Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Back At It

Phewww, the holidays are nearly over. I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. Now back at it, in full force.

As I mentioned, my good friend has just returned from 3 months in Argentina, and we are currently in the midst of re-watching the first 9 episodes of season 5. Last night, we watched episodes 1-3 and I was reminded of a certain incident that may pan out in episodes to come. In episode 5.03 “The Shed” Sloane is granted a 72 hour leave from prison, in order to pursue a lead on a cure for Nadia. Sloane is set to meet with Sasha Dolzhenko, an old friend, who informs Sloane that several of the infected from Svogda are being studied in Russia and they may have found a cure. Along with Dixon, Sloane meets with Sasha, who, in exchange for information, wants $300,000. Chump changes for men like Sloane. Sloane brings the money, but discovers that Dolzhenko merely used a cure as a way of drawing Sloane out. Sasha points a gun at Sloane, blaming him for the death of his daughter, who was one of the thousands killed by the zombie virus. Sasha takes the money and leaves Sloane, alone, with no cure and no hope.

At the time, this scene seemed to be rather pointless to me. But perhaps now, in sight of Sloane’s “alliance” with P5, it seems that maybe this meet was more than meets the eye. As my friend stated after the episode, Alias writers hardly insert a scene that isn’t meaningful or plot driven. Suppose the meet was a set up, a way for Sloane to get information out of prison. Perhaps Sasha arranged the meet in order to pass along information to Sloane. What is your understanding of this meeting? Was it merely a scene to prove Sloane’s dedication to finding a cure for his daughter? Or was it a coup, in order to get Sloane out of jail and to tip off phase 2? Why $300,000? What are your thoughts?

5 comments:

SRM said...

Welcome back GS! I had a great holiday home in MI w/ the fam, nice to be back in sunny NC though. :) I need to go back and rewatch my taped s5 episodes, but I think The Shed is definitely an important one. I remember feeling really bad for Sloane when it appeared that he was duped, I didn't want to believe that maybe it was staged because his pain realizing the cure was a hoax seemed so real. I still have this need to believe his desperation to cure Nadia is genuine for some reason, but that doesn't mean that the scene w/ Dolzhenko wasn't more than it seemed. I think that some people's observation of Sloane's 3rd wedding ring has something to do with the whole scheme of things, like some kind of transmitter or something for the group that he's really associated with (??)

SKlaft said...

Welcome home to both of you, GS and SRG. I hope you enjoyed yourselves, despite not having me with you.

I, too, have always sensed Sloane's sincerity when it comes to Nadia. The ring may indeed be our best clue as to what that meet really was. Remember that a condition upon which Sloane was made a full partner in the Alliance was that he be implanted with the tracking chip allowing Security Section to know where he is and everything he hears or says. This was the reason why he hired that Biotechnician to make a ring that would fool that implant.

In prison, however, he would not be allowed to wear the ring, and even though the Alliance is kaput, there will always be those listening if possible. Sloane may have used his search for Nadia's cure as a ruse in order to make an outside contact that might be able to get him freed covertly. He proceeded to pay Dolzhenko in pretense, while they both knew Sloane was wired by Dixon, but really, Sloane was buying a covert extraction from prison. The conversation through the steel bars was for the benefit of those who might be listening. Sloane knew all along that, when the time was right, he would reveal his poor, poor, puppy - excuse of "blackmail."

I just made all that up. I actually think Sloane is on the up and up (for now). The heated exchanges between Sloane and Dean were to intense and threatening. Sloane was literally risking his life by denying Dean that weapon (in "Solo") in order to protect the members of APO. He was too convincing when trying to get some answers about the "preganant woman" who is in danger... someone about whom [he] cares very deeply.

Regarding the meeting: I think that, much like the episode "Bob" the writers decided to use up some time with more character development. As the story changes and time passes, the characters grow and change their positions on things. I think the writers were just trying (too hard) to show us this. ('Cause they're trying to appeal to simpler-minded TV watchers.)

Anyway, I'm glad y'all are home.
-R.

Girlscout said...

Robby! Hello and hi! Missed your dearly if that makes you feel better. A few good points on our first day back. I'm sorry, but I think Sloane is up to no good! I love him best as the evil, back stabbing Sloane. So, I say, bring on the backstabbing. And yes, Dixon was listening, so all that was said between Sloane and Sasha could have been fabricated to justify Sloane's release from prison. He needed out for some reason, he needed to meet with Sasha and give him that money. We just don't know what for yet. I think Sloane truly cares for Nadia and Sydney and he doesn't want to see them harm, just like Jack and Irina. But something is going on and it's no good.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, everybody!

I've been watching season four on the treadmill, and yesterday I watched the scene where Vaughn and Dixon (I think) interrogated McCullough about Sloane Clone. And I think you're right, GS, it must have been Sloane who had McCullough create the clone. In fact, the writers gave us such a juicy clue: as McCullough was dying, Vaughn asked, "Who do you work for?" and McCullough gasped, "Tell Arvin--"

I mean, it wasn't a direct answer, but it was an answer. And today, when I saw the episode where Sloane comes face to face with Elena, she doesn't at all mention the Clone, which would have been logical if he had been working for her (she could have said, "We didn't need you--we arranged for a replacement).

Re: Nadia--yes, I think he loves her, but that's why he split himself--so he could love Nadia AND Rambaldi.

About that 3-ring--when, exactly, did we first see it? I remember seeing it and thinking "weird," but I don't remember when it was. Was it not until season five?

Angie

uncle111 said...

To me there is no doubt that Sloane is the key to evil and a master strategist. I have always thought he planned this meeting and it was to get payment to someone for something. I have assumed it was payment to get word to P5 that he wanted a deal to get him released.

I was rewatching an episode today and noticed some things that I think relate to Sloane and Horizon:

In S3/E6- The Nemesis, we find out that Sloane hired Allison Doran to under go the Helix doubling and to take Francie's place. Sloane told her he would reverse engineer Helix to reverse her doubling when the job was over. So, Sloane had access to Helix and he already knew of Allison, possibly because she was a Project Christmas child.

We also find out that the Covenant wouldn't let Allison kill Syd because they wanted to retrieve something in her memory. We have assumed that what that was was the location of the Rambaldi DNA she hid before returning from Covenant "captivity."

Several questions:
1- If Sloane had access to Helix technology, did he continue to have access? Is he where Elena got it to double Irina?
2- Was the Covenant really, or also, looking for the same thing Irina and P5 were looking for in Syd's memory- Horizon?
3- If the clue to Horizon was on Vaughn's SD-6 map surely Sloane would be familiar with it. He knows things Rambaldi better than Vaughn or anyone else. If P5 has been looking for Horizon for 30 years surely Sloane knows about Horizon. If he knows about it, knowing SD-6 as well as he must have, wouldn't he have been able to put 2 and 2 together and realize that that something that was tangible enough to go on the SD-6 map was the key to Horizon's location?