Episode 5.09 "Horizon"

HOLY COW!
I think my head has stopped spinning so that I may articulate my observations about last nights episode. If I don't say it enough in the next couple paragraphs, I LOVED IT! By far the best episode of the season thus far and it can only lead to more! I LOVE VAUGHN, I LOVE IRINA! I LOVE ALIAS! Okay, I'm okay... oooh, I have a headache now.

I saw her reflection in the glass and I thought I was watching season 2 by mistake. SPYMOMMY is back!! Irina Derevko, played by the talented Lena Olin, returned to Alias last night in a WHAM BAM episode filled with all the goodies Alias has to offer. I don't even know where to begin...oh, yes I do...

THAT WAS NOT SYDNEY'S APARTMENT- The opening sequence with Sydney and Vaughn in the apartment had several clues that established that what was happening was not happening in reality. One- that was not Sydney's apartment. Though it was rather similar to her apartment, the lay-out of the kitchen and bathroom is different than what we have seen in past episodes. Writers will use similar props and sets during dream sequences to suggest that things aren't as they seem. For instance, when Will dreamt he told Francie all about the CIA, he was sitting at the dining room table drinking a glass of wine. At the time, Will was in AA and wasn't supposed to be drinking; that was a clue to tell us that what was happening was not indeed happening.

Jack and Syd hit up the hospital for a little baby birthing tutorial. I loved how Sydney said, "And this is where I will get the epidural right? Because I don't like pain." HAHA, I had to laugh. The woman as been tortured, shot by her mother, and rumbled with a room mate. COME ON! She lives for pain!

Okay, onto the grit! Vaughn's papers are stolen from high security storage byP5 gopher, Kelly Peyton. What a nasty girl!! APO is tasked to find out what exactly P5 needs from Vaughn's research and notes from his old SD-6 and Covenant missions. We come to understand that the bit of information P5 and Dr. DeSantis are looking for is the location of something called the Horizon. Whether this is a device or a manuscript, we cannot be sure, but I guarantee its Rambaldi related.

Jack sends Sydney to meet with Renee. Renee tells Sydney that there is nothing in Vaughn's old files that would be of use to P5. Perhaps that is because we, along with everyone else, don't know how far P5 reaches or apparently how far SD-6 and the Alliance reached. Sydney is then nabbed by two goons and whisked away in the standard kidnapping vehicle-a black windowless van! Aside, it occurred to me that Jack set in motion Sydney's kidnapping by sending her to meet Renee. Are you following me? I think Jack was in on it! I think Jack is working with Irina!!!As for the creepy baby room, obviously Irina has some issue with SpyGrandbaby. Perhaps a child by the Chose One is of value to P5. OHHHH, just had a thought, stay with me...

Perhaps Jack knew what P5 wanted from Vaughn. Perhaps he knew through Irina who was working with them. So, to protect Sydney and Vaughn, Irina put the "hit" on Vaughn and Jack set up his fake death. Now, Irina, who is obviously working for someone else, has to use Syd to play her game. Remember, she had to shoot Sydney in the shoulder to convince her employers she was loyal. This is the same thing. I think Irina is trying to stop P5...maybe even another evil sister...

Now, let the memories of Vaughn begin-

Hospital- A man, an orderly, comes into Vaughn's room and if you blinked, you missed him place the cup and straw on the table next to the bed. Remember, I mentioned in the premiere episode review that the cup and straw was a clue to Vaughn's fate. Whatever was in that cup put him in a coma did so to convince P5 he was dead. Moving on, Sydney then told Vaughn, "I gave this to you and then you crashed." She wasn't willing to give him a sip. She wasn't willing to lose him all over again. But Vaughn repeated, "They are using me against you. I need to go away." This ambiguous statement only lead me to believe that Vaughn is indeed alive; that faking his death and hiding away was in some way protecting Sydney.

Korean Prison- "We'll find each other, we always find each other." Ain't that the truth? Back in the dank, musty prison in Korea, Vaughn and Sydney share a moment with their baby. In the season 3 scene we understand the tension as being geared to wanting what you can't have. Sydney couldn't have Vaughn because he was married to Lauren, and in the scene last night, she couldn't have him because he was "dead." I loved how that played into Vaughn wanting to experience his child.

