Random Thoughts: Alias - Season 3

Perhaps the best way to describe Alias - no matter which season - is as follows: "..a spy-fi roller coaster of killer gadgets, double roundkicks, triples crosses, poignant confessionals, cliff-hangers, sliced-off fingers, conspiracies, outrageous outfits, exotic locales, flirtations, mythologies - and that's just before the first commercial break." -Entertainment Weekly

Ketchup:

Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is an agent for the CIA who was assigned to take down a corrupt group posing as the CIA named SD-6. SD-6 ordered Sydney's fiance Danny killed after she told him about her involvement. She worked with her father, Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), as a double agent to destroy that group and their leader Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin). Halfway through Season 2, they finally put an end to Sloane and his evil group. Once that occured, a new group known as The Covenant began showing up. At the end of Season 2, Sydney wakes up in Japan after having killed (or so she thought) an evil doppleganger of her friend Francie (Merrin Dungey). She meets up with her former "handler" (resist pun Darren! resist pun!) Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) whom informs her that she was thought dead after the fight, he's now married, and that two years have passed. So begins Season 3.

(Spoilers herein)

Since this is basically a one thousand minute movie, it would be pretty hard to go into everything that happens. Much like The X-Files and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, instead of going on episode by episode storylines, this is pretty much one long storyarc and each episode is just a chapter. Many thought season 3 was significantly more hard to follow than the previous two seasons, but the advantage of watching them on DVD is that you can watch them all strung together. This allows you to not forget what happened in the minutes between viewing each episode, as oppose to a whole week. The other main reason why people had a problem with season 3 is Melissa George's Lauren Reed, Vaughn's wife. The Covenant isn't a single villain, but rather several evil baddies comprising the organization. Its not like the first two seasons where there is Sloane then several people under him. Lauren served as the most recognizable villain if not the top dog so to speak. However, she wasn't the season's official villain till about half way through the season.

The twists, the action, the costume changes all make the shows wonderful. The soundtrack pulsates making the action exhilirating and topping any action movie you've seen in years. It has rhythm and isn't just some Bruckheimerian in your face bullshit. A tinge of fantasy and the mythical being appearing towards the end of season 3, but it never comes across as ridiculous. It is slightly over the top, but in a fun way. The season finale is probably second only to the Super Bowl episode titled "Phase One" from season 2 as the series best episode. Garner looks so smoking hot at the beginning, marking the first time I actually liked that she had bangs. (There's actually a specific reason why she's so hot, and the twist involved made say aloud "Holy Shit!") The twist is later repeated with a different person and the crowd I was watching it with went nuts! (The people being me, myself and I.)

The show's cast is phenomenal. Do I even need to mention Jennifer Garner? Really? I'll just bypass her in favor of the other players. Victor Garber as Jack Bristow is perfection. Whenever Jack does something Jack-y, I like to put my fists in the air and go "JACK BRISTOW." Sadly, I'm not kidding. Lots of people had problems with Melissa George as I mentioned before, but I personally loved her. The accent is off a lot. Why exactly did she have to be British? They should have let George keep her Aussie brogue. When she's good (or so it would appear) in the beginning of the season, she's good. When she's bad, she's great. I love her look towards the finale: a classy, Hitchcock femme fatale. One of her moves in the finale made me raise my fists and yell "Lauren Reed!" Michael Vartan is probably the weakest actor on the show but I still enjoy him. Vaughn is a very closed off character due to past events and his constant affection for Syd and confusion over Lauren give Vartan a bit more to do this season. After these four, you have the great scene-stealer Kevin Weissman as Marshall Flinkman, the show's "Q." Armed with a weirdly funny face that makes his comedic timing seem even more better, its not surprise that Garner can't keep from smiling whenever they have a scene together. David Anders plays Sark, a baddie whose presence is growing larger. Like Buffy's Spike, Anders is the tortured "bad" British guy played by an American actor. Carl Lumbly plays Dixon, Syd's former SD-6 partner turned head of the CIA rotunda where Syd now works. Greg Grunberg is Weis, Vaughn's partner and is secretly in love with Sydney. Lumbly and Grunberg have the least to do on the show, but they handle what they get very well. The best performance by anyone from Season 3 is Rifkin as Sloane. He frequently goes from being bad to good and Rifkin is so skillful at these sometimes slight transitions that even when his actions lean one way, he's fully understandable. How Rifkin does not yet have an Emmy (or even an Emmy nom!) is beyond me. Season 3 of Alias also boasts an impressive queue of guest stars: David Cronenberg, Quentin Tarantino, Vivica A. Fox, David Carradine, Isabella Rosselini, Djimon Honsou, Ricky Gervais, Richard Roundtree, Justin Theroux, Peggy Lipton, Patrica Wettig, and more. I'm assuming Mia Maestro, who plays Syd's half sister, will be a series regular in season 4, so I'm looking forward to that.

Season 4 will also tone things down a bit and make things more episodic. Most of the fans rejoiced upon hearing that, but I'm slightly ambivalent. I think all the moves the show has done have been great, intriguing and surprising. With the lack of quality shows that try to do something different, Alias is a keeper.

Fun Alias Season 3 drinking game: Take a drink everytime someone says Covenant. Make sure paramedics can arrive five minutes later.