Alias TV Show FAQs
Background.
A01. What is SD-6?
A02. How did Sydney bring down SD-6?
A03. What is Credit Dauphine?
A04. What is the relationship between SD-6
and the CIA?
A05. What is Phase One?
A06. What is Phase Two?
People.
B01. What does Sydney Bristow do for
a living?
B02. Who does Sydney work with at the CIA?
B03. Who was Daniel Hecht?
B04. Why are Jack and Sydney so dysfunctional
as a family?
B05. What happened to all the people who worked
at SD-6?
B06. How
has Irina Derevko complicated Jack and Sydney's relationship?
Organized
Crime.
C01. Who is Alexander Khasinau?
C02. What is K-Directorate?
C03. What is FTL?
C04. What do "The Man", K-Directorate,
FTL and the Alliance have in common?
C05.
Who is Irina Derevko?
C06. Who is Arvin Sloane?
The
Unknown.
D01. Who is Rambaldi?
D02. What is "The Prophecy"? The
significance of the number 47?
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from ABC.com
Background.
A01. What is SD-6?
SD-6
is an enemy of the United States.
SD-6 is a now-gutted criminal organization that was loyal
to The Alliance.
The Alliance was a series of twelve cells, dedicating to
maximizing profits in the black market realms of weapons sales,
drug trade and surveillance technology. However, SD-6 maintained
a cover as a "black-ops" division of the CIA, lying
to its lower level agents since its formation ten years ago.
Once our heroine, Sydney Bristow, learned of the deception,
she worked for two years with the CIA in an attempt to bring
it down from the inside. On January 26, 2003, her mission
was accomplished.
A02.
How did Sydney bring down SD-6?
Sydney discovered the existence of an airborne
server that tied the twelve cells together. By accessing the
server and downloading its security codes, she was able to
grant the CIA access to all twelve SD cells.
A worldwide raid was staged, and all SD and Alliance Members
were taken into custody. What Sydney didn't know, however,
was that this was all part of Phase One.
A03.
What is Credit Dauphine?
Credit
Dauphine is a front organization for SD-6.
Sydney
was approached on campus by a stranger, which resulted in
her accepting a position as an office assistant at Credit
Dauphine, a corporate bank in Downtown L.A.
When Sydney
began her work, she believed herself to be affiliated with
the CIA. After she completed the initial, six-month "Evaluation
Phase," she was prepared for a secondary "Transition,"
and was eventually introduced to Arvin Sloane, which resulted
in eight months of tests, physical training, and SD-6 propaganda.
Her transfer into SD-6, located on the sub-level 6 of the
Credit Dauphine building, coincided with that move.
A04.
What is the relationship between SD-6 and the CIA?
It
is very much a one-way relationship: remotely, the CIA monitors
Sloane's movements within SD-6, with the help of undercover
agents such as Sydney and Jack Bristow.
With the
exception of very few high-level officers, no SD-6 agent has
ever visited Langley -- although Dixon, during the hostile
takeover of SD-6 by "The Man", was successful in
messaging the CIA for help, using a hand-held wireless device.
Michael
Vaughn at the CIA was notified, and made arrangements for
a tactical assault against the terrorists; these measures
were resisted by CIA Director Devlin as being out of CIA protocol.
Despite this, Vaughn took direct measures...this time, as
a field agent.
The resulting
counter-measures saved SD-6 from annihilation... None of the
hostage agents, however, were to receive feedback on the success
of Dixon's actions.
A05.What
is Phase One?
Phase One was part of a plot hatched by criminal mastermind,
Arvin Sloane. Sloane, the former head of SD-6, realized that
Sydney and her father, Jack Bristow, were double agents inside
his agency. Realizing they had already caused significant
damage to the Alliance and needing to disappear from CIA scrutiny,
he subtly granted Sydney the intel she needed to discover
the airborne server. At the same time, he hoarded the Alliance
collection of priceless Rambaldi artifacts so he could complete
his thirty-year obsession with the philosopher.
A06.What
is Phase Two?
At this point, the complete details of Phase Two are unknown.
People.
B01. What does Sydney Bristow do for a living?
Sydney is an intelligence agent for the CIA, working to capture
Arvin Sloane. In her pursuit, she frequently must maintain
deep cover aliases to hide her own identity and agenda from
the subject of her hunt — whether that means hunting
for Sloane directly, or keeping a piece of weaponry out of
his hands. As part of her job — first for SD-6 and now
for the CIA — she has developed numerous spying skills
that come in handy in a tight spot, including mastering numerous
languages, martial arts and weapons-handling.
