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in: Season 1

1.19 Snowman

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Snowman
119
Season
Episode

19

Production code
E648
Airdate
April 14 2002
Written by
Jesse Alexander and Jeff Pinkner
Story by
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Teleplay by
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Directed by
Barnet Kellman


Snowman is the 19th episode of Season 1 of Alias. Sloane begins to question where Noah's true allegiances lie, as passion ignites between Sydney and Noah. Meanwhile, Sydney continues to uncover new information about her mother, which disturbes Jack. A rogue assassin known as the Snowman is dispatched by K-Directorate to kill Khasinau, a.k.a. "The Man". Will and Francie confront Sydney about the mysterious airline ticket stub found in her jacket.

Plot Overview[]

In the safehouse in the Arkhangelsk forest, Sydney sleeps against Noah's body...their bliss interrupted when Khasinau's soldiers storm the house. Escaping through a secret crawlspace below the floorboards, they get away on a motorcycle - seconds before the cabin is riddled with bullets.

Meanwhile, Vaughn confirms that K-Directorate has hired a known assassin - a.k.a. "The Snowman," for his favored use of an ice-pick as a weapon - to take out Khasinau. He suggests that by following the hit man, they can find Khasinau.

When Sydney returns to SD-6, Noah makes her an interesting proposition. While working undercover, he opened some secret bank accounts and now wants to run away, leaving the spy world behind...and he wants her to come with him. She refuses, insisting that she must find her mother first. But Sloane has uncovered Noah's questionable banking practices and wonders if the agent is still loyal.

Jack is visibly upset; he tells his daughter that the information on the data-core is useless for tracking down Khasinau. However, it does contain video files of Laura Bristow video recorded after her car crash, and supposed death.

Sydney watches the grainy video, and learns the unpleasant truth about her mother. Laura Bristow - using her real name "Irina Derevko" - answers questions from Khasinau and another man. Derevko states how she came to America for the purpose of seducing Jack Bristow. During their years of marriage, she had gone through his briefcase and monitored his conversations, reporting everything back to the KGB.

The other man on the tape, Igor Valenko, looks familiar, so Sydney investigates. She discovers that this man once worked undercover at the FBI under an alias "Calder." She concludes that he was the agent who was, allegedly, chasing Laura Bristow before her fateful crash, and that he also must have faked his own death.

Sydney uncovers that Valenko currently does business with a bank in Cape Town, South Africa, and she speculates that he might still be connected to Khasinau. Using her input, Jack outlines a mission to Sloane - to send Noah and Sydney to Cape Town to recover bank records to create a trail. Sloane is reluctant - he no longer trusts Noah, and expresses concerns about Jack defending yet another male figure in Sydney's life - but ultimately, he agrees.

Following a separate path to Khasinau, Vaughn travels to Bogota to meet with a man who once worked with The Snowman. This agent - scarred and disfigured from an encounter with the assassin - had formerly declined to help the CIA, but time has changed his mind, and he now offers to help.

With a mixture of curiosity and dread, Jack finally summons the courage to watch the recovered video of his wife. Although he already knows the truth, he is crushed to see her treachery in such light.

Using Marshall's ingenious op-tech, Noah and Sydney break into the South African warehouse and successfully hack into the computer using a wireless modem. They download all the files onto a laptop, but a sophisticated security system thwarts their mission. When they return home, they learn that the hard drive's memory was wiped as they escaped.

One evening, Will and Francie finally confront Sydney about the mysterious, unexplained plane ticket to Italy. Under pressure, she confides that the bank has been doing business with extremely private and sensitive clients as of late and this is why she must keep secrets from her own friends.

Just when Sydney is beginning to trust Noah again, she is surprised to learn that he has accepted another deep cover assignment. Before he departs, he again pleads with her to run away with him. She finds the offer quite attractive, ultimately, she must decline, once again.

After further tinkering, Marshall is finally able to recover low-level sector information from the reformatted drive. According to the records, Valenko is in Mackay, Australia. Dixon and Sydney are immediately dispatched to capture him, hoping that this will bring them one step closer to Khasinau.

Vaughn receives a call from the source in Bogota. The Snowman has been spotted in Mackay, Australia, and he desperately wants to alert Sydney, to warn her, but he has no way to contact her.

When Sydney enters Valenko's mansion, she finds no bodyguards and a trail of dead bodies. She stumbles into the kitchen and finds The Snowman standing over a fresh corpse - and she fights the assassin in a brutal bout of hand-to-hand combat. During the melee, she knees The Snowman to the head and as he falls to the floor he impales himself with a chef's knife. As he lies bleeding on the floor, she pulls back the mask and discovers his true identity, Noah, who mumbles a sad good-bye to her and dies.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

Featuring[]

Uncredited[]

Trivia[]

  • Number 47: McCullough asks Noah about the 47 million dollars that was transferred and then withdrawn to an untraceable account.
  • Jack's real name is Jonathan Donahue Bristow.
  • Vaughn's dog is named Donovan.

Aliases Used[]

Gadgets[]

Music[]

  • "From The Summer" by Matt Beckler
  • "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" by Jeff Buckley
  • "Ready Steady Go" by Paul Oakenfold
  • "There's Something Better" by Hathaway
  • "My Favorite Regret" by Gigolo Aunts
  • "Stones In My Pocket" by Lena Anderssen

Allusions and References[]

  • Visual: Sydney hanging from the ceiling to retrieve data.
The scene when Sydney is hanging in-between two wires and the rope begins to loosen is reminiscent of to the scene from Mission: Impossible where Tom Cruise is in the same situation.

Quotes[]

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