Maternal Instinct (19 Apr. 2006)

Now nine months pregnant and on maternity leave, Sydney is surprised when her mother, Irina Derevko, shows up at her front door pretending to be a victim pursued by Prophet Five to get ... See full summary »

Director:

Tucker Gates

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator), Breen Frazier

Stars:

Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Carl Lumbly

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Garner	...	Sydney Bristow
Ron Rifkin	...	Arvin Sloane
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Dixon
Kevin Weisman	...	Marshall Flinkman
Rachel Nichols	...	Rachel Gibson
Amy Acker	...	Kelly Peyton
Balthazar Getty	...	Thomas Grace
Victor Garber	...	Jack Bristow
Lena Olin	...	Irina Derevko
Élodie Bouchez	...	Renée Rienne (as Elodie Bouchez)
John Aylward	...	Jeffrey Davenport
James Handy	...	Arthur Devlin
Michael Vartan	...	Michael Vaughn
Robert Dolan	...	Agent Barker
J. Michael Flynn	...	Alex Moreau

Storyline

Now nine months pregnant and on maternity leave, Sydney is surprised when her mother, Irina Derevko, shows up at her front door pretending to be a victim pursued by Prophet Five to get information on the whereabouts of 'The Horizon'. Jack, Sydney and Irina travel to Vancouver to an high-rise office building to steal the Horizon, only to get trapped on the upper floors when Peyton and hit team show up, forcing Jack to do battle with them alone as Sydney finally begins to go into labor with Irina as her labor coach. Elsewhere, while Dixon meets with Renee in Paris for information about The Horizon, back at APO, Rachel, Marshall and Tom agree to cover for Sloan when CIA Director Arthur Devilin arrives to monitor the APO records in the wake of the discovery of Prophet Five mole within the CIA.

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Plot Keywords:

heroine

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

19 April 2006 (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

Sydney's baby Isabelle is born in this episode.

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Quotes

Agent Jack Bristow: [to Sydney] Cover your mother.

User Reviews

Tell the team they'll need diapers

Having failed to get the correct location of the Horizon from the hypnotized Sydney, Irina Derevko tries a different approach: after killing the CIA division director who had been exposed by Jack as a double agent for Prophet Five, she visits Sydney at her own home, tells her that she's concerned about her safety and proposes to go get the Horizon herself, after Dixon and Renee learn its true location. Jack shows up and he wants to go with her, and Sydney won't be left behind, even though her baby is due any day now. The three of them do get their hands on the Horizon, but what follows is Irina's betrayal, an attack by Peyton and her team, and Sydney finally giving birth to her daughter. "Maternal Instinct" benefits from the enigmatic (as always) presence - and great (as always) physique - of Lena Olin, though I expected the series to carry out Irina's deception longer, instead of having her blow her cover so soon. Other highlights include the opening truck-van smash ("Alias" does vehicle smashes very well), a hilarious Marshall moment (when Tom walks into his office), Renee in fishnets, and Peyton with a rocket launcher! There is also one of the most WTF final shots ever, in a show full of WTF final shots. I bet this one got the fans theorizing like crazy until the next episode aired back in 2006. *** out of 4.