Thursday, May 25, 2006

Holes

Dark Alias and I were talking about the finale and he asked me if I remembered the flash back in which Jack tells Sydney that her mother died in an accident. Of course I remembered, but I also remembered that when we first learned of Laura Bristow's death, Jack was apparently in the car. The couple was supposedly coming home from a night at the movies and Jack lost control on the wet roads. Dark is watching the season 1 episode "Q&A." This is the episode where Sydney learns how her mother was able to fake her death. MAN, could we find anymore holes in the finale??? Thoughts?

Also, we learn in the finale that after Laura Bristow's death and after Jack was hauled into jail, Sydney went to live with Sloane and Emily. How come Sydney didn't know this? She was old enough to remember her mother's death and her mother, how come she didn't remember living with Sloane and Emily? We were not made to believe that Sydney only met Emily after working at SD-6? Umm, I am confused.

49 comments:

SKlaft said...

These are irreconcilable holes, I agree. It is especially true of the fact that Sloane himself once intimated that he had known her and kept tabs on her for much longer that when they "first met at SD-6". He spoke as though he was first revieling the fact that he did "look in on [her] from time to time in [his] own way," revealed to her that he had Jack had been friends way back.

I suppose that the issue regarding Jack driving the car could be explained in that one or the other was not true. Either the story that Jack was driving the car was a cover story, or the scene in the house with the policemen coming to the door may have been staged for the neighbor's sake and maybe for little Syd. I don't know if that works, and it still sticks in my craw, but at least I tried.

-R.

Girlscout said...

I agree Robby. And Emily, she didn't know a lot about SD-6 and you think with her being close to Sydney she would have mentioned the fact of knowing her as a kid or that Sydney lived with them.

SKlaft said...

If Jack was indeed driving the car, which, I am doubtful (I think this was acover story), still, it is not unreasonable that Jack might be just getting home after the accedent, escorted by the police.

SKlaft said...

The whole "do you remember when you came to stay with us..." story is just a huge foul up. Its like long fingernails Screeeeeeching down a chalkboard in my mind.

There is just no explaining this without a blunt trauma to Sydney's head where she just can't remember some part of her life... that sounds familar? Did they erase Syd's memory as a child?! :O (Bleh! Thats even distasteful to say in jest.)

Tammy said...

Just to play devil's advocate here for one minute... there is a possibility that Sydney doesn't remember the time directly following her mother's death. There are cases where children especially have terrible stress right after trauma - in this case her mother dying. She seriously could have blacked out that part of her childhood... Just a thought.

blah said...

tammy, that could have happend but right before sloane told his little story he asked sydney if she remeberd staying with them and she said "I try not to dwell on it" meaning that she did remember it. So I don't think she blocked it out.

Girlscout said...

Sloane sends Sydney on a mission and has a plan to have her assassinated. He says something about keeping tabs on her an d she is surprised.

blah said...

When Syd spoke at emily's eulogy she said:

I met Emily shortly after I started working at Credit Dauphine. Arvin invited me for dinner one night. I remember after dinner was over, Emily walked me out to the car. I didn'tknow her at all and she said in this simple, reassuring voice... "You're going to be okay."


And for the Jack being away for a little bit part, I seem to remember, but don't remember when, that someone sad that after Irina disappared Jack was in CIA cusodty for six months to make sure that he wasn't a threat either. I don't remember who said that but i'm looking for it.

blah said...

okay, i found it:

SLOANE: Mmm. Sydney... how much do you remember about the year after you were told that your mother died?
SYDNEY: I remember... just feeling disconnected from everything. My father was away on business for most of that year.
SLOANE: No. Your father spent six months in solitary in a federal prison. He was suspected of being in collusion with Laura. The FBI almost tried him for treason and even though he was vindicated, the damage was done. And he began to unravel.
SYDNEY: Unravel...
SLOANE: He drank. He started taking unnecessary risks. Come on, Sydney, you know the father he was to you all those years. He took a long time to fully recover and I was under direct orders from the DCI not to let him know that Laura survived the accident. Unfortunately, that also required lying to you.




Another important clue was in the very episode that sparked this post:



SYDNEY: I... I used to think my mother and father were driving together. I was wrong. My mother was actually alone. She was being pursued by an FBI counterintelligence officer. The roads were slippery. There was an accident. The cars went into a river.
KENDALL: And after she died, your father raised you? Is that right?
SYDNEY: No. He hired a nanny. Like I said, he and I didn't have much of a relationship until recently.



So he didn't send her to live with sloane, he hired a nanny to care for her, we knew this already.

blah said...

sorry if i'm being stubbern about this, lhaaheim. but i have nothing else to do right now, no skool tommorrow and i drank a really strong energy drink earlier so i'm not tierd.

blah said...

okay, i belive this is the last 'proff' i have. and after this go a head and give it to me.



