Alias episodes (Season 1)

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Season 1 of Alias on DVD

This article contains episode summaries as well as directing and writing credits from Season 1 of the American drama/adventure television series Alias. Season 1 aired starting on September 30, 2001 (U.S.) and concluded on May 12, 2002.

Apart from the pilot, the episodes in Alias are often unconventionally structured in that the title credits are usually shown well into the plot, almost as an afterthought. Also, usually a plot finishes at mid-episode and a new plot begins, so that every episode finishes with a cliffhanger. The impression thus created is that an episode will conclude the previous one and plant the seeds of the next one.

Despite the obvious innovative value of this technique, it can make the convoluted nature of the series' plot twists even more disorienting.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
No. Episode title Original airdate
1 Truth Be Told September 30, 2001
2 So It Begins October 7, 2001
3 Parity October 14, 2001
4 A Broken Heart October 21, 2001
5 Doppelgänger October 28, 2001
6 Reckoning November 18, 2001
7 Color Blind November 25, 2001
8 Time Will Tell December 2, 2001
9 Mea Culpa December 9, 2001
10 Spirit December 16, 2001
11 The Confession January 6, 2002
12 The Box (Part 1) January 20, 2002
13 The Box (Part 2) February 10, 2002
14 The Coup February 24, 2002
15 Page 47 March 3, 2002
16 The Prophecy March 10, 2002
17 Q&A March 17, 2002
18 Masquerade April 7, 2002
19 Snowman April 14, 2002
20 The Solution April 21, 2002
21 Rendezvous May 5, 2002
22 Almost 30 Years May 12, 2002

[edit] Truth Be Told

Original airdate: September 30, 2001

Sydney Bristow is a young university student living an uneventful life in Los Angeles. She is recruited to work for SD-6, allegedly a secret branch of CIA. After some time she falls in love with Daniel Hecht, a promising pediatric cardiologist, and makes the fatal mistake of telling him about her secret identity. When the SD-6 finds out, they murder him to protect the secrecy of her identity.

Sydney, devastated by this loss, takes several months off from work to recuperate and focus on school. Her partner, Marcus Dixon is sent to check up on her, and urge her back to work. She tells him that she is not ready yet, even though it is long past when she was supposed to return to work. In a sudden series of events, an attempt is made on Sydney's life, only to be stopped (with ruthless efficiency) by Jack Bristow. He reveals that SD-6 is not a CIA division, but in fact a branch of a bigger illegal organization known as the Alliance of Twelve, which seeks to make profits from stolen intelligence and weapons. The "CIA black-ops" is the cover given to most of their employees, only a select few (Jack included) know of the organization's true agenda; the rest are merely pawns whose patriotism is exploited. Sydney is sickened to learn that her father has lied to her for years, and that he is a traitor who was complicit in letting his daughter become a pawn to his colleagues.

Realizing that Sloane no longer trusts her, Sydney travels to Taipei and retrieves one of Rambaldi's artifacts in order to win his trust. After confronting Sloane, giving him the artifact, and promising to return to work the following week, she regains Sloane's trust. She visits the real CIA where she meets Michael Vaughn and Eric Weiss. She prepares a written statement telling them everything she knows about SD-6. She requests to become a double agent for the CIA and put an end to Sloane and the SD-6. Later, the episode's final scene shows Sydney visiting Danny's grave. There, Jack reveals to Sydney that he is not a traitor, he is working for the CIA, infiltrating SD-6 as a double agent, and that the CIA is accepting her to do the same.

[edit] Note

  • The premiere episode aired uninterrupted commercial-free for 69 minutes. There were only commercials before and after the show for Nokia. In syndication, this episode is sometimes cut down to fit into a normal 60-minute timeslot with commercials.
  • There is an episode commentary for this episode on the Season 1 DVD

[edit] So It Begins

Original airdate: October 7, 2001

Sydney returns to SD-6 as a double agent and is assigned with Marcus Dixon to travel to Moscow to retrieve some stolen files. In the process, however, she inadvertently gives SD-6 access to a nuclear weapon, which makes her travel to Cairo and face a deadly foe in order to fix things.

Meanwhile, Will Tippin (a journalist and a close friend) driven by pity and a secret devotion for her, begins to question the circumstances surrounding Danny's death. He discovers weird details about the night of the murder, one being that someone had tried to help him escape by booking him a flight to Singapore. Sydney, who still can't come to terms with her father's insincerity, reconciles with him to a certain extent when she discovers he was the one who bought plane tickets for Daniel and herself.

