Alias

Original airdate: September 29, 2002
Director: Ken Olin
Written by: J.J. Abrams The scene opens where the finale left off, Sydney handcuffed to a chair. Khasinau brings her food and says she should eat, but she wants answers. He says to talk to his boss. It turns out The Man is actually Sydney's mom, Irina Derevko. She wants to know who sent Sydney but when she doesn't answer, she shoots her. Sydney breaks the chair and escapes. She contacts Jack, and learns the Vaughn is still missing. She revisits the last place she saw him, finds his coat and sees a Hazmat team testing the water. She makes it to the plane and tells Jack that Irina, her mom, his wife, is alive and is The Man. Will, beat up and confused, questions them so they tell him the truth about SD-6 and the CIA (an abridged version). Francie calls and informs Sydney that Will is missing and that he wrote a story about SD-6. Dixon tells Sloane about his inkling that Sydney is a double agent. It's Jack to the rescue. He takes responsibility for the code name "Freelancer" and tells Sloane that Sydney was just doing what he asked him to do. He also tells Sloane that he'll make it right with Will. In order for Will to stay alive, he has to ruin his life by pretending to be a 3-year heroin addict and to have made up most of what he's written. Dixon apologizes to Sydney for not believing in her. Sydney is in sessions with the CIA shrink Barnett, and it's revealed that Vaughn is still missing but a CIA search group is looking for him. Her next mission is in France, at the estate of one of Khasinau's men. She is to plant a bug in his phone, but the bug is actually in the phone wire. The CIA gives her a delay transmitter in order to control what SD-6 will hear. Mission complete, Sydney recognizes a man from Taipei. Following him, she finds herself in a lab/operating room. She sees Vaughn on a table, drugged. And gives him an adrenaline shot to the heart. They escape and have a moment, "You saved my life." Later he explains that he was a good swimmer as a kid, and used a screwdriver to open a vent and escape, only to be caught by a gun-wielding agent of Khasinau's. A CIA team heads to Barcelona to intercept the "bible," an operations manual for The Man's cartel. Irina is there too. She sees the CIA thwart the mission and shoots Agent Weiss. Khasinau escapes with the "bible," and Sydney is in hot pursuit. She bests Khasinau only to have Irina burst in. Irina shoots Khasinau, killing him and takes the "bible." She leaves Sydney alive with these parting words, "Truth takes time." Back in Los Angeles, Sydney tells Will that part of her is happy that he knows the truth, so she no longer has to lie. Francie announces she has the space for her restaurant and Sydney leaves to give the eulogy at Emily's funeral service. After the service, Jack gets a phone call from Devlin. Irina has surrendered to the CIA on her own accord.