Arvin Sloane
Jun. 15th, 2005 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakNote to self: in addition to whining, bribery is also v. v. conductive to get you what you want. Sending seasons 3 and 4 to dear ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kangeiko has already made her think interesting thoughts about the thing Katya does in regards to Sloane and Jack (I'm phrasing this carefully for the unspoiled florastuart's benefit) and write a terrific snippet about Sloane's thoughts in Hourglass. After the conversation between him and Jack. You know, the one involving wine.
yahtzee63 has written a great vignette about Sloane and Emily which alas, andrastewhite and florastuart, you're not allowed to read, for it contains spoilers for the season 4 episode In Dreams. And before I go off to read the newest installment in monanotlisa's Jack/Nadia (with plot!) saga, I thought I might as well do for the other A.S. in my fangirlish life what I did for Anakin Skywalker and list what made me fall for Arvin Sloane. As we're talking about four seasons here, which covers a lot more hours than three (six) films, there will probably be a lot less detail. However, let's proceed. In chronological order, so the unspoiled know where to stop.
1.) Talking to Jack about his first briefing in the White House. About how he should have felt good and triumphant but instead got a sense of coming darkness. This was when I was getting interested. I'm a backstory fiend. With both heroes and villains. The scene is also, if I recall correctly, one of the earliest examples indicating the complexity of the relationship between Arvin Sloane and Jack Bristow, because of course there are several layers here at play. Jack is being an double agent working on Sloane's downfall, Sloane is currently a quite successful Evil Overlord, and they couldn't be further from the young agents they were in that past Sloane refers to. Or could they? And later seasons make you wonder whether Sloane at this point was already aware Jack was spying on him.
2.) "I can't be the first person who has trouble taking you seriously, can I?" At this point, we had witnessed Sloane giving his share of ruthless orders, including orders for torture, but this was the first time he himself was in danger and in the position of being helpless and getting tortured. Which he faces with courage and sange froid. What makes this even better is that he does feel the pain and the fear - but he doesn't show it to his torturer. He shows it to Jack, afterwards. And only to Jack. Significant for the relationship between Mr. Bristow and Mr. Sloane is also that Our Arvin doesn't hesitate to suggest Jack hack his finger off to save the building from getting blown up, and that Jack has this heartbeat of hesitation before doing it.
3.) Sloane giving Sydney an out after SD-6 first suspects her of being a double agent. I.e. he arranges a test but in such a way that the CIA could have extracted her if she had been guilty. (Or rather if Jack hadn't figured out that Sloane wasn't about to order Sydney's execution but had set this up as a test isntead.) The Syd/Sloane relationship is one of the crucial dynamics of the show, and I've written plenty about it before. Again, it's a mixture of many things - he's her other father figure, the one who can be blamed for everything dark, his paternal attitude towards her always carries just a hint of sexual interest as well without ever becoming explicit, for a long time, he provides her motivation for being a spy, and his affection for her, with all its twistedness, just might be the only one in his life where he never expects a return in kind.
4.) Any scene with Emily. Even before Emily appears in season one, we keep seeing Sloane on the phone, worrying about her, between ordering dastardly things. When she does appear on screen, it's obvious he adores her. And she returns the feeling. Emily brings out the best in Sloane; he's never other than tender and loving towards her. And yet we also get to see the problem, the dichotomy, as during the dinner in Page 47 when Will and Emily talk about a horrible evil man Will has exposed as a journalist and Emily can't understand how someone could be this way, while her husband sits on the table and regards her benignenly. One of my absolutely favourite Emily and Arvin scenes from season 1 is when he visits her at the hospital and tells her she's beautiful. And you know he means every word. (He's an accomplished liar, but not in this case.)
5.) On that note: Sloane thanking Sydney for not ratting Emily out to SD-6, and deliberately making the Danny comparison. The moments where Sydney consciously feels something other than fate for Arvin Sloane are far and few in the show, but they do happen, usually involving them and a woman they both love, and that's one of them. Fast forward to season 4 for obvious parallels.
6.) "You expect me to kill my wife?" In retrospect, this is where the Alliance makes its crucial mistake. Even if Emily had actually died of cancer afterwards, I don't think Sloane would have ever forgiven them for the request. Yes, it's his fault for being part of an organization that has such a policy to begin with. Still, one does empathize with them, and I think this was when it dawned to me he might be on his way to becoming my favourite character on the show. I was very interested in Sydney finding her mother, and very curious about the unknown Irina, yes, and loved the Jack-Sydney relationship, but what kept me really on the edge of my seat was that I wanted to know whether love or ambition would win out for Sloane and realized the character had within the space of one season become complex enough that I found both alternatives equally believable. For the chief antagonist of the saga.
7.) Sloane tells Emily the truth. And we don't hear a word. For practical reasons as well, because obviously this must also have been where he reveals his plan to save her, which the audience wasn't supposed to know about until half of season 2 was over. But it also works beautifully in terms of visual storytelling. Just seeing the two of them, watching Emily react. In terms of overall continuity: he's wearing the white suit he only wears a few times in the show there (at least that's how I recall it). Worn as well, notably, at the end of Getaway in season 2 and in season 4's In Dreams i his mind, all three occasions connected to Emily. (Interestingly, the fourth occasion of him wearing white instead of his usual black or grey is when he picks up Irina in A Darker Turn.) This is particular scene is my favourite from Almost Thirty Years, the season 1 finale, and I that episode a lot.
8.) Kissing Sydney's hand in Trust Me. Did I mention I like the twistedness which is Syd/Sloane? That's another reason why he's a great character. He has this gentle, loving side with Emily, but his affection for Sydney is quite often a powerplay, an attempt to mindmess, and always a convoluted mixture of feelings. If he felt purely paternal or purely sexual interest in her, it wouldn't be half as fascinating. As it is, I'm never quite sure how much he admits to himself he's feeling more than fatherly emotions. Sometimes I think he's aware, and sometimes I don't (because he's quite good at self-deception, too.) In either case, though, he's quite aware that she loathes him.
9.) Church scene with Jack. Mind you, this one becomes more ambiguous in retrospect, because what Sloane is confessing to was a lie (and he probably thought that if Jack believed him, the everyone, especially the Alliance, would, too), but it's still fascinating. One of the reasons why Sloane is an excellent liar when he wants to be is because he always uses the truth as much as possible. He's playing a complicated and high risk game here, which really takes nerves of steel, and affording himself an outburst like that, even if what he confesses to is not true, must have been an emotional release. Also, he gets Jack to call him Arvin. Always a plus.
(At this stage of the show, being unspoiled, I also liked the parallels/contrasts, because Jack had just set his own wife up to be killed.)
