Alias
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Reprisal
516
Season
Episode

16

Production code
516
Airdate
May 22 2006
Written by
Monica Breen and Alison Schapker
Story by
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Teleplay by
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Directed by
Frederick E.O. Toye


Reprisal is the 16th episode of Season 5 of Alias, and the 104th episode overall. Sloane takes Marshall and Rachel hostage in order to discover a crucial clue to Rambaldi's ultimate endgame, as Sydney, Vaughn and APO race to stop him. In an effort to find the missing members, Jack contacts Marshall's wife Carrie Turner and asks her to come in to help.

Plot Overview[]

Using the collected Prophet Five documentation, the APO team spreads out across the globe to identify its members and prepare for a mass arrest. Meanwhile, Sloane suggests to Sark and Peyton that they solidify their position in Prophet Five.

Tom goes to Rachel's apartment. They kiss but Tom leaves abruptly. Soon after, Sark abducts Rachel and brings her to Sloane's hideout. Marshall is abducted as well. Sloane asks Marshall to locate an underground cavern by accessing a federal ground-penetrating satellite. When Marshall refuses, Peyton tortures him.

Sydney reveals to Carrie, Marshall's wife, that he's still working for the CIA. Carrie insists on providing technical support in Marshall's absence. She immediately unlocks Marshall's secured program that tracks Prophet Five.

Sloane confronts Sydney in the parking lot as she's carrying Isabelle. He allows her to talk to Marshall. Sydney tells Marshall to do what Sloane says and asks him to give a message to Carrie. Marshall asks Sydney to tell Carrie to finish reading the book "The Littlest Fish" to their son.

Marshall tells Rachel that she should comply with Sloane's demands, per Sydney's request. He says that they should leapfrog across the network so they would not get caught in their hacks. Rachel understands they he really wants them to get caught. Rachel soon locates the central Italian cave Sloane is looking for.

Vaughn relays Marshal's message to Carrie, who remembers that the lead character in "The Littlest Fish" is named Noah. She knows he means NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which, she assumes, he's currently hacking into. Carrie sets up trip wires to monitor government hacks and pinpoints Marshall's location to Ixtapa. Jack sends a rescue team. Rachel picks her handcuffs using an underwire and frees Marshall. They run into the arriving APO rescue team. At APO, Carrie says that based on Marshall's tracker, the Prophet Five members are gathering in Zurich. Jack assumes that Sloane must be presenting the information that Marshall and Rachel uncovered. He assembles a strike team. Rachel mentions that Sloane is going to Umbria. Sydney realizes that he must be going to Mt. Subasio.

Syd and Vaughn trek to the snow-covered mountains of Mt. Subasio. Descending into the cavern, Syd finds Sloane with the Rambaldi amulet. She can't shoot him, however, because a gunshot will trigger a cave-in. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Sark sets a timer for a planted bomb.

At the APO office, Tom discovers that based on captured files, Sloane had a bomb planted in the subway system leading to the APO office. Jack tells them to evacuate the office and clear out the subway while Tom and Dixon sweep the tunnels. Tom finds the bomb, which is fail-safe. With no chance to dismantle it, Tom can only temporarily freeze the timer with liquid nitro. He freezes it repeatedly in order to delay the explosion. Each time, it continues counting down.

In Zurich, Peyton appears at the Prophet Five gathering. Instead of presenting them with the amulet, she sprays the room with gunfire, killing all the Prophet Five members.

With the tunnels cleared, Tom has no chance of making it to safety. He calls Rachel and tells her that he would have asked her out if he had more time. Tearfully, she says she would have said yes. The bomb explodes, killing Tom.

Sloane holds the amulet against the light. He tells Sydney she is not allowed to see it and shoots the icy ground she is standing on. Sydney falls through and is rendered unconscious.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Special Guest Star[]

Special Guest Star[]

Special Guest Star[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

  • Rhett Giles as Bartender
  • Maxwell Huckabee as Mitchell
  • Austin Kemie as Poolside Waiter
  • Boris Kievsky as Driver
  • James M. Larmer as Host
  • Michele Morrow as College Student
  • Lou Volpe as Businessman

Uncredited[]

  • Edward C. Gillow as Second Man

Trivia[]

  • The first city name to appear in this episode is Sydney. So we see Sydney in Sydney for the first time the last time Alias aired (the series finale was aired as 2 episodes together).
  • Despite it's name, The Mount Subasio is not a mountain but a little hill height only 4.232 feets.
  • This episode was nominated for the 2007 VES Award for "Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program" and was nominated for the 2006 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Stunt Coordination".

Aliases Used[]

Gadgets[]

Music[]

None

Allusions and References[]

  • "Moonglum of Elwher" (Marshall's decryption key, from one of his favourite books).

Moonglum is the companion of Elric of Melniboné in numerous fantasy books and stories by Michael Moorcock.

Quotes[]

  • Sloane: Think about your son. Marshall, You're not cut out for this.
  • Marshall: You know, I never liked you. I tolerated you. Because I had to. And, because you were my superior. And I was afraid of you. Then I saw how twisted you were. But now I see you for what you really are. You are a weak, pathetic man. And you know what? You're right. I'm not cut out for this. But I am thinking about my son. I want Mitchell...to look up to me. To be proud of his dad. Which is why, no matter what you do to me... I'll never help you.


  • Nadia: Marshall's right about you.
  • Sloane: I'm doing what needs to be done.
  • Nadia: Does that help you sleep at night?
  • Sloane: Eventually, Marshall or Rachel will do what I ask.


  • Sloane: Remember when you were a little girl and you came to live with Emily and me?
  • Sydney: I try not to dwell on it.
  • Sloane: Sydney, you were so withdrawn. Of course we understood. You had just lost your mother and your father was taken into custody. Remember? We tried to reach out, but there was a time when that was impossible. So we lined the shelves of your room - all of them - with stuffed animals... hoping that that would comfort you. Every morning I would come into your room to wake you up. There they were, buried underneath your blanket. You said there was a storm in the middle of the night and it knocked them over. They were drowning. So one by one you rescued them. Even then, I wondered when you would learn. You can't rescue everyone.


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