I’ve begun making my way through Alias. This was the show that made Jennifer Garner famous back in 2005. Up until the pilot, she had just done some bit parts in Felicity and Pearl Harbor. The show ran for five seasons and 100+ episodes.
Sydney Bristow is a UCLA graduate student recruited by a secret branch of the CIA. I remember the series being the classic format of a relatively self-contained episode in service of a larger story. The larger story here is whether the “secret branch” of the CIA is actually that, or if it’s a shadowy organization actually working against the CIA.
Sydney’s father Jack is played by Victor Garber. He’s part of the same organization… or is he? The pilot sets up all sorts of plot threads. What happened to Sydney’s mother? Why is she so angry with her father? How will she stay undercover after the agency inflicts tragedy on her? Will there romance between her and her journalist friend Will (an early role for Bradley Cooper) or the handsome CIA agent introduced in the ending of the episode?
There’s so much going on here that the second episode opens with a full minute of voiceover from Garner re-hashing all the exposition bundled into the 90-minute pilot.
If I thought too hard about it, I could probably some plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. And I never quite accepted Garner as an action hero — watching her do martial arts just never struck me as genuine. Also, I remember that later in the series, the storyline got weirder, having to do with some mystical artifact or machine (the “Rimbaldi” story arc).
But, for now, it’s a fun spy caper. It will take me a couple months to get through the first season (for which I paid $24.99 on Prime Video), so expect an update then.