Micro-self Storage- Okay, the chain link fences were killing me! They took us way back to micro storage!! I heart micro-self storage! Sydney lays all her plans on the table. She wants to stop running, she wants to stop hiding. She doesn't want people to know who she is or what she knows. She wants to escape; she wants to go away with Vaughn to a deserted island. I was hoping she would plug Lost here, you know, "let's get lost on some island." No dice, but still a very honest scene. I suppose it reflects Jennifer's own need to move on, to live a happy, normal life away from the show and the razzi.

Pier- Um, why weren't they playing Sarah McLachlan? Come on, that is just as much a part of the scene as Sydney and Vaughn. Vaughn says, "You kept the darkness from taking over me. You are going to take these guys down." YES SHE WILL, so you can come back home safe and sound!!

Blood Van-In the van we do discover why Vaughn needed to go away. He had the name from the SD-6 map. The name on the map is something Vaughn must have known that P5 wanted and that they would come after him for that information. She gives them the name X-23 Norte. Is this a name, a code, location?

Beach- Standing on the sandy beach in their perfect place, Vaughn reveals that Sydney had given P5 the wrong name from the map. He said, "You gave them the wrong name, they will find out and I can't be here for that." Throughout the hypnosis Vaughn tells Sydney to make him go away, say goodbye to him because if she doesn't, they win. Perhaps Vaughn is the only person who knows the whereabouts of the Horizon and as long as P5 doesn't know where it is, Sydney is safe. This also leads me to believe the piece is Rambaldi related (along with the SD-6 references and of course, the return of Irina.) Vaughn has always shown concern for Sydney in regards to the prophecies of Rambaldi. He begged Sydney to give up the search for Nadia, in fear that Nadia would harm her. He also offered to destroy the discs that opened the Rambaldi box, which he believed would also be of danger to Sydney.

Let me add that Vaughn in all of these “memories” is NOT Vaughn, he is Sydney’s subconscious. As Paul so cleverly pointed out in the comments, there are two Sydney’s in all of these scenes. One Sydney misses Vaughn and wants to be with him and the other is the Sydney that knows she is under hypnosis and that P5 is looking for something. Everything that Vaughn says is actually Sydney trying to tell herself to let Vaughn go because she knows they are using him against her.

Aside from the obvious callbacks, I found some similar storylines. Sydney gives the wrong information to P5, much like Nadia, who gave the Covenant the wrong location to the Rambaldi dig site in season 3. Jack and Renee stumble upon a makeshift nursery, which reminded me of Jack's psych-eval hypnosis dream from season 1, in which he sees a young Irina holding a baby and then Irina transforms into Sydney. Not sure if there is any connection, but it was a flashback for me.

IRINA! I couldn't even believe it! I nearly jumped out of my seat! There was no indication! Yes, it makes sense that she would want to protect the baby and is invested in Sydney's future, but there was no word Lena Olin at even returned to the set! Thank goodness she's back. Is she good? Is she bad? Is she good pretending to be bad? She is so good at that. She tells Peyton "Now my associates have the location of the Horizon." Who are her associates? Why did they have to get the information from Sydney? Does an SD-6 map no longer exist? What is the tie to SD-6? If she is a leader of P5 (maybe with SpySis Katya) then why hasn't she cured Nadia? Why does she need Sloane? (Man, Sloane and Jack are getting kicked by the Derevko woman! Pansies!)

DeSantis kicked the bucket, after being shot and losing an ear. That was hilarious, well, in a morbid, sick sorta way. Jack pulled out that knife and I was like, ooh sharp knife. Then he slices the old doc's ear off! Hahaha! Gosh, hard life- kept in a box for 20 years, shot, cut and shot again. Hmm, Rambaldi just doesn't seem worth it to me. More people lose their lives than are promised eternal life.

Tid bit- Thomas Grace was married??? What do you suppose was the significance of this little reveal? Could it be someone we know??? Lauren? hehehe! I love Alias!

I don't even know what else to say, other than the episode ROCKED!! So much information, so much going on, the return of old characters, the opening of old wounds. THIS IS WHY I BLOG PEOPLE! It was magnificent! Bravo writers! You roped us right back in and now we have to wait, tick tock, tick tock...2 months and counting...anyone else need a drink, a stiff one?

PS. VAUGHN IS SOOOOO NOT DEAD!