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Embedded takes place in the world of broadcast journalism. Sylvia Malow, the anchor of Deadline, a high profile news program on a major American network, is in the middle of a broadcast when her program is interrupted with a news flash delivered by Victoria Reilly, an attractive, young up-and-coming journalist. Sylvia is distressed to learn that the network is expanding Victoria's role, a signal that Sylvia's days as the anchor will soon be over.
Sylvia leaves the studio in despair over the thought of being thrown over because of her age. When she arrives at her home in New Jersey, she receives a mysterious box that contains a cell phone and a GPS device. The cell phone rings. The caller is Montresor, an Italian terrorist from Linea della morte. Sylvia's reporting of his last terror attack in Rome had foiled his plans; Montresor tells her that he has become a better terrorist as a result, thanks to her. He offers to embed Sylvia in his terror cell and give her an interview to discuss his new plans for an upcoming attack on New York City.
Sylvia balks at the morality of participating in something like this but can't resist the temptation of a good scoop, especially considering the rise of Victoria Reilly at the network and her now vulnerable position. She knows the Montresor interview will make thrilling television programming and solidify her position with the network.
They set up the first interview to take place that evening in the grotto at Amontillado's, a popular wine bar in lower Manhattan. Sylvia agrees to stay on the phone with Montresor who will monitor her progress via the video cam in the phone.
Sylvia gets in the car. She pulls onto the highway, through the tollbooths, and finally into the Holland Tunnel. As she drives she debates whether she's doing the right thing. When she gets to the middle of the tunnel, there is a series of explosions. Traffic comes to a stop. Suddenly there is a rush of water. Montresor reveals that he has bombed the tunnel. In a few moments she will be completely embedded; not in a terror cell, but beneath the Hudson River. She won't be reporting the story, he tells her. She is the story. The camera in the car is live-streaming the event, as they speak, onto the internet.
When Montresor reveals that Victoria Reilly is reporting the story on Deadline, Sylvia decides to take matters into her own hands by reporting the event–and her own death herself, from inside the tunnel using the video cam in her phone. She realizes that by dying she will actually outlive Victoria because she will remain eternally young, embedded in memory via her final broadcast and her live-streamed death. The opera ends with Sylvia turning the horror of her death into a moment of triumph, instead of a moment of defeat not only over Victoria, but Montresor whose efforts to make Sylvia a helpless victim fail when she turns the event into a celebration of her immortality.
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