freelancer1
Banned
there was a story about season three on Zap2it.com. heres the story:
Where Did the Time Go on 'Alias'?
By Kate O'Hare
Some TV series are like Hummers -- solid and foursquare. NBC's "Law & Order" comes to mind. One feels the entire cast could be sucked into space, and somehow the show would pop back next season without skipping a beat.
At the other end of the spectrum are shows that are more like unicycles -- kinetic and delicately balanced. ABC's "Alias" comes to mind. It wobbles and dips, careening from one improbable plot twist to another, and yet somehow stays upright.
While much of this is due to the undeniable star wattage of Jennifer Garner, the bulk of the credit for the Sunday-night cult hit has to go to series creator J.J. Abrams.
Two seasons ago, he started with Sydney Bristow (Garner), grad student and secret agent, who worked for SD-6, which pretended to be the CIA but was in fact ultimate evil, under the control by the nefarious Sloane (Ron Rifkin).
Sydney soon discovered her father, Jack (Victor Garber), worked for the CIA against SD-6. Sydney then became a double agent. She lost her fiance when she told him the truth, but later felt romantic stirrings for her CIA handler, Vaughan (Michael Vartan).
After a season of missions, counter missions, fabulous disguises, mysterious Rambaldi artifacts, exotic locations and double/triple-crosses, fans were confused, reeling and addicted.
Season two added more Rambaldi metaphysics, plus the resurrection of Sydney's supposedly dead mother, Irina (Lena Olin), actually a KGB assassin and an ally of Sloane (or ... not).
Midseason, in an episode that aired after the Super Bowl, Abrams upended the whole apple cart. SD-6 was destroyed, along with the evil Alliance that controlled it. Sydney and Vaughn consummated their love, while Sydney's SD-6 partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly) learned his life was a lie. And Sydney's pals Will and Francie (Bradley Cooper, Merrin Dungey) edged into romance, or so it seemed.
By season's end, Sydney learned that an evil double had replaced Francie to pump Will for information; Irina revealed a secret agenda and vanished; Sloane henchman Sark (David Anders) showed an unexpected heart; Will seemed at death's door; and Sloane and Jack faced off.
After a climactic battle that shattered every bit of glass in her apartment, Sydney defeated the evil double. She slumped in exhaustion and passed out -- to awaken in Hong Kong to discover that two years had passed, everybody thought she died (but Will lived), and Vaughn was ... married?
A few fans might still be wearing the neck brace from the head snap at that revelation, but Abrams insists that when season three begins on Sunday, Sept. 28, all will be well (if not immediately explained).
"Whenever you have one great reason to do something," he says, "it's always a good idea to go with it, because other opportunities present themselves."
As for that "one great reason," Abrams says, "We needed to adjust for time in order to tell the story with Sloane we wanted to tell. Given where he was and given where he is, it was something we could have watched happen, but it would have been a lot less interesting than getting him there and telling the story once he was there.
"The happy by-product reasons are numerous: giving Dixon a boost in terms of his career and place in life and state of mind, given what he went through last year; giving characters like Marshall [a spy-gadget guru, played by Kevin Weisman] some spin.
"It's not that you needed to go two years in advance to do these things, but it gave you the carte blanche to say, 'What can happen to someone in two years?'"
If you're Vaughn, that's apparently enough time to mourn Sydney, meet someone new -- NSC agent Lauren Reed (Melissa George) -- and settle down.
"It wasn't meant to make people upset," Abrams says, "but it wasn't meant to make people happy. There really isn't a bad guy, and yet, there are people who love each other and there's a very emotional and understandable reason they can't be together. To me, the great love stories are stories of people who find ways, despite obstacles, over time, to either come together or come to terms with what they have.
"Yes, we've rocked the boat, but the ride to come will prove that it was worth it."
But, fans say, how could Vaughn have remarried so soon? "He did have a period of absolute despair and mourning and loss," Abrams says. "He did drop out of the CIA. It's not like business as usual. It wasn't as if she was missing. In his mind, he believed she was dead. Two years is a long time, and it wasn't an easy time for him.
"When Sydney comes back, it still isn't an easy time for him. The whole idea is, from Sydney's point of view, it was yesterday. That's why the audience is feeling hopefully what she's feeling, which is why you'll appreciate her reaction when the first episode begins. You'll be happy."
After so many seismic shifts, one could wonder what is left of the original "Alias." "Everything important," Abrams says. "What's left is the relationship between Sydney and her father, between Sydney and her handler, between Sydney and Dixon; the mystery of her mother -- though different in some ways, continues; her key adversary being Sloane, the motivations of that guy.
"The notion that, here's a woman who believes and wants to go out into the world and do the right thing and fight for freedom and fight against the people who are trying to destroy this country and Western civilization.
"She's someone who is now doing that in a way that is less circuitous -- given the fact that she was pretending to work for the bad guys while actually working for the good guys -- but she's still doing it."
