Almost Thirty Years

Episode Number: 1.22

Original Air Date: May 12, 2002

Written By: J.J. Abrams

Directed By: J.J. Abrams

Summary:
Last week, Will discovers Sydney's double life, while Dixon wonders about Sydney's allegiance. Will has been kidnapped by Sark, and he's being tortured by the Taipei dentist we've all come to know and love. He wants to know about the "Circumference." Will swears he doesn't know anything.

Back in LA, Sydney and Francie are talking about Francie's plans to open a restaurant, when Sydney gets a call from Sark about Will being kidnapped and tortured. Unless Sydney returns the Rambaldi document they stole in Paris, Will is going to be killed. We hear Will screaming through the phone. Sydney goes to her father for help, but he thinks it's too risky. She begs him, and he eventually agrees to help. They will steal the Rambaldi document and trade it in exchange for Will. But they can't let Sark have the Circumference. So Sydney will have to destroy the device. They can't tell Vaughn. She meets with Vaughn, who feels terribly about what's happened.

Meanwhile, we find Sloane has taken his wife away to a nice beach house to recuperate. But he knows he has to tell her the truth. We don't hear what he tells her, but from her facial expression, we gather he's telling her the truth about who he really is. Back to Jack and Sydney, Jack explains that in order to break into the SD-6 vaults where the Rambaldi document is being held, they need Sloane's voice so they could change the pass-code to the vault. She also needs his fingerprints.

In Taipei, Will is still being tortured for information. The dentist holds a needle up and tells Will that one in five people die from the liquid inside. Back with the SD-6, Sloane meets with a member of the Alliance. Now that Emily's in is recovery, their deal is invalid. She must be killed. Sloane, in a truly creepy, evil move, says that he will kill her himself if he'd be promised a seat on the board. Back to Sydney, she's diving into a bay in order to get into the SD-6 vault through drain pipes. In a car watching nearby, is Dixon. Sydney continues swimming and enters the lab through the pipes. She gets the Rambaldi document and swims back to shore, where Dixon is now waiting for her in full view. She sees him and her face drops. He looks at her with complete disappointment, and she promises him that she is not doing anything against the United States. But he doesn't believe her.

At the CIA, Weiss has ratted Vaughn's 'behavior' out to their superiors. Vaughn admits Sydney and Jack had been acting suspicious, but he trusts them implicitly. His superiors do not trust so easily, and find out that Jack had recently stolen information on the Rambaldi page. They find that the document speaks of a device, a grander version of the device Sydney stole in the pilot episode, called 'the circumference'. Jack knows Haladki is the mole, and goes after him. Haladki breaks pretty quickly, admitting that he was working for Khasinau the whole time. He tells Jack that the Circumference is a sort of battery, but doesn't go into further detail. Jack, fuming with anger at Haladki for putting Sydney's life in danger, shoots him in the head.

Sydney is waiting in a train station to think, and Vaughn finds her. They sit and Vaughn tells her sweetly, that his father was always the company man, doing stuff by the book, and it killed him. No matter what Sydney, he would help her, whether it meant breaking the rules or not. Sydney is truly touched. Back at Will's newspaper, Abby is worried because no one has heard from Will in days. She tells his boss about the story. His boss prepares for publishing. Will is still being interrogated. When the Taipei dentist is distracted, Will uses all of his strength to break free and knocks the guards out. He grabs the needle and sticks it straight into the dentists' neck, screaming, "One in five, you little bitch! One in five!"

Sydney, Vaughn, and Jack are on their way to Taipei to destroy the Circumference, along with the lab it's in, which they access through a sleek S+M club. Sloane is with Emily now, and he's putting something, we assume poison, into her wine. They make a toast and Emily drinks. Sloane smiles, evilly. In Taipei, Sydney and Vaughn are dressed in black leather as they move through the S+M club. Someone tries to hit on Sydney, when Vaughn pushes him away. Sydney laughs. They make their way to the back of the club and sneak into the air ducts access point.

Jack is meeting with Sark to trade the document for Will. After the trade is made, Will is removed from Sark's car, battered and bloody. Sark drives off and Will cries to Jack, hugging him. He's so glad to see him. Back in Taipei, Sydney and Vaughn find the Circumference, which is HUGE. She sets a small bomb to explode. It explodes a few seconds later, sending a ton of water flooding the lab. Sydney and Vaughn run but the doors are closing. Sydney barely makes it through the security doors, but Vaughn is left behind. We see Sydney frantically trying to break the glass in the door before Vaughn drowns. But it's too late. She turns around and is hit with the butt of a gun. Sydney wakes up, handcuffed to a chair and staring at Khasinau. He tells her he is not "The Man" as everyone believes he is. He leaves the room. We see a figure enter the room and Sydney looks up. "I've waited almost thirty years for this," the voice says. Sydney's eyes widen. She answers, "Mom?"