code...

At a safe meet in an oil field, Sidney meets Dixon. She spills everything about SD-6 and her role to him and implores him to follow her instructions to get the confirmation code, which will also reveal to him the true role of SD-6. We're not sure if he'll actually do it.

Back at SD-6, Dixon sits at his terminal and follows the instructions. He sees text that confirms that SD-6 is Alliance. He composes an e-mail to Sidney with the confirmation code, but before sending it calls his wife to tell her he loves her and may not be home for a while.

As the CIA sets up to move on the Alliance, the new SD-6 head guy is setting up interrogation on Jack (telling him in the process that his and his daughter's files were full of red flags), with predictably nasty torture (involving electric shock, so no permanent damage). The CIA moves in, some CIA agents and SD-6 agents are killed, Sidney rescues Jack just before he's killed, shooting Sloane's replacement dead. Dixon and Marshall leave in handcuffs, Sidney and Vaughan celebrate with a big smooch. The Alliance is no more.

Somewhere in the midst of all of that (I don't remember exactly where it fell), Francie and Will are together at the apartment. Francie exults over turning a profit (after six months of operation), Will tells her he'll be quitting the restaurant to write for a travel mag (his cover for his new CIA analyst job), she's cool with that, one thing leads to another and they smooch and make out. Will later talks to Sidney about it outside the restaurant.

(This was important for the next bit...)

End of episode - Sloane is on the beach, talking on the phone with Sark. "Phase I" is complete - Sidney traced the evidence and brought down the Alliance, as they had planned. Time for "Phase II" - Sloane calls an operative to confirm she is in position. At the other end, we see Francie! Pan left... blood on the wall from a gun murder... is it Will? ... keep panning to reveal Francie, who is dead and replaced by a double!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Don't forget to write your affiliate and tell them how angry you were that once again sports pre-empted quality narrative programming for more recaps of "They sucked so they lost"

 

[John_VI]

What an excellent episode!! Wholly Schidt!!! Things I loved about the ep:

1. "What was wrong with the BLACK one??!!"

2. Dixon's choice.

3. Rutger Hauer dying (always a good thing).

4. Syd being the one to kill Rutger Hauer (her first actual one-on-one kill if I'm not mistaken).

5. Syd and Vaughn's lip-lock - FINALLY!!!!

6. Sloan being the one who brought down the Alliance.

7. Sark being in on it from the beginning.

8. Francie and Will making out.

9. The ending.

While I'll miss the Francie character, it will be damned interesting to see what develops. How will Fake Francie's relationship hold with both Will and Syd? Will the restaurant continue to succeed? Will "Will" notice the difference? Will Fancie's ex-fiancee come back and eb the one to point out the differences?

I rank this episode as the best of the series, by far.

 

[John_VI]

Oh, and chalk me up as one viewer who LOVES to see Syd in skimpy lingerie!! Not only is she a total babe, but I DO think it's germaine to her character. She has totally amazing looks, and uses it to her advantage as a spy.

 

[Thomas H G]

Me likey this episode. Me specially likey the first 10 minutes.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I laughed so hard at "What was wrong with the BLACK one!"

 

[ThomasC]

First time I've watched a complete episode, and I'm impressed. I'm definitely not as worked up with the twists as the rest of you guys, but I was definitely caught off guard by the Francie twist at the end. Three reasons why I didn't watch a complete episode before this: (1) The Simpsons is the only TV show in which I've attempted to watch every episode the first time it aired for a while now, so I'm not used to watching other shows (2) By the time some of my friends ask, "Oh my gawd, why aren't you watching Alias RIGHT NOW?!?!", there's only a few minutes left in the episode so I'd have too much to catch up on. (3) I forget. Sorry, but I have a life beyond TV.

I'll do my best to keep watching from now on if it's at least as good as "Phase One" was...or just a bit worse.

 

[Elizabeth S]

So who's going to say it?

Alias has jumped the Sark!

I actually said this about a month ago. . .

Anyway, great ep! Hope the comments of new viewers here are indicative of a new wave of viewers joining the show.

 

[Daryl Stovall]

According to Sci-Fi Wire.Com, Alias posted one of the lowest overnight nielsen ratings after a super bowl airing.

 

[Joseph S]

1) The post super bowl show was long and boring
2) It didn't start until near 11PM on the East Coast
3) The game was not even close unlike last year when Adam V kicked a dramatic game winner. People likely gave up on the game early in the third quarter.
4) Alias is 1 hr long
5) The commercials may have insulted some potential viewers.
6) More of us are watching in HD and they don't track us.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

That wouldn't surprise me, seeing as for those of us in the Eastern time zone, the show didn't start until 11:00.

