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in: Episodes, Season 4, Alias

4.17 A Clean Conscience

Revision as of 03:41, 7 September 2010 by Gaff7 (talk | contribs) (→‎Plot Overview)
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A Clean Conscience
417
Season
Episode

17

Production code
417
Airdate
April 27 2005
Written by
J.R. Orci
Story by
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Teleplay by
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Directed by
Lawrence Trilling



A Clean Conscience is the seventeenth episode of Season 4 of Alias and the 83rd episode overall. Nadia's former caretaker, Sophia, has been severely beaten. She contacts Nadia and asks to meet her. Sloane is told by Sophia that she was beaten up, because someone is trying to track Nadia down, so he and Jack decide to tell their daughters the truth – Elena Derevko, the third and the cruelest of the Derevko sisters, has been surveilling both Sydney and Nadia for a decade. Meanwhile, Jack's doctor advises him to tell Sydney about his illness.

Plot Overview

The APO team watches footage of an explosion at the Indonesian embassy in Copenhagen that killed 15 people, the work of terrorists headed by Milos Kradic. Sloane says that an agent named Thomas Raimes is undercover within the organization. Although Raimes warned Langley of the attack, he failed to prevent the blast or follow up with his handler. They speculate that Raimes might have been caught or killed.

Sloane tasks Dixon and Vaughn with capturing Kradic. He asks Sydney and Jack to run operations, though they have yet to find out Kradic's motives.

Sofia, the headmistress who took care of Nadia in the orphanage, phones to say she's coming to L.A. When Sydney and Nadia meet her at the airport, she's wheelchair-bound and covered with bruises.

Sophia tells Nadia that she was attacked in her home and doesn't know why. Sloane comforts her, clasping her hand. Later, he peels off a thin layer of latex from his own hand and has Marshall check Sophia's fingerprints. Sophia gives Nadia a necklace reminding her of their past.

Jack receives treatment for his radiation poisoning. His doctor, Atticus Liddell, warns him of side effects and advises him to make peace with Sydney - because the end may not be far off.

In Amsterdam, Dixon tells Vaughn that he's previously worked with Raimes. They corner Raimes in a club and ask why he didn't stop the bombing. Raimes says that the 15 civilian deaths were necessary in order to find out what Kradic wanted -- Hydrosek, a water-based weapon developed by Indonesia that could wipe out entire eco-systems and kill half a million people.

Dixon and Vaughn inform APO that Kradic bombed the embassy as cover for the intel theft. Since embassy protocol dictates that when a bomb goes off, all confidential intelligence goes to offsite servers, the recent explosion triggered these protocols. APO concludes that Kradic must've intercepted the outgoing data, which includes the location of Hydrosek, and he is now forming a team to steal it from Indonesians.

Raimes says their only option is to make Kradic lead them to the weapon. Dixon agrees, and when Raimes says that Kradic is about to meet Halsey, a hacker he's hiring for the first time, Dixon suggests switching the hacker with an agent. After they nab Halsey, Dixon approaches Kradic in the club and convinces him that he's the hacker.

Sloane approaches Sophia and demands to know why she really came. He says that he knows about the man she killed. Sophia says the man was a danger to the girls in the orphanage. She also adds that she wanted to protect Nadia, so she changed Nadia's last name -and that her attackers in Lisbon were really after this information. Sloane reveals that he knows who's after her.

In the office, Jack tells Sydney that the embassy transmission Kradic had intercepted came from a network tap that they can still access. When Syd leaves the room to look for Marshall, Jack scratches and probes his palm and finds a computer chip stored in an embedded capsule.

Jack sees Dr. Liddell who tells him that this device regulates his medication, and that the procedure was explained to him. As Jack says he cannot recall this, the doctor reminds him that memory loss is a side effect and admits that Jack's condition is progressing quicker than expected.

Sydney reports that Marshall located Hydrosek in a manufacturing plant in Peru. Unfortunately, Kradic beat them to it. They decide that the best course of action is to keep Dixon in play.

Dixon tells Raimes that the embassy deaths were unacceptable. When Raimes says that they were collateral damage and that Dixon has gotten soft, Dixon explains that his wife was accidentally killed during a mission.

As Kradic, his team, Raimes and Dixon approach a plane, one of Kradic's men intercepts a communication from a lurker with Coke-bottle glasses, regarding Dixon's embedded status. Knowing now that one of them is an agent, he orders his men to kill them both.

Raimes punches a thug, grabs a gun and shoots the others as he's wounded. Dixon, still keeping his cover, pretends to turn against Raimes - who is sacrificing himself for the mission to continue. Knowing that Vaughn is on standby to save Raimes, Dixon shoots Raimes and boards the plane with Kradic.

Jack takes Sydney in a room with Sloane and Nadia, and the men tell their daughters about info they've gathered about Elena Derevko. Elena disappeared 30 years ago, Sloane says, and she has been surveilling them for a decade. In fact, she might be responsible for the attack on Sophia. Her motives and location are unknown but they're doing everything they can to find out.

Unbeknownst to Nadia, the necklace she's wearing - the gift from Sophia -- transmits this conversation to … Sophia. She contacts Coke-bottle glasses and tells him that she'll contact him once she has Kradic's final destination. He responds by saying, "I won't let you down, Elena."

Cast

Main Cast

Guest Stars

Trivia

  • Sonia Braga was billed as Special Guest Star in this episode.
  • Behind the guard at the embassy, there is a sign that says "Kun for toriseret personale", supposedly meaning "Authorized personnel only" in Danish, but it is actually quite meaningless. The correct Danish would be "Kun for autoriseret personale".
  • Next to the hotel Russeau there's a shop. The sign reads "Droog schoonmaakster", which means "dry cleaner". However a dry cleaner translated in Dutch is "stomerij". Literal translation of "droog schoonmaakster" is dry housekeeper.
  • If Kradic is so paranoid that he doesn't even trust Raimes to go to the restroom for more then a minute by himself, it is strange that he leaves Dixon and Raimes in the back of the van to chat privately for so long.

Aliases Used

Gadgets

Music

  • "Unkle Theme" by U.N.K.L.E.
  • "End Of The Night" by The Doors

Allusions and References

  • "Oceanic Airlines non-stop flight to Sydney is now ready for boarding."
This announcement was heard at the airport while Sydney and Nadia were waiting for Sophia. The plane that crashed in the pilot episode of Lost was Oceanic Airlines 815, flying non-stop from Sydney to Los Angeles. The reference is an in-joke since J.J. Abrams is creator and executive producer of both Lost and Alias.
  • Marshall: One gram of hydrosec, Lake Michigan turns into sludge. It’s incredible, really, y’know? Dr. Evil sort of way... (takes his pinky and puts to his mouth)
In reference to the Austin Powers movies. More specifically, Austin Powers' archnemesis: Dr. Evil. Dr. Evil is a parody of various James Bond (007) villains, particularly Ernst Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE , Dr. Evil routinely hatches schemes to terrorize and take over the world. He often places his little finger near his mouth which intended as a humorous "signature move" for Evil.

Quotes


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