Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Behind the 5


We meet Joseph Vlasko in episode 4.14 “Nightingale.” He is a research scientist for Project Nightingale, who has ties to Elena Derevko. Jack and Sloane have tracked him down, through Sydney and Vaughn, who are investigating Bill Vaughn’s death. Sloane tells Jack that Vlasko must be eliminated, as he may warn Elena about their agenda, or worse, he could talk to Sydney, which would be a disaster. Eventually Sydney and the APO team join forces with Jack and Sloane in stopping Elena and her endgame. If it was so imperative that Sydney not know what Vlasko knew, why would Jack and Sloane agree to bring her and the team in on the plan to stop Elena?

We also know that whatever Jack and Sloane’s plan is, it involves blackmail. They were able to obtain a true copy of the Blackwell Index, a database of blackmail-worthy information on high ranking government officials and criminals. When the list is operational, Jack asks Sloane, “Does it have what we need?” And Sloane replies, “Oh, yes and more.” What type of information do they need and on who? If their secret plan was really to bring down Elena, what would what be the need for the Blackwell Index?

We know the Index is used to bate the French man who knows Irina’s whereabouts (Vaughn and Sydney lure him to a bathroom in a sex club.) We also know Marshall and Weiss use the Index to bribe a Russian official into calling off the air strike on Elena. But had Jack and Sloane planned for these uses, or did they have alternative plans for the list?

If Sloane had spent the greater part of his 30 year Rambaldi quest working with Elena, and had a hand in the development of the Mueller Device and construction of the artifacts that produced the big red ball, why was Sloane not aware of how to dismantle the device? Why was Irina the only one privy to this information?

Sloane
All of this leads to more questions, questions pertaining to this season. In the last episode, Sloane rolls on Dean and then is bribed by a P5 messenger to kill Dean to save Nadia. Think back to season 2, when Sloane fakes Emily’s death in order to save her and to ultimately bring down the Alliance. He made us, the audience, as well as Jack and the Alliance believe he was being blackmailed, that someone had Emily in custody, complete with physical evidence, her finger. We come to find that Sloane and Emily had staged everything to rid themselves of the Alliance. Could Sloane be doing the same now? Could he be feeding APO information enough to bring down P5 in order to get rid of the obstacles in his way? Could Phase 2 have been infiltrating international governments to gain power and access to materials, money and weapons? What is Sloane’s plan? Do you believe he is behind P5?

Jack
Sloane has betrayed Sydney more times than we can count, but to be fair, hasn’t her father betrayed her as well? It’s so easy to point the finger at Evil Sloane and so easy to feel sorry for SpyDaddy, to forgive him and accept his betrayals as his way of protecting Sydney. Now, as Director of APO, Jack is calling the shots. He is in charge, and with Vaughn gone, it’s easy for us to have a soft spot for Jack as he helps Sydney through her pregnancy. However, as I watched episode 5.07 again last night, I caught something. While Sydney is interrogating Dean, Jack conveniently interrupts before Dean can give Sydney the access codes. Then, later, Sloane conveniently kills Dean before Sydney can ask him about the access codes. As I have mentioned, there are no coincidences on Alias. Was Dean, like Vlasko, a necessary casualty to cover Jack and Sloane’s tracks, to keep their workings a secret from Sydney and the team?

If Sloane and Jack are in fact behind P5, what was the motive behind killing Vaughn? Surely they knew that if Vaughn was killed by P5 that Sydney would want to bring the people behind the group to justice. Certainly they don't underestimate their most skilled agent? But perhaps they believe they can contain her.

What else do these episodes tell us about Jack and Sloane? What are your theories about who is behind P5? Why is it easy for us to hate Sloane for all he's done, but not Jack?

5 comments:

SRM said...

Yes I agree w/ faithschild on all her comments and that these are great observations GS! On a specific note, turning back to Joseph Vlasko, there are some things around that storyline that don't make sense. First, Elena created the Sloane Cloane and one of his duties was to make Vaughn believe his father was alive. In doing so, he was able to convince Vaughn to steal the coil for him in return for info on Bill V. If Vaughn had turned over the coil, it would have gone straight to Elena. Now if Elena was working w/ Vlasko, why would she go through all that trouble to get Vaugn to steal it with her? Wouldn't she have just been able to get it from him directly? Either that's a rather large plot hole, or Vlasko wasn't working w/ Elena but maybe w/ another Rambaldi group or even p5?

Regarding who is in charge of p5 and who put the hit on Vaughn, that's still very much up in the air for me. If it's the same people/person, then I doubt it would be Jack or Sloane. From Curtis telling Syd she "wouldn't believe him if he told her" who put the hit on MV, it leads me to believe it might be someone thought dead, but who would that be? What major characters have died on the show...Danny, Francie, Allison Doren, Lauren, Elena. With Allison we all assumed she died when Will stabbed her, but that was never confirmed, so ya never know. Any thoughts on my Vlasko questions?

Girlscout said...

Nice Faithschild. You ask some great questions. If Jack and Sloane are behind P5 and they have a hisotry of protecting Sydney, then why kill Vaughn? Maybe he's not dead. Maybe he wasn't as good as we all thought? Maybe he knew way too much. If so, why not kill Renee? She knows just as much.

Very good point SRG. Elena could have just asked Vlasko for the coil if she was working with him. Hmm. Yes, why go through all the trouble of making a Clone and tricking Vaughn? Hmmm.

uncle111 said...

Well, what are we going to do once Alias ends in May?
What loose ends do they need to tie up and what do they need to reveal before the series wraps up? How about we come up with a good list?

Daniel said...

Nothing matters anymore. Allias is officially canceled. (depression sets in)

uncle111 said...

Before Jack killed Steven Haladki, Haladki told Jack that Khasinau was the future, that Khasinau could save him. He confessed to working for him for 2 years and that there was an underground facility in Taipa(SP?), room 47 where the Mueller device (the Circumphrence) was being worked on in room 47.
He then told Jack, "I can save you."

What was it Jack could be saved from? Was it Elena's endgame? I don't think Haladki knew of Elena and thought K was The Man, but did he know the endgame? And, was it really Elena's endgame or was it Couvee's endgame?