![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
A hunter went killing sparrows one cold day...
Six episodes in, and it's time for me to think about the Covenant, who might be behind it, and what Sark's relation to it may be.
The Covenant seems to be set up as the new Big Bad at this stage. But what is it? A mixture of former Russian intelligence and organized crime, according to the CIA, but judging from what we've seen it's a very loose organization. There's a core of operatives (of whom San'ko appears to be the chief representative, although Bomani may fall into this category as well). Some of its lower-status operatives seem to be on an exclusive contract, for instance Sark and perhaps Allison Doren. Others, like Julia Thorne, are the products of Covenant experimentation. Still others, like Simon and his crew, are hired mission by mission. And there's some overlap--if Julia Thorne was working full-time for the Covenant, that didn't stop her from joining Simon's group for a single mission here and there. The full extent of the Covenant isn't clear to most of the people who work for it, I suspect: Sark certainly didn't know that Allison was connected to it. It also seems that Simon wasn't aware of Julia's position within it.
Why the loose organization? In undercover work, it's a way of protecting the larger organization. That doesn't seem to be what the Covenant is doing, although they certainly have secrets which they're determined to keep. It may also be the case that the loose organization means that individual Covenant cells can react quickly to changed circumstances on the ground, without the need for approval from on high.
What is the Covenant after, anyway? Not money--or not money except as a means for a larger end. They're in the business of acquiring very powerful weapons, but it's not clear to me that they intend to sell them. The biological weapon stolen by Simon is used to break Bomani out of jail, for instance. In fact at the moment the Covenant seems to be most concerned with manpower issues: bringing people like Sark and Bomani into the organization. Why? Or more precisely, why now? Because my impression (perhaps unfounded) is that the Covenant has stepped up their activities since Sydney Bristow regained her identity.
Why now may be driven by the short-term goal: getting back whatever information is hidden in Sydney's cute little head. The long-term goal may depend on who's in charge of the organization, but my bet is that it involves either political power or the Rambaldi material.
My guess is that the real reason for the loose organization of the Covenant is to conceal the identity of the person in charge. I see three possibilities at the moment: Irina Derevko, Arvin Sloane or Jack Bristow.
If it's Irina, it would mean that she only appeared to be working with Jack; she would have known exactly where Sydney was and what she was doing. It would also imply that the Covenant exists to gain control of Rambaldi material, which would tie in with the information provided by Allison that her life was saved by some kind of Rambaldi formula. Irina has the necessary ties with Russian intelligence to set up an organization of this nature, although one might wonder why she would bother setting up yet another criminal organization. One might also wonder why she decided to bring Sloane in, even in an advisory capacity, unless she sees Sloane as a way to get access to Sydney. But Jack would be a better conduit for that, particularly since he now appears to trust her.
To be honest, I don't really buy Irina Derevko as the leader of the Covenant--it requires a few too many mental contortions: if the goal is Rambaldi, it's easier for her to face Sydney directly. Despite those contortions, this might be a useful plot-device for Irina's re-emergence, should Lena Olin return to the show, although it would be a little too reminiscent of the end of Season 1.
I rather like the idea of Sloane, though, and here's why. When questioned about his new interest in philanthropy, Sloane tells Jack to have faith in the consistency of [Sloane's] obsessions. But we haven't seen Sloane do anything concerned with Rambaldi yet--sure, he claims to be following the instructions he was given by Il Dire, but I'd expect Sloane to go looking for more, and more detailed, instructions. I would expect Sloane to be running some kind of behind-the-scenes operation to keep tabs on the other Rambaldi players--not just Irina Derevko, but also the various intelligence services who took an interest in the Rambaldi material in S1 and S2. True, the Covenant's devotion to non-violence leaves a little to be desired, but they haven't been engaging in proliferation--they steal weapons for themselves and use them, but don't sell them on.
I don't see any problem with the idea of Sloane posing as an unwilling operative within his own organization to find out what the CIA knows about the Covenant and to keep tabs on Sydney Bristow--I would assume that he's been forced into a more active role because of Sydney's re-emergence. And it's precisely the kind of double-cross that he would delight in. Crazy Uncle Arvin is having too much fun this season not to be in charge.
Finally, Jack Bristow. Bear with me here, because I know you're all scratching your heads at this. Jack, as he himself admits, is perfectly capable of throwing morality to the winds when Sydney's safety is at stake. He has never approved of her growing attachment to her mother. What if he made Sydney Bristow disappear in order to keep her away from Irina? And having spent much of his life working against Arvin Sloane and Irina Derevko, I can imagine Jack deciding to create an organization of his own, something that wouldn't be subject to the rules of the CIA.
OK, I admit I don't really buy this: it wouldn't make sense for him to have shown Sydney the videotape (unless he was hoping to trigger her memories). And I can't see Jack saving Allison's life, or allowing Sloane to work for him in any way. In other words, although I think that Jack is perfectly capable of creating and running an organization like the Covenant, I don't think he's running the Covenant itself--there are too many people working for it that he'd like to kill. Unless, of course, his plan is to betray them all to the US government at some point in the future, once he's gotten what he wanted and killed anyone who can ID him. And the timing is suspicious: Jack gets out of jail, and the Covenant starts accumulating manpower.