 

[ThomasC]

1) The post super bowl show was long and boring
2) It didn't start until near 11PM on the East Coast

Yep, I really didn't care to wait through the postgame show.

 

[MikeAlletto]

1) The post super bowl show was long and boring
2) It didn't start until near 11PM on the East Coast

Absolutely. There were people where I was at that wanted to see it, but when we calculated that it wouldn't be on till 10 (central) a bunch of people just left.

 

[Nelson Au]

I also figured that here in the West Coast, SF Bay area specifically, Alias didn't start until 8:35 or so. And it was not clear when it would start. So I'm not surprised one of the best episodes of Alias could not take advantage of the Super Bowl lead-in since there was so much stuff after the game, including local news and wrap up broadcasts.

It's a shame the show lost out here.

Nelson

 

[Matt Goddard]

I don't buy Dixon working for K-Directorate for several reasons. It's always possible the writers will change their mind, but here's why Dixon isn't himself a double agent:

1. When SD-6 was taken over last year by McKenas Cole (The Box, Parts I and II), Dixon e-mailed Langley for help. Surely everyone in the employ of K-Directorate, especially their double agents, knows SD-6 is part of the Alliance and not the CIA. So why would Dixon bother reaching out to the CIA for a rescue?

2. When Syd and Dixon were in the Andes to recover a Rambaldi book (Time Will Tell, Mea Culpa) it was K-Directorate that shot Dixon. He would have died if it wasn't for Sydney defeating Anna and calling the CIA for help. Why would K-Directorate have shot their own agent? If it was a backup plan in case Sydney lived they could have just knocked Dixon unconscious. If it wasn't for Syd's CIA involvement, Dixon would have died before he got medical attention.

3. Towards the end of last season Dixon told Sloane about the Andes incident and Syd using the "Freelancer" call sign. If he was working for K-Directorate, wouldn't he have tried to blackmail Sydney instead of reporting her to Sloane?

4. In last night's episode, Dixon reacted in a manner consistent with just learning the truth about SD-6. I'm not just talking about his interaction with Sydney, but also when he was alone at the computer terminal. As I said earlier, I can't believe that any double agents inside the Alliance network don't know the truth about the SD cells.

5. Sydney told Dixon that if he sent the security code then the CIA would raid SD-6. How would that be in the interest of K-Directorate? Although it eliminates a competitor, it also gives the CIA more power and Alliance resources. In fact, by eliminating Sydney or at least not helping her now that Dixon knows she's some sort of double agent, K-Directorate would have the only double agent inside SD-6. So, why would Dixon shut down the Alliance if he's only there as a double agent? There's no guarantee the CIA will give him a job.

6. Finally, Sydney is always the one who transports the items back and switches them as part of her counter-mission. If Dixon were a double agent, don't you think he would want to carry out whatever task would give him the most access to the Rambaldi artifacts, computer discs, etc? Syd is always in a position to perform a counter-mission. I don't see Dixon in those same opportunities.

No doubt some of you will have a problem with some of these points, but I stand by the general thought that to make Dixon a double agent for K-Directorate is quite a stretch, albeit for a show that likes to stretch things.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I agree, I muted the TV and waited for ALIAS to start while watching 24 on my computer. When I saw it start, I just turned the volume on. That's how boring the post-game show was for me.

 

[Joel C]

The show still did very well, with a 13.3/23. Last year Malcom got a 14.XX/24.

Francine (I'm calling it now!)

I prefer Fauxrancie.

JESUS! Nice fucking spoiler warning for Angel on Sc-f- Wire. Why the hell do they put major, MAJOR spoilers in the HEADLINE? And I couldn't even find the stupid Alias ratings story.

 

[Daryl Stovall]

ABC's special episode of Alias, which aired after 11 p.m. Jan. 26 in East Coast markets, averaged a 13.3 rating/23 share in Nielsen's overnight markets, which was tracking to be one of the lowest post-Super-Bowl entertainment programs in recent memory, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Remember, FOX does'nt have the market penetration of the big three networks. I think ABC & Nielsen's was expecting at least A 20 share considering it's (ABC's) Market Share.

 

[Rob T]

Hopefully, the lower than expected ratings won't discourage ABC from renewing it for a 3rd season.