September 29, 2002: The
Enemy Walks In: The slam-bang spy drama begins its second season
with a new addition to the Bristows' twisted family tree. Now that May's
cliffhanger has revealed "The Man" to actually be "The
Mom," Lena Olin joins the cast as Irina Derevko, Syd's
Russian-agent mother, who has long been presumed dead. But don't expect
a happy reunion for these two: Their first face-off leaves Syd injured,
and Irina on the run. Meanwhile, Jack goes to extremes to keep Will
alive after his SD-6 exposé hits the stands; and a CIA mission to smoke
out one of Khasinau's cronies leads to a gruesome finding about Vaughn.
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October 6, 2002: Trust Me:
The vile Irina may be in shackles, but that doesn't stop her from trying
to gain the upper hand in this twisty hour. After surrendering to the
CIA, the spy once known as Laura Bristow is now behind bars — and
refusing to talk to anyone but Syd. The daughter wants nothing to do
with her monstrous mother, until a mission goes awry and a disk
containing vital photos falls into the wrong hands. Irina says she wants
to help Syd retrieve it, and during a tense visit she explains why:
"Defeating Arvin Sloane. SD-6. The Alliance. These are things we
both want." Speaking of Sloane, he's about to run into a very
familiar face while tracking one of Irina's associates.
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October 13, 2002: Cipher:
Jack takes action to abort Syd's continued work with Irina, who holds
the key to cracking Sark's plans for a Russian satellite armed with
heavy-duty abilities. Meanwhile, Will comes face-to-face with Vaughn,
who needs him to revisit his ordeal in Taipei; and Sloane gets the
creepy suspicion that his late wife may not be so late, after all.
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October 20, 2002: Dead Drop:
The past refuses to die in a crafty hour that ends with a bang. For
Sloane, it's the ghost of his late wife that has him on edge. Rattled by
a rash of eerie events — and the guilt of having poisoned Emily
himself — the SD-6 head sends Dixon off to investigate. But Sloane may
not want to know what Dixon learns, particularly about a recent visitor
to Emily's favorite haunt. Meanwhile, Will's fateful article on SD-6
resurfaces after a recovering junkie (Marisol Nichols) tempts him
with her own conspiracy theory; and Vaughn finally meets his father's
killer when he is forced to work with Irina to save Syd from Sark's
ambush in Russia.
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November 3, 2002: The
Indicator: The hunt for a cache of high-tech weapons leads
Sydney to a massive secret about the Bristows; Vaughn is horrified to
realize what Jack is capable of when it comes to Irina; and Will steps
up to lend Francie a hand at her eatery's grand opening.
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November 10, 2002: Salvation:
Jack makes the ultimate sacrifice to win back Syd, who's torn between
reporting his recent sins and allowing Irina to pay dearly for her past
crimes; Vaughn learns an awful truth about the contents of Khasinau's
"red ball"; Sloane digs up a shocker about his wife's burial
site; and Will scores a top-secret assignment that could blow the lid
off of Project Christmas.
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November 17, 2002: The
Counteragent: The race for an antidote to Vaughn's virus locks
Syd into a pact with Sark that could end Sloane's SD-6 days. But as time
runs out, two betrayals change all the rules, including an unspoken
agreement between the CIA's top double-agent and her doomed handler.
Meanwhile, Will's look into the standardized-tests mystery nets him an
unsettling sit-down with the quiz's creator.
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December 1, 2002: Passage,
Part 1: The Bristows share a twisted Thanksgiving in the first
half of an action-packed two-parter. With Sark now on staff at SD-6,
Irina grows increasingly uneasy about her ex-ally's motives. And her
instinct is confirmed when Sark provides a band of rebels with the
activation codes to six stolen nuclear weapons. Armed with intel on the
group's locale, Irina barters for a release from CIA custody to help a
reluctant Jack and Sydney pose as a family on holiday in Pakistan, where
one false move could blow their cover. Back home, Will has huge news for
Vaughn about Project Christmas.
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December 8, 2002: Passage,
Conclusion: The Bristows' mission to steal six nuclear weapons
from a Pakistani rebel group goes down in flames when Irina hands them
over to her evil ex-ally (Derek DeLint). As Vaughn races to
extract his team from the trap, a fascinating discovery is made that
casts new light on the hidden power of Rambaldi's work. Meanwhile,
Sloane fills in the Alliance about Emily's kidnapping, which sadly
proves futile after he agrees to the abductor's terms.