10.) Telling Sark off for ridiculing his employees after Sark has started his SD6 stint. I must admit to a certain schadenfreudee in regards to Sark, who fancies himself a player of the first league but never gets treated as more than a minion by Sloane or Irina. (Loved Irina sending him out of the room before making her cutting remark to Sloane during Truth Takes Time, too; that's what you do with minions, you don't quarrel with your fellow Evil Overlord in front of them.) Sloane coolly informing him he has no right to badmouth the SD6 folk being a case in point. (Also Sloane's stony expression when Sark presumes to call him "Arvin" in season 3 or season 4. *g*) Anyway: it's not that Sloane has such deep and warm feelings about or any loyalty to his employees, the agents Bristow aside. For example, I do think he's reasonably fond of Marshall but still has no problem writing him off without a second thought in A Higher Echelon. He'd have moved heaven and earth for Jack or Sydney, but Marshall doesn't get more than a shrug. But that still doesn't mean a kid with delusions of grandeur gets to insult them.
11.) The Getaway in totem, but especially the final scene. Both for the reunion with Emily and because that is when it is clear just what he pulled off there. Marshall doesn't call him an evil genius in season 3 for nothing. Saving Emily's life by faking her death (twice), using Jack to frame Ariana Kane for a crime nobody actually committed, lifting millions of dollars from the Alliance in the process and setting up the downfall of same while he was it was brilliant. It took courage, cold blood, and left a lot of dead bodies behind (that poor tech, for example), but he pulled it off. The final scene, with Sloane (in white) walking towards Emily to the sound of Gounoud's Faust playing in the background, kissing her passionately, also has its bittersweet sadness in overall series context. For starters because the camera shows us Emily's missing finger - the piece of herself she sacrificed to stay with her husband. What will ultimately kill Emily is that she loves him too much not to go with him, despite knowing the truth. And secondly because this is the only point in the show where Arvin Sloane could have had a genuine happy ending. Not that he deserves one (see also: body count), but he could have had it. If he had retired into comfortable anonymity with Emily, never to be heard of again, I don't think Syd or anyone else would have come after them. This was his one and only chance, and he threw it away without realizing it.
12.) Driving Mr. Sloane, or, how to conduct a bank robbery. Making Sydney his chauffeur is just the first of many occasions where he sets up situations in which she has to work for him again. He's creative that way. *g*
13.) Truth Takes Time, the entire episode. (Best of the season, if you ask me.) The scenes with Irina are fun, and even more interesting in retrospect. I mentioned the one where she sends out Sark before making her cutting observations re: Sloane's nature. Methinks that "you may think that you're a good husband, a man of honor, but I know you're not, and this is frankly why we have this arrangment" works perfectly with the big season 3 revelation. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Irina's good natured reply to his offer to buy him out of the Rambaldi franchise, "then I'd either say you're setting me up to kill me, or that I seriously underestimated your love for your wife", and the fact she basically saves his life (or at least his liberty) when dragging him away from Emily's corpse at the end.
The scenes with Emily are heartrendering. The one in the living room, when she starts out prepared to turn him over to the CIA and then just can't go on with this, showing him she's wired, breaks me every time. Because they love each other so much. And he is not even angry. (Can't think of any other character on this show who'd react to such a revelation this way.) He just pleads with her to come with him one last time. And, inadvertendly signing her death warrant, she does. Coming with him, she gets killed in his place by Dixon. And yet, when you watch, you can't wish for Emily to make another decision.
14.) Meeting Jack again for the first time after SD 6's downfall. Jack's disbelieving expression when Sloane benignely tells him "I forgive you" is priceless.This scene is even more fun when you realize that Sloane is absolutely right in his prediction here. Jack and he will work together again. And you know, "I missed you" is absolutely true on his part as well.
15.) In between assembling Il Dire, Arvin Sloane takes time for a quick chat with his tied-up old friend. This is Sloane both Rambaldi obsessed (and hence delightfully creepy) and absolutely sincere. "But why keep me alive?" "Because we're friends, Jack." Well, Jack, duh.
16.) Fond reunions, next chapter: Sydney stops by after two years, in Zurich. He's manipulative and sincere at the same time, and you can't tell me he's not deliberately goading her into touching him (and slamming him on to his desk) with that "I loved you, and at times when you looked at me, I could see it in your eyes, you felt for me as if I was your fa-" speech. 'Tis a good scene if you enjoy the twistedness, and there is better to come.
17.) Sloane informs Lauren and Sydney he's successfully embarked on a new career path... as a double agent. To quote Sydney, "this is classic". Sure it is. The man's a genius, after all. And it's a delightful way for him to get back at her for spying on him, and enjoying her company at the same time. Which brings me to:
18.) "Did I ever tell you about my days in the field?" Sadly, Sydney doesn't want to hear (I do, because I'm always agog when JJ gives us backstory), but their firstdate field mission together is great fun nonetheless, complete with her getting in to the power play swing and threatening him if he doesn't do what she wants. Even better is their second date field mission, when he takes her dancing. You know from the moment they enter that ball room together he wants a dance, but being Arvin Sloane (not an obvious and impatient young pup like Sark who'd have leered and suggested from the start), he waits till the perfect opportunity presents itself, a situation where she can't say no. And gets his dance. A waltz, no less, which is perfect for the relationship. (Jack/Irina, for example, would be a tango.) Their later dialogue ("There was a time when you trusted me" - "That was before I knew who you were. Before I knew who I was") isn't half-bad, either.
19.) Breaking Point, the entire episode, but especially that canon Jack/Sloane h/c when Our Arvin takes a bullet and Jack stitches him up and tries to figure out why. "As always, Jack, you're in danger of outsmarting yourself." (Again, Jack, duh.) Mind you, not that Jack is completely off the mark, because Sloane does want something from him and Sydney both, but it's nothing sinister or overlordish - he's simply after their company. On a lighter level, the earlier scene where Sloane impersonates a cranky admiral while Jack plays a blue collar tech is great fun and illustrates how marvellous a team they must have been back in ye olde days.
20.) Sydney meets Sloane again after dear old Lindsey's demise, Lindsey having made the same mistake as the Alliance did. (If you want to survive in the Aliasverse, you do not tell Arvin Sloane he's supposed to kill someone he loves.) She knows what he's done. He knows she knows. And she knows she can't prove it. Fun! (Oh, and the trip earlier in Sydney's subconscious, where Vaughn turns into Arvin Sloane mid-kiss? Loved the twistedness, too.)
21.) Sloane nearly gets assassinated by Jack, courtesy of Katya. Behold the angst in the encounter as Mr. Bristow doesn't quite know what to say. Even better is the scene in the subsequent episode where Jack makes a return trip to Zurich and exudes guilt while Sloane (who is ticked off at Irina for the entire event, but not at Jack) exudes loneliness. "I miss Emily, Jack." Awwwww. It's the last time we get Old Spy Togetherness in season 3, and body count or not, it always gives me a "hug Sloane now" impulse.
