Episode Report Card Erin: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four
By Erin | Season 2 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.02.2002
Hell-Lay. Amy Aquino (one of the hardest-working character actresses in the business) voice-overs that no one had any idea that the sixteen next-gen weapons were going to be children. As Syd and Amy Aquino (and yes, I will be using her full name throughout the recap, because it makes me giggle) trot through Ops Center, Vaughn trailing them, Syd asks, "They were being trained to be sleeper agents?" "That appears to be the case," responds Amy Aquino. "See, the best spies have certain traits: proficiency with numbers, three-dimensional thinking, creative problem-solving...these abilities are all in evidence as early as five years old." Amy Aquino pulls something from her pocket and inserts it into a device on a desk, saying that it's footage the CIA downloaded from the Triad computer.
The footage shows the same classroom that Sydney photographed. Sixteen desks with children opening boxes full of gun parts, just like the ones Syd witnessed. Vaughn says something about how every first grader in the European Union takes a standardized test. (By the way, there is no "first grade" in Europe. If I'm not mistaken, there aren't "grades." There's primary school and secondary school, but no grades. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the writers bunged this one up.) But a few years ago, Triad acquired the company doing the testing on the kids and added a series of questions designed to locate children with the special spy traits. "This year," says Vaughn, "twenty-eight children were indicated. Their parents were sent letters inviting them to participate in a month-long achievement program. Sixteen accepted."
"Six-year-olds acquire knowledge at an incredible rate," Amy Aquino goes on, as Syd purses her rosebud lips. "So, the basic skills of marksmanship, linguistics, visual, verbal cue recognition...it can all be taught in a matter of weeks." Syd leans down to the computer screen and points at the teacher. "Who's he?" she asks. "We're still working on that," says Vaughn. "So what happens to these kids at the end of the month?" asks Syd. "Triad sends them home," says Vaughn, "with the intent that, when they're grown, they will contact these kids and send them out in the field."
Amy Aquino pipes up that there was a rumor that the KGB began developing a similar program back in the eighties, but it was never confirmed. Mama Hari, anyone? "Before these kids are sent home, their memories are reset?" questions Syd. "Yup, that's right," says Amy Aquino. "They remember nothing except that it was extremely satisfying." Just then, Syd looks down at the screen and sees a child putting together some sort of towering puzzle.
Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19Next