I’m a huge Alias fan. Ever since that electric pilot four years ago, I’ve been hooked on the characters, the mythos, pretty much everything. It held strong for about two seasons, but somewhere in season 3 things just went horribly wrong. The tension was gone, the plot lost track of itself, and it looked like we were heading for another X Files situation. I’ll be among the first to admit that season 4 was pretty much a complete waste of time. They began to go somewhere interesting towards the end, but at that point the entire season has already been ruined by crummy one-shot episodes.
Season 4 dropped most of the mythos that made the series great in favor of something audience friendly. This was a request by ABC, and it ended up destroying the season. So here we are, a few episodes into season 5. I didn’t care much for the premiere, and it looked like they were still getting used to Garner being pregnant for the next few episodes. The most recent episode, however, looks like they show is finally getting back into full swing. Read on for spoilers and analysis:
The episode opened with Amy Acker (Fred from Angel!) as a new agent, and set up a very interesting plotline with another agent, played by Rachel Nichols (from Fox’s short-lived The Inside). It looks like the show is getting back into plot-mode for this season, I especially like the way they handled Nichols. She’s basically another Sydney in that she thought she was working for the good guys, but learned otherwise. This dynamic could be gimicky if handled wrong, but so far they seem to be treating it well. This character, along with the other new guy, are sorely needed. Alias was getting stale, and perhaps they’ll be able to revive the show with some new personalities around. Now I can justify choosing Alias over the OC 