Alias: Authorized Personnel Only (Spoilers)

[vacantlook]

Oh, I so enjoyed Alias tonight. I grew increasingly tired of last season, so I've been considerably skeptical about if the show could regain its legs, so to speak. I had read that JJ Abrams had looked at last season once it was done and didn't quite like its having gotten away from what made the show so great in seasons one and two, and that he was planning on trying to bring that back this season.

I like Angela Bassett, so when we see her at the beginning in the meeting with Sydney over the mission in Shanghai and she's being quite bitchy, I got so angry. I was like, "Well great, I wanted to like her character, but she's going to be an ass," but then lo and behold, she and Sydney were faking that whole thing -- the Shanghai mission and the meeting -- just so Sydney could "quit" the CIA. That was a yummy piece of writing.

I also loved at the beginning how Sydney and that guy were running down the street in Shanghai and how they just simply took the dialogue out and it looked like she was trying to chase him down, but then once the dialogue was brought back in, she's telling him where to go and we realize they're both being chased. Again, yummy stuff.

On the subject of yummy, Vaughn looked rather nice in the muscle shirt he was wearing when he was boxing. And the Japanese man in his muscle shirt at the end of the episode was yummy looking too. I wish they hadn't killed him, cause he was definitely fun enough to look at that I wouldn't have minded being able to see him a few more times.

But, alas, his death got us to know that Sydney's mother put out a contract on Sydney's life, and that because of that Jack killed Irina. Of course, me being me and Alias being Alias, I have to wonder if Irina is dead only if they're permanently unable to get Lena Olin to make any reappearances.

I really wish that had given Lena the extra money to maintain a residence on both coasts so she could have stayed in the show. I personally think her character was worth it; and the things that happened with her at the end of season two made it quite evident to me that they weren't done with her.

I like Nadia so far, and I was worried about her character. I wasn't too fond of her at the end of last season when she ran off with Sloane; it just felt too icky to me. But she was good in tonight's episode. I don't trust the story Sloane gave her about Nadia being out of intelligence; and, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to eventually find out as the season progresses that she's still working secretly with Sloane while they're there in this new blackops group.

I liked several of the lines thrown in there that could be seen as subtle statements about last season. For example, Vaughn's telling Weiss that "Last year sucked," and Vaughn's saying that he wished they could just forget about last year but that they couldn't, and Dixon's saying that he belongs in the field.

Marshall was so hillarious when he was talking to Dixon about how Dixon behaved like a robot last year.

So, so far the season looks to be good, and I'm actually excited about watching Alias again, for which I'm glad.

 

[Recoil]

Ok here's my take on Alias.

Love season 1. Season 2 equally owned. Season 3, letdown in major ways. So far Season 4...I think it will be getting back to what made the show great, but they are still doing some of the things that annoyed me about Season 3.

Alias has this habit of having a big cliff-hanger...then their "revelation" about what the cliffhanger was is usually nothing related to anything, and looks completely made up and pulled out of you-know-where.

Example:

Season 3 ended with Sydney looking over those secret documents. Of which you saw the wording "Subject: Sydney Bristow" "Project Manager: Jack Bristow"

So tell me. What the FUCK does a "project manager" have to do with having her mother killed? Nothing. It looked like the show was going to get into that "Project Christmas" from a couple seasons ago, which I thought would have been pretty cool to see what it was about --- AND if the dad was in charge of whatever was on those documents, it would have still had plenty of tension between them.

But instead they just off'd the mom (whom we never saw last season anyway) who was apparently doing all she could to PROTECT Sydney, and also it seemed like she was keeping in touch with Jack and vise versa. It seemed like the only reason they off'd the mom was because a) the actoress wasnt available and b) to cause tension for the half-sister.

See its stuff like this that makes me annoyed.

Another major thing that is annoying is how they keep this Rambaldi storyline going. After 3 seasons, its like WHO CARES ANYMORE. I used to think it was one of the cool appeals of the show. I mean come on! I 500 year old picture of Sydney? Pretty neat! And that guy who pretty much had lived 500+ years and knew when he was going to die? That was cool stuff. Some of those inventions were neat as well.

But over time the actual Rambaldi story just started becoming finding weird device after device that never really did anything, and now they mention in the Season 4 premier about Sloane finding one with "unimaginable wealth" and just turning it over. Yea...unimaginable because they no longer know what they are doing with that plotline anymore and are more or less abandoning it.

Its just there to have a "weird gadget of the week" and thats about all. They should either give it the big closure it deserves (given all the huge prophecys around it) or just not even bring it up anymore.

Other than THAT, I think the show is OK. I think its good they are getting back to basics, but I just hope they do a better job of keeping some of the important stuff going.

 

[Recoil]

I liked several of the lines thrown in there that could be seen as subtle statements about last season. For example, Vaughn's telling Weiss that "Last year sucked," and Vaughn's saying that he wished they could just forget about last year but that they couldn't

I caught those throw-away lines as well and thought it was a cool thing to do.

