"You Beat Death Arvin. You Couldn't Beat Me."

[redbrunja]

So, a year and a half after I started, my mother and I are finally done with Alias.

Thank god.

Really,

the thing I think I most hate the writers for is killing Jack.

Does anyone remember when that show was sheerest awesome? Because the three seasons of misery have blocked the good times out.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You know, I never could get into this. Which is a pity, as it obviously should be just my thing. I know at first it was because the commercials made the dialogue and heroine seem directly lifted from Dark Angel, and there is only one Max Guevara, thankyouverymuch, but that went away once I actually knew what it was about. And then I never caught any eps, and when I finally did, it was after there had been some big 2 year jump and her boyfriend was married to someone who would obviously either die or be a traitor, because how how dare she take the heroine's man?

Still, I should probably try it from the beginning one day.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

You really should watch the first two seasons. The pilot's fantastic (after finishing I wanted to go back and rewatch, so I could remember the fabulous times, and that's as someone who's seen it about three times already.) The first two season has a gorgeously paced arc about the defeat of the first big bad and leave the characters in a really go place in their romance. Just end the last episode of the second season ten minutes early and walk away then. ^_^

It sounds like you saw episodes in the third season, which is the beginning of the long, long downward spiral.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

I agree. Alias really got pretty bad after season two. Season two was completely amazing - especially anything having to do with Lena Olin and Victor Garber. Still, Jack's character never diminished, at least for me, and as much as I dislike his dying, I feel that it was a fitting death for the character, as my father, whom I watched all of Alias put it, the story was really about the conflict between Sloane and Jack, which the finale ended well. But yes - illegitimate children, all the random mind screws, and the zombies..really, the poor show went a bit..far.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

*nods*

Lena Olin and Victor Garber had fantastic chemistry. By the end of the series, my mother was just as enthralled with Jack as I was (she initially really, really disliked him) and in our humble opinion, Irina/Jack was the epic love story, not Sydney Vaughn.

The show really did, and it's a shame. They could have gone five years and not had that huge drop in quality (imho) if they'd post-season two, turned it into a more ensemble show, and had other people with betrayals and angst, instead of needing to have Sydney on center stage at all times.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

I agree. And, to be honest, I don't find Jennifer Garner to be that great of an actress, at least in Alias. She was brilliant in Juno, but I just find Sydney to be..kind of flat. I watched the show for Sloane, Marshall, and Jack and Irina. Yeah, I agree that Olin and Garber have wonderful chemistry. Getting Irina back was really one of the best parts of that season, but I wish there had been more between her and Jack, other than his killing a random clone of her..yeah, the cloning. There was too much of that. Way too much. But yes, Irina and Jack made a better story than Sydney and Vaughn. It really felt, at parts, that they had no idea where to go with Sydney and Vaughn after resolving that tension midway through season two. They kept throwing random curve balls into it. It basically turned into..here's two pretty people. Watch them fall in love and make out.

Yes, more non-Sydney focus would have been lovely. Season two focused suitably on people BESIDES Sydney, though I must say that I did enjoy the Season Three, I think it was, relationship between Sloane and the psychiatrist..but..his marriage with Emily was beautiful, and written better. Agreed, with the quality drop.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

It really felt, at parts, that they had no idea where to go with Sydney and Vaughn after resolving that tension midway through season two. They kept throwing random curve balls into it. It basically turned into..here's two pretty people. Watch them fall in love and make out.

That was exactly what was going on. I mean, I loved Sydney and thought JG was a great actress, but by making Alias the All About Sydney show, they really locked themselves in by trying to top each season the 'fiancee killed, father issues, mother issues, Spy!family, forbidden love with handler' angst, and there is just no way to do that without pulling more and more unbelievable plottwists.

See, there is usually one facet each season that I really loved, even if the rest was garbage: Sark was fabulous in season 3, I really enjoyed the Nadia/Wiess romance in season 4, and I liked Rachel and her interacts with both Sark and Grace in season 5. That's what kept us watching, even as the show in general got more and more frustrating.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

Agreed, and I very much enjoyed each of the concepts that you just listed, as well as Marshall's romance in season 2 and family in season 3. Sark truly was the ideal Snarky British(Irish?) villain, and Weiss was an awesome character. I enjoyed Nadia as well, and it really felt like, with the whole..Zombie thing, that they really stunted the character's growth. I mean, I enjoyed her haunting Sloane, as it toyed with suspension of belief, while really showing you how far gone Sloane was. Yeah, I didn't really mean to insult JG, it's just that I found her performances a little repetitive after season 2. Sydney's character was excellent, and I really missed the multi-faceted balance between SD-6, CIA, and her normal life. Also, they seemed to just..get rid of characters when their development was enjoyable. So yeah, I'm in complete agreement with you - I enjoyed the side characters, and the parents, a lot more than the main romance, especially after a while.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Oh, I adored Sark. He was so mercenary, and I loved how he interacted with the women around him.

And I totally understand about an actor's performance getting old after I while. I was usually to busy cursing the writers to get tired of the acter's, although I thought Nadia was a little off when she was dead.