The World Needs More Ninjas

ABC really pulled out all the stops for the season premiere of Alias (Note: spoilers galore in this post if you recorded it and haven’t yet watched it). A major character dies, a pregnancy, completely new bad guys, a mysterious new agent…there was enough surprises for about two months worth of episodes.

I had no idea that Vaughn’s death was coming. And what the heck was up with his death scene?! I mean there’s a difference in asking the viewer to suspend reality and completely insulting their intelligence. Taking like 50 shots to the chest at almost point blank range…and then you’re still alive for a surgeon to try to save you? I understand the need to have Vaughn say a few words to Sydney before he dies…but could the writers not come up with a more realistic chain of events. And even if the death was a fake, as I’m sure people will inevitable speculate, Sydney and Jack’s characters would have known that Vaughn couldn’t possibly have lived after the shooting.

Hopefully this is the last season for Alias. I’ve watched every season and it’s had a great run, but trying to extend it beyond five seasons will just dilute the storyline. Look at the X-Files…the first five seasons were great (particularly season three and four), season six started getting a bit of a drop-off with the mythology episodes starting to go in circles and the non-mythology episodes not being nearly as good and/or very similar to earlier episodes. Then after Mulder stopped being a regular, the show dropped off fast in seasons seven through nine. I think it’s difficult to extend a conspiracy-based show beyond five seasons without the quality dropping off significantly.

Alias started out great in season one, though it was a much different show. Remember how the show was pitched as Sydney being a grad student and secret agent? That whole grad student angle was basically gone by season two (which I think was a good thing). You had Sydney’s non-secret agent life playing a significant role…remember her roommate Francie and the journalist Will? I think they should have kept Will’s character on the show. Remember how Sydney and Jack used to be completely antagonistic towards each other and Sloane used to be undoubtedly evil?

Season two was the high-water mark for the show in my opinion. This had all the great parts of season one plus Sydney’s mom in nearly episode, which was the best addition the show made. Season three dropped off pretty bad with the whole Sydney losing two years of her memory plot. You knew pretty much from the first episode of the season that Vaughn’s new wife was going to turn out to be bad. Sydney’s mom was gone the entire season. The low-water mark for the show. Season four wasn’t as good as two, but definitely helped redeem the show. I’m kind of indifferent towards Nadia’s character…I don’t think she adds much, but she’s not terribly annoying either.

It would be nice if season five ended it all. Get Sloane out of prison and let us know clearly whether he’s good or bad. Bring Sydney’s mom back in a major role. Have Sark play a major role as the bad guy. Don’t bring Vaughn back by using some convoluted explanation. Focus on Sloane and Sydney…not Sloane and Nadia. Tell us what the Rembaldi stuff is all about and how it relates to Sydney, her baby, and her mom…go out on a high note.