Alias/Color-Blind

Color-Blind
Season 1, Episode 7
Airdate	November 25, 2001
Production Number	E636
Written by	Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Directed by	Jack Bender
← 1x06 Reckoning	1x08 → Time Will Tell
Alias — Season One

Color-Blind is the seventh episode of the first season of Alias. Trapped in a K-Directorate Mental Institution, Sydney must connect with a mentally-ill man to survive.

Starring: Jennifer Garner (Sydney Bristow), Ron Rifkin (Arvin Sloane), Michael Vartan (Michael Vaughn), Bradley Cooper (Will Tippin), Merrin Dungey (Francie Calfo), Carl Lumbly (Marcus Dixon), (credit only) Kevin Weisman (Marshall Flinkman)

and Victor Garber (Jack Bristow)

Guest Starring: John Hannah (Martin Shepard), Evan Dexter Parke (Charlie), Elaine Kagan (June Litvack), Eugene Lazarev (K-Directorate Agent Dr. Kreshnik), Sarah Shahi (Jenny)

Co-Starring: Mark Galasso (Ed Davis)

Uncredited: James Hong (Maitre d'), Edward Atterton (Danny Hecht), Derek Mears (Orderly)

Plot Overview

Sydney, trapped in the K-Directorate mental institution with her SD6 colleague dead in front of her, fights off two men before being subdued by Dr. Kreshnik. Clearly stating that he knows in detail her name and mission, Dr. Kreshnik is intent on finding out if she heard the location of the assassinated man's body from Shepard. Using electroshock therapy, Sydney is able to convince him that she doesn't know but that she can talk to Shepard and reach him. Giving her just one day, he releases her back to talk with Shepard.

Meeting with Shepard, Sydney finds him approachable but completely untrustworthy. The psychological modification he's been put under to make him a sleeper assassin has left him unable to see colors, a condition normally only present when he's in assassin mode. Shepard is certain he's seen Sydney somewhere before, but completely unwilling to leave the medical facility. Bluffing that she has the information, Sydney is led to Dr. Kreshnik but overpowers her guard. Not able to leave because of a dual key locking system, Sydney attempts to fashion a makeshift key turning arm but is tasered by Dr. Kreshnik's guard. While being led away, Shepard helps her overpower the two and agrees to help her escape. Taking a car from an arriving policeman, they head off.

At the safehouse, Sydney again tries to get the information about Parkashoff but unintentionally Shepard calls her by name without her having told him. He's seen an old birthday photo of her and that photo was in Danny's apartment. Shepard was the assassin sent to kill Danny, which devastates Sydney although she recognizes that he was an unconscious weapon for SD-6. She confesses the full nature of herself, including that she is a double agent for the CIA. Finding the common ground in wanting to see SD-6 taken down, Shepard tells her that Parkashoff is located in some marshland on the Texas-Louisiana border.

Returning to SD-6, Sydney passes along information to both Sloane and Vaughn although she tells Sloane that Shepard committed suicide while crossing through Bulgaria. SD-6 recovers a DNA sample from Parkashoff's remains and decodes the FTL information. The encoded message indicates a new Rambaldi artifact in Tunisia. SD-6 has already found that the location has been abandoned by FTL and determine that the recovered artifact is current stored at Oxford University for analysis, with the expectation of substantial FTL presence. Sydney is tasked with going in to recover the artifact. She is warned that Anna Espinosa was seen visiting the Romanian Hospital and she may encounter her.

Back at SD-6, Sloane deals with the collateral damage of the computer network intrusion. Telling Marshall that the entire thing was a security test, the connection is apparently left on to leave the CIA unaware of his detection. Under cover of this, Sloane prepares to capture the mole or moles in his organization.

At home, during a Thanksgiving dinner, Jack visits Sydney and shows him official documentation provided to him by the FBI exonerating him of suspicions that he was selling secrets to the KGB.

Notes

• Sydney beats four guards and a cop, including using one as a human shield against a tranquilizing dart. Martin Shepard beats Dr. Kreshnik with a fire extinguisher and Sydney uses a taser on him for retribution.

Music

• The Pretenders - "The Wait"

• Jude - "Everything's All Right (I Think It's Time)"

• Natalie Merchant - "Not In This Life"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Will finds that Eloise, the actress who posed as Kate Jones, has been found dead in a park. He is also very uneasy that his editor is interested in publishing his story considering the deadly turn it has taken.

Characters

• Charlie proposes to Francie at the Thanksgiving meal.

Referbacks

• The coded message refers to a Rambaldi artifact, the first of which was recovered in "Parity".

Quotes

• Shepard: I'm not leaving here. I would rather die than leave the way I am now.

• Shepard's Postcard: (written on the back of a postcard showing a properly colored sky) Blue Skies Again. I Owe You.