I just can't shake the sense that something is up with Jack Bristow. He knows more about Sydney's missing time than he's willing to say.
And as for Sark...
He's working for the Covenant, clearly enough. The Covenant operatives we've seen feel confident enough to push him around a bit, which implies that they're holding some kind of threat over him. But they also seem to have an interest in keeping him happy--the wine, the reunion with Allison--and they give him quite a lot of room to maneuver. My suspicion is that they need him as much as he needs them. The question is, what for? Not his money, certainly: if it was just the money, he'd be dead by now. After two years in jail, it's difficult to believe that Sark has any organization left worth holding on to. I've theorized that it's his connection to Irina (which would work whether or not she's in charge of the Covenant); it's also possible that the Covenant are simply short-handed, now that Sydney's no longer with them, and need an all-purpose operative like Sark. Given that in this universe the CIA seems to have no more than five active members at any given time, there's no reason to think that the Covenant has all that many resources. Sark is not entirely incompetent--at any rate, he's no more incompetent than Sydney is.
Is Sark also working against the Covenant? He certainly has reason to do so. 800 million in gold worth of reason. If he is, he isn't doing it on his own: he's working for someone else. (Yes, I know. I like the notion of Sark's independence myself, but as long as we've known him, he's been playing second-fiddle to someone else--Khasinau, Irina, Sloane. His one try at independence landed him in CIA custody for two years. He's not actively opposing the Covenant on his own now.) The possibilities are relatively few: Irina, Jack or Sloane. Irina is the old alliance, of course, and I expect that Sark would work for her again, even though she handed him over to the CIA. I could make a Sark/Jack alliance work in fanfic, although I think it's highly unlikely on the show--but it might be one way of opening up some moral complexity for Jack without making him really evil. Sloane is the most likely candidate, I think, since he has the opportunity to contact Sark without suspicion and he's almost certainly playing some kind of complex game with the Covenant and the CIA. I wonder whether Sark was wearing a wire himself at that dinner with Sloane and Allison--he certainly did a quick turnaround on the issue of trusting Sloane.
If he were working against the Covenant, he would not tell Allison about it--he'd have no way of knowing how loyal she is to them. Sark may well love Allison deeply, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he tells her everything.
I wanted to work "Money is the usual thing" in here somewhere, but couldn't. The Dunnett quotes are of course entirely gratuitous.
The Covenant seems to be set up as the new Big Bad at this stage. But what is it? A mixture of former Russian intelligence and organized crime, according to the CIA, but judging from what we've seen it's a very loose organization. There's a core of operatives (of whom San'ko appears to be the chief representative, although Bomani may fall into this category as well). Some of its lower-status operatives seem to be on an exclusive contract, for instance Sark and perhaps Allison Doren. Others, like Julia Thorne, are the products of Covenant experimentation. Still others, like Simon and his crew, are hired mission by mission. And there's some overlap--if Julia Thorne was working full-time for the Covenant, that didn't stop her from joining Simon's group for a single mission here and there. The full extent of the Covenant isn't clear to most of the people who work for it, I suspect: Sark certainly didn't know that Allison was connected to it. It also seems that Simon wasn't aware of Julia's position within it.
Why the loose organization? In undercover work, it's a way of protecting the larger organization. That doesn't seem to be what the Covenant is doing, although they certainly have secrets which they're determined to keep. It may also be the case that the loose organization means that individual Covenant cells can react quickly to changed circumstances on the ground, without the need for approval from on high.
What is the Covenant after, anyway? Not money--or not money except as a means for a larger end. They're in the business of acquiring very powerful weapons, but it's not clear to me that they intend to sell them. The biological weapon stolen by Simon is used to break Bomani out of jail, for instance. In fact at the moment the Covenant seems to be most concerned with manpower issues: bringing people like Sark and Bomani into the organization. Why? Or more precisely, why now? Because my impression (perhaps unfounded) is that the Covenant has stepped up their activities since Sydney Bristow regained her identity.
Why now may be driven by the short-term goal: getting back whatever information is hidden in Sydney's cute little head. The long-term goal may depend on who's in charge of the organization, but my bet is that it involves either political power or the Rambaldi material.
My guess is that the real reason for the loose organization of the Covenant is to conceal the identity of the person in charge. I see three possibilities at the moment: Irina Derevko, Arvin Sloane or Jack Bristow.
If it's Irina, it would mean that she only appeared to be working with Jack; she would have known exactly where Sydney was and what she was doing. It would also imply that the Covenant exists to gain control of Rambaldi material, which would tie in with the information provided by Allison that her life was saved by some kind of Rambaldi formula. Irina has the necessary ties with Russian intelligence to set up an organization of this nature, although one might wonder why she would bother setting up yet another criminal organization. One might also wonder why she decided to bring Sloane in, even in an advisory capacity, unless she sees Sloane as a way to get access to Sydney. But Jack would be a better conduit for that, particularly since he now appears to trust her.