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December 15, 2002: The
Abduction: Faye Dunaway begins a three-episode arc as a
steely Alliance official named Ariana Kane, who's investigating the
blackmail plot against Sloane. It's Jack, of course, who knows all of
Sloane's dirty little secrets and immediately raises Kane's suspicions.
And they're hardly allayed when, during her questions about his personal
life, Jack gets very defensive about some of his own secrets. Meanwhile,
Sydney's mommy dearest, Irina, makes things worse for her ex by telling
him an unsettling truth about their KGB-orchestrated marriage; and
Marshall's first mission goes horribly awry.
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January 5, 2003: A
Higher Echelon: Syd and Dixon team up to find Marshall before
he's beaten into giving his abductor a copy of Echelon's e-mail-tracing
system; Kane links Jack to a murder, which raises Sloane's suspicions
and lowers Vaughn's opinion of him; Will finally sees the upside of
enduring the Government's psych test; Irina proves her loyalty to the
CIA by providing the exact info SD-6 is looking for.
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January 12, 2003: The Getaway:
Syd and Vaughn's risky rendezvous while on a mission in France threatens
to expose their CIA covers to SD-6; Jack enlists Irina in his efforts to
outwit Kane, who targets another Bristow in her hunt for Sloane's
blackmailer.
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January 26, 2003: Phase One:
Rutger Hauer guest stars as the one man who could sack the
Bristows in this pivotal post-Super Bowl episode. Hauer plays Geiger, a
shadowy agent who takes over SD-6 after Sloane suddenly goes missing.
And that means nothing but trouble for our heroes, says producer Bob
Orci. "[Geiger] doesn't have the love that Sloane has for
Sydney or Jack," Orci explains. "He's outright suspicious [of
them] from the minute he arrives." However, Geiger may have bigger
fish to fry after Vaughn receives priceless intel on members of the
Alliance from a very mysterious source. And speaking of mysteries, who's
that kissing Francie? And where exactly did Sloane go?
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February 2, 2003: Double
Agent: Ethan Hawke (Training Day) guest stars in a
riveting episode — with a final-scene shocker — written by series
creator J.J. Abrams. Hawke plays CIA agent Jim Lennox, who falls
under suspicion after his partner meets a grim end while searching for a
gene-splicing machine that allows users to alter their appearance. So
it's up to Syd to sort out whether Lennox is the real deal or a double
agent with his face. Meanwhile, Francie's life takes a startling
romantic turn with the last person she would have ever imagined.
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February 9, 2003: A Free
Agent: Christian Slater begins a two-part appearance just
as Syd begins to plan her disappearance from the CIA. With the Alliance
in ruins and Sloane on the run, the stage is set for Syd to leave her
spy life. But then a brilliant mathematician (Slater) and his family are
abducted, and it becomes ominously clear that someone from SD-6 is back
in action. So it's up to Syd and Vaughn to locate the missing man, who
holds the key to turning an ancient manuscript into a very modern weapon
of mass destruction. Meanwhile, Dixon worries about the possible end of
his marriage.
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February 23, 2003: Firebomb:
A betrayed Dixon holds — and refuses to give up — the key to saving
Syd from a trap set by Sloane, who finally puts the completed Rambaldi
device to horrifying use. Meanwhile, Vaughn uncovers a new enemy close
to home and even closer to Syd than he imagined.
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March 2, 2003: A Dark Turn:
CIA rumors and the mysterious presence of a KGB agent have Sydney
suspecting Vaughn's loyalties, while Jack's are tested by the strange
and risky union he's forged with Irina to smoke out Sloane.
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March 16, 2003: Truth
Takes Time: The most shocking ally offers to help Syd bring down
Sloane before he, Sark and the escaped Irina can steal a German
company's genetic-coding technology. Meanwhile, Vaughn faces the music
for his unsanctioned research into Derevko's true agenda and receives
the oddest gift from his girlfriend's gal pal.
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March 30, 2003: Endgame:
Christian Slater returns to complete his two-episode turn as a
mathematician forced into Sloane and Irina's service. For weeks, Syd and
the CIA have been searching for the abducted brainiac with no luck.
Their big break comes when his wife (Tracy Middendorf) reveals a
shocker that strikes a nerve in Jack and sends Syd to Russia against her
father's orders. Back in the States, a grieving Sloane deploys the newly
evil Francie (or whoever she is) to uncover — and assassinate — the
person responsible for Emily's death. However, the hit hits a snag that
changes one agent's life forever.
