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

Sydney gets a surprise visitor!

This episode starts with a bang as Irena intercepts the ambulance carrying the traitor Jack exposed in the previous episode and kills him along with the guards. She then appears at Sydney's house; she isn't there to threaten her though; indeed it appears that the visit is purely social... of course Sydney doesn't know of her involvement with Prophet Five. As part of a mole hunt APO is shut down while Director Devlin goes though all the records; this makes it difficult for Sydney and her parents who are going on an off the book mission to retrieve The Horizon in Vancouver. They aren't the only people heading to Vancouver; Peyton and a heavily armed team from Prophet Five are going too and they will make things very difficult... and they were a bit tricky already as Sydney started to give birth mid-mission!

This episode had plenty of excitement even by the standards of Alias; there is the shooting at the start, Renée and Dixon's interrogation of a former SD-6 man by questioning him while he is tied to the bonnet of a speeding car and Peyton casually blowing a helicopter out of the night sky with a missile! It was good to see Lena Olin back as Irina; her character rivals Sloane when it comes to deviousness. As usually the acting was solid and there were a few humorous moments to lighten the tone; most notably Jack and Irena pretending to be Italian parents to trick their way into a bank vault. The biggest surprise comes right at the end; I won't way what happens but be prepared for the biggest shock in the series!