Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Double, double, double

There has been a lot of talk about doubles on the blog as of late- mostly due to Uncle's screenplay. The Helix Protocol is front and center right now in the Alias "spin-off" and last night while I was watching 3.1 "The Two" (again) something came to mind.

The episode opens where season 2 left off- Vaughn and Sydney in a safehouse in Hong Kong, where Syd is alive and missing 2 years of her life. Vaughn explains all that he knows, as he is not with CIA and is not privy to Jack's location or where Sydney has been. Sydney holds back tears and just when we think she's going to take some time to process what has happened to her- she swings a lamp at Vaughn's head and demands to know who he is working for. She thinks Vaughn is a double- and rightly so. With the double of Francie and several other Alias characters, its very logical that Sydney would believe that someone would be pulling one over on her.



As I was watching her beat the daylights out of the very real Vaughn, I wondered- did we, in that first moment, believe that perhaps Vaughn was a double? Did we ever think- as she sat there staring at him, that perhaps it was all an elaborate hoax? If not, then why? We had just as much information about Helix as Sydney, we knew it could be a possibility- why not Vaughn?

Well, it's a simple answer really- Vaughn has always been Sydney's truth. He, as a character, is meant to be her real life, her honesty, her truth. The writer's might have fudged up a few things when it comes to plot holes and storyline, but they have never faltered in who the characters are and what they stand for.

Amen!

10 comments:

Page48 said...

It would be interesting to revisit the ABC boards to see what the instant reaction was to that scene. That's why I used to always have the board up and running while I watched the show, to get some PQF (pretty quick feedback) on what others were thinking at the time.

For us at this point, the toothpaste is out of the tube and it's impossible to duplicate our initial reaction. However, I would think that we were certainly conditioned to accept that nothing was what it seemed and if Syd's instincts made her question Vauhgn's authenticity, I suspect that I probably would have trusted her gut feeling at the time. I would have been shocked, but 9 times out of 10, I would side with Syd and her survival instinct.

Anonymous said...

While originally watching this scene, and subsequently, rewatching it a millions times over, I never once thought that Vaughn was a double. I totally agree with GS in that Vaughn has always been Syd's truth.

In her confused state, it would be natural for her to think that the man before her, the real love of her life, couldn't possibly be telling her the things she was hearing...missing for two years, not in the CIA, MARRIED(!), etc. The awful things being said by Vaughn were so illogical to Syd's brain at the time, that they only could have been uttered by someone other than her Vaughn (i.e., a double).

Girlscout said...

Exactly Bristow- totally agree. I never for one moment thought Vaughn was a double. Sydney has a pattern of not knowing all the information before acting on it- like when she thought Jack was the KGB agent. What I love about her is that she acts on pure emotion. She has a reaction and BANG! the tables turn, things change.

I literally screamed out loud when we learned that Sydney was missing for 2 years. It was an incredible twist- my favorite of all time- I thought "HOLY SHIZ, CAN THIS SHOW GET ANY BETTER!!??" But never for a second did I think Vaughn was lying to her. I believed it because it was so fantastical- it was true Alias.

Bonkers for Bristow said...

I have to agree completely - and yet I didn't realize it until just this minute. I never thought Vaughn was a double until Syd accused him. Then a light bulb went on and I thought, "could it be?" because of course, Syd is my hero and I just assumed she was smarter than I was. In this case, she was reacting to her current level of fear and panic and uncertainty. She didn't think she had been gone for two years, while we just accepted it. It was Alias afterall.

I recently watched the making of "The Telling" on Season Two. It was a great in depth doc on how they did the special effects of Irena's leap off the building and the fight between Francie and Syd. Poor Merrin really was excited about her scenes and did many of the stunts herself. It was sad to see her break into tears when they said it was a wrap because it was the "end" of her Alias career. I found the whole thing bittersweet because everyone was so "involved" and absorbed into making it a great show and with having the perspective of knowing it was the beginning of the end, I was tearing up with her.

uncle111 said...

I wasn't sure at first what was going on, but when I saw the wedding ring on his finger I knew what was up- a brilliant set up for Alias tension and drama for season 3. Incredible story.

Girlscout said...

And that is why season 3 is my favorite. Everything was so elaborately planned- missions, secrets, it was amazing. It was like a giant puzzle, the pieces coming together one by one, some pieces missing and not fitting. Loved it!

Page48 said...

Here's a great interview with Jen, who is out flogging "The Kingdom" these days.

http://www.moviesonline.ca/
movienews_12998.html

Among other things, she talks about a crazy-ass fight scene at the end of the movie. I'm totally on board for that.

Perhaps even more exciting, when asked if she would do an "Alias" movie, she said "I don't think it's really up to me. If J.J. (Abrams) were writing it and directing it, then absolutely, I think we'd all sign on. I mean, it's all in his crazy brain. But I haven't heard. He certainly hasn't mentioned that to me. But I'd be there."

I can tell you right now, Jen, you would not be there alone.

uncle111 said...

My brother saw "The Kingdom" on Monday and said it was great. He said there was a good sized crowd and that at one point it broke out into spontaneous applause. He said it makes you cheer for the right people and hiss the right people.

Page48 said...

Everything old is new again: "Alias" has begun it's second annual run on "Space: The Imagination Station" here in the Great White North. It ran last year at 9:00 p.m. weekdays, but this year has been demoted to 5:00 p.m. weekdays.

I don't believe they showed Season 5 last year, although I may be mistaken. I gotta say, I prefer to watch on my laptop with the wider aspect ratio.

I'm not sure if I have ever voiced my disgust (on this blog) with CTV in Canada for moving the last two seasons of first run "Alias" to the prestigious 4:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon slot. I'm still not over that. Rest assured I voiced my disgust in the form of an email to CTV. Incredibly shoddy treatment of the best show ever, throwing it on Sunday afternoon up against the fishing and travel shows. Clueless buggers.

Page48 said...

High praise for "The Kingdom" AND very complementary of JG's performance therein:

http://www.blackandwhiteonline.net/
DesktopArticle.aspx?x=hNgRYNdKa1hXwJ
gk5M8L%2FmfmwcFcBZWJYDQNCnv3m3Cgp
EXoSiSp1iIPdh%2FUzZ7MByekuBuQTn
VOPL%2B5N1rpn3%2FNAofZmx%2Bbx
K3iIY2uj85Oh%2BzM7c22zYHaI1AR7PdX

But with a URL like that, you're gonna have to work for it. Good luck with that!