Alias- Season 3
Blowback

Episode: 58

First Air Date: March 7, 2004

Writer: Laurence Andries

Director: Lawrence Trilling

DVD: Season 3 (Released Sept 7, 2004)

Guest Stars:

Patricia Wettig as Dr. Judy Barnett
David Anders as Sark
Greg Grunberg as Weiss
Fritz Michel as vault manager

Fan Rating: 10/10 (Average of all fan submitted ratings)

Synopsis:

Unknown assailants ambush Sydney and Vaughn; Lauren and Sark continue to solidify their new partnership; Sloane divulges a dark secret to Dr. Barnett (guest star Patricia Wettig).

(From TV Guide)
Lauren's betrayal deepens as she and Sark sabotage Syd and Vaughn's mission to locate a bomb that could give the Covenant way too much power in the terrorist realm. Meanwhile, Sloane lures Barnett (Patricia Wettig) into an intimate exchange about the one sin that still haunts him. Weiss: Greg Grunberg. Lauren: Melissa George. Sark: David Anders.

(From ABC)
In the episode — told through the eyes of Sydney and Vaughn and then reversed to see how the story unfolds through Lauren and Sark's perspective — Sydney and Vaughn are ambushed by unknown assailants while trying to retrieve a bomb. Meanwhile, Lauren and Sark continue to solidify their new partnership, Sloane divulges a dark secret to Dr. Barnett (Patricia Wettig) and Marshall shows the strains of new fatherhood.

(From ABC)
Vaughn, unable to sleep, stares at his father's watch, which stopped the day he met Sydney. As Vaughn leaves, Lauren's phone rings. At the CIA, Dixon presents the team with a new mission: The Shining Sword, a Filipino terrorist organization, has acquired a next-generation bomb called a plasma charge, which they're shipping to Europe. The CIA has traced a Shining Sword transmission from a digital storage facility in Vancouver. Syd and Vaughn are to rent vault space at the facility and search for a detailed archive of the shipment. Someone within the Agency, Dixon adds, may be leaking info to the Covenant.

Syd and Vaughn, posing as astronomers, arrive at the facility. They secretly download the shipping info and pinpoint location of plasma charge. Their uplink to Marshall, however, is sabotaged by a virus. Suddenly, they're attacked by a facility employee, who is mysteriously shot dead. Syd and Vaughn lose the murderer after a car chase through a parking garage. Back on LA, Marshall tells them he received 63% of the data; he'll need 12 hours to extrapolate the rest. Sydney recalls the previous day was the anniversary of Vaughn's father's death. Lauren calls, interrupting their conversation.

In Zurich, Sloane apologizes to Barnett and asks her out to dinner. She agrees "for professional reasons only." She thinks his transformation from spy to humanitarian is remarkable and asks about the secret he's harboring. He's offended and explodes at her, so she walks out on him.

Marshall's data reveals the plasma charge is on a Liberian freighter in Lisbon. Once on the boat, Syd and Vaughn, using a tracking device, are again fired upon.

We go back to the opening— after Vaughn leaves, Lauren receives a call from Sark. He wants the plasma charge and tells her to get a lock on it, which she does via Dixon's team meeting. Syd tells Lauren to leaver her out of her relationship with Vaughn. Lauren then meets Sark at the Vancouver facility, where they plant the virus and force the employee to fire at Syd and Vaughn. When he misses, Lauren kills him and flees. After escaping, Lauren and Sark get shagadelic.

Sloane apologizes to Barnett. He tells her his secret - he had a one-night affair with Irina Derevko. Jack and Emily never knew. Though he's never tried to prove it, he believes Syd is his daughter.

Back to the gun battle on the boat — Syd finds the plasma charge. Vaughn stops Lauren, who's wearing a mask, and demands that she show herself. Before she does, Sark corners Syd and threatens to kill her unless Vaughn to drop the gun. "If you love her, you'll drop the gun," Sark says. Vaughn drops it. Lauren punches him and runs. Syd breaks away from Sark and chases Lauren while Vaughn goes after Sark, who has the charge. He engages the timer and tosses it to Vaughn, who, with Marshall's aid, stops the countdown with seconds left.

Later, Lauren meets Vaughn at a bar. Sark calls to goad her. She kisses Vaughn at Sark's behest. At the office late, Jack takes Syd out to dinner.

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