But her job has the added downside of forcing Sydney to keep
secrets in her personal life, as well as her professional
one. She must hide what she does from her roommate, Francie,
to maintain her cover as an intelligence officer.
However, working for the CIA has brought an unexpected upside
— in the form of her handler, Michael Vaughn. The two
have had a developing attraction since they met … and
now that SD-6 has been demolished, they've been able to pursue
a relationship.
But what Sydney isn't aware of — what may be her greatest
threat — is how many people do know that she's a CIA
agent.
B02.
Who does Sydney work with at the CIA?
Sydney has been joined by her father, Jack Bristow, ever
since she learned that he was another double agent inside
SD-6. Since SD-6's dissolution, they've been able to pursue
a single-minded goal of bringing Arvin Sloane to justice.
Her handler (and boyfriend) Michael Vaughn helps prepare
her for every mission, giving her the necessary intelligence
she needs to accomplish her mission and come home safely.
For some missions, he joins her in the field. As part of a
joint task force on finding Sloane, she also receives orders
from FBI Director Kendall.
Finally, her friend Will Tippin discovered her secret while
she was still working at SD-6. Now, he's joined the ranks
of the CIA as an analyst.
B03.
Who was Daniel Hecht?
Danny
was Sydney's fiance -- a medical student whose marriage proposal
to Sydney followed a two-year relationship. He was still unaware
of her affiliations to SD-6, until she revealed this truth
to him, soon after their engagement. He found this news about
their future together deeply upsetting...
On the
night when Danny left an inebriated message on Sydney's answering
machine -- while she was on mission in Taipei -- he made the
mistake of mentioning that he knew she was a spy. A wiretapping
SD-6 security agent promptly reported the matter to Sloane,
who had Danny "terminated," at the hand of a hired
killer... Martin Shepard.
Officially,
it was Danny's assassination that alerted Sydney to the truth
about her employer, and prompted her to seek revenge upon
SD-6, with the help of the "real" CIA.
B04.
Why are Jack and Sydney so dysfunctional as a family?
As with any other family "under orders to lie to one
another," the iciness between father and daughter has
origins in Jack's emotional unavailability throughout Sydney's
life.
Mostly, this is to do with Jack having led a life of deception
long before Sydney would learn the truth. She grew up to view
her father as an unyielding man of independent mind, with
an igloo-like exterior; the ice wall had taken form long before
they could begin to discuss their commonalities, or identify
any professional likenesses.
There are numerous references to times in Sydney's childhood
when she believed her father to be away on international business
with Jennings Aerospace — in one case, for 6 months straight.
But very recently, Sloane revealed to her that this was a
period during which Jack was in solitary confinement in a
federal penitentiary, following the FBI's investigation into
collusion with his wife Laura Bristow and her KGB ties. Although
his record was cleared later, it resulted in a breakdown and
a period of heavy drinking.
B05.
What happened to all the people who worked at SD-6?
Most believed they were legitimately working for the CIA.
Those agents were debriefed and released. Two, however, were
brought into the CIA. The first was Marshall Flinkman, Sydney's
op-tech specialist at SD-6. His unique engineering abilities
not only provide the tools Sydney needs for each mission,
but also helps the CIA hunt down his former boss, Arvin Sloane.
The other is Marcus Dixon, Sydney's former partner at SD-6.
Dixon had a much more difficult time dealing with the fact
that Sydney knew SD-6 was a corrupt organization. He attempted
to leave the intelligence field altogether — but when
Sydney's life was in jeopardy, he joined the CIA in order
to save her.
B06.
How has Irina Derevko complicated Jack and Sydney's relationship?
Irina Derevko (aka Laura Bristow, Sydney's mother) turned
herself into the CIA after Sydney discovered her in Taipei.
Over the course of the next several missions, she provided
intelligence that helped Sydney bring down SD-6 … and
in some case, saved Sydney's life. Irina claimed she wanted
to help Sydney — and, by extension, the CIA — but
Jack knew Irina was simply laying the groundwork for another
double cross. Jack and Sydney frequently found themselves
in debates over whether they could trust Irina … with
Sydney taking her mother's side, more and more.
Organized
Crime.
C01. Who is Alexander Khasinau?
Former
KGB, Khasinau is a rogue operative whose full agenda remains
undisclosed.
Previously
referred to as "The Man," Khasinau and his team
penetrated the infrastructures of SD-6 and FTL in an effort
to wipe them out, and to recover various Rambaldi artifacts.
