|
"Alias" jumped the shark during its increasingly unbelievable
third season (alright the whole show was unbelievable but
I couldn't suspend my disbelief any longer) so jumping back
into the series during the fifth and final season would
be, I thought, a mixed blessing; on the one hand I could
achieve some closure with the series on the other I could
see how much more outrageous the MTV style dress up scenes
and "The X-Files" like story arc about the Rambaldi plot
could possibly become more absurd. ***
CAUTION: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T
SEEN SEASONS 1-4 *** To back track during season one we
met Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) who worked undercover
for an organization she believed to be a branch of the CIA
doing black ops. It turned out she was really working for
a terrorist cell called SD-6 headed by the sinister Arvine
Sloane (Ron Rifkin). She also discovered that her father
Jack Bristow worked for SD-6 but not in the capacity she
believed-it turns out he's a double agent trying to bring
down SD-6 and Sydney ends up aiding him. Sloane is obsessed
with obtaining the Rambaldi artifacts a series of inventions
three centuries old that are still futuristic and dangerous
to mankind. Sydney tries to prevent Sloane from obtaining
these devices working undercover with her operative Michael
Vaughn (Michael Vartan) and trying to hide what she's doing
from her SD-6 counterpart Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly) who
still believes he is working for the CIA. ***
As the series progressed Sloan is brought down as is
SD-6 by the CIA. Sloane is recruited to work for the CIA
because he has extensive knowledge of the workings of international
terrorist organizations. Vaughn falls in love with Sydney.
Sydney meets her mother (Lena Olin) who she believed to
be dead (and, of course, it turns out that her mother was
an agent working for the KGB and eventually for Sloane).
As the series continues on bad things happen to Vaughn (because
actor Vartan wanted to leave the show), Marcus Dixon discovers
he was a bad guy all along and is recruited to be Sydney's
permanent CIA partner and the look for the dangerous Rambaldi
artifacts continues throughout the five year run of the
show. ***
END OF SPOILERS ***
It's clear that the show had run its course by the
fourth season (which I recently watched to prepare to review
the fifth season). The show was cancelled during the fifth
season which isn't a surprise as creator J.J. Abrams really
was involved in "Lost" and "Mission Impossible: III" pulling
him away from his signature creation. The fifth season is
the least exciting and essential of all the seasons. The
introduction of two new characters and actors didn't energize
the series as hoped instead it made the series more diffuse
in its focus. The introduction of new baddies Prophet Five
(which is like the Alliance which is like.SD-6) only heightened
the impression of "been there done that". Also the Rimbaldi
story arcs which had become pretty far fetched by season
three were over-the-top to the point that it stretched the
believability of even a fantasy show like this. The series
managed to tie up most of its loose ends by the conclusion
of the series but it's clear that the show's salad days
were buried in the past. ---
Image & Sound:
Fans of the series will be pleased with the presentation
of "Alias: Season 5" on DVD. The colors are bold and while
the show does suffer from artifact problems particularly
during darker scenes it's not a constant problem for the
show. The 5.1 mix sounds fine with dialogue coming through
loud and clear while the use of the surround speakers is
a secret weapon exploding to life during the action sequences
of the show. ---
|
