Conscious (30 Nov. 2003)

After making a shocking discovery of a severed human hand in the desert that belonged to Lazarey, the Russian diplomat she murdered while working as a brainwashed assassin for the Covenant,... See full summary »

Director:

Ken Olin

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator), Josh Appelbaum,

Stars:

Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Michael Vartan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Garner	...	Sydney Bristow
Ron Rifkin	...	Arvin Sloane
Michael Vartan	...	Michael Vaughn
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Dixon
Kevin Weisman	...	Marshall Flinkman
Melissa George	...	Lauren Reed
Greg Grunberg	...	Eric Weiss
David Anders	...	Julian Sark
Victor Garber	...	Jack Bristow
Kurt Fuller	...	Robert Lindsey
Erica Leerhsen	...	Kaya
Mark Bramhall	...	Andrian Lazarey
David Cronenberg	...	Dr. Brezzel
Jerry O'Donnell	...	Agent Scrimm
Daniel E. Smith	...	Steven Dixon

Storyline

After making a shocking discovery of a severed human hand in the desert that belonged to Lazarey, the Russian diplomat she murdered while working as a brainwashed assassin for the Covenant, and who may in fact be alive, Sydney agrees to submit to an experimental procedure conducted by an eccentric doctor, named Dr. Brezzel, designed to retrieve her lost memories. But while Jack and Vaughn look on, Sydney's mind proves surprisingly resistant to letting her remember her missing time... and the process of recovering it could end up killing her. Meanwhile, Lauren makes a great sacrifice of allowing herself to get tortured and beaten up in order to make her alibi believable to Lindsey after helping breaking Sydney out of NSC custody. Also Sloane finds himself boxed in by an unlikely enemy, that of Mr. Lindsey, who wants to see Sydney Bristow eliminated permanently.

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Plot Keywords:

memory | consciousness | mad scientist | experiment | past | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 2003 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 4, Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, US

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Guest star David Cronenberg was a last-minute addition to the cast and had to learn his script at very short notice.

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Quotes

Jack Bristow: I used to think you didn't have much of a spine.
Michael Vaughn: And has that assessment changed?
Jack Bristow: No.
[Jack smiles ever so slightly]

User Reviews

The best episode of "Alias"?

Right up there with the best, anyway. Certainly the most unusual, surreal and visually imaginative up to this point. Let me draw a parallel for "Lost" fans: what "Flashes Before Your Eyes" was for that show, "Conscious" is for this one - a break from the usual formula, something new. Sydney agrees to try an experimental, non-invasive memory-retrieval procedure, while Jack, Vaughn, Lauren and Sloane devise a plan to make it look as if the Covenant was responsible for breaking her out of the NSC facility. There is an extended dream/memory ("it's a shared reservoir") sequence in the middle which may actually be the best 10 minutes of the series so far, at least in terms of direction. But there are other strong scenes as well, particularly Lindsey's confrontations with Dixon (whose words are like holding a mirror in front of Lindsey's face, exposing him for the @$$hole he is) and Sloane. David Cronenberg's wonderfully eccentric scientist takes over the crown from Ethan Hawke's double(d) agent as the best guest star to appear on the show so far, while the dazzlingly gorgeous redhead Erica Leerhsen is adorably flaky as his sweet, possibly stoned (!) student. ***1/2 out of 4.