In the case of SD-6, Khasinau's agent was McKenas Cole, a
disenfranchised SD-6 agent who Sloane had left for dead on
an aborted mission, years earlier. The hostage state attributed
to Khasinau was so heinous that Sloane has formed a personal
vendetta.
It is
confirmed that he was formerly Irina Derevko's superior officer,
and that he and the Director of Operations, Mr. Sark, were
connected to the class Omega 17 informant within CIA ...the
"Deep Throat" who has been leading reporter Will
Tippin through the trail of corpses left by SD-6 -- Danny
Hecht, Eloise Kurtz, David McNeil's wife -- and intent upon
exposing them publicly.
C02.
What is K-Directorate?
K-Directorate
is an enemy of SD-6, and of the United States.
A critical,
and highly dangerous arm of the Russian underground, K-Directorate
has an international presence, with satellite agents stationed
worldwide. This organization competes -- its "private"
aims similar to those of SD-6 -- for the hoarding of Rambaldi
artifacts and technology.
While
SD-6 attempted to identify "The Man", Dixon, impersonating
Jamaican diplomat Darian Buchanan, met with K-Directorate
contact Brandon Dahlgren in a Las Vegas casino, to exchange
the agent's ring with a listening device.
Later,
the assassination of K-Directorate head Ilyich Ivankov in
Moscow -- by Mr. Sark, Director of Operations to "The
Man" -- left Lavro Kessar in command, during negotiations
for the exchange of a key Rambaldi manuscript...the one which
also contains "The Prophecy."
In the
past year, K-Directorate has engaged in arms trade with Ineni
Hassan, with the intention of creating a partnership... Kreshnik,
Georgian director of the Mangalev Asylum in Bucharest, and
his assistants, held Sydney captive while she attempted to
contact assassin Martin Shepard...and Noah Hicks, Sydney's
former lover, was also eventually revealed as K-Directorate
ice-pick assassin "The Snowman," when Sydney took
his life during hand-to-hand combat.
Other
key players include Anna Espinosa -- go-to officer for Wetwork
and Active Measures. On more than a single occasion, she has
met her match in Sydney, in both wits and physical strength.
Anna's one-time lover, Eduardo Benegas -- Spanish venture
capitalist and auto enthusiast -- acquired a Rambaldi sketch
through an auction, with the two-part binary code on it...resulting
in a tense face-off between Sydney and Anna in a stadium in
Berlin, as they had to memorize the code while forced to watch
the document disintegrate.
C03.
What is FTL?
FTL is
a former crime organization; another enemy of SD-6 and of
the United States.
Now extinct,
FTL was fronted at the Tyno-Chem Engineering headquarters,
based in Hong Kong. Former FTL bases were located in Morocco
(Rabat) and Shaneer, with transfer facilities in Kenilworth,
Warwickshire, UK.
In late
2001, Sydney and Dixon recovered a code machine from a London
art gallery, managed and owned by FTL operative John Smythe,
in order to read a private FTL communiqué. When SD-6
needed the recipient's thumbprint DNA-decryption to do so,
Sydney helped locate the corpse of Gareth Parkashoff -- traced
with the aid of exiled assassin Martin Shepard, in an asylum
in Romania -- the man who murdered and buried Parkashoff.
Until
this year, FTL was led by Quan Li, who was publicly executed
by Khasinau's aide, Mr. Sark, during "The Man's"
terrorism spree which resulted in the takeover -- simultaneously
-- of SD-6 as well.
C04.
What do "The Man", K-Directorate, FTL and the Alliance
have in common?
Each of
these crime organizations took a hit when Khasinau's teams
infiltrated and attempted to destroy local cells. And all
parties, including "The Man," is an independent
crime organization in search of artifacts from the 15th century
seer and prophet, Milo Rambaldi. SD-6 boasts the top record
for retrieved articles, due in great part to Sloane's obsessive
pursuits.
These
articles are guarded closely -- the ampule of Rambaldi solution
nearly cost SD-6 its headquarters when McKenas Cole forced
an entry to the vault containing it -- and several key artifacts
have been offered in trade, at secret sales and auctions.
Alliance
members and branch directors, alike, have assigned great value
to the retrieval and recovery of his notebooks and artifacts,
in part because they believe that Rambaldi was a seer, and
that the over-arcing sum of Rambaldi's prophetic vision will
unleash a power -- and possibly even a new source -- unknown
before to mankind...
C05.
Who is Irina Derevko?
