Rachel Gibson (Alias)
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| Alias character | |
| Image:Rachel Gibson.jpg | |
| Rachel Gibson | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Affiliation(s) | The Shed APO |
| Held ranks | The Shed analyst APO field agent |
| Known relatives | unnamed mother, father, sister and brother |
| Portrayed by | Rachel Nichols |
Rachel Gibson is a fictional character played by Rachel Nichols in the final season of the spy-fi television series Alias.
[edit] Biography
Introduced at the start of the fifth season of Alias, Rachel Gibson's life parallels that of Sydney Bristow in many ways. A computer genius, she was recruited by Gordon Dean to work for what she thought was a black ops branch of the CIA. In reality, Dean was using this as a front for his own criminal organization, although Gibson and most of her colleagues were unaware of this fact.
After being captured by Bristow on behalf of APO, a genuine black ops CIA division, Gibson was convinced of Dean's true nature and was sent back into his organization (known as "The Shed") in order to steal information. Dean, however, realized his cover had been blown and set off a bomb, destroying Gibson's office and almost everyone in it, although Gibson herself survived.
She was subsequently recruited into APO, which resulted in Gordon Dean ordering her murder. Gibson's family was sent into witness protection to get them away from Dean's vengeance.
Although a novice when it comes to field operations, Gibson learned quickly with some help from her colleague Thomas Grace -- himself a recent APO recruit. She bonded with Sydney and at one point moved in with her. She also struck up a mutual admiration society with APO's computer whiz, Marshall Flinkman. Gibson went on her first solo mission in the episode aptly named "Solo", and on a later mission personally apprehended Gordon Dean (Dean was subsequently killed in custody).
The episode "Solo" strongly suggested that Gibson, though she is no stranger to death, had herself never used deadly force up to that point (and continued to avoid doing so). She did, however, later confess to having enjoyed beating Dean senseless with a shovel before his arrest. In the final episode of the series, Gibson shoots a man to death but it is not indicated if this is her first kill.
During the second half of the season (and subsequent to the announcement that the fifth season would be the final one), Gibson's character faded into the background somewhat, appearing only briefly in most episodes. Following the birth of Sydney's child, she was no longer living with Sydney (a fact confirmed when Sydney later invites her half-sister Nadia to live with her and Grace later visits Rachel at her apartment), though the series does not indicate when or why she moved out.
In the closing episodes of the series, Gibson found herself attracted to Grace even as she carried out an "off-book" investigation of the agent's activities. She discovered that he was investigating the circumstances of his wife's death and she helped him track down her killer, whom Grace assassinated with a car bomb.
In the series finale, Gibson was kidnapped and tortured by Julian Sark (with whom she had had a one-night stand while she was on an undercover mission for APO), and forced to help Arvin Sloane locate an underground cave he needed to find to achieve his endgame. Along with Marshall, she was able to alert APO to their location and they were rescued. Rachel returned to Los Angeles, only to assist in the evacuation of APO headquarters because of a bomb planted by Sark. She exchanged affectionate final words with Thomas Grace seconds before the bomb exploded, killing him and destroying APO.
Following Grace's death and the massacre by Kelly Peyton of the twelve leaders of Prophet Five, Rachel realized she and her family are no longer in danger. However, she elected to stay with APO and her previous friendship with Peyton proved invaluable in extracting intel from her on Sloane's endgame.
In a flash forward to several years in the future, it is revealed that Rachel has remained with the CIA, working under Marcus Dixon. She is said to be in a deep undercover operation.
[edit] Replacing Sydney
The character of Rachel Gibson was introduced to provide back-up support for Jennifer Garner's character Sydney Bristow, because of Garner's real-life pregnancy. It has been reported that the character had also been established as a possible replacement for Bristow should Garner leave the series. The subsequent cancellation of the series rendered this eventuality moot.
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