Episode Report Card Erin: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT "André"? Seriously? That's the best you could do?
By Erin | Season 5 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.28.2005
Deep breath. Before Vaughn's father was in the CIA, he was involved in a project called Prophet Five and his name was Michaux. This project was something that people had gone to great lengths to cover up and Vaughn only found out about it when some French chick came to see him seven years ago. Vaughn's father, apparently, was originally a mathematician before he joined the CIA. Vaughn sucks up a nice big shot of exposition and says something about how the day that Sydney came to the CIA six years ago, she mentioned something about a device invented by someone named Mueller. This struck a chord with Vaughn, because he had been told that Mueller was the man who originated the Prophet Five project. I went back and read the recap of the first episode of this entire series just to check and see if Syd actually mentioned Mueller in front of Vaughn and, shocker, she didn't. But the episode WAS all about the Mueller device, so we can maybe let that one slide a bit.
Vaughn blah-blahs some more about his dad and how whatever the Mueller Prophet Five project was, his dad was running away from it. He changed his name and changed Vaughn's name, even though Vaughn was only 18 months old at the time and, like, not really telling people his family secrets at that point. "This man we're going to meet, Leeman," he says, "Renée and I have been looking for him for years. We believe he worked with our fathers." At the mention of a woman's name, Syd's all, uh, what's with the piece on the side, homie? Vaughn's all, her name's Renée Rienne. Syd's all, oh, wait just one minute! Before she can say what's on her mind, the elevator stops abruptly and then starts up again, moving erratically to the chosen floor. The door opens up and someone flashes a flashlight in their eyes. Leeman, for that is who is holding the amazing glowing stick of light that shineth in their eyes, demands the watch, and after Vaughn tosses it over, he states that Vaughn was supposed to come alone. Vaughn's all, whatever, dude. What time is it? Because I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE. Syd and Vaughn follow Leeman deeper into the building.
Apple Store. Gordo's giving Jack a ration of shit about the missing Vaughn situation. Jack's all, I don't know where he is, dude, so sell your Gestapo tactics down the river. Gordo's all, oh, yeah? Then I'm classifying him as a fugitive and Syd as an accomplice and…and…neener neener! Jack just looks at him and grits, "Maybe you should try Mexico City." Heh. Gordo bitches ineffectively at Jack about apprehending the kids and then leaves. Marshall walks in and geeks that Gordo's not gonna find Sydney and Vaughn, not from what he gave him. Jack's all, the huh? Marshall's all, dude, I encrypted Vaughn's files 4,096 bit and it'll take 'em years to decipher it. Nice one, little geeky man! Jack demands the originals of the files and Marshall does his bidding.
Leeman's Lair. Leeman flicks a light on and tells Vaughn that his father did everything he could to protect him from this. Leeman starts to tell his story as we buy a ticket for the return journey on the Exposition Express. Leeman was a Pentagon cryptologist who specialized in patterns. In 1972, he was recruited, along with others, by a private firm. They were given one page of a book known as The Fifth Prophet. It was a fifteenth-century text that had supposedly been written in an unbreakable code. The group of scientists was finally successful in breaking the code, revealing that the document had something to do with advanced genetics a hundred years ahead of its time. Then, one by one, everyone involved with the project started mysteriously dying. So Leeman followed Michaux's advice and disappeared.