Matt Van Stone

For the past year..ish I have been watching Alias religiously. Sadly though, the series has ended.

When I was visiting with my sister in New York last June we rented part of the first season to watch at night, sort of a wind down after a busy day touring the city. Instantly I was hooked on the show. It’s full of action, suspense, and constant plot twists. The thing about Alias is you never know what’s going to happen next. Once you think you have the characters and the plot all figured out it flips completely and you find out the characters you once trusted are deceiving.

Alias is a spy show. It revolves around the life of Sidney Bristow and her family and friends. Sidney is a double agent working with the CIA to bring down a worldwide terrorist organization called the Alliance. Although the show is meant to be somewhat realistic, it does have to be taken lightly. You sort of have to look at it like a comic book. Could anyone get away with running around in a black suit and a cape calling himself Batman in real life? No, but in a comic it works. That is sort of the same with Alias. The characters and plot are sort of unrealistic, but given their environment it works out.

Plot
I’m trying not to give away too much here but as the plot develops we find out both Sidney’s father and mother are involved in espionage. Also her long time family friend and fathers best chum Arvin Sloan is also deeply rooted in the spy trade. Arvin though, is using his power to collect deadly artifacts by a 14th century prophet named Milo Rambaldi in an attempt to fulfill a 5000 year old judgment day prophecy. The Rambaldi prophecy develops to suggest Sidney is the chosen one who will start the Armageddon. Basically I’ve already said too much. As the series progresses characters take on different roles and the good guys and bad guys change a bit, but that basic premise stays the same.

I am finding it really hard to describe clearly why it’s such an awesome show, but let me try some more. The major theme of the show is trust, loyalty, and deceit. Each character keeps you on a need to know basis when it comes to their true motives. The term “endgame” comes up constantly throughout the series. Sidney is the one character who is true from the start of the series to the end. Her endgame is to bring down the enemy organization that threatens her friends and family’s freedom. Aside from Sidney, the show’s director constantly keeps you guessing where each character stands. You may think you know by the dialogue. However, when each scene ends in a soap opera like pan out of a character with an intense expression on their face, you are always left in doubt. Somehow the writers do a very good job of doing it without loopholes. Throughout the whole series I kept a close eye out for inconsistencies in the plot and found very few.

The Cliffhanger
Every episode of the first season ends in a cliffhanger. There is a gunshot and a stray bullet, or some line of dialogue that reveals a character’s true colours and then the screen fades to black until next week. This was the main hook for me when I first started watching. At the end of each episode you are left with a “oh my god” shock that makes you want to watch the next episode. Unfortunately, after the first season the network put an end to this because it makes the show harder to market for syndication. In syndication without playing the episodes in order they wouldn’t make any sense. Still, as the series progressed the writers found other ways to incorporate the cliffhanger shock factor into most episodes.

Jack Bristow
My favorite character in the show is Jack Bristow, Sidney’s father. His character is very mysterious in the first season. As viewers we get to see how differently Jack acts depending on whom he is with. One thing is clear: he will do anything to protect his daughter both physically and mentally. Jack is not clearly a good guy in the first part of the series. He defiantly seems to support the good guys, but his actions are always harsh. If the system is not working he’s not afraid to take matters into his own hands and if you mess with him, he will kill you without hesitation or remorse. I think the reason I liked Jack so much was his facial expressions. He was the hardest character to read and predict, and even though you know he was a good guy, he always gave you a feeling he had something nasty planned. I am disappointed though how Jack was written in the 4th and 5th seasons. In the first 3 seasons there was a lot of mystery to his character. In season 4 and 5 he’s pretty much an open book.

That’s all…
Ok, so that’s pretty much all I have to say. If you have never watched Alias and you like suspenseful shows or you like shows that have continuity in the plot from episode to episode I say watch the first 4 episodes of season 1. If you aren’t hooked then, you probably never will be, but if you are you’ll probably be a huge fan. It happened to me. Now I have to go and find a new show to follow. I understand 24 has a lot of the same suspense and character style as Alias so I may start watching that. I may also get into Lost as it was created by J.J. Abrams, Alias’ creator. Writing this has made me want to start Alias all over again from the start, but it wouldn’t be the same since I know all of the twists.

One Afterthought
I just had one last thought. I hate how the last episode really destroyed any hope of an Alias movie by killing off more than one of the main characters. I would have liked to see the show end in a cathartic way yet with a cliffhanger that would leave the possibility for a movie open. I really don’t think they did that, but I guess since the show was cancelled half way through a season there was never any intent for putting it on the big screen anyway. Oh well.