22.) On the other end of the scale, we get Manipulative!Sloane with Dr. Barnett. "This was a delightful evening before I turned into a complete bastard." He's playing her the entire time, but I think he does find her attractive. Seducing her wouldn't have been necessary to plant the timebomb of a revelation and, as things turn out, is rather counterproductive. And hey, Jossverse shoutout with Barnett's "I wrote my dissertation about you".
23.) Hourglass. Ah, the uberangst. That conversation with Jack where Jack is downright sadistic and Sloane, for one of the few times, deliberately aiming to hurt with his schoolboy crush remark. Of all the situations where Sloane's life is threatened, this is also the only time where he comes across as afraid for same. I don't think this is because it's Jack - Sloane reacts quite differently when Jack puts a gun to his head in season 4 - but because here circumstances are really beyond his control. And he's jealous, yes, just not of the person Jack thinks he is. Seekangeiko's ficlet.
24.) Legacy. Aka the reminder that Arvin Sloane is far from being a good man. The big shock of Legacy isn't that he does something villanous but that he does it to someone he has feelings for. This is the start of the Rambaldi versus Nadia struggle, and Rambaldi almost wins in the very first round. Watching Sloane inject Nadia while talking to her in that gentle voice is absolutely horrible (in a fascinating way). Eventually, he does stop and puts her life first, but it was a close call.
25.) "This is exciting." Sloane telling Dixon and Sydney they might hate his guts but that they sure made a great team together and will again causes gleeful enjoyment on my part. Because, you know, he's right. They do make a good team. And given that the CIA hired each agent he hired, it was only logical for them to hire him back as well. In an Alias way.
26.) "He woke up to his own screams." Detente with its focus on the Sloane and Sydney relationship (in addition to the one between Syd and Nadia) is a firm favourite of mine. Sloane describing a horrible crime he committed for Sydney to repeat to the villain of the hour, and Sydney repeats, all right, complete with withering addendum. Sloane's later scene with Jack is something that brings out the Jack/Sloane 'shipper in me ("you did what you had to do, Arvin"), whereas the very final scene, when he gives Sydney an out for the second time, appeals my personal Bad Wrong fetish. I think he was genuinenly prepared to let her go (or to let her leave him, as he'd see it), and when she leans over his desk and makes her "I'll never forgive you, and I'll see you in the morning" statement, it sums up their relationship up to this point. And he's absolutely smiling behind his hands as he watches her go.
27.) "And you still believe?" Sloane and Sydney, next take: angsting about Nadia together and arguing about Rambaldi. Nadia got in one, of course, the first time she met him - he is a man of faith. That peculiar creed, Rambaldism. But his faith has stopped being a comfort ever since the Nadia versus Rambaldi struggle began.
28.) Parental Chats 101: Sloane talks with Nadia about Irina in Pandora. Yes, he's projecting with his Irina analysis, saying that they both did unforgivable things but that Irina is also capable of loving her daughter(s) deeply (with the implication that so is he), but that doesn't mean he's wrong. And given that Sloane, as opposed to Jack, never loved Irina, sexual attraction aside, and at best had the respect of a pro for a pro, his defending her here is quite remarkable.
29.) Best teaser of season 4, aka Jack 'n Arvin in the men's room in Another Mr. Sloane. It's one of the most unusual Jack scenes, as our Mr. Bristow really loses it here with "do you have any idea what it feels like (to kill your wife)" (incidentally, Jack, he at least knows what it feels like to fake her death and pretend he killed her) and we see how deeply killing Irina scarred him; and Sloane's reaction is pointedly different to the one in Hourglass (last time he thought Jack was going to organize his death). He's not afraid, or angry; he gets through to Jack by talking strategy and logic. The whole thing underlines whatkangeiko said in her recent analysis of course - Jack is not going to let anyone else kill Sloane or Irina. Comparing this scene to the later flashback where we see how Jack killed "Irina", it's worth noting he asks both "why" before he does it, only FauxIrina of course doesn't reply, whereas Sloane replies with a why not.
30.) Same episode, Sloane and Sydney. "He looks at me the way you look at me." "And how is that, Sydney?" Sydney asking Sloane to go back to Rambaldi (and calling him by his name, something she avoids for most of four seasons) was just perfect. So was him seeing the Rambaldi drawing of her in the vault. So was the "I like to see you in action" double entendre later. In Sydney's paranoid nightmares from Nocturne, the first thing her subconscious brings up about Sloane is that she's starting to trust him, and that this will mean the death of those she loves he hasn't gotten around to killing yet. Ah, irony. Because little as she likes to admit it, she has started to trust him again, more subconsciously than consciously, but I don't think she'd have ever risked the Rambaldi thing before. Remember season 3, and "I miss your trust, and your father's friendship", replied with "you'll never have my trust, or my father's friendship and respect"? Ah well. Irony.
31.) Still same episode, final five minutes. With Sloane losing it in a bloody and lethal fashion with the minion of Cloane, that blasphemer of all things Rambaldi, and Nadia finding him afterwards with blood in his face. Among several interpretations suggested, the one that makes most sense in retrospect is the comparison to the Faith and Buffy scene from Who Are You?, with Faith in Buffy's body beating up Buffy in her body, but really herself, screaming abuse that is directed at herself. Because that is what Sloane does here essentially. "Dilettante"? "Never be revealed to the unworthy?" And note he loses it at the mention of immortality. Which he once believed to be Rambaldi's aim as well (see his words to Emily in Truth Takes Time). He has given up Rambaldi for Nadia, which makes him the blasphemer and the unworthy. And it's hard.
32.) Giving Sydney a pep talk about impersonating Laura in Mirage. The fact Sloane remembers exactly where things were in the Bristow household and what Irina called Jack is typical. As is the fact he had the idea of saving Jack via letting Jack's daughter play Jack's wife to begin with. Arvin Sloane, promoter of old and new kinds of Bad Wrong everywhere.
33.) In Dreams. The Emily flashbacks. Watching Sloane's reaction when Emily is suffering was heartbreaking in a good way in season 1, and is so now. And their lost child - Jacquelyn, of course it had to be named after Jack - makes so much sense in canon that I really don't care whether or not this was in J.J.'s mind earlier or a late idea. Sloane starting to change his memories and Nadia, the embodiment of messy reality, calling him back is perfect, too. "She is my... Nadia." And. "Now I'm a monster. And monsters have no place in this world." And "come back, redeem yourself!" I've said it before, I'll say it again: Nadia is Luke Skywalker. And then the last conversation with Jack. "I'd like to believe, Arvin." "But you can't."
