Alias (TV series)

Plot

Season 1

Sydney Bristow is an undergradute college student when she is approached with a job offer by someone claiming to work for SD-6, a black ops division of the Central Intelligence Agency; she accepts the offer and quickly becomes a field agent. When she tells her fiancé Danny that she is a spy, however, he is murdered by SD-6.

Related Topics:
Sydney Bristow - College - Student - Job - SD-6 - Central Intelligence Agency - Spy - Murder

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It is then that Sydney is told by her father Jack Bristow (another SD-6 agent) that SD-6 is not part of the CIA; instead, it is part of the Alliance of Twelve, an organization that is an enemy to the United States. Sydney decides to offer her services to the real CIA as a double agent. Her offer is soon accepted, and she begins the long and arduous task of destroying SD-6 from the inside. She quickly learns that her father is also a double agent for the CIA.

Related Topics:
Jack Bristow - Alliance of Twelve - United States

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A major subplot of the series is the search for and the recovery of artifacts created by Milo Rambaldi, a fictional Leonardo da Vinci-like inventor and Nostradamus-like prophet from the Renaissance period. Rambaldi's works include electronics and other devices that would not be invented by others for centuries. He also predicted that a woman who looks like Sydney will cause "utter devastation" to the world. This subplot pushes Alias into the genre of science fiction.

Related Topics:
Milo Rambaldi - Leonardo da Vinci - Nostradamus - Renaissance - Science fiction

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Season 2

The second season began with the introduction of Irina Derevko, who would soon become a vital part of the series. Midway through the second season, the series underwent a "reboot" of sorts with Sydney successfully destroying SD-6 (after gathering valuable intelligence for tactical strikes from an airborne SD-6 server) and becoming a regular agent for the CIA, still in pursuit of former SD-6 leader Arvin Sloane, his associate Julian Sark, and the Rambaldi artifacts.

Related Topics:
Arvin Sloane - Julian Sark

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Season 3

The third season takes place two years after the events of season 2 and is considerd a "reboot" of sorts, with Sydney having been missing and presumed dead all this time. DNA evidence in a badly burned body confirmed her death to her family and friends.

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The truth; however, is that Sydney was kidnapped by a well-resourced terrorist organization called The Covenant, who tried to brainwash her into believing she was an assassin named Julia Thorne. Eventually Sydney voluntarily had her memories of the two years erased, to protect herself in a vain attempt to forget some of the deeds she was forced to undertake as Julia, and to ensure that one of Rambaldi's artifacts would never be found.

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When Sydney recovers after missing two years of her life, she begins investigating her missing absence while reintegrating into the CIA. There she deals with the facts that Arvin Sloane had become a world-renowned humanitarian after being pardoned; that The Covenant; and that her lover Michael Vaughn had married NSC agent Lauren Reed. It is later discovered that Reed was a member of the Covenant and a constant lover with Julian Sark. The NSC also plays a role as a government organization that holds massive unsupervised power, with a Guantanamo-like detention facility and considerable influence over the CIA, and driven by questionable motives.

Related Topics:
Arvin Sloane - The Covenant - Michael Vaughn - Lauren Reed - Julian Sark - NSC - Guantanamo

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Season 4

Season 4 begins where season three ended with Sydney uncovering a shocking, classified document called "S.A.B. 47 Project". The document is later discovered to authorize Jack Bristow's execution of Sydney's mother, who had mysteriously placed a contract on Sydney's life.

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Season 4, like season 3 is considered another reboot of the series with Sydney joining a black ops division of the CIA, patterned after SD-6 and run by her one-time nemesis, Arvin Sloane. The new division is dubbed "APO": Authorized Personnel Only. Members of APO (all hand-picked by Sloane) include almost all of the recurring characters from previous seasons, including Jack Bristow, Michael Vaughn, Sydney's former partner (and third season CIA director) Marcus Dixon, the computer and technical genius, Marshall Flinkman, and Vaughn's best friend Eric Weiss (brought in after having to be rescued by Sydney and Vaughn, who he previously believed to have left the CIA). Sloane's daughter and Sydney's half-sister Nadia Santos also eventually returns to join APO.

Related Topics:
Black ops - Marcus Dixon - Marshall Flinkman - Eric Weiss - Nadia Santos

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During the season, an imposter of Arvin Sloane, jokingly identified as "Arvin Clone", acquired the technology to implement Rambaldi's final endgame. Using OmniFam, the real Arvin Sloane had polluted the world's drinking water with a Rambaldi chemical that causes feelings of peace and tranquility. However, these feelings can be reversed with the "circumference", a floating red orb created by Rambaldi. The third Derevko sister, Elena, had built a giant version of the circumference, over Savogda, a fictional Russian city, which drove the residents insane. Sydney, Jack, Irina, Nadia, and Vaughn parachute in and successfully destroy the device and kill Elena. But Nadia is infected with the Rambaldi mixture and driven insane. She begins to battle with Sydney, until Sloane is forced to shoot his own daughter. Nadia was later put under sedation, until they could cure the effects of the mixture.

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The season concludes with Sydney and Vaughn became engaged. On a trip to Santa Barbara, Vaughn confides in her something that he has kept from her since they first met: his name isn't really Michael Vaughn, that their initial meeting wasn't coincidental, and that his allegiance may not be to the CIA. Before he can divulge any more information; however, another car hits theirs and the season ends.

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Season 5

As season five begins, Vaughn is mysteriously abducted by a group posing as an emergency medical team. After getting away, Sydney learns that Vaughn is under suspicion of being a double agent and that the crash may have been a cover for his extraction. Vaughn later escapes his captors and is able to explain to Sydney that his name is really Andre Michaux, just prior to learning that Sydney is pregnant and before his presumed death.

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