“Breaking Point”

Alias season 3, episode 8
Original air date: November 23, 2003

Sydney is transported by helicopter to an NSC facility in the desert. At the same time, Lindsay pulls Dixon's clearance and holds him for questioning, upon learning that Dixon had directly ordered all his staff not to cooperate on the Lazarey murder investigation. Lindsay also orders Lauren to shadow him during Sydney's questioning, to write up the report for the White House. Vaughn confronts Lauren and tells her she's on the wrong side. She disagrees, and lets him know that he could be in big trouble for his role in Sydney's escape to Europe.

Jack reluctantly agrees to let Vaughn help him break Sydney out of NSC custody. They're also going to have to let Sloane help them, so that it looks like the Covenant has broken Sydney out. They break into a FEMA building to steal blueprints to Camp Williams, where Sydney is being held, Meanwhile, Sydney bonds somewhat with the guy in the cell next to hers: Campbell. He tells her that he's there because he was a journalist in Iran. He offers her a blanket to keep warm and urges her not to give them anything. She's given several rounds of electroshock to get her to speak about the code that Lindsay found in her apartment in Rome. She strongly resists and tells the doctor in charge that he'd better make sure that she's a vegetable when he's done. When Sydney goes in for her next round of electroshock, she uses a paper clip to undo her restraints and assault the guards and doctor. She breaks free of them, but is chased down in the hallways by several other guards. They beat her in order to get her back to her cell, while Lauren watches from a doorway.

Lindsay makes it clear to Lauren that he expects her report to cast the NSC in the most favorable light, so that no one questions that Sydney was fairly treated. When Lindsay keeps Lauren out of the investigation room during Sydney's questioning, she begins to realize that she's a pawn. She pushes Lindsay to let her into the investigation, but he threatens to reveal her husband's complicity in Sydney's escape. After she sees Sydney beaten and dragged back to her cell, she is further disgusted by the NSC's techniques and joins Vaughn and Jack in planning Sydney's release.

Jack has assembled a team to break Sydney out, using money and weapons he's assembled in a storage locker. During their FEMA break-in to get the blueprints, Sloane takes a bullet intended for Jack, and Jack has to perform an emergency surgery in the storage locker to save Sloane. Sydney further bonds with Campbell when she's returned to her cell. He begins talking about his family and telling her how to cope with the torture she's enduring. Some guards come to take Campbell away and begin beating him. They stab him, and Lindsay tells Sydney that she can stop his torture by telling him what he wants to know. As Campbell is bleeding, she cracks and tells Lindsay that she doesn't know what the codes from Rome are, she just knows that they're coordinates. She gives him the coordinates, and Campbell straightens up. He reveals that he's not "Campbell" at all — he's another NSC agent, and he was planted to get Sydney to talk. Her psychological profile told him that empathetic suffering of those around her is more difficult for her to bear than physical torture, so she's performed exactly as they had expected.

She's being prepped for the neural stimulation treatment when Vaughn and Jack implement their plan. It requires Lauren to gain access to the central control station, where she plants an override device that turns off the alarms and video monitoring so that they can enter. "Campbell," who is waiting for a helicopter back to headquarters is in the central control station as well, and he smacks Lauren when he realizes that she must have been involved. Vaughn and Jack release Sydney just as she's being put under anesthesia, but encounter "Campbell" in the hallways as they're trying to escape. He shoots at them, but Lauren appears behind him and kills him. Lauren, Sydney, Jack, and Vaughn all meet Sloane at the helicopter, and they escape. On the ride home, Sydney informs Jack that she gave Lindsay incorrect coordinates, because she didn't know what else to do.