SYDNEY: Why would you try and stop what you had ordered?
SLOANE: Because of you. I always knew there was something about you, from the first time I saw you.
SYDNEY: A lot can change in seven years.
SLOANE: It's been a lot longer than seven years. I've known your father since 1971. I met him at Langley. I knew your mother. I went to your parents' wedding. Sydney, I've known you since you were a baby. I was out of the country for most of your childhood, various operations, but I kept tabs on you. I checked in on you in my own way. I always thought of you as my daughter, even from the beginning. Well, I just wanted to let you know... before you went away.





you see, Syd only knew Sloane for seven years, but sloane has known her for longer, always keeping taps. someone mentioned this already, but i just had to quote it exactly. that was found in mea culpa (1x9).

Anonymous said...

Another big plot hole : in season 1 Sloane told Sydney that he was at her parents wedding, and that later he lived with Emily in Europe during her childhood. In season 3, Sloane told Barnett that he thought he could be Sydney's father, which means that the "indiscretion" went on for years, but in season 4, he told Nadia that his time with Irina was brief, when was he lying ? and where did he meet Irina if he lived in Europe ? In the middle of the ocean ? Shouldn't Sydney remember that she lived in Europe when she was 6 ?

SRM said...

I also remember a flashback in season 1 where we Sydney brought before Sloane after her field training and Sloane says something like "ah, so this is Agent Bristow" or something like that, indicating that they had never met. I'll see if I can find what episode that's from...

SRM said...

ok I found the quote I mentioned in my post above, it's from season 1, episode 17: Q&A. Syd's telling the story to Kendall about how she became involved with SD6.

SYDNEY: And then I met Arvin Sloane.

(Continuing from the above flashbacks, Sydney enters his office and sees a clean-shaven Sloane. He smiles and greets her.)

SLOANE: So you're Sydney Bristow.

SYDNEY: Yes, sir.

SLOANE: Nice to meet you. I'm Arvin Sloane. Welcome to SD-6.

To me this definitely indicates that they had never officially met before this time. Oh well, it amazes me that the writers would let a hole like that appear in the finale of the series but there's nothing we can do.

Angela said...

Hi, everyone:

I watched the finale with mixed feelings--I was bereft when Jack died, but thought that Sloane's eternity buried with Rambaldi was a fitting "end." Plus, he's still alive, in case they want to do a MOVIE! Easy enough for someone to dig him up . . . as long as someone thinks he might be alive. But even Sark thinks he's dead, no? (Unless a writer conveniently comes up with another plot hole that convinces us that somehow he knew Sloane had been immortalized.)

Didn't like Irina's character in the end--it wasn't consistent. But Jack! A loving father until the end, never mind how he was able to manage a long, steep underground walk with holes in his lungs. :-)

In any case, Alias was a wild ride and I enjoyed almost every minute of it. And if they put that black/white wig up for auction on ebay (the one Syd wore with the funky white dress on a mission with Vaughn), I am so there.

Angie

Girlscout said...

Awesome posting- let's keep it up. Anymore evidence? Any more holes? I see someone proved my Jack in the car hole was actually not a hole. I guess I forgot that story was a lie.

SRM said...

No GS, I think you were right about the Jack in the car theory being a hole. Syd said that she always thought when she was younger that her parents were in the car together but found out later that her mom was alone. If that's true, then the flashback of Jack telling little Syd her mom had been in an accident and he wasn't in the car too doesn't stand true.

Girlscout said...

OH RIGHT

blah said...

yes, good explanation srg. as for the whole living with sloane and emily for a while thing, someone sparked something in my mind about the season four episode where syd was laura. When Syd mentioned having dinner with SLoane and Emily he was like "why did u have to do that" showing that he didn't really care for arvin. If he didn't like sloane why would he send his daughter to live with him? i'm not sure bout the exact quotes but i'll look for them.

blah said...

wait nevermind. i think i jumped the sark before i found the exact quotes. it was laura that didn't like sloane. here's the quotes.

Sydney: Arvin called. He and Emily want to have dinner next Saturday. I told him we’d love to.

Jack: You could have just said we’re busy. I know how you put up with Arvin for my sake.

Sydney: Sweetheart, he’s your best friend. I’m your wife. I can tolerate him.



sorry.

Girlscout said...

Well, it was Jack that let Sydney stay with Arvin and Emily, not Laura. Laura was the one that didn't like Arvin, which is weird because she has an affair with him.

blah said...

yup, but for all we know her not likeing him could have been just one of her many lies.

Girlscout said...

What ever happened to Weiss? I think that's a huge hole to leave open. Come on, Weiss on Ice and we know nothing!!

blah said...

i think that they left him explained. just like how they left dixon. Wiess is in charge of over seeing CIA hq in langley. at least thats what is in my mind.

Girlscout said...