[edit] Parity

Original airdate: October 14, 2001

Sydney's life is in danger as she is sent to Madrid to retrieve a 500-year-old sketch that contains a set of binary digits on its reverse, having to do with the Rambaldi artifact Sydney brought back from Taipei. SD-6 needs the sketch to decipher the key to its workings.

Meanwhile, Will Tippin continues his research into the cause of Danny's death and discovers a very strange anomaly concerning surveillance cameras in the zone of Danny's apartment the night he was murdered. Will is not aware of the danger he is placing himself in by doing this, but Sydney tries to make him stop.

In Madrid, Sydney meets up with her deadly nemesis, K-Directorate agent Anna Espinosa, and a fight ensues to retrieve the sketch. It ends up at a draw, as Anna keeps the key to a small suitcase Sydney has obtained. In the end they have to make an arrangement to open the suitcase together, which has the two of them looking inside the suitcase in astonishment at something that remains unrevealed.

[edit] Note

  • Anna Espinosa is played by Gina Torres. She is the first of many appearances of well-known actors as guest stars and secondary characters, which has come to be one of the series' trademarks.

[edit] A Broken Heart

Original airdate: October 21, 2001

Sydney and Dixon go on a dangerous case in Morocco involving the safety of the United Commerce Organization and an agent friend of hers dies of a gunshot. In the meantime, Francie (a close friend of Sydney's who shares her flat) confronts Charlie, her boyfriend, about a secret date with another woman. The little circle of Sydney's friends consisting of Francie, Charlie and Will, begins to suffer from her little white lies about her job in a bank and the many sudden trips she has to make.

Will continues his investigation to find the truth about the murder of Daniel Hecht and unravels more of the mystery. Coming back from Morocco, Sydney tries to know her father better by inviting him to dinner. However, he doesn't dare turn up, which makes her miserable.

[edit] Note

  • The song playing in the background while Sydney waits for her father at the restaurant is "Angel" by Sarah MacLachlan.

[edit] Doppelgänger

Original airdate: October 28, 2001

Sydney's secret double agent status is jeopardized after she smuggles a biotech engineer into SD-6 from her mission in Berlin. Will meets a woman named Kate Jones who confesses that she was having an affair with Danny shortly before his death.

Vaughn informs Sydney that her father may be working for a third secret operative agency (FBI), as he begins to feel increasingly attracted to her. The CIA plants a computer worm into the mainframe of SD-6 in order to track all their progresses and obtain inside intelligence.

[edit] Reckoning

Original airdate: November 18, 2001

Sydney becomes convinced that her father was responsible for the death of her mother, Laura Bristow, 20 years earlier, as she discovers both were involved in a car accident while her father was trying to escape from FBI. She also suspects he might have been a double agent for KGB. Amidst all this confusion, Sydney is made to go undercover in a mental institution in Bucharest to get information from Shepard, a man who has been unconsciously programmed to be a deadly assassin.

In the meantime Will Tippin discovers the true identity of Kate Jones (Eloise Kurtz), the woman who claimed having had an affair with Danny. Francie is relieved to learn that Charlie is not having an affair with another woman but trying to be a singer songwriter and that the woman is the piano player he is rehearsing with.

Marshall Flinkman, the chief technician at SD-6, finds the computer worm planted in the SD-6 mainframe by the CIA and tells Sloane, who congratulates him and tells him it was part of a special security test he's passed.

Sydney's cover at the asylum is blown when it is revealed that an agent from the K-Directorate is in charge there who also wants to know things from Shepard.

[edit] Color Blind

Original airdate: November 25, 2001

After helping Shepard escape from the asylum in Bucharest Sydney discovers the shocking connection he has with her past. He was brainwashed by SD-6 and programmed to kill her fiancée, among others. Sloane is confronted by Alliance representative Alain Christophe after the computer worm affair blows up, whom suggests that one or more moles may have infiltrated SD-6.

Will Tippin continues to investigate the Eloise Kurtz (alias Kate Jones), who now claims to have been Danny's mistress. He makes an appointment with her, but when he goes to her place it has been emptied and repainted and she is gone. Later, she's found dead in Echo Park.