34.) More flashback goodness: This time of the fabled events between seasons 3 and 4, and the journey and fallout between Sloane and Nadia. He's at his most Rambaldi obsessed. And she does what no one since Emily has done and forgives him. The Hans Christian Andersen imagery of her removing the glass splinter from him, left by Rambaldi the Snow Queen a long time ago, is one of my favourites of the season.
35.) One last date field mission with Sydney: and with that mixture of distrust and unconscious trust, she insists on being there yet lets him get the upper hand. Good liar that he is, this time he tricked her by using nothing but the truth.
36.) Before the Flood, the climactic scene and the aftermath. Not to repeat what I wrote in my review of the episode and the arc rather extensively, but Sloane shooting a mindaltered Nadia to save Sydney (and the world) was both completely unexpected and entirely logical, with his arc ever since Blood Ties, or perhaps even ever since he found out about Nadia's existence in late season 2 leading up to it. The hubris-induced comparison to Abraham in late season 3 becomes tragically true. Like Londo in B5 in another matter, he has no choice; like with Londo, all his previous choices have led to the situation and caused it to begin with, as he acknowledges in the later scene. Said later scene bookends the season (the cliffhanger epilogue with Vaughn doesn't count), and I love that it's between Sydney and Sloane. And it's no less than Sydney giving Sloane the impossible, an assurance of her belief and trust. Not unlimited, of course, and I don't think she'll hand over any Rambaldi artifacts to him any time soon or invite him to the wedding, but there it is, given when he stopped expecting it, and the image of his cell door opening because of her has that same completely unexpected and yet fitting stunningness.
kangeiko has already made her think interesting thoughts about the thing Katya does in regards to Sloane and Jack (I'm phrasing this carefully for the unspoiled florastuart's benefit) and write a terrific snippet about Sloane's thoughts in Hourglass. After the conversation between him and Jack. You know, the one involving wine. yahtzee63 has written a great vignette about Sloane and Emily which alas, andrastewhite and florastuart, you're not allowed to read, for it contains spoilers for the season 4 episode In Dreams. And before I go off to read the newest installment in monanotlisa's Jack/Nadia (with plot!) saga, I thought I might as well do for the other A.S. in my fangirlish life what I did for Anakin Skywalker and list what made me fall for Arvin Sloane. As we're talking about four seasons here, which covers a lot more hours than three (six) films, there will probably be a lot less detail. However, let's proceed. In chronological order, so the unspoiled know where to stop.1.) Talking to Jack about his first briefing in the White House. About how he should have felt good and triumphant but instead got a sense of coming darkness. This was when I was getting interested. I'm a backstory fiend. With both heroes and villains. The scene is also, if I recall correctly, one of the earliest examples indicating the complexity of the relationship between Arvin Sloane and Jack Bristow, because of course there are several layers here at play. Jack is being an double agent working on Sloane's downfall, Sloane is currently a quite successful Evil Overlord, and they couldn't be further from the young agents they were in that past Sloane refers to. Or could they? And later seasons make you wonder whether Sloane at this point was already aware Jack was spying on him.
2.) "I can't be the first person who has trouble taking you seriously, can I?" At this point, we had witnessed Sloane giving his share of ruthless orders, including orders for torture, but this was the first time he himself was in danger and in the position of being helpless and getting tortured. Which he faces with courage and sange froid. What makes this even better is that he does feel the pain and the fear - but he doesn't show it to his torturer. He shows it to Jack, afterwards. And only to Jack. Significant for the relationship between Mr. Bristow and Mr. Sloane is also that Our Arvin doesn't hesitate to suggest Jack hack his finger off to save the building from getting blown up, and that Jack has this heartbeat of hesitation before doing it.
3.) Sloane giving Sydney an out after SD-6 first suspects her of being a double agent. I.e. he arranges a test but in such a way that the CIA could have extracted her if she had been guilty. (Or rather if Jack hadn't figured out that Sloane wasn't about to order Sydney's execution but had set this up as a test isntead.) The Syd/Sloane relationship is one of the crucial dynamics of the show, and I've written plenty about it before. Again, it's a mixture of many things - he's her other father figure, the one who can be blamed for everything dark, his paternal attitude towards her always carries just a hint of sexual interest as well without ever becoming explicit, for a long time, he provides her motivation for being a spy, and his affection for her, with all its twistedness, just might be the only one in his life where he never expects a return in kind.
4.) Any scene with Emily. Even before Emily appears in season one, we keep seeing Sloane on the phone, worrying about her, between ordering dastardly things. When she does appear on screen, it's obvious he adores her. And she returns the feeling. Emily brings out the best in Sloane; he's never other than tender and loving towards her. And yet we also get to see the problem, the dichotomy, as during the dinner in Page 47 when Will and Emily talk about a horrible evil man Will has exposed as a journalist and Emily can't understand how someone could be this way, while her husband sits on the table and regards her benignenly. One of my absolutely favourite Emily and Arvin scenes from season 1 is when he visits her at the hospital and tells her she's beautiful. And you know he means every word. (He's an accomplished liar, but not in this case.)
5.) On that note: Sloane thanking Sydney for not ratting Emily out to SD-6, and deliberately making the Danny comparison. The moments where Sydney consciously feels something other than fate for Arvin Sloane are far and few in the show, but they do happen, usually involving them and a woman they both love, and that's one of them. Fast forward to season 4 for obvious parallels.
6.) "You expect me to kill my wife?" In retrospect, this is where the Alliance makes its crucial mistake. Even if Emily had actually died of cancer afterwards, I don't think Sloane would have ever forgiven them for the request. Yes, it's his fault for being part of an organization that has such a policy to begin with. Still, one does empathize with them, and I think this was when it dawned to me he might be on his way to becoming my favourite character on the show. I was very interested in Sydney finding her mother, and very curious about the unknown Irina, yes, and loved the Jack-Sydney relationship, but what kept me really on the edge of my seat was that I wanted to know whether love or ambition would win out for Sloane and realized the character had within the space of one season become complex enough that I found both alternatives equally believable. For the chief antagonist of the saga.
7.) Sloane tells Emily the truth. And we don't hear a word. For practical reasons as well, because obviously this must also have been where he reveals his plan to save her, which the audience wasn't supposed to know about until half of season 2 was over. But it also works beautifully in terms of visual storytelling. Just seeing the two of them, watching Emily react. In terms of overall continuity: he's wearing the white suit he only wears a few times in the show there (at least that's how I recall it). Worn as well, notably, at the end of Getaway in season 2 and in season 4's In Dreams i his mind, all three occasions connected to Emily. (Interestingly, the fourth occasion of him wearing white instead of his usual black or grey is when he picks up Irina in A Darker Turn.) This is particular scene is my favourite from Almost Thirty Years, the season 1 finale, and I that episode a lot.