Well, though it seems Lhaaheim has an answer for everything, I still find that there are many holes in the story- it doesn't matter how long Sydney stayed with Sloane and Emily or where Sloane and Emily where while she was growing up. Sydney has a very good memory- she remembered the sundae's she used to eat at the hotel the family stayed at when she was 4 or 5. She remembered the night her mother died. She remembered her father talking on the phone about "taking care of Christmas." She remembered the puzzle. I don't think she would forget staying with Sloane and Emily. And I very much think it is unlike Emily's character to forget raising Sydney for some time- considering how close she is later. She would have said something to Sydney about knowing her. Emily had no reason to believe it was a secret. She didn't know the true nature of SD-6.

All we have is what they told us in the finale and what was tiold to us in previous episodes. Not to mention what we know of the characters- specualtion aside, these are holes in the story. What was the significance of Sloane's stuffed animal story? It served no purpose. It just futtled with the story we already knew about Sydney and the nanny. Why would the writers add that in?

Girlscout said...

Also, anything Sydney said to Sloane in the finale about her memory is a hole too. She already talked about what she remembered and Jack had no reason not to tell her she lived with Sloane- he told Dixon that he made Sloane her guardian if something happened to him. It's just all random, extra info that seemed rather useless to me. Did anyone find any good use for it that I might be missing?

Also, I thought dragging Sydney to the cavern was kinda stupid, aside from getting her away from the bomb at APO. The whole amulet in the cavern thing was weird. Anyone agree?

SRM said...

yeah the fact that when Sloane asked Syd if she remembered when she came to stay with them and she said "I try not to dwell on it" blows any theory that she forgot about it, just seems like a useless plot hole to throw into the finale to me too GS *shakes head*.

blah said...

gs, i can see how the whole stuff animal story is/was completly usless on the hand where they where trying to explain the past. nut on the other hand i belive that they where trying to prepare sydney and us to what was to come with jack. that sydney couldn't save everyone, including her dad. get what i'm saying?

blah said...

hey, way off topic, but i just thought of somthing. It's was at least five/six years that they skiped at the end of the finale. But before they moved to the beach, where were they living. They had barley moved there because they where unpacking their boxes.

Girlscout said...

Well, Izzy was at least 7 or 8 in the final scenes. I wondered the same thing. If they just moved there, where were they before? Had Syd and Vaughn still been working with the CIA after everything? It seemed like they had been since Dixon came to them about Sark.

And right, I forgot SRG that Sydney said she blocked it out, so she did remember and she did know, which would make her statements in the past seasons false. Hmmm.

SKlaft said...

Let me give it a whirl.

Liz's explanation of a stay with the Sloane's for short length of time still covers the hole. If it was only a week, there would be no reason why Sydney would dismiss this as a significant memory. Its one thing to care for the child of a family friend (the Bristows) and another thing entirely to "know" that child once they have grown up, gone to college, and begun a career. Emily may have known her as "the Bristow's little girl," but not really "know" her at all. The nanny simply came on the scene and became a more significant part of her upbringing that she would mention in retelling her childhood. She may 'remember' a period of going to stay at the Sloane house shortly after hearing that her mother died, but have no real recollection of any specific events surrounding it. Sydney did not remember the puzzel when she first saw it, and not even after she put it together. She went to a hypno-therapist seeking to extract that memory. Its easy to 'remember' little snippets of events in the past as a child, and still have no solid recollection of anything that happened concerning that memory.

Now regarding that little speech in the cavern, it was Sloane's cryptic way of telling her that people were going to die and there was nothing she could do about it, especially since she was there in the cavern i nthe first place. He told her he knew Marshal had given her clues over the phone, but that it didn't matter, because he accounted for that. He was literally glad she came to the cave because he knew that APO was about to be blown up and he never wanted her to be harmed. As she was saving the stuffed animals, he wondered if she would ever figure out that she cant save everyone. That was the puropose of the illustration. The whole amulet needing the rays of sunshine from over Mt Subasio in order to get have the location of Rambaldi's tomb was way over-dramatized by the old guy, "the Rose" in the prison, but it was a convenient way for the writers to blow up APO, put the others in mortal danger, while Sydney was away. I'm not saying I like it. I'm just saying, "Eh, its explainable."

-R.

Girlscout said...

As SRG pointed out, Sloane asked "Do you remember after your mother died, when you came to live with us?" and Sydney says something to the affect of "I try not to dwell on it" means she did remember living with the Sloane's. Then he tells the story. Before, Sydney never knew she knew the SLoane's before- not until Sloane told her back when he was going to have her assassinated because he thought she was a double agent.

SKlaft said...

