Monday, October 17, 2005

Sloane: A Pattern

Sloane, the evil genius behind SD-6, and the dark underground of the quest for Rambaldi. He is never one to hesitate, to show mercy, especially when it comes to his passions; Rambaldi and his daughter. In season 2, he kidnaps Neil Caplan (played by Christian Slater), a mathematician, and forces him to piece together the magnetic fields of a Rambaldi puzzle. As I watched this episode, something struck me as oddly familiar (which isn’t necessarily odd when it comes to Alias). Was Bill Vaughn not originally a mathematician, hired by a private foundation, to also study and decode a page of Rambaldi’s text? The lives of Neil Kaplan and his family were threatened, as were the lives of Bill Vaughn and his young son. Correlation? Coincidence?

As Uncle111 has insinuated, it is very possible that Arvin Sloane is behind the creation of Prophet 5. That he, in his quest for Rambaldi, had hired Bill Vaughn, James Lehman and others to decipher a code for him. We know that Sloane has been on a 30 year journey, maybe a journey that began with the text, the Profeta Cinque. In season 4, Sloane and Jack go to great lengths to keep hidden a secret, a secret pertaining to Bill Vaughn. They allow Vaughn and Sydney to investigate the possibility that Bill Vaughn may still be alive, in hopes of learning more. Perhaps Sloane is on a mission to cover his tracks, that he and Jack both know that Bill Vaughn survived, that he is alive and can offer evidence related to Prophet 5 and the deaths of the other researchers.

As I had mentioned in my 5.3 “The Shed” article, I found the scenes with Sloane to be pointless. Uncle111 and a friend of mine then pointed out to me that there are hardly ever any scenes in Alias that are useless or pointless. The Sloane scenes from the last episode may have been boring and ambiguous, but they may hold significance in future episodes. What happened to Sloane’s $300,000? What is Sasha using it for? Was it a payment for something other than a cure for Nadia? Was the meet a set-up? Is Sloane using his search for a cure as an excuse or as a cover for other covert operations? Either way, we can expect that Sloane is, in some way, connected to P5. How connected? As I’ve said, only time will tell…dum dum dum.

11 comments:

SRM said...

I agree that Sloane is somehow connected to Prophet 5, but I don't think that his searching for a cure for Nadia is some kind of coverup for rogue activity. I believe his love and obsession to find a cure for Nadia is real, probably the only genuine emotion Sloane has ever allowed himself to publicly exhibit (other than his love for his wife Emily). I'm still refreshing my memory on season 4 by watching the TNT reruns, but did we ever find out what the big secret Jack and Sloane were hiding was? Was it all just to find Elena?

The connection between Bill Vaughn and Neil Caplan is an interesting one. I'm not sure where that connection could come into play, but it's a good observation.

Girlscout said...

Thanks SRG. I do think Sloane wants to find a cure for Nadia. I think aside from finding one, there is something else going on. Sloane always has an agenda, he has power, even behind bars. Something is up and I can't wait to find out what it is. I really like Sloane as a bad guy and I think others do to. I hope they bring back the evil Sloane. It makes for some great Syd/Sloane scenes.
And SRG, I love your writing. If you would like to research and write an article for the blog on any Alias topic let me know. You can send it to me via e-mail, there is a link on my profile. I would love to have you as a guest writer.

uncle111 said...

The secret Jack and Sloane have, and the agreement they have in conjuntion with that secret are important mysteries. I hope they are really big and not a dissappointing gimmack.

SRM said...

aww *blushes* thanks girlscout! Maybe I can come up with something clever after this week's episode, I'll definitely send you an email about it! :)

About Nadia being the passenger, I think that's pretty legit since she drew out Rambaldi's equation after being shot up w/ the fluid, I think that confirmed her identity as the passenger. The big secret might have been about the water Omnifam contaminated, I don't remember (I want my s4 DVDS NOW!!) :)

Girlscout said...

Yes, can we please talk about all the water Sloane drinks. In at least one scene per episode, he is pouring water into a glass and drinking it. It drives me crazy. Does it mean something or are they just fresh out of scene action ideas that they just have him pour water. Season 3 especially, he drinks water like crazy!

SRM said...

interesting calimack, that ties into what we were discussing in the wink blog!

And yes, either Sloane is just a very dehydrated person, or there's something fishy going on w/ all the water drinking...

SKlaft said...

I don't mean to quash all the creative thinking around here, but generally the water is simply an actor's prop. Rather than awkwardly stating his lines with his hands at his side (or worse, displaying nervousness with them in his pockets like so many people do)they gave him water. It is a method of developing a casualness in a tense scene, showing him multi-tasking (talking, thinking about the conversation, and pouring a glass of water).

On the other hand, they may have noticed that they did this often and incorporated it into the plotlines. If the did, however, it might have already played itself through in season 4. Remember, it was Sloan that contaminated the world's water supply that, if the signal of Eliana's (sp?) Mueler Device had made it into the Satalite network, everyone would end up like Nadia. Sloan might have had the only uncontaminated water available.

SKlaft said...

For some reason, I can't get the picture of Vaughn meeting with Sloan privately in the S-4 eppisode where Vaughn goes looking for his Dad. Yes, he may have been getting offical permission for the time off to go see his dying Uncle, but could the conversation have been something more? Could it have been centered on Vaughn's pre-CIA life? Could it have included Renee Reanne? Was Sloan secretly directing an aliegence with the known assassin as they sifted through the dirt which led to the events we are now witnising in S-5? I never put anything past the insidious Sloan.

SRM said...

hmm...for some reason I'm not remembering that scene even though I just saw those episodes on the TNT reruns. Can you remind us what they said? I wouldn't put anything past Sloane either, I find it impossible that someone so obsessed w/ Rambaldi wouldn't know about P5...

Girlscout said...

I think there is definitely something more to what Sloane and Vaughn were talking about. I remember Sydney looking very intrigued by the two of them talking, but she never asked Vaughn about because I think she figured it was about his dying uncle. hmmm...

SRM said...

ahhh, now this is bugging me, why don't I remember that scene?!?