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April 27, 2003: Countdown:
The countdown to doomsday fuels this pulse-pumping hour. After a grisly
murder leads the CIA to Rambaldi's prophecy about a not-so-distant
apocalypse, Sydney and Dixon mount a frenzied search for Sloane before
time runs out for everyone. But with the ex-SD-6 villain MIA and a
revenge-crazed Dixon blinded by his wife's murder, Vaughn is forced to
betray Syd just to keep her — and the hunt — on target. Meanwhile, a
new Special Ops agent (Amanda Foreman) sets her sights on
Marshall; and a reclusive monk (David Carradine) shatters Sloane
with the news that Emily's death and the impending end of the world may
have been triggered by a sin he committed 30 years ago.
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May 4, 2003: Second Double:
The spy drama ends its second season with a two-hour tale of lives —
and loyalties — in jeopardy. Sydney finally faces off with Irina over
her multiple deceptions, leading to a shocking revelation; Sloane puts
his new — and nefarious — plan into motion; Will goes on the lam to
find out who framed him for treason; and a new face at the CIA sweeps
Marshall off his feet.
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May 4, 2003: The Telling:
Will becomes a wanted man after Francie frames him for CIA treason;
Sloane makes Jack an eerie business offer; and Irina lures Syd into a
meeting that could prove fatal for several good guys.
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September 28, 2003: The Two:
There's hell to pay as season three sends Syd after Vaughn for giving up
hope, Sloane for weaseling his way into a formal pardon and an NSC
honcho for locking her father away on bogus charges. Meanwhile, the CIA
needs the newly resurrected Bristow on a case that could be tied to her
two-year disappearance and the recent murders of eight operatives.
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October 5, 2003: Succession:
Syd's search for her past leads to a jailed Sark, but their Q&A is
cut short when he becomes the ransom for a pair of abducted CIA
scientists, whose kidnappers may be tied to the murder of his father.
Meanwhile, Jack contacts an old friend of sorts for info on Sloane's new
world-peace project; and Vaughn makes a decision about his future as an
operative.
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October 12, 2003: Reunion:
Before joining Vaughn and Lauren on a shady trip to see Sloane, a simply
thrilled Syd must first help her now-married ex stop Sark from ruining a
global satellite system. Things get even stickier for Jack, however, as
Marshall begins to close in on the identity of a killer they both know
very well.
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October 19, 2003: A
Missing Link: Syd's mission to bust a group before it can swipe
a batch of biological weapons puts her in touch with a shady man (Justin
Theroux) from her lost past and puts Vaughn's marriage to the test.
Meanwhile, Jack decides to expose his daughter's murderous activities to
save her career at the CIA.
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October 26, 2003: Repercussions:
Lauren senses Syd may be hiding something about Vaughn's stabbing, but
must find a way to work with her husband's ex after Sloane is abducted
by a Covenant bigwig (Djimon Hounsou). Meanwhile, Jack risks
blowing his cover to grill Simon about Syd's lost two years; and
Marshall is sent out on his second assignment.
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November 2, 2003: The Nemesis:
Syd gets to settle an old score after Sark's lover (Merrin Dungey) joins
him for a meeting with Sloane, who finds himself on the other side as a
double-agent for the CIA. Meanwhile, Lauren travels to Moscow for a lead
on Lazarey's killer, who could be the Russian government's dirtiest
little secret; and Vaughn realizes that his wife may be keeping a secret
as big as the one he's hiding from her.
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November 9, 2003: Prelude:
A mission with Sloane nets Sydney a key piece of info on her past, as
Sark spills the identity of his father's killer to the one person who
would benefit most from Miss Bristow's arrest. Meanwhile, Vaughn and
Lauren's marriage takes a major hit when she realizes that he's been
keeping secrets and he sees that she's not above playing dirty to keep
her man.
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November 23, 2003: Breaking
Point: Syd lands in NSC custody for killing Sark's dad, but it's
the memory-extracting surgery they have lined up for her that could be
the real killer. But as Vaughn and Jack hit up Sloane to rescue her,
loyalty has Lauren is torn between thwarting them or supporting them.
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November 30, 2003: Conscious:
Rocked by a recent discovery, Syd allows an eccentric doctor (David
Cronenberg) to mess with her head to access her memories of the last
two years. But as he hit one dead-end after another, Sloane's latest
deception shapes up to truly be the death of Miss Bristow. Meanwhile,
Lauren goes above the law to keep Lindsey in the dark about releasing
Syd from NSC custody.
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December 7, 2003: Remnants:
Jack and Vaughn pay the price for busting Syd out of NSC custody;
Allison comes face-to-face with two of her most vengeful victims; the
mysterious St. Aidan's true identity is revealed; and Sark has one hell
of an appointment with Dr. Brezzel.
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