TV Show Review: Alias - Season 3

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great acting, engaging story

Cons: Not quite as good as first two seasons

The Bottom Line:

Catch back up with Syd

As she catches up on life

After two years gone

What Do You Mean I've Been Dead for Two Years?

Yes, Sydney really has been missing for two years. And she comes back to find that Vaughn is married, her dad is in jail, and Sloane is a good guy. Hold on to your hats, it's season 3.

Have I lost you already? If you haven't been watching the previous seasons of the show, that's understandable. Alias is a serialized drama where each episode builds on the one before. So if you haven't watched the show, jumping in here will confuse you. And reading this review will spoil some events from season two.

To set the stage, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is a CIA agent. The series follows her life as she struggles against various criminal organizations. Her co-worker/love interest is Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan). Also among her CIA colleagues is her father Jack (Victor Garber), a man she hardly knew a few years ago and still doesn't really trust.

As season two ended, Sydney had just been in a fight to the death with a woman impersonating her roommate (don't ask). After blacking out, she woke up in Hong Kong only to learn that she'd been missing for two years and presumed dead. In the meantime, Vaughn has moved on and is now married to Lauren (Melissa George). Because of his efforts to find Sydney, Jack has been jailed. And Sloane (Ron Rifkin), the villain from the first two seasons, has been pardoned and is running a humanitarian organization while working helping the CIA every chance he gets.

Naturally, these changes are a little hard for Sydney to swallow, but she makes the best of it by going back to work for the CIA where she reports to her former partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly). While completing her missions for the CIA, she also begins to try to figure out where she's been for the last two years. But her search for the two years missing from her memory takes her to some pretty strange places. Most shocking of all is the fact that she killed someone in cold blood during that time. It's beginning to look more and more like some group called The Covenant is involved. What could this all mean? And can she successfully work with Vaughn and his pretty new wife Lauren?

I have watched this show faithfully since day 1, becoming a die hard fan about episode three. I faithfully tuned in for this season and spent as much time as always speculating on what each line of dialog and plot twist meant. Yes, the show is that engaging. But it wasn't as entertaining as the first two seasons. The twists felt forced or predictable. What was once a shocking surprise was now expected after two years of past experience. On the flip side, a few of the twists that I didn't expect seemed to come about just because they needed a new twist in the episode.

In addition to being a spy thriller, the show has a sci-fi element in the form of Rimbaldi, a centuries old prophet that seems to be able to predict the future. The mythology around Rimbaldi became so complex during the second half of the season, you needed a score card to keep up. Frankly, I never liked the storyline, so the added emphasis to it really bothered me.

In the first two seasons, Sydney had two friends who would regularly pop up to offer us some comic relief and add another side to her character. Those characters are missing this season, and their absence is noticeable. They never had much screen time, but their presence really helped define Sydney's character. I really missed them, and the guest spot that one of them had just wasn't quite enough for me.

Okay, so that's what didn't work. But don't that stop you. I was still addicted to every minute of the show. And the show moves so quickly you need to pay attention every second it is on the air. So what if the twists aren't as great as the last season. I still cared. And I just had to know what Sloane was really up to. He couldn't have reformed, could he?

What really helped the show are the actors. They do a great job of bringing their characters to life every week. And there isn't a weak one in the main cast list. New comer Melissa George had a rough road ahead of her, but she made the character standout in the group of established favorites. Ron Rifkin is perfect as Sloane. You just never know what the man is truly up to. Even minor characters are brought to life in the capable hands of their actors. You've just got to love Greg Grunberg's Agent Weiss or Kevin Weisman's loveable geek Marshall. And I can't leave out series star Jennifer Garner. Once again, she hits every note perfectly every week, and the writers demand a lot out of her.

This six disc set is up to the previous set's high standards even if the show isn't. All 22 episodes are shown in wide screen and full surround sound. There are three commentaries. The first is a fan commentary, which is fun if not informative, and then two commentaries with cast and crew. Disc six contains an animated episode from Syd's missing two years which really isn't worth watching. It also has the usually behind the scenes stuff with several 3-7 minute segments on guest stars, stunts, effects, and assistant directors. These are actually very interesting and I watched them all intently. Also included are a handful of deleted scenes and the outtake real for the season.

The show stumbled slightly in season 3. But a bad episode of Alias is still well worth watching.