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He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Alias season 1 ::
by William the Bloody
Sydney Bristow was recruited while at college to join SD-6, a black ops branch of the CIA. Or so she believed. She's been there 7 years, under strict secrecy, no one in her personal life can know what she really does, but when her boyfriend proposes, she decides to tell him the truth. When SD-6 finds out that Danny knows what Sydney does, they kill him in a staged burglary while she is overseas on a mission. Knowing full well her employers killed the man she loved, Sydney is reluctant to return to work, and after months, SD-6 views her as a liability. When it is clear that SD-6 will have her killed, Sydney's estranged father appears out of nowhere to assist her. He tells Sydney the truth, that SD-6 is in no way affiliated with the United States government, that they are in fact, run by a group of mercenaries known as the Alliance of Twelve, and he knows this because he is the second in command of the local SD-6 branch. Taken aback by all she has learned, Sydney decides rather than flee the country as her father has arranged, but to prove her worth to SD-6 by flying to Asia with a friend's passport and stealing a device she knows they need. After this device is delivered to her boss's desk, she announces she is back at work. Sydney then goes to the one place she knows can help her take down SD-6, the real CIA. She is now a double agent working to destroy SD-6 from the inside, but what she thought would be a six month job, turns out to be much more complicated than she could have ever imagined, as SD-6's tendrils stretch far and wide indeed...
And that's just the pilot episode! The entire season is wrought with hot, super secret spy action as our heroine travels abroad to exotic locations, sometimes in even more exotic outfits, to kick ass in the name of hampering SD-6 any way she can. Part way into the season, we are introduced to Milo Rimbauldi, an inventor and prophet from 500 years ago, whose ideas and inventions are priceless to many organizations the world over. Rimbauldi is said to have made many accurate prophecies and his creations are the key to understanding them. So, it's a race for these agencies to collect as many artifacts, blue prints and prophecies as possible and be the first to achieve Rimbauldi's ultimate, but unknown goal.
The Good: The cast is stellar! They all perform well not only as individuals, but as an ensemble. Sydney and her long-time partner Dixon really have that know-your-partner feel to them and work well as a nigh unstoppable team. Sydney's father is also superb, as a seemingly harsh and cold man, but what lies beneath his bitter exterior is a profound and real love for his daughter. Marshall, the quirky spy-gear inventor guy, is fun and extremely lovable. The spy missions are nearly almost always exciting and nail biting. The underlying Rimbauldi thread to the season is fairly fascinating, if your into that sort of thing. The way most of the episodes are written is pretty ingenious as they seem to purposefully "misalign" to deliver a cliffhanger ending. Let's say we just watched the opening titles, and then we get into a full swing story. Sydney goes on a mission and right at the end of the episode finds herself with a gun to her head. The End. Next episode, BEFORE the opening credits, we pick up right exactly there, with the gun to her head, then lots of fast paced action, and crisis resolved, roll main titles, and then start new story. Pretty neat. The action sequences are pretty tight and super fun. The finale had many great cliffhangers dangling. Surprise appearances by certain actors were excellent!!
The Bad: The second episode was rather disappointing. The pilot was so great, but then it lost some steam right away in the second ep. And then, they resorted to a CLIP EPISODE in the first season!! BOO!! Also, there were a couple of continuity errors. Not many, but they're there. For instance, everybody believed Sydney's dad had something to do with buying and selling airplane parts, including Sydney, until he told her his secret. In later episodes, it seems her friends think he works at the Credit Dauphine with Sydney, which is the facade of SD-6. I don't know how this happened. Whatever it was, it happened in the cut away. Some people may find the whole Rimbauldi thing too much like DaVinci to suit them, especially if they're into the DaVinci Code or whatnot.
Overall, it was fun, exciting, and entertaining. The actress Jennifer Garner is pretty cute and also has some good talent. The entire cast is superb and the writers seem to know what they're doing. Some all too obvious flaws bring it down a bit. It is really a genre show, and if you love the genre, then you'll love Alias.
B+
