Wednesday January 5, 2005
401
Sydney quits the CIA and joins a Black Ops unit called "Authorized Personnel Only" alongside Dixon, Jack, Vaughn and... Sloane. Meanwhile, the truth Sydney found out in Wittenberg endangers her relationship with Jack, and eventually she reveals the awful truth to Vaughn.
Write a Recap »Works as a reboot, fails as a continuation of last year... hide show
Ahh, season four: the marmite season, if you will. Fans either hated this season or loved it. While I dislike Marmite a great deal, I really love this season. And although this is a confident first part, it's undermined by many gaping wounds left by the 3rd season. See, ABC demanded a more viewer-friendly approach this year, since last year met great criticism from fans and critics alike, crying out it was too convoluted. Personally, I felt it was a compact year with many great stories, but, of course, it paled in comparison to ALIAS' first two seasons. So, while I appreciate the writers' need to call it "bridge under the water" and move on, for long-time fans, it's a bit of a cheat.
In fact, it appears as though JJ wasn't too keen on season three either, as there are a few jabs at it throughout the episode ("Last year sucked" being a subtle one. Ahem). Still, as a reboot season premiere, there are quite a few changes. And, of course, a few questionable rethreads of previous years. Presumably it wasn't Abrams running out of ideas, but more so revisiting elements that made the show an instant hit in the first place - Syd working for Sloane etc.
I have to say, Jennifer Garner looks amazing this year. I'm not sure what she did, but she just looks absolutely stunning in this episode, and for the rest of the season. Maybe it's something that inevitably comes with a shows fourth season, as Sarah Michelle Gellar never looked so good as she did in her fourth year. Food for thought...or not :P
The new headquarters is a nice change of scenery from season three's drab backdrop, and it actually makes the cast look great. Now, you'll have to excuse the ludicrous development of how Sloane managed his position at APO, but once you do, the episode is a thrilling ride. And, yes, I can see why JJ opted to have him there, it's adding some nice tension-filled moments and, as Syd puts it, it's great having her work alongside Dixon again.
So, as a follow up to the finale of last season, it doesn't quite gel - yet. We still have the second half, of course. But as a means of showcasing the layout of the series, it works great and covers most of the important ground without falling into laborious exposition for newcomers. Fave quote:
Chase: Are you opting to terminate your association with the CIA?
Sydney: I will say it in English for you: I quit.
SD6 is reborn. But do we really want that? hide show
Under the pressure of ABC, the writers had to make a hard decision. They had to temporarly drop the serialised nature of the show, and concencrate on the standalone concept.
So, everything that was set up in the previous season had to be either cancelled or suspended. Unfortunately, while most things are handled well by the writers, there are major plto threads which are simply too big to ignore - although we are forced to do so.
One of those things is that Sloane is in control again, in this new "secret CIA branch" which is called APO. I don't know why didn't they name it SD6? It would fit perfectly.
Dixon, Vaughn, Sydney, Jack... all working for Sloane. Makes no sense, especially after Sloane was basically sentenced for death. He commited so many crimes, even with suspending my disbelief, this is totally silly. But once you get past this, there's another major issue. Namely, the fact that Rambaldi has to be ignored for a good amount of time, because Rambaldi just doesn't fit well with standalone episodes. So once again, we're kept in dark about what Nadia and Sloane found...
The episode itself is okay. The first 20 minutes were great, confusing, but great. But the last 20 minutes were forced, and just didn't feel right. I didn't understand the need for an actual mission in this episode. There should have been much more character exploration...
Coming off of, what I felt was one of the strongest episodes in series history, I think this episode left everyone feeling more confused and frustrated then satisfied. What I liked about episode 3x01 was that it was almost like "The Telling" part 2, meaning that they picked up exactly where they left off in season 2 and kept the ball rolling. This episode felt more like its own episode and it jumped around way more then I would have liked it too.
The main cliffhanger of season 3 was addressed but not yet answered, as we still dont know exactly what was on the paper that Sydney read at the end of the season. With JJ Abrams writing the next episode, Im sure he will tell us the answer soon enough because it clearly is enough to be driving a wedge in the middle of Sydney and her father right now.
Vaughn and Sydney getting back together early was a good thing from JJ I think. Rather then fill episodes with pointless fillers I thought it best to do exactly what he did. The beginning mission where she fails and is fake fired from the CIA was not needed, it was another one of those confusing and pointless touches I think. Overall, liking the idea of Authorized Personal Only as the new "SD-6", I think Ill like seeing Arvin in charge of everyone again. Overall though, not exactly the episode I had in mind coming off of Resurrection.
What an unexcepted way to start the 4th season.
Ignoring S3 finale, and basically the whole 3rd season, Alias starts... very... interesting-ly.
Syd quits CIA after a mission that didn't go as planned... however, it was all staged. Syd joined a secret divison of the CIA, the APO.
But the funny thing is, not only did Syd, but so did Jack, Vaughn Dixon and Sloane join. Ah, SD 6 reunion?
This is, as cool as it sounds, very unreal. What's even worse is making Sloane the leader of the pack.
What's wrong with the writers? Have they forgotten what Sloane has done?
While this episode gives maximum effect when watched together with part 2, on the DVD it's a seperate episode. And I can't help noticing that this episode had NOTHING to DO with the 3rd season on a whole - as i said - but it's especially annoying because the characters act irrationally: especially Sloane. No resolution, nothing. Just... a new plot thread. No Rambaldi. No secret-documet-explaination. Overally, despite all the negativity, it was still enjoyable and definitely makes you want more.
This is where Alias jumps the shark. hide show
The biggest problem I had with this episode was the changes made to the cliffhanger at the end of season three.
In the final episode [of season three], we see Sydney looking through several classified documents, with the first page refering to Sydney as the "active" subject of a "project" that began on the 17th April 1975, a possible reference to Project Christmas.
However, in "Authorized Personnel Only", we discover that in fact the document apparently gave Jack Bristow authorization to execute Sydney's mother, who had mysteriously placed a contract on Sydney's life.
Erm, no, it didn't say that.
It's possible that writers needed a way to remove Lena Olin [Irina Derevko] from the main story, so were forced to change the story.
To add insult to injury, we must now buy that everybody is willingly working for Sloane again, as part of a covert ops unit with the lamest of names, APO (get it? Authorized Personnel Only).
Bland new character Nadia Santos [Mia Maestro] is the final nail in the coffin.
After season three, pretend that Alias finished and just watch the final few minutes of the last ever episode, "All the Time in the World" to see a nice glimpse of the future.
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