8.) Kissing Sydney's hand in Trust Me. Did I mention I like the twistedness which is Syd/Sloane? That's another reason why he's a great character. He has this gentle, loving side with Emily, but his affection for Sydney is quite often a powerplay, an attempt to mindmess, and always a convoluted mixture of feelings. If he felt purely paternal or purely sexual interest in her, it wouldn't be half as fascinating. As it is, I'm never quite sure how much he admits to himself he's feeling more than fatherly emotions. Sometimes I think he's aware, and sometimes I don't (because he's quite good at self-deception, too.) In either case, though, he's quite aware that she loathes him.
9.) Church scene with Jack. Mind you, this one becomes more ambiguous in retrospect, because what Sloane is confessing to was a lie (and he probably thought that if Jack believed him, the everyone, especially the Alliance, would, too), but it's still fascinating. One of the reasons why Sloane is an excellent liar when he wants to be is because he always uses the truth as much as possible. He's playing a complicated and high risk game here, which really takes nerves of steel, and affording himself an outburst like that, even if what he confesses to is not true, must have been an emotional release. Also, he gets Jack to call him Arvin. Always a plus.
(At this stage of the show, being unspoiled, I also liked the parallels/contrasts, because Jack had just set his own wife up to be killed.)
10.) Telling Sark off for ridiculing his employees after Sark has started his SD6 stint. I must admit to a certain schadenfreudee in regards to Sark, who fancies himself a player of the first league but never gets treated as more than a minion by Sloane or Irina. (Loved Irina sending him out of the room before making her cutting remark to Sloane during Truth Takes Time, too; that's what you do with minions, you don't quarrel with your fellow Evil Overlord in front of them.) Sloane coolly informing him he has no right to badmouth the SD6 folk being a case in point. (Also Sloane's stony expression when Sark presumes to call him "Arvin" in season 3 or season 4. *g*) Anyway: it's not that Sloane has such deep and warm feelings about or any loyalty to his employees, the agents Bristow aside. For example, I do think he's reasonably fond of Marshall but still has no problem writing him off without a second thought in A Higher Echelon. He'd have moved heaven and earth for Jack or Sydney, but Marshall doesn't get more than a shrug. But that still doesn't mean a kid with delusions of grandeur gets to insult them.
11.) The Getaway in totem, but especially the final scene. Both for the reunion with Emily and because that is when it is clear just what he pulled off there. Marshall doesn't call him an evil genius in season 3 for nothing. Saving Emily's life by faking her death (twice), using Jack to frame Ariana Kane for a crime nobody actually committed, lifting millions of dollars from the Alliance in the process and setting up the downfall of same while he was it was brilliant. It took courage, cold blood, and left a lot of dead bodies behind (that poor tech, for example), but he pulled it off. The final scene, with Sloane (in white) walking towards Emily to the sound of Gounoud's Faust playing in the background, kissing her passionately, also has its bittersweet sadness in overall series context. For starters because the camera shows us Emily's missing finger - the piece of herself she sacrificed to stay with her husband. What will ultimately kill Emily is that she loves him too much not to go with him, despite knowing the truth. And secondly because this is the only point in the show where Arvin Sloane could have had a genuine happy ending. Not that he deserves one (see also: body count), but he could have had it. If he had retired into comfortable anonymity with Emily, never to be heard of again, I don't think Syd or anyone else would have come after them. This was his one and only chance, and he threw it away without realizing it.
12.) Driving Mr. Sloane, or, how to conduct a bank robbery. Making Sydney his chauffeur is just the first of many occasions where he sets up situations in which she has to work for him again. He's creative that way. *g*
13.) Truth Takes Time, the entire episode. (Best of the season, if you ask me.) The scenes with Irina are fun, and even more interesting in retrospect. I mentioned the one where she sends out Sark before making her cutting observations re: Sloane's nature. Methinks that "you may think that you're a good husband, a man of honor, but I know you're not, and this is frankly why we have this arrangment" works perfectly with the big season 3 revelation. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Irina's good natured reply to his offer to buy him out of the Rambaldi franchise, "then I'd either say you're setting me up to kill me, or that I seriously underestimated your love for your wife", and the fact she basically saves his life (or at least his liberty) when dragging him away from Emily's corpse at the end.
The scenes with Emily are heartrendering. The one in the living room, when she starts out prepared to turn him over to the CIA and then just can't go on with this, showing him she's wired, breaks me every time. Because they love each other so much. And he is not even angry. (Can't think of any other character on this show who'd react to such a revelation this way.) He just pleads with her to come with him one last time. And, inadvertendly signing her death warrant, she does. Coming with him, she gets killed in his place by Dixon. And yet, when you watch, you can't wish for Emily to make another decision.
14.) Meeting Jack again for the first time after SD 6's downfall. Jack's disbelieving expression when Sloane benignely tells him "I forgive you" is priceless.This scene is even more fun when you realize that Sloane is absolutely right in his prediction here. Jack and he will work together again. And you know, "I missed you" is absolutely true on his part as well.
15.) In between assembling Il Dire, Arvin Sloane takes time for a quick chat with his tied-up old friend. This is Sloane both Rambaldi obsessed (and hence delightfully creepy) and absolutely sincere. "But why keep me alive?" "Because we're friends, Jack." Well, Jack, duh.
16.) Fond reunions, next chapter: Sydney stops by after two years, in Zurich. He's manipulative and sincere at the same time, and you can't tell me he's not deliberately goading her into touching him (and slamming him on to his desk) with that "I loved you, and at times when you looked at me, I could see it in your eyes, you felt for me as if I was your fa-" speech. 'Tis a good scene if you enjoy the twistedness, and there is better to come.
17.) Sloane informs Lauren and Sydney he's successfully embarked on a new career path... as a double agent. To quote Sydney, "this is classic". Sure it is. The man's a genius, after all. And it's a delightful way for him to get back at her for spying on him, and enjoying her company at the same time. Which brings me to:
18.) "Did I ever tell you about my days in the field?" Sadly, Sydney doesn't want to hear (I do, because I'm always agog when JJ gives us backstory), but their first
19.) Breaking Point, the entire episode, but especially that canon Jack/Sloane h/c when Our Arvin takes a bullet and Jack stitches him up and tries to figure out why. "As always, Jack, you're in danger of outsmarting yourself." (Again, Jack, duh.) Mind you, not that Jack is completely off the mark, because Sloane does want something from him and Sydney both, but it's nothing sinister or overlordish - he's simply after their company. On a lighter level, the earlier scene where Sloane impersonates a cranky admiral while Jack plays a blue collar tech is great fun and illustrates how marvellous a team they must have been back in ye olde days.