Where Did the Time Go on 'Alias'?
By Kate O'Hare
Some TV series are like Hummers -- solid and foursquare. NBC's "Law & Order" comes to mind. One feels the entire cast could be sucked into space, and somehow the show would pop back next season without skipping a beat.
At the other end of the spectrum are shows that are more like unicycles -- kinetic and delicately balanced. ABC's "Alias" comes to mind. It wobbles and dips, careening from one improbable plot twist to another, and yet somehow stays upright.
While much of this is due to the undeniable star wattage of Jennifer Garner, the bulk of the credit for the Sunday-night cult hit has to go to series creator J.J. Abrams.
Two seasons ago, he started with Sydney Bristow (Garner), grad student and secret agent, who worked for SD-6, which pretended to be the CIA but was in fact ultimate evil, under the control by the nefarious Sloane (Ron Rifkin).
Sydney soon discovered her father, Jack (Victor Garber), worked for the CIA against SD-6. Sydney then became a double agent. She lost her fiance when she told him the truth, but later felt romantic stirrings for her CIA handler, Vaughan (Michael Vartan).
After a season of missions, counter missions, fabulous disguises, mysterious Rambaldi artifacts, exotic locations and double/triple-crosses, fans were confused, reeling and addicted.
Season two added more Rambaldi metaphysics, plus the resurrection of Sydney's supposedly dead mother, Irina (Lena Olin), actually a KGB assassin and an ally of Sloane (or ... not).
Midseason, in an episode that aired after the Super Bowl, Abrams upended the whole apple cart. SD-6 was destroyed, along with the evil Alliance that controlled it. Sydney and Vaughn consummated their love, while Sydney's SD-6 partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly) learned his life was a lie. And Sydney's pals Will and Francie (Bradley Cooper, Merrin Dungey) edged into romance, or so it seemed.
By season's end, Sydney learned that an evil double had replaced Francie to pump Will for information; Irina revealed a secret agenda and vanished; Sloane henchman Sark (David Anders) showed an unexpected heart; Will seemed at death's door; and Sloane and Jack faced off.
After a climactic battle that shattered every bit of glass in her apartment, Sydney defeated the evil double. She slumped in exhaustion and passed out -- to awaken in Hong Kong to discover that two years had passed, everybody thought she died (but Will lived), and Vaughn was ... married?
A few fans might still be wearing the neck brace from the head snap at that revelation, but Abrams insists that when season three begins on Sunday, Sept. 28, all will be well (if not immediately explained).
"Whenever you have one great reason to do something," he says, "it's always a good idea to go with it, because other opportunities present themselves."
As for that "one great reason," Abrams says, "We needed to adjust for time in order to tell the story with Sloane we wanted to tell. Given where he was and given where he is, it was something we could have watched happen, but it would have been a lot less interesting than getting him there and telling the story once he was there.
"The happy by-product reasons are numerous: giving Dixon a boost in terms of his career and place in life and state of mind, given what he went through last year; giving characters like Marshall [a spy-gadget guru, played by Kevin Weisman] some spin.
"It's not that you needed to go two years in advance to do these things, but it gave you the carte blanche to say, 'What can happen to someone in two years?'"
If you're Vaughn, that's apparently enough time to mourn Sydney, meet someone new -- NSC agent Lauren Reed (Melissa George) -- and settle down.
"It wasn't meant to make people upset," Abrams says, "but it wasn't meant to make people happy. There really isn't a bad guy, and yet, there are people who love each other and there's a very emotional and understandable reason they can't be together. To me, the great love stories are stories of people who find ways, despite obstacles, over time, to either come together or come to terms with what they have.
"Yes, we've rocked the boat, but the ride to come will prove that it was worth it."
But, fans say, how could Vaughn have remarried so soon? "He did have a period of absolute despair and mourning and loss," Abrams says. "He did drop out of the CIA. It's not like business as usual. It wasn't as if she was missing. In his mind, he believed she was dead. Two years is a long time, and it wasn't an easy time for him.
"When Sydney comes back, it still isn't an easy time for him. The whole idea is, from Sydney's point of view, it was yesterday. That's why the audience is feeling hopefully what she's feeling, which is why you'll appreciate her reaction when the first episode begins. You'll be happy."
After so many seismic shifts, one could wonder what is left of the original "Alias." "Everything important," Abrams says. "What's left is the relationship between Sydney and her father, between Sydney and her handler, between Sydney and Dixon; the mystery of her mother -- though different in some ways, continues; her key adversary being Sloane, the motivations of that guy.
"The notion that, here's a woman who believes and wants to go out into the world and do the right thing and fight for freedom and fight against the people who are trying to destroy this country and Western civilization.
"She's someone who is now doing that in a way that is less circuitous -- given the fact that she was pretending to work for the bad guys while actually working for the good guys -- but she's still doing it."