Sydney, in the meantime, understands that Shepard is not really responsible for Danny's murder but he's been used by the SD-6 very much like herself. She lets him go and tells SD-6 that he went totally insane and committed suicide jumping from a bridge near the frontier with Bucharest.

Upon her return to Los Angeles, she learns the truth about her father's involvement in her mother's death 20 years earlier. It was his fault because he was fleeing from another car when they had the accident. But Syd also learns for sure that he was not involved with KGB. He tells her that during the Cold War everybody was suspicious of illegal activities, so he was investigated as a routine process.

[edit] Time Will Tell

Original airdate: December 2, 2001

Sydney must undergo an extensive lie detector test to satisfy Sloane's frantic search for the SD-6 mole. With nemesis Anna Espinosa following her every move, Sydney is told to find out the true about the connection that a clock made by one Giovanni Donato for Rambaldi in the 16th century may have to the 500-year-old prophetic Rambaldi sketch with the binary digits on the back.

The mystery of Kate Jones deepens as Will continues to investigate Danny's death when he finds a piece of jewelry in her abandoned car, that works as a microphone to contact someone else. Sydney accidentally discovers that some books her father gave her mother as a present have 5-character rows of Cyrillic letters imprinted at the margins, which seems to prove that he indeed had some kind of connection with KGB.

[edit] Notes

The date given on the clock, 16/15/23, are three of the Numbers from one of JJ Abrams other shows, Lost.

[edit] Mea Culpa

Original airdate: December 9, 2001

Sydney's life is placed in mortal danger when Sloane is informed by his superior that she is the SD-6 mole. Meanwhile, Dixon's life hangs in the balance after he is shot by Anna Espinosa on a mission, trying to recover a Rambaldi manuscript hidden in the mountains of South-America

Will realizes that his discovery of Kate Jones' pin could uncover some unexpected information.

[edit] Spirit

Original airdate: December 16, 2001

Sydney briefs her CIA handler, Michael Vaughn on her recent captivity at SD-6 and is surprised when he unexpectedly gives her a Christmas gift. Their relationship remains halted because they both know that they can't endanger her position by going out in the open about it, but Sydney also seems to like him more than she would admit.

Meanwhile Jack has to find a way to save Sydney when he discovers that Sloane has been convinced she's the mole and orders to torture and kill her. Will may be making the mistake of his life when he begins to research a name heard on a mysterious audiocassette --SD-6.

[edit] The Confession

Original airdate: January 6, 2002

Sydney is grateful and proud of her father after he saves her life while on a case in Havana but her admiration is short lived when Vaughn discovers further evidence that Jack may have been responsible for the deaths of over a dozen CIA officers 25 years earlier, one of them his own father. After thinking it over carefully, Sydney decides to speak against her father in front of senior CIA agents. But she is surprised to see him at the meeting, where he himself tells her that yes, he was involved but he was not the assassin.

She's shocked to learn that Laura Bristow, her mother, was in fact one Irina Derevko, double agent for KGB infiltrated in the US to obtain intelligence and murder key agents.

[edit] The Box (Part 1)

Original airdate: January 20, 2002

When armed intruders take over SD-6 led by McKenas Cole, a man bent on exacting revenge on ex-boss Sloane, Sydney and Jack must work together to save their "colleagues".

Meanwhile, Will Tippin fears that his investigation of SD-6 and its link to the murder of Eloise Kurtz (alias Kate Jones) is placing his life in serious jeopardy.

[edit] Note

  • McKenas Cole is played by special guest star Quentin Tarantino.
  • Is largely based on Die Hard.

[edit] The Box (Part 2)

Original airdate: February 10, 2002

Vaughn disobeys orders and attempts to help Sydney and Jack avert the destruction of SD-6 headquarters and all its occupants. Meanwhile, McKenas Cole continues his vendetta against Sloane searching for a mysterious device.

The daughter of David McNeil, a convict condemned to life for an affair having to do with SD-6, convinces Will to continue his investigation and help her imprisoned father.

Vaughn helps Sydney out of SD-6 and they recover what Cole was there to get, a mysterious ring with the inscription <O>, a recurring symbol found in Rambaldi's inventions and manuscripts.

[edit] Note

  • McKenas Cole is played by special guest star Quentin Tarantino.
  • Is largely based on Die Hard.

