Saturday, February 07, 2009

Alias, how we didn't know ye

Alias logoIt is disappointing when you find a show that is actually good, and sadly, ends up spiraling down to the point where the show's quality is seriously damaged beyond all repair.

By the end I was genuinely relieved that I did not have to tune into a show I loved so much for another season. Yes, that show was Alias. This is one of those shows, like many I loved from the start, which began it's downturn around it's third season. It now joins the ranks of "Earth: Final Conflict", "Andromeda", and "Hercules" as other shows that started off with promise, but ended up imploding. Lucky for Alias, I continued to watch the show regularly for quite some time longer into the show's run compared to the other aforementioned shows.

The overall plot of the series revolves around Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) a spy who was recurited to an organization called SD-6. The organization claims to be a secret branch of the United States CIA, but in actuality is a criminal organization. SD-6 is run by Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) who is one of the few who know the truth - with most of his underlings completely unaware that they are working for anyone other than Uncle Sam.

Other main characters in the series are Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), Sydney's father; Marshall Flinkman (Kevin Weisman), the tech guru; Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly), Sydney's good friend in SD-6; Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan), Sydney's liason at the CIA once she discovers the truth.

Additional reoccuring characters in the series are David Anders as villian Julian Sark (he is later cast in Heroes as super villain, Adam Monroe). Merrin Dungey as Sydney's friend, Francie Calfo and Bradley Cooper as Will Tippin. Greg Grunberg shows up as CIA agent Eric Weiss from time to time.

The show should have ended after season 3, when the show had some semblance of focus to it left. After that point it took a nosedive and just was not the same ever again.

If I had to rate the entire series, I'd have to give it three stars out of five. If it were just the first two, it would get five out of five, and if it was the first three, it would be four out of five.

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