The Prophecy

Episode Number: 1.16

Original Air Date: March 10, 2002

Written By: John Eisendrath

Directed By: Davis Guggenheim

Summary:
Last time on Alias, Vaughn shows Sydney exactly what's on page 47: a picture of, presumably, herself. Sydney is in shock and refuses to believe the woman in the picture is her. A committee has been formed to deal with what this new information means, and what it means for Sydney.

Suddenly, Sydney is running from attack dogs in Brazil, and she's reaching a cliff. She jumps off and her parachute rips open as she floats to safety. She's on a mission for SD-6 to try and get photos of "The Man." Vaughn gets into his office to find a group from the NSA, called the DSR, going through all of his files. They're investigating Sydney, and want everything he has on her. Vaughn storms into Devlin's office in refusal, but Devlin has no choice but to cooperate. Vaughn contacts Sydney and informs her of the investigation. The DSR has decoded the text on page 47, and it reads off a 500-year old prophecy written by Milo Rambaldi. It includes heart size, blood count, and miscellaneous, specific details about the woman in the picture. Despite being told nothing, Sydney agrees to voluntarily go through the questions to help the DSR, but Haladki wants medical exams done on her. She refuses until someone tells her what's going on.

Back at SD-6…Sloane asks Sydney to visit Emily because she isn't doing so well, and she really enjoyed dinner the other night. Syd agrees. While visiting Emily, Sydney has frightening flashes of what could be going on with this 'prophecy'. When she leaves Emily, she goes back to the CIA and agrees to go through with their physical exams. At SD-6, Sloane finds that Khasinau, who he believes to be 'The Man', is being funded by Russian Mafia. Sloane tries to get the Alliance to use their resources to go after Khasinau.

Later, Edward Poole, head of SD-9, presents Sloane with information about Sloane's friend, and fellow Alliance member, Briault. Poole claims Briault is actually in league with Khasinau. Sloane initially doesn't believe it, but eventually realizes he can't take the risk, if Poole's information is true. So Sloane agrees to carry out the assassination on Briault, since Sloane himself is the only one that could get close enough to carry it out. Sydney begins her tests and we find that the DSR is trying to match the physical details written in the prophecy to Sydney. Apparently, the DSR used a special key to decode the writing on page 47, and Sydney thinks the only way to really find out if the DSR's version is correct is to get the original key, hidden away in the Vatican. So Vaughn and Sydney escape to Rome, and to some really good flirting, to retrieve the key.

Then Vaughn speaks Italian, and the female population passes out. When we wake up, we find Sloane very pissed off. Page 47 is missing from the Rambaldi document, and he wants to speak to Sydney. Jack covers for her, saying she's in school, and Sloane thinks Sydney's school is getting in the way of her work. Later, we see Sloane meeting Briault in a park in the middle of the night, then Sloane kills him. Later, Sloane talks to the Alliance again about going to war against Khasinau, but realizes that Poole had, in fact, voted against going to war. Poole was only using Sloane the whole time to kill Briault- who was innocent.

Later, Vaughn and Sydney agree that the next time they're in Rome, "Trattoria De Nardi." Sydney goes to meet Francie and Will at a club, only to realize she's been followed. She manages to ditch her friends, and walks outside, followed closely by 4 or 5 guards. She's placed in a van, where Vaughn is waiting for her. He explains that they've successfully decoded the entire page 47 and that all of her test results matched those of the woman in the picture. They are then told of the prophecy, which reads, "This 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 costs, this woman will render the greatest power, unto utter desolation."