Alias

I have to say to my fellow "Alias" fans on the site, I have been less than pleased with the first half of season 4. I'm going to go through a list of problems I am having with the show, and I'd be curious to hear your own opinion. Now, understand I am only comparing this for the most part to previous seasons of "Alias." Even a bad "Alias" is a zillion times better than say the best episode of "According to Jim" or "Seventh Heaven."

1. The New Set-up
I understand that J.J. Abrams wanted things to change after last season, which he considers a fairly unsucessful season. I believe there were some weak points, but I still thought it was pretty top notch, especially having to follow the highs of season two. So, by coming up with this CIA black ops division he felt he could correct it. Get Dixon out from behind a desk and back in the field; good move. However, how often have they actually had Dixon back in the field this season? Maybe twice? Abrams decided through some ridiculous notion of how the govn't works to put Sloan back in charge. This made no sense to me, and maybe something will come of it later. But for Dixon, Vaughn, and Sydney to state that the reason they will work once again for the man that has single handedley ruined their lives is so they can "watch him" seems a little weak to me. In fact, getting everyone together like this seems almost too convienient. In the first episode of the season, they realized they hadn't brought over a capable tech so here comes Marshall; they decide they need Nadia to help them on a mission, so why not invite her to join the gang; Weiss discovers about the operation, and they say why not? Come on board. Aren't these some of the best agents with the CIA? Who the hell actually works for the legit CIA right now?

2. The "Case of the Week" Syndrome
For three seasons, there were all kinds of story arcs that kept you glued to the T.V. week after week. "The Rimbaldi artifacts" was the big one, but there was also Sydney and her Dad, Sydney and her Mom, Vaughn and his traitor wife, the Covenant, the Alliance, and so on. Lately, especially in last night's episode, they have hinted at some upcoming arcs, but nothing that seems quite as involving as the previous ones. The one hour caseloads with stereotypical and recycable villains each week is just not that interesting; not compared to the past three seasons. Which leads me to:

3. The Villains
I know they brought Sark back this year along with whatever the Russian chick's name is. But even they brought nothing really new to the table. All of the other villains this year have just been retreads of the past, and they're dead before the writers can develop anything interesting about them.

4. Sydney and Vaughn
This relationship is simply dead in the water. It was fun for the first season and a half waiting for them to get together, and even after they got together it was fun for awhile. But after everything that has happened to them since, they just don't make that much sense to me together. To be honest, in an outstanding season 1 two parter where Sydney is forced to work with a past love she long thought dead, she showed more chemistry with him (Peter Berg), than Jennifer Garner and Michael Vaughn have ever shown. Which leads me to:

5. Vaughn
Let's face it, Michael Vartan is not a very good actor. And the writers just simply don't know what to do with the character. In the first season and a half the weakness of the character wasn't as noticeable. He was relegated to the sidelines as Sydney's handler, and he would only be in about 10 minutes of every episode. But once Syd was legitimately with the CIA they had to give Vaughn more to do. We got to see him work cases; we got to see his inner workings. J.J. Abrams obviously doesn't know what to do with this character. Last year, they tried to make him some kind of Jack Bristo Jr.; that didn't work. This year, he's been actually given one of the few arcs, ugh, where he found out his father might not be dead, and surprise surprise, might be working for the enemy. Does this sound familiar "Alias" fans. Hasn't this already been covered with Syd's family crisis? The character isn't working no matter how much they try to do with him. And now, I'm afraid they've written themselves into a corner. Because if you kill him, then we have to deal with Syd's mourning period. If you make him bad, or just make him leave then we have to deal with Syd's mourning period. So, I don't know what they should do, but this storyline just has deja vu written all over it.

There is plenty of good this season as well. Marshall has thankfully been given more to do; they stuck him on a case last week in what was probably the strongest episode of the season. I like Mia Maestro's performance as Nadia, and her and Syd's relationship is working nicely. I love that they brought Weiss into the mix. He has always been an underused gem. It looks like Sloan is up to something and maybe even with Jack in tow; Sloan needs to have hidden agendas, he needs to be bad. That's how we all like him.

I have faith in J.J. Abrams, and I hope he has something planned that will blow me away, and make me forget I ever wrote any of this. He had this same problem with his first show, "Felicity," in the fourth season and it got canceled. With rejuvenated ratings thanks to his other smash show, and this year's much better "Lost," "Alias" is in no danger of being canceled. But when the midseason replacement show, "Eyes," that follows "Alias," has had more intrigue in its first two episodes than the entire 4th season of "Alias," so far, that's not a good thing. I hope it gets better. Speaking of "Eyes," if you guys aren't staying tuned after "Alias" to watch it, you should be. Tim Daly is a badass in this show; it's really good.