Yes folks, I am a full week late with this Alias rundown. Last Wednesday was my brother's last night with us, so we were up late watching movies and playing Unreal Tournament. I even forgot to record Alias. Thanks to torrents, my wife and I were able to watch it (without any commercials!) on our DVD player Tuesday night. Technology rules.
Nocturne was a bit of a darker episode. I enjoyed it quite a bit actually.
The episode starts with a women teaching and English class. Suddenly she hears a phone ringing, and demands that one of the students turn off her phone, only to be told that it wasn't ringing. She acts paranoid and leaves the class in a rush. In the hall she sees a man pull a gun on her, suddenly he is gone and is now at the other end of the hall. One of the students comes into the hall as the teacher takes her gun, puts it to her head and says something in a different language. BAM.
Sydney and Vaughn are playing hockey. Vaughn tells a story from his high school days, then brings it around to use as a tool to try to convince Sydney they should let fear force them to move slow. Phones ring simultaneously and in the go, time to work.
Sloane tells them the woman's name was Nancy Cahill and that she and her husband were undercover narcotics agents. Her last words were apparently "Tell them it's funny". The task? Raid their apartment, find any information possible and figure out what happened. Nancy's husband has gone missing since her death.
Sydney and Jack are going through the apartment when Sydney finds a passage under a cupboard that leads to a disgusting, small hallway. Inside are papers covered with maniacal drawings and writing. Suddenly Cahill is there, he bites Sydney on the neck and Jack shoots him in the back.
Back in LA, Sydney checks out okay, other than the bite on her neck. The Cahill's had acute melatonin imbalance, which can apparently lead to paranoid behavior. But Sydney shouldn't be worried. That night at home she is restless and gets up. In the bathroom she sees a spider that suddenly isn't there anymore. She takes her temperature which reads 111, and then rises up to 115 before the camera cuts away. Something is going on for sure.
The whizzes at APO have been able to gather some data. Apparently the Cahill's were given some bad drugs. Jason Cahill, even after being locked in the closet, had been trying to figure out what they had been given. They trace things back to "The Count" and Sloane decides to send Sydney to meet with The Count. Dixon argues that it is too soon to be sending Sydney out in the fields, but Sloane not so gently puts Dixon back in his place. Sydney, in a robe, is getting ready to go on the mission. A mug of tea in her hands, she brings it up to her mouth only to see a huge spider crawling out of it. She spills it and suddenly it is filled with blood.
Snap back to reality and there she is, tea down her front, claiming it was hotter than she expected. Vaughn and Jack know something is up. A call from Marshall tells them the incubation period of the drug is a few days, like a virus. Jack and Vaughn know they need to keep Sydney in sight at all times. They meet the count, Sydney and Vaughn take him down and take him in. Syd continues to have different hallucinations, including one of Sloane telling her he is gaining her confidence little by little, only to use it against her in the future. She goes nuts, attacks The Count and he tells them the drug was from Prague, was part of a bad batch that was going to be destroyed.
Weiss and Nadia realize that Nancy hadn't said "Tell them it's funny", but rather was telling where the drug came from., but was too far gone to do anything about it. Jack, Vaughn and Sydney race to Prague, and Vaughn goes in to see if there was an antidote. Sydney is becoming less stable as the minutes go on, hearing her father talk about how they are going to kill Sydney, just as he killed Irina. She tells him to tie her up and then head butts him, and then knocks him out. Vaughn gets in, gets the antidote and comes out only to see Jack unconscious and Sydney ready to attack him. Finally she is subdued and they get the antidote in her.
Back at APO Sloane admits to Dixon that he shouldn't have sent Sydney out. Dixon, being the stud he is, tells Sloane what he really thinks, and lets Sloane know that the second his real agenda is revealed that Dixon will be there, that he will be waiting.
Vaughn goes into the hospital room Sydney is in and they talk for a moment. A spider on her sheet sets Sydney back a bit, until Vaughn sees it too, and places it on the floor. No more hallucinations.
It was interesting to hear some of Sydney's paranoias come to the surface in this episode. Especially interesting were the things she heard Sloane and Jack saying. It was as if she was admitting that Sloane is pulling her in. It also was evident that she has severe doubts about her father. Again, a closed episode, and I am beginning to wonder if there will be any cliff-hangers this season. Hopefully tonight we can watch last night's episode and the next rundown won't be so late.