20.) Sydney meets Sloane again after dear old Lindsey's demise, Lindsey having made the same mistake as the Alliance did. (If you want to survive in the Aliasverse, you do not tell Arvin Sloane he's supposed to kill someone he loves.) She knows what he's done. He knows she knows. And she knows she can't prove it. Fun! (Oh, and the trip earlier in Sydney's subconscious, where Vaughn turns into Arvin Sloane mid-kiss? Loved the twistedness, too.)
21.) Sloane nearly gets assassinated by Jack, courtesy of Katya. Behold the angst in the encounter as Mr. Bristow doesn't quite know what to say. Even better is the scene in the subsequent episode where Jack makes a return trip to Zurich and exudes guilt while Sloane (who is ticked off at Irina for the entire event, but not at Jack) exudes loneliness. "I miss Emily, Jack." Awwwww. It's the last time we get Old Spy Togetherness in season 3, and body count or not, it always gives me a "hug Sloane now" impulse.
22.) On the other end of the scale, we get Manipulative!Sloane with Dr. Barnett. "This was a delightful evening before I turned into a complete bastard." He's playing her the entire time, but I think he does find her attractive. Seducing her wouldn't have been necessary to plant the timebomb of a revelation and, as things turn out, is rather counterproductive. And hey, Jossverse shoutout with Barnett's "I wrote my dissertation about you".
23.) Hourglass. Ah, the uberangst. That conversation with Jack where Jack is downright sadistic and Sloane, for one of the few times, deliberately aiming to hurt with his schoolboy crush remark. Of all the situations where Sloane's life is threatened, this is also the only time where he comes across as afraid for same. I don't think this is because it's Jack - Sloane reacts quite differently when Jack puts a gun to his head in season 4 - but because here circumstances are really beyond his control. And he's jealous, yes, just not of the person Jack thinks he is. See
kangeiko's ficlet. 24.) Legacy. Aka the reminder that Arvin Sloane is far from being a good man. The big shock of Legacy isn't that he does something villanous but that he does it to someone he has feelings for. This is the start of the Rambaldi versus Nadia struggle, and Rambaldi almost wins in the very first round. Watching Sloane inject Nadia while talking to her in that gentle voice is absolutely horrible (in a fascinating way). Eventually, he does stop and puts her life first, but it was a close call.
25.) "This is exciting." Sloane telling Dixon and Sydney they might hate his guts but that they sure made a great team together and will again causes gleeful enjoyment on my part. Because, you know, he's right. They do make a good team. And given that the CIA hired each agent he hired, it was only logical for them to hire him back as well. In an Alias way.
26.) "He woke up to his own screams." Detente with its focus on the Sloane and Sydney relationship (in addition to the one between Syd and Nadia) is a firm favourite of mine. Sloane describing a horrible crime he committed for Sydney to repeat to the villain of the hour, and Sydney repeats, all right, complete with withering addendum. Sloane's later scene with Jack is something that brings out the Jack/Sloane 'shipper in me ("you did what you had to do, Arvin"), whereas the very final scene, when he gives Sydney an out for the second time, appeals my personal Bad Wrong fetish. I think he was genuinenly prepared to let her go (or to let her leave him, as he'd see it), and when she leans over his desk and makes her "I'll never forgive you, and I'll see you in the morning" statement, it sums up their relationship up to this point. And he's absolutely smiling behind his hands as he watches her go.
27.) "And you still believe?" Sloane and Sydney, next take: angsting about Nadia together and arguing about Rambaldi. Nadia got in one, of course, the first time she met him - he is a man of faith. That peculiar creed, Rambaldism. But his faith has stopped being a comfort ever since the Nadia versus Rambaldi struggle began.
28.) Parental Chats 101: Sloane talks with Nadia about Irina in Pandora. Yes, he's projecting with his Irina analysis, saying that they both did unforgivable things but that Irina is also capable of loving her daughter(s) deeply (with the implication that so is he), but that doesn't mean he's wrong. And given that Sloane, as opposed to Jack, never loved Irina, sexual attraction aside, and at best had the respect of a pro for a pro, his defending her here is quite remarkable.
29.) Best teaser of season 4, aka Jack 'n Arvin in the men's room in Another Mr. Sloane. It's one of the most unusual Jack scenes, as our Mr. Bristow really loses it here with "do you have any idea what it feels like (to kill your wife)" (incidentally, Jack, he at least knows what it feels like to fake her death and pretend he killed her) and we see how deeply killing Irina scarred him; and Sloane's reaction is pointedly different to the one in Hourglass (last time he thought Jack was going to organize his death). He's not afraid, or angry; he gets through to Jack by talking strategy and logic. The whole thing underlines what
kangeiko said in her recent analysis of course - Jack is not going to let anyone else kill Sloane or Irina. Comparing this scene to the later flashback where we see how Jack killed "Irina", it's worth noting he asks both "why" before he does it, only FauxIrina of course doesn't reply, whereas Sloane replies with a why not. 30.) Same episode, Sloane and Sydney. "He looks at me the way you look at me." "And how is that, Sydney?" Sydney asking Sloane to go back to Rambaldi (and calling him by his name, something she avoids for most of four seasons) was just perfect. So was him seeing the Rambaldi drawing of her in the vault. So was the "I like to see you in action" double entendre later. In Sydney's paranoid nightmares from Nocturne, the first thing her subconscious brings up about Sloane is that she's starting to trust him, and that this will mean the death of those she loves he hasn't gotten around to killing yet. Ah, irony. Because little as she likes to admit it, she has started to trust him again, more subconsciously than consciously, but I don't think she'd have ever risked the Rambaldi thing before. Remember season 3, and "I miss your trust, and your father's friendship", replied with "you'll never have my trust, or my father's friendship and respect"? Ah well. Irony.
31.) Still same episode, final five minutes. With Sloane losing it in a bloody and lethal fashion with the minion of Cloane, that blasphemer of all things Rambaldi, and Nadia finding him afterwards with blood in his face. Among several interpretations suggested, the one that makes most sense in retrospect is the comparison to the Faith and Buffy scene from Who Are You?, with Faith in Buffy's body beating up Buffy in her body, but really herself, screaming abuse that is directed at herself. Because that is what Sloane does here essentially. "Dilettante"? "Never be revealed to the unworthy?" And note he loses it at the mention of immortality. Which he once believed to be Rambaldi's aim as well (see his words to Emily in Truth Takes Time). He has given up Rambaldi for Nadia, which makes him the blasphemer and the unworthy. And it's hard.
32.) Giving Sydney a pep talk about impersonating Laura in Mirage. The fact Sloane remembers exactly where things were in the Bristow household and what Irina called Jack is typical. As is the fact he had the idea of saving Jack via letting Jack's daughter play Jack's wife to begin with. Arvin Sloane, promoter of old and new kinds of Bad Wrong everywhere.
