Okay, so I went back and re-watched the scene. Here’s a video clip:
I decided to transcribe what Aladdin and Jasmine said:
Aladdin: “But stealing this definitely was.”
Jasmine: “What is this?”
Aladdin: “Ah, just a little something extra I snagged from Gold’s shop. Thought it might help a girl I know.”
Jasmine: “Well, who’s inside? Is it? Is he?”
Aladdin: “Um, no. Afraid not. My old pal has moved on.”
Jasmine: “The Genie…is gone.”
Aladdin: “It’s okay. He’s free now. But maybe whoever’s inside here – – maybe they can help us find Agrabah.”
So this changes things based on what I initially thought:
1) Aladdin was referring to two separate genies: His friend who was freed and another genie that belongs/belonged to this lamp.
2) I’m still not giving up on my Sidney theory. While Aladdin believes that there’s still a genie in this lamp, he could be mistaken. Perhaps he’ll find out that this lamp is empty too, and will try to track down who that genie was.
3) If it is Jafar in the lamp, then that’s a major continuity error and one that they would struggle trying to defend. Jafar was trapped in a black bottle, not a gold lamp.
4) Like I mentioned before, the music playing in this scene (about :38 seconds in) matches the Genie’s theme from “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”, another possible hint for Sidney:
For comparison’s sake, here all of the genie lamps/bottles that have appeared thus far:
Sidney’s lamp (the three jewels change from green to red after wishes have been granted):
The lamp in Rumple’s shop (most likely Sidney’s) from Season 1:
Cyrus and his brothers lamps/bottles (one looks similar to Sidney’s lamp, but with a different top):
Jafar’s bottle:
The lamp in this episode (matches Sidney’s lamp exactly):