Irina Derevko was a deep cover Russian spy sent to seduce
Jack and trick him into spilling secrets. They married, and
she soon became pregnant. She considered terminating the pregnancy,
but decided to carry Sydney to term, unprepared for the bond
that would form between mother and daughter. When she was
called back to the Soviet Union, she was forced to fake her
own death in order to make a clean escape. Jack let Sydney
think that her mother died without revealing any of the information
about Irina actually being a Russian spy.
When Sydney discovered that Irina was, in fact, alive, she
made it her top priority to find her. The reunion got off
to a rocky start when Irina ended up shooting Sydney in the
shoulder. But she soon turned herself in to CIA custody after
that, with the intent to cooperate. Both Jack and Sydney were
immediately distrustful. But after numerous instances where
Irina's intelligence helped Sydney, Sydney began to warm to
Irina. Jack angrily maintained that Irina was promoting some
sort of hidden agenda — even after his ex-wife helped
recover six stolen nuclear devices from Kashmir. Finally,
after Jack was the subject of an SD-6 witchunt that Irina
helped him escape from, Jack seemed to warm to the fact that
Irina might want to help the CIA. However, as soon as he and
Irina went on their own mission, she double-crossed him yet
again … and landed in Sloane's hands. Now, Irina has
teamed up with the one man Sydney and Jack hate more than
anyone — to combine forces in a pursuit of Rambaldi artifacts
that could have terrifying repercussions.
C06.
Who is Arvin Sloane?
Sloane was the former head of SD-6, who now remains at large.
Thirty years ago, he stumbled upon the first artifact from
Milo Rambaldi, and has been obsessed with recovering as many
artifacts from the philosopher and prophet as possible. He
will go to almost any lengths to recover these, including
assembling a suitcase-bomb Rambaldi designed in the fifteenth
century.
But he does have two weak spots in his heart. The first is
for Sydney, to whom he's always felt like a father. After
the dissolution of SD-6, he warned her not to find him because
he did not want to cause her any more harm. And even in his
hunt for Rambaldi pieces, he's tried to honor that.
The second is his wife, Emily Sloane. After Emily was diagnosed
with cancer, she unwittingly revealed that she knew about
SD-6, thus bringing the Alliance to Sloane's door, demanding
her termination. Sloane refused — and the Alliance respected
his wishes, believing that she would be dead from the cancer
within weeks. However, once the cancer went into remission,
the Alliance renewed their demands — and Sloane decided
to fake his wife's death in order to save her life.
Sloane now feels he can complete his thirty-year search without
the overbearing arm of the Alliance or the CIA intruding.
But he knows that Sydney still intends to bring him to justice.
The
Unknown.
D01. Who is Rambaldi?
Born in 1444, Milo Rambaldi was chief architect for Pope
Alexander VI. Equal parts prophet, mathematician and artist,
Rambaldi left behind hand-made notebooks containing detailed
schematics for inventions which preceded his time.
Rambaldi's "machine code" was documented as early
as 1489, through the innovation of data compression and his
use of pre-binary 1's and 0's. His drawings and documentation
were enciphered in multiple languages (Italian and Demotic
hybrids have been discovered), through elusive mixtures of
pre-masonic symbols and encryptions. Some have been drawn
so as to be invisible to the naked eye, and require the aid
of a special solution for reading.
D02.
What is "The Prophecy"? The significance of the
number 47?
"The
Prophecy" was contained in a text revealed, on one of
the blank pages of a Rambaldi notebook, and intercepted by
Sydney during an exchange between Mr. Sark and Lavro Kessar's
men. In each of Rambaldi's notebooks, page 47 is known to
hold particular significance. In this case, the invisible
ink on the paper was revealed later by CIA, using liquid from
the ampule retrieved during McKenas Cole's SD-6 takeover...The
solution revealed an image of a woman's face, bearing striking
resemblance to a young Ms. Bristow.
Excerpted,
Rambaldi's "Prophecy" reads: "The woman here
depicted will possess unseen marks. Signs that she will be
the one to bring forth my works...bind them with fury; a burning
anger. Unless prevented, at vulgar cost, this woman will render
the greatest power unto utter desolation. This woman, without
pretense, will have had her effect, never having seen the
beauty of my sky, behind Mount Subasio. Perhaps a single glance
would have quelled her fire."
After
Sydney was taken into custody by the FBI's Department of Special
Research, and questioned in connection to this reference,
she later cleared her association with "The Prophecy"
by climbing up Mt. Subasio, with the help of a special extraction
team -- Jack, Vaughn and Weiss.
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