33.) In Dreams. The Emily flashbacks. Watching Sloane's reaction when Emily is suffering was heartbreaking in a good way in season 1, and is so now. And their lost child - Jacquelyn, of course it had to be named after Jack - makes so much sense in canon that I really don't care whether or not this was in J.J.'s mind earlier or a late idea. Sloane starting to change his memories and Nadia, the embodiment of messy reality, calling him back is perfect, too. "She is my... Nadia." And. "Now I'm a monster. And monsters have no place in this world." And "come back, redeem yourself!" I've said it before, I'll say it again: Nadia is Luke Skywalker. And then the last conversation with Jack. "I'd like to believe, Arvin." "But you can't."
34.) More flashback goodness: This time of the fabled events between seasons 3 and 4, and the journey and fallout between Sloane and Nadia. He's at his most Rambaldi obsessed. And she does what no one since Emily has done and forgives him. The Hans Christian Andersen imagery of her removing the glass splinter from him, left by Rambaldi the Snow Queen a long time ago, is one of my favourites of the season.
35.) One last date field mission with Sydney: and with that mixture of distrust and unconscious trust, she insists on being there yet lets him get the upper hand. Good liar that he is, this time he tricked her by using nothing but the truth.
36.) Before the Flood, the climactic scene and the aftermath. Not to repeat what I wrote in my review of the episode and the arc rather extensively, but Sloane shooting a mindaltered Nadia to save Sydney (and the world) was both completely unexpected and entirely logical, with his arc ever since Blood Ties, or perhaps even ever since he found out about Nadia's existence in late season 2 leading up to it. The hubris-induced comparison to Abraham in late season 3 becomes tragically true. Like Londo in B5 in another matter, he has no choice; like with Londo, all his previous choices have led to the situation and caused it to begin with, as he acknowledges in the later scene. Said later scene bookends the season (the cliffhanger epilogue with Vaughn doesn't count), and I love that it's between Sydney and Sloane. And it's no less than Sydney giving Sloane the impossible, an assurance of her belief and trust. Not unlimited, of course, and I don't think she'll hand over any Rambaldi artifacts to him any time soon or invite him to the wedding, but there it is, given when he stopped expecting it, and the image of his cell door opening because of her has that same completely unexpected and yet fitting stunningness.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2005-06-15 09:16 pm (UTC)::dons her pimp hat::
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Date: 2005-06-15 09:18 pm (UTC)Thank you, my dear.
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Date: 2005-06-15 11:51 pm (UTC)And later seasons make you wonder whether Sloane at this point was already aware Jack was spying on him.
I always thought that he knew, but was willing to sacrifice X amount to get to a certain position. He had more to gain with the CIA going after The Alliance than not, as more positions were in play.
Also? I'm not sure he minded that much. (It's like one of those horrible Foucaultian things, where the Evil Overlord gives you permission to rebel and you just stand there, the wind taken out of your wings.)
Our Arvin doesn't hesitate to suggest Jack hack his finger off to save the building from getting blown up, and that Jack has this heartbeat of hesitation before doing it.
This had a real impact on me too, because it made me wonder if this is the first time that Jack has actually had to contemplate what his betrayal will result in. It's like the ideal scenario would be if Sloane had a change of heart and decided that he really was a good guy, and Jack had control of how things would fall out and he'd suffer, sure, but not be dead. Because, well, then he'd be dead. And I'm not entirely sure that jack's ready for that at this point.
Telling Sark off for ridiculing his employees after Sark has started his SD6 stint.
Yes! I don't like to think of him as just using them (or, well, he does, but that's not all there is to it) - he doesn't view them as dupes or as stupid; he may not care for them personally, but he respects their skills. And it's very good practice for him to constantly be on his toes around smart, sharp people, I'd imagine. Notwithstanding what he says to Syd in S3, he has played the role of double agent before. He's played it for years, nesting plans inside plans in order to get the best out of people - even if the job is morally questionable.
"But why keep me alive?" "Because we're friends, Jack." Well, Jack, duh.
*snicker*
(Jack/Irina, for example, would be a tango.)
*cough, splutter* You know, there's a music vid out there (not to Alias, sadly) set to 'The Masochism tango'. I rewatched it recently and all I could think of was - oh my god, it's jack and irina and sloane and oh, so twisted.
Breaking Point, the entire episode, but especially that canon Jack/Sloane h/c when Our Arvin takes a bullet and Jack stitches him up and tries to figure out why.
*happy sigh* And it has one of the very few S/J slash fics written out there, too.
Of all the situations where Sloane's life is threatened, this is also the only time where he comes across as afraid for same. I don't think this is because it's Jack - Sloane reacts quite differently when Jack puts a gun to his head in season 4 - but because here circumstances are really beyond his control.
Hmmm. I'd argue that it being jack does make a difference (granted, I still haven't seen s4, I was good and went to law review), although it wouldn't be what swings it. Sloane has the upper hand with Jack a lot of the time, or at least knows which buttons to push to get the reaction he wants. But his miscalculation has left him in a position where he is at the mercy of jack's mercurial temper, and I'm not convinced that jack would have calmed down enough to make a rational decision in time. (School-boy crush? Oh, dear, Arvin. It's a list of what not to say.) so he's flailing, just a little, and he hates himself for it (when was the last time sloane flailed verbally and practically begged for help? *filled with need to make him suffer*). and jack... isn't actually being as unflappable as he's supposed to be.
it's like a meeting of a sadism society, isn't it?
The big shock of Legacy isn't that he does something villanous but that he does it to someone he has feelings for.
Well, the biblical references probably made things work better in his head.
Woo, this was a fabulous essay, dahlink, truly magnificent.
Now, d'you suppose you might fic a little? A wee little fic for
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Date: 2005-06-16 07:48 am (UTC)Mmm, interesting idea. Would also explain why Jack being a double agent for fifteen years or however long he worked for SD6 did nothing to bring the Alliance down yet within a year of Sydney working as a double agent, they were in trouble.
This had a real impact on me too, because it made me wonder if this is the first time that Jack has actually had to contemplate what his betrayal will result in. It's like the ideal scenario would be if Sloane had a change of heart and decided that he really was a good guy, and Jack had control of how things would fall out and he'd suffer, sure, but not be dead. Because, well, then he'd be dead. And I'm not entirely sure that jack's ready for that at this point.
I think he must have told himself he was, because obviously, Sloane dying was one of the most likely end results. But theory and practice are two different things. Note that when Sloane asks when they stopped being friends (from Jack's perspective) during their late season 2 encounter, Jack doesn't say "when you became an Evil Overlord" but "when you recruited Sydney". But Jack was a double agent before that. So he still considered himself Sloane's friend even while working against him.
(Sort of like Irina loving Jack and exploiting him for the KGB, and I never ever read a fanfic in which that parallel occurs to him.)