Oh other matters of concern:

Sloane's and Irena's adultery... (That's what it was; let's not parse words to protect evil people). It had to occur within 2 months of Laura's "death" or Jack would have known she was preganant, and she was placed in prison after her return to Russia, where Nadia was born. Therefore, it had to be very breif. Sloane telling the Dr. that he suspected he might be Sydney's actual father was just a manipulation. He knew that Nadia was somewhere else in the world, and in fact, he had been looking for her ever since he read the manuscript in Tibet (the monumental event). He had been using Omnifam's resources to look her the entire time, based on the information he obtain from the El Dire' machine.

This is fun tracing all these threads through the seasons.

SKlaft said...

remembering things from childhood may be a prograsive thing. perhaps she did not remember who it was she spent a short time with as a child, but as time revealed more things to her, she could vaguely remember that it must have been Emily and Sloane...

Hey, I'm just trying to hold our ALIAS together. I agree that we should not have to work this hard to try to explain the writer's foul-ups.

Girlscout said...

You are right Robby, he was working for Omni-Fam when he met Barnett and he started Omni-fam after he knew he had a daughter.
He wanted Barnett to feel sympathy for him.

uncle111 said...

Yep. Plot hole.

As to where were the Syd and family living before the beach- they were on a special detail based on an Presidential executive order to locate and destroy all Helix doubling technology, and assassinate all confirmed Helix doubles. They lived all over the world, but as a family undercover.
The success of that extended mission got them off of full time status and they began living off the cash Jack had stored in his storage facilities that he showed Vaughn. Jack had put away approximately $225,000,000.00, all taken from bad guys over the course of 35 years.

Girlscout said...

Uncle! How did you know that? Did you make it up? That's pretty good thought!

uncle111 said...

Weeeeelllllllll...
You might be able to find that and more in the book/screenplay I'm writing.

Girlscout said...

NICE!! If you need any help, you know who to ask!! *wink

uncle111 said...

GS- email me.

blah said...

haha, good idea uncle.

uncle111 said...

SD-6 guy posing as CIA trying to recruit Syd. He gives her a business card. The phone number on it is:
1-800-654-2192. Have you tried it?

blah said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
blah said...

it calls abc. it says:

Thank you for calling ABC. The number you have reached is a fictional, non-working number used for motion picture and television production.

uncle111 said...

I thought that was funny. Although, it is probably a must to have such numbers to display in productions.

blah said...

i guess so, but usually in tv shows and in movies they use the 1800-555-???? stuff. but i guess not this time

Shablagoo! said...

You want holes? How about biggest of them all, the prophecies? Considering how context specific they were Rambaldi either had to be present when they happend, met the participants later or learned them from somebody who was mostly likely the immortal Sloane.

Given how Sloane was groomed to follow his quest in the end to become immortal by Conrad, the hidden message on page 47, the sunrise over Subasio etc. It has to be Sloane, and/or perhaps Sydney who passes on some of this knowledge. (Sorry to keep on beating a dead horse with regards to my hypothesis on the ep 17 comment regarding Sloane being the crucial Rambaldi link between the future and the past)

Otherwise the entire series makes no sense whatsoever!!! You can argue about the smaller details till the world ends. The main problem is still Rambaldi's prophecies! If you can't rationalise/reconcile Rambaldi's prophecies logically somehow the show doesn't work on any levels except a purely abstract level of profoundly illogical and incoherent entertainment!;)

What does it matter about baffling minutae like 'Sydney met Emily when' if the unifying Rambaldi Meta-narative is a completely illogical non-sequitor etc?

Solutions:
Time Travel - Most likely given the thematic notion of time throughout the series. Rammyboy goes back in time. The indications implicitly being he doesn't want to or can't go back to his own time, mainly because he has to generate the prophecies and set in motion the long chain of events which lead him to the past.
Rambaldi being able to see into the future with a crystal ball - er, maybe, but lamer than time travel.
Aliens, time travellers
They come along spin young Milo a yarn or two and teach him a few tricks. I doubt it somehow...
Atlantis
Milo discovers Atlantis and its secrets, travels forwards in time and then back to his own! :p
Milo is simply really clever and from the 1500s
Explain the accuracy of the prophecies... Rambaldi appears acquaintated with Sydney according to the Rose and the Clockmaker. How ? :O

JJ probably knows but he isn't telling...He'll save it for the movie we hope. Given how rushed the finale was, in hindsight trying to explain the Rambaldi meta-arc on top of everything else would have been too much.

uncle111 said...

If time is a dimension and you could step outside of it and see the end, the beginning, and everything in between, and the events within dimension are real time to those in it, then if someone were able to mentally step outside that dimension and look into it at various points, or if something or someone outside that dimension could view it and transmit information to someone inside it, presto- you have accurate vision, or visions of future things.

Transdimensional existence, or communications, or thought are modern theories to explain what has always been referred to as prophecy. Rambaldi would just be a hyper version of it, of course made up by the writers as they went/stumbled along.

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