Prelude

Episode Number: 3.07

Original Air Date: Nov. 9, 2003

Written By: J. R. Orci

Scully is having memories of her abduction... oh, wait. I mean Sydney. Tip for Mysterious Wounds #1: Never pull anything out of your own wounds that produces more blood than can be cleaned up with a paper towel. Once there are puddles of blood, yeah... you should probably stop pulling. Syd's pulling out some nice bloody tubing from her wound creating a big bloody mess in that nice clean white room. She wakes up crying and scared, an I just want to go hug her and give her a teddy bear. JG acts her ass off in this scene. Very sad. The next day, she goes to visit the CIA shrink who helps people who have lost time, and she suggests going through the invasive neurostimulation to regain her memories. He tells her to consider death first. He shows her a patient who went through the procedure. The man was once a brilliant CIA operative and now he's a baked potato. Syd agrees for the time being and goes to work.

In pure Hannibal Lecture fashion, Sloane is brought into CIA headquarters cuffed and blindfolded. Dixon is ordering all systems to be locked down. Dixon and Sloane exchange some nice, "How have you been since you had my wife murdered and lied to me for years?" Good times. Sloane is briefed about his latest mission. He describes the Covenant's latest demand. The She-Devil's accent-go-round must be contagious cause it's affecting Sloane; it's Covenant, not Cauvenant you pretentious bastard. Somehow, this is the COW's fault. Anyway, here's where we find out what the ep is about. They need to stop the Covenant from accessing a weapon that can kill people from space. Sloane suggests he and Syd go on the mission together because she's the best. Que the evil overlord symphony and Sydney's 'threat of the week'. I have to admit it will be interesting to see Sydney and Sloane on a mission together. Sloane is pretty much the only character left on the show who hasn't proven to be a complete 'tard when it comes down to obvious stuff, so maybe it'll be good.

There's a stoolpigeon being held in Mexico that is going to tell the NSC about "Julia" in exchange for his release. So Jack asks Vaughn to lie to Lassie once again. Vaughn struggles with this. He knows Lassie will bite him when she finds out, and he'll have to hit her with a rolled up newspaper. Jack is so sarcastic and hot in this scene. Damn I've missed that. He's been a little Robotron lately.

Off Syd and Sloane go to China. Tip for Evil Overlords #74: Stop having parties on the same premises that you're keeping your evil weapon of doom! You're just asking for it to be stolen or destroyed. Keep it in another place where no one will find it. If you absolutely must keep it on the premises, and you feel the urge to boogie down, be smart enough to keep at least one, highly capable, armed guard sitting right beside it. Damn monkeys!

Marshall made this stealth matchbox car that will be able to get into the facility without being detected. It's very cool. It passes through the crowd and gets into the main security room. I have to say, so far this episode is pretty good! Very interesting and I think the lack of a certain COW bell is doing wonders for my enjoyment of the show.

Syd and Sloane dance to keep up appearances, then pretend to fight so Syd can leave. She makes her way to the completely unguarded room holding the device of doom. She changes quickly and disguises herself.

Tip for the Heroes #21: Never ever get out of the car in a country that likes nothing more than some nice American hostages. Jesus H. Christ! Falling for the hurt kid in the street?? I would expect that kind of stupidity from Lupe-the-Brilliant over there, but Vaughn-- you're a CIA agent man! Will you fall for the 'catch my baby' routine too? Wanna buy a bridge? Oy vey. On a positive note, Lulu is roughed up a bit and they hold a gun to her head. Hey now! Viva la Mexico!! Maybe my new Mexican friends will kill the wench? I can dream. Turns out Jack is behind the kidnapping. He goes in and kills the stoolpigeon before he can talk, then has Vaughn and Loopy set free.