To be honest, I don't really buy Irina Derevko as the leader of the Covenant--it requires a few too many mental contortions: if the goal is Rambaldi, it's easier for her to face Sydney directly. Despite those contortions, this might be a useful plot-device for Irina's re-emergence, should Lena Olin return to the show, although it would be a little too reminiscent of the end of Season 1.
I rather like the idea of Sloane, though, and here's why. When questioned about his new interest in philanthropy, Sloane tells Jack to have faith in the consistency of [Sloane's] obsessions. But we haven't seen Sloane do anything concerned with Rambaldi yet--sure, he claims to be following the instructions he was given by Il Dire, but I'd expect Sloane to go looking for more, and more detailed, instructions. I would expect Sloane to be running some kind of behind-the-scenes operation to keep tabs on the other Rambaldi players--not just Irina Derevko, but also the various intelligence services who took an interest in the Rambaldi material in S1 and S2. True, the Covenant's devotion to non-violence leaves a little to be desired, but they haven't been engaging in proliferation--they steal weapons for themselves and use them, but don't sell them on.
I don't see any problem with the idea of Sloane posing as an unwilling operative within his own organization to find out what the CIA knows about the Covenant and to keep tabs on Sydney Bristow--I would assume that he's been forced into a more active role because of Sydney's re-emergence. And it's precisely the kind of double-cross that he would delight in. Crazy Uncle Arvin is having too much fun this season not to be in charge.
Finally, Jack Bristow. Bear with me here, because I know you're all scratching your heads at this. Jack, as he himself admits, is perfectly capable of throwing morality to the winds when Sydney's safety is at stake. He has never approved of her growing attachment to her mother. What if he made Sydney Bristow disappear in order to keep her away from Irina? And having spent much of his life working against Arvin Sloane and Irina Derevko, I can imagine Jack deciding to create an organization of his own, something that wouldn't be subject to the rules of the CIA.
OK, I admit I don't really buy this: it wouldn't make sense for him to have shown Sydney the videotape (unless he was hoping to trigger her memories). And I can't see Jack saving Allison's life, or allowing Sloane to work for him in any way. In other words, although I think that Jack is perfectly capable of creating and running an organization like the Covenant, I don't think he's running the Covenant itself--there are too many people working for it that he'd like to kill. Unless, of course, his plan is to betray them all to the US government at some point in the future, once he's gotten what he wanted and killed anyone who can ID him. And the timing is suspicious: Jack gets out of jail, and the Covenant starts accumulating manpower.
I just can't shake the sense that something is up with Jack Bristow. He knows more about Sydney's missing time than he's willing to say.
And as for Sark...
He's working for the Covenant, clearly enough. The Covenant operatives we've seen feel confident enough to push him around a bit, which implies that they're holding some kind of threat over him. But they also seem to have an interest in keeping him happy--the wine, the reunion with Allison--and they give him quite a lot of room to maneuver. My suspicion is that they need him as much as he needs them. The question is, what for? Not his money, certainly: if it was just the money, he'd be dead by now. After two years in jail, it's difficult to believe that Sark has any organization left worth holding on to. I've theorized that it's his connection to Irina (which would work whether or not she's in charge of the Covenant); it's also possible that the Covenant are simply short-handed, now that Sydney's no longer with them, and need an all-purpose operative like Sark. Given that in this universe the CIA seems to have no more than five active members at any given time, there's no reason to think that the Covenant has all that many resources. Sark is not entirely incompetent--at any rate, he's no more incompetent than Sydney is.
Is Sark also working against the Covenant? He certainly has reason to do so. 800 million in gold worth of reason. If he is, he isn't doing it on his own: he's working for someone else. (Yes, I know. I like the notion of Sark's independence myself, but as long as we've known him, he's been playing second-fiddle to someone else--Khasinau, Irina, Sloane. His one try at independence landed him in CIA custody for two years. He's not actively opposing the Covenant on his own now.) The possibilities are relatively few: Irina, Jack or Sloane. Irina is the old alliance, of course, and I expect that Sark would work for her again, even though she handed him over to the CIA. I could make a Sark/Jack alliance work in fanfic, although I think it's highly unlikely on the show--but it might be one way of opening up some moral complexity for Jack without making him really evil. Sloane is the most likely candidate, I think, since he has the opportunity to contact Sark without suspicion and he's almost certainly playing some kind of complex game with the Covenant and the CIA. I wonder whether Sark was wearing a wire himself at that dinner with Sloane and Allison--he certainly did a quick turnaround on the issue of trusting Sloane.
If he were working against the Covenant, he would not tell Allison about it--he'd have no way of knowing how loyal she is to them. Sark may well love Allison deeply, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he tells her everything.
I wanted to work "Money is the usual thing" in here somewhere, but couldn't. The Dunnett quotes are of course entirely gratuitous.
no subject
no subject
And you could work in John Dee, too...
no subject
no subject
Oh, all right. If you insist. I still think it'd be brilliant, despite my entirely inconsistent distaste for literary fanfic.