 

[Ninja_Squirrel]

I liked several of the lines thrown in there that could be seen as subtle statements about last season. For example, Vaughn's telling Weiss that "Last year sucked," and Vaughn's saying that he wished they could just forget about last year but that they couldn't, and Dixon's saying that he belongs in the field.

Marshall was so hillarious when he was talking to Dixon about how Dixon behaved like a robot last year.

I also thought it appropriate that Sydney's new codename is Phoenix. I think that's a reference to the show kind of being re-born. While not symbolic, I like Vaughn's new codename of Shotgun much better than Boy Scout. I'm not sure I was hearing correctly, but is Jack's new codename Raptor?

A few other subtle in-jokes… The very first thing heard in the episode is the first line of a song, "Aaat Laaast…," kind of signifying the extra time we had to wait until the season premiere. The character Vaughn burning his house down (off camera in the past) to forget his ex-wife is analogous to the writer "burning bridges" of Season 3 to forget that it was not up to usual par. Sark being in lock-up may be a convenient way of limiting (if not eliminating) that character from the playing field, since he did seem to get overused last season.

I can't remember what the exact dialogue was, but there was a reference made to needing to forget or not being able to ignore the "last few years" (the 2 year gap in Sydney's memory between seasons plus Season 3). The secure entry to APO harkens back to the disguised entrance of SD-6. And lastly, the re-vamped opening credits visually highlight one main aspect that made Sydney's skills as a spy so believable--her ability to look like anyone in any profession from any country with just a wig and a costume.

And then of course the blatant-yet-delightful… Throwing Sydney in with Dixon, Jack, Vaughn, and Sloane, is majorly getting back to normal. And thank goodness they didn't leave Marshall out either. In some ways, it's almost like Season 4 *is* Season 1 Version 2.0 and APO is SD-6 v2.0. And, Nadia and Weiss might kinda sorta take the place of Francie and Will (maybe a little bit of a stretch).

I kind of like it. I don't think I've ever seen a show so drastically re-vamp itself by going back to the beginning like this. Granted, Season 4 will probably diverge on its own, but the season premiere was a very creative and tactful way of saying, "Let's start over."

 

[Recoil]

Yea you are right, a lot of it was them saying "ok, sorry about that, lets try this again."

I'm all for starting over because I thought last season kinda sucked too. Given that I guess its OK for them to divert a few things hanging from last season...but I hope they don't completely leave behind some of the things that made Season 1 and 2 interesting...

 

[vacantlook]

Yeah, the "project manager" and such of that one page we got to see at the end of last season and was flashbacked in last night's episode made me and Emily both independently think it was going to be something about Project Christmas. With them having not originally planned for the story of Irina to be over yet, maybe they changed what the pages were about for this season because they decided to stop trying to keep the Irina character in limbo, and that the pages weren't originally going to be what they've turned out to be. It is a bit annoying.

 

[Alluveal]

I wasn't too impressed with Season 4. Things I enjoyed immensely in S1 and S2 are simply absent from this year, yet again. Syd's mom has been "killed," so no more Irina (who was the highlight of S2, imho.) No more Will Tippin who was one of the best characters the show had in S1 and S2. They threw him a bone in S3 (oooo yay, one episode.)

Syd's only "friend" now is Weiss. Her chemistry with Will was undeniable. I always felt they had a very deep friendship, even though it sparked some romantic interest during Will's single S3 show.

I've been rewatching Season 1 and I'm disappointed that they've strayed from some of the basics that I've come to enjoy. First off, they really got into "the character" in Season 1 . . . so much so that you actually felt a little sorry for Sloane as he told Emily who he was really working for. Watching Jack and Syd in season 1 was also a joy: a father who has issues being emotional slowly coming out of his shell, and Syd and Vaughn's relationship unfolding.

I see none of this in Season 3 or 4. Syd has a new sister and she has yet to spend more than 5 minutes at a time with her.

My suggestions, not that anyone's listening or cares over at Alias:

-bring Will back
-find a way to bring Lena Olin back as Irina (near impossible, but this is my wish list)
-more character development

*Note to self: whatever happened to Anna Espinoza? A nemesis for Sydney was always appealing.

Since Jen. Garner and Michael Vartan split IRL you can see the lack of chemistry between them in the show: it was pretty blatant to me at least.

I guess I'll wait out a few more episodes before I sum this all up to "another Season 3."

 

[Recoil]

Since Jen. Garner and Michael Vartan split IRL you can see the lack of chemistry between them in the show: it was pretty blatant to me at least.

This is a really excellent point...and a reason why I don't think stars on the same show should date.

Yea, Syd and Vaughn were dating in real life in Season 1 (maybe 2?) and their chemistry was good during those seasons. Since they aren't dating anymore it REALLY REALLY shows in the show imo. One thing I noticed, is when those two did their "sex scene" in the S4 premier, did anyone notice that Garner always had her grey tank-top on?

Little things like that I do tend to notice. And while that isn't paramount when it comes to chemistry between two characters...it is something that really accents the telltale signs.

Yea I can tell its going to be tough to sell the chemistry between Syd and Vaughn this season due to Real Life issues, and the premier demonstrated that...at least to me.