You know, there's a music vid out there (not to Alias, sadly) set to 'The Masochism tango'. I rewatched it recently and all I could think of was - oh my god, it's jack and irina and sloane and oh, so twisted.
I think I know the one you mean. Farscape, right? But yes, that would be fun. There is a great new Irina vid out there, too, but you can't watch it until you've watched season 4 in its entirety because it's seriously spoilery.
School-boy crush? Oh, dear, Arvin. It's a list of what not to say.
*snigger* Quite. It's true, though.*g*
it's like a meeting of a sadism society, isn't it?
Definitely. They both hit where it hurts. And you know, a season 4 ep kindly informs us that back in the day, Jack was the one to train Sloane to withstand interrogation and torture.
Well, the biblical references probably made things work better in his head.
Quite. Note that he compares himself to Abraham, not Agamennon, because Isaac of course made it out alive. It's self-justification and self-flattering hubris is what it is. And of course now with Nadia he's in a position he wasn't in with Emily because Emily died. When he chose Emily over Rambaldi, he never had the opportunity to find out whether he could make that stick, day by day.
Fanfic: well, you see, I still have to write two Multiverse stories, and what ideas I have for Alias are either late or post season 4 (so you couldn't read them yet) anyway, or dependent on a cooperation with Andraste...
attempting to catch up on comments
Date: 2005-06-28 10:02 pm (UTC)Yea. That's what got me thinking on it, actually. Other than narrative necessity (i.e. longer than a year and a half and Sloane's cridibility as a smart villain gets shot to hell), how come Jack didn't bring down SD6? I mean, even if Sloane was willing to sacrifice Alliance points in order to play off the CIA, what did Jack have to gain by extending the operation? (Alternatively, what did he have to lose by it ending? Leaving Irina to one side 'cause I'm not going to call it a triple bluff and say that he knew she was alive all along and likely to come back and team up with Sloane ('cause that's just paranoid), there are two possibilities: either Sydney gets in trouble or suffers as a result, or Jack still had some unresolved issues for Arvin.)
I think he must have told himself he was, because obviously, Sloane dying was one of the most likely end results. But theory and practice are two different things.
Yes. But notice that he's still managed to be standing still for X number of years. I don't buy the implication that Jack is less resourceful/intelligent than Sloane, and that Sloane is less intelligent/resourceful than Sydney. There had to be something else. Even if Jack had been telling himself he was ready to kill Arvin, I don't think he'd have done it on the off chance. I mean, the damage was done: Sydney had been recruited. Jack had no immediate (personal) reason to bring about the downfall of SD6, even if the prospect of gaining power / getting the drop over Sloane via the CIA operation was a comfort (and even if he knew, intellectually, that the endgame would possibly result in Sloane's death).
Jack was a double agent before that. So he still considered himself Sloane's friend even while working against him.
I'm not sure on the timing for this. I always thought that that was when jack turned to the CIA. But whatyou said sounds more likely. Hmmmm. If so, what would have made him switch? (I'm not buying patriotism, unless they're living in the United States of Sydney!)
(Sort of like Irina loving Jack and exploiting him for the KGB, and I never ever read a fanfic in which that parallel occurs to him.)
Well then, you must write it yourself. *nods*
There is a great new Irina vid out there, too, but you can't watch it until you've watched season 4 in its entirety because it's seriously spoilery.
where where? watched it now, all spoilered!
Definitely. They both hit where it hurts. And you know, a season 4 ep kindly informs us that back in the day, Jack was the one to train Sloane to withstand interrogation and torture.
In my head, I'm already writing this fic. It involves pain.
and also shaggingDo we have any pictures of them as young men? I have this image of Jack as tall (duh), dark brown curly hair, broad, with a permanent little smile on his face (esp. during torture). Sloane I picture as blonde and cheekboned to death, for some reason. I may be superimposing another pair of love me/hate me tall dark and handsome and slight blonde and snarky over them, tho. I want piccies of them when they were like, 'Nam age. The horror, the horror.
And of course now with Nadia he's in a position he wasn't in with Emily because Emily died. When he chose Emily over Rambaldi, he never had the opportunity to find out whether he could make that stick, day by day.
And we'll always wonder if he would'ave...
Fanfic: well, you see, I still have to write two Multiverse stories, and what ideas I have for Alias are either late or post season 4 (so you couldn't read them yet) anyway, or dependent on a cooperation with Andraste...
Multiverse? *blank look*
*sudden recollection*
Oh, B*%*^%$%!!!
There's an outline sitting on my harddrive... and outline, and nothing more. Andraste is gonna kill me.
Er... wait, there's a few more days. No death. *breathes*
Also? Saw end of S4. So now you have no excuse. *veg*
Re: attempting to catch up on comments
Date: 2005-06-29 05:51 am (UTC)Do we have any pictures of them as young men?
I found one of Victor Garber:
None for Ron Rifkin, alas. Much as your parallel amuses me, though, I doubt he - or Sloane, for that matter, not the same thing, after all - was ever blond.*g*
However, look what I also found:
and
Awwwww.*g*
Re: attempting to catch up on comments
Date: 2005-07-11 02:38 pm (UTC)But you knew that already. *g*
And can I just say - how early seventies does victor garber look in that photo? mwahahaha!
Re: attempting to catch up on comments
Date: 2005-07-11 03:53 pm (UTC)He could have guest-starred in The Professionals as Bodie's brother....
Re: attempting to catch up on comments
Date: 2005-07-13 03:27 pm (UTC)well. I didn't really need this keyboard...
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Date: 2005-06-16 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 04:28 pm (UTC)And note he loses it at the mention of immortality. Which he once believed to be Rambaldi's aim as well (see his words to Emily in Truth Takes Time). He has given up Rambaldi for Nadia, which makes him the blasphemer and the unworthy.
That nailed it perfectly, and I loved the comparison to Faith.
And this: "But why keep me alive?" "Because we're friends, Jack." Well, Jack, duh.
Their relationship makes me so very happy.
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Date: 2005-06-16 04:59 pm (UTC)Their relationship makes me so very happy.
Same here. Ah, First Generation Spies, how much I love them!
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Date: 2005-06-17 04:37 am (UTC)Randomly, may I ask which Irina video you were referring to up there (http://www.livejournal.com/users/selenak/163979.html?thread=2181003#t2181003)?
Again, thanks for this!
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Date: 2005-06-17 05:57 am (UTC)Ah, First Generation Spies, how do I love them...
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Date: 2005-06-17 07:01 am (UTC)And ditto. They're the ones who first caught my attention, and honestly, if it weren't for Jack and Sloane, I'd have dropped the show in S3.
you're welcome
Date: 2005-06-17 07:17 am (UTC)