[edit] The Coup

Original airdate: February 24, 2002

Sydney and Dixon are sent to Las Vegas to gather information from a K-Directorate agent who has ties to the group that attacked and nearly destroyed SD-6. Meanwhile, Sydney accidentally discovers some shocking news about Francie's fiancé, Charlie, who recently had had a real affair with another woman.

Will begins his journey to discover what SD-6 really is, and Jack continues to try to be more of a father to Sydney when he helps her decide whether or not to continue with graduate school.

[edit] Page 47

Original airdate: March 3, 2002

Vaughn asks Sydney to use her friendship with Sloane's wife, Emily, to gain access to the Rambaldi manuscript Anna Espinosa took from her, and which happens to be under lock and key in a safe at Sloane's home.

Will is kidnapped and told to drop his investigation of SD-6 or risk the lives of his family and friends, including Sydney's.

[edit] The Prophecy

Original airdate: March 10, 2002

Sydney is tested by the Department of Special Research to discover her mysterious link to a chilling 500-year-old picture and prophecy foretold in the Rambaldi manuscript, where a drawing of her appears in a blank page of the manuscript thanks to a revealing substance hidden in the ring that McKenas Cole had tried to steal from SD-6.

Meanwhile, after uncovering the identity of the rogue group leader, "The Man," Sloane learns through fellow Alliance of Twelve member Edward Poole that a close friend may be working with the enemy.

[edit] Note

[edit] Q&A

Original airdate: March 17, 2002

While the FBI detains and questions Sydney about her past and possible ties to the mysterious Rambaldi doomsday prophecy, Vaughn and Jack must race to free her and find a way to clear her name before her cover is blown and SD-6 is made aware of the situation. Once the rescue op has been launched, in her quest to prove her innocence, Sydney shocks even her usually unflappable father when she makes a chilling discovery that may unravel the mystery of the 500-year-old prophecy –- she finds proof that Rambaldi's writings may hold more truth about an alleged weapon of mass destruction -- and the fate of her own family.

[edit] Note

[edit] Masquerade

Original airdate: April 7, 2002

While on a case to track the activities of Khasinau, also known as "The Man," Sydney runs into her ex-lover, Noah Hicks, who broke her heart and left without saying goodbye five years earlier. Meanwhile, Sydney tells Sloane that she wants to find her mother; Jack is ordered to see CIA psychiatrist Dr. Barnett to help him deal with his churning emotions after discovering that his wife may still be alive; and Will and Francie become suspicious of Sydney's activities after finding one of her airline ticket stubs.

[edit] Snowman

Original airdate: April 14, 2002

Sloane begins to question where Noah's true allegiances lie, as passion ignites between Sydney and Noah. Meanwhile, Sydney continues to uncover new information about her mother, which disturbs Jack. A rogue assassin known as the Snowman is dispatched by K-Directorate to kill Calder. Will and Francie confront Sydney about the mysterious airline ticket stub found in her jacket.

[edit] The Solution

Original airdate: April 21, 2002

In order to catch Khasinau and get closer to finding her mother, Sydney and Vaughn set up an undercover transaction for a Rambaldi artifact with Khasinau's representative, Mr. Sark. But Sydney's cover may be compromised when her partner, SD-6 agent Marcus Dixon is sent in to thwart the sale. Meanwhile, Will is enticed to continue his investigation of SD-6 when he learns the identity of one of his kidnappers. Emily tells Sydney that she knows about SD-6, which forces Sloane to make the most difficult decision of his life.

[edit] Rendezvous

Original airdate: May 5, 2002

Will's life is about to change as he is sent to find the person responsible for leaking information to him about SD-6. Meanwhile, Sloane finds himself on the cusp of finally tracking down Khasinau when SD-6 captures "The Man's" right-hand man, Mr. Sark. Dixon becomes suspicious of Sydney's activities.

[edit] Almost 30 Years

Original airdate: May 12, 2002

In order to save Will's life, Sydney and Vaughn must destroy a familiar looking Rambaldi device, while Jack makes a risky deal with Khasinau's representative, Mr. Sark. Meanwhile, the CIA believes that one of their own is a mole for "The Man"; the Alliance comes to a decision regarding the fate of Emily Sloane; Dixon's suspicions about Sydney intensify; and Sydney finds herself face-to-face with "The Man."

[edit] Notes

  • The Season 1 DVD set contains an episode commentary for this episode
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