Meanwhile, Syd is caught by some guards and shows off all the training she got playing Elektra. Which I don't mind because JG really rocks when she takes those sais. It's the best fight scene so far this season. Very cool. She kicks all their asses and not a scratch is left on her. Dixon and Marshall are impressed. Marshall does his computer kung fu and the world is safe once again. On the way home, Syd and Sloane discuss the past. JG and RR really play well off each other in this scene. It's nice to see two good actors read off good dialog and make it believable. He tells her she contacted him by letter just before she was found in Hong Kong. He gives her the letter containing a code and a key. Sloane is so sneaky. You just know he's feeding her information piece by piece so he can use her in the end.

Back at the CIA, Vaughn pulls Jack aside. "Let's talk," he says. "Of course," says Jack in the funniest, most obvious, 'trying to act innocent' tone I've ever heard come from him. It's so high pitched and fake. Hehehehee. Jack rocks this scene, yet again proving why he's the baddest good guy ever. Vaughn was smart enough to figure out Jack set the whole kidnapping up. He throws him against a wall and threatens to kill him if he ever pulls another stunt like that. Jack practically laughs in Vaughn's face and tells him that, "Perhaps you finally understand the moral compromises you make when someone you love is in danger." Jack rocks. All hail Jack. Poor Vaughn; He's just being placed between fifty rocks and hard places.

Hey, I didn't know COW's could drive?? But there she is, trying to start her car. It's not working. Possible car bomb?? Unfortunately, no, it's just Sark playing 'I know something you don't know'. Sark puts a gun to her head and tells her everything about Syd being Julia. Sidebar: her overbite needs its own zip code.

OH. MY. GOD. Now she's Irish. Can she not find an accent? I'm officially starting the "Let's Find Lulu an Accent" campaign. It's so funny to listen to David Anders, who is American, doing this pretty steady British accent, flawed as it may be, while listening to Ling-Ling trying to do one. I just can't keep up anymore.

Later, she and Vaughn fight. Another wasted opportunity to just shoot her in the face and get it over with. She finds out Vaughn, Dixon, Jack, the entire CIA office, the hot-dog vendor down the street and Vaughn's dog all knew about Syd's secret. "You still love her?" she asks. Yes, and by the way hunny, it's known not knowen. Vaughn realizes the wench already reported Sydney to the NSC. Without even a 'see you later' he runs off after Syd, dropping Luella like 3rd period French.

He calls Syd and tells her to meet him. He sets up a plane to smuggle her wherever she wants to go. They have a wonderful and touching scene together. Syd asks him why he's helping her when it means messing up his life. He tells her that no matter what has changed between them, no matter what has happened, some things remain the same. Like his love for her and his need to keep her safe. They hug. They pull back. Vaughn leans in as though he may kiss her. The look on his face reads like, "Here's my white flag. I surrender. I won't fight how much I still love you anymore." But Syd just backs up and says, "Thank you." Classy. Stupid, but classy. She realizes the sacrifice he's making for her and her safety. She boards the plane.

Jack translated the code Sloane gave Syd earlier. It's an apartment number in Rome and Syd goes there to hide out. meanwhile, back at the "I don't love you anymore. Can't you see that you dumb Pop-Tart?" office, Lassie asks to speak to Dixon alone. Vaughn, who hasn't changed or shaved, obviously didn't go home that night. Hehehehehee. Jack realizes it was Vaughn who helped Sydney escape and asks him what else he'd be willing to do for Syd. "What did you have in mind?" Vaughn says, a small smile on his face. FINALLY! Our old Vaughn and our old Jack, working together again.

Lemonhead tells Dixon he's being relieved of duty by the NSC for obstruction of justice and she's taking over. No one is allowed to leave until ass-mole gets there. She's really taking her impending divorce hard.

Syd looks around her apartment. She sees the angel statue that she's been having nightmares about. She looks around the bathroom and finds pills in Julia's name. Then she's jumped by Italian authorities and told she's under arrest.

I have to say I really enjoyed this ep much more than the crapfest we've gotten so far this season. The lack of COW was a plus, and the fact she wasn't made to look like some perfect angelic woman we're just supposed to love was a nice change. Seeing her be an annoying brat and seeing Vaughn stand up for Syd was great.