One thing I don’t like about Alias is that it asks us to assume when all else fails - or even before - Sydney can always use her sex appeal to flirt her way out of a situation. The only exception is when she’s dealing with men who know who she is and are tasked with stopping her.

In the planning missions where Sydney is tasked with flirting with some guy to steal something from him, there’s a chunk of dialog … READ MORE

One of the things I liked about Alias was how, after Sydney found out what a monster Sloane was but decided she’d stay on as a double agent in order to take him down, she had to play nice and pretend she didn’t want to go hose herself off every time he placed a fatherly hand on her shoulder. She had to make him believe nothing had changed, that his displays of affection were as welcome as ever.

It wasn’t until … READ MORE

I’ve been re-watching Alias lately, and I’ll probably do a more comprehensive series review later, but for now one thing is jumping out at me:

The men go by their last names. The women go by first names. WTF?

At first, I tried to cut them slack because Sydney’s father is also “Agent Bristow” (and he’s often called “Jack” for that very reason). But Vaughn, who at first has no contact with Jack Bristow, calls her Sydney. And Sydney is still calling … READ MORE

The most interesting couple I ever saw in media – film, television, music, books, whatever – were a middle-aged couple who spent more time trying to one-up the other than they did having wild, passionate sex.

They were Jack Bristow and Irena DiRevco from Alias.

Seriously, they were awesome. At least, for season two they were. They spent all their screen time, as equals – intellectually, emotionally and sexually – trying to outwit one another. To give you a brief background, Irena … READ MORE

I’ve been overdosing on spy shows lately. This caused an unconscious pet peeve with Alias to finally rise to the surface: there’s just no way someone as nice and happy and sweet and kind and loved by friends as Sydney Bristow would choose to be a spy.

Spies are messed-up people. From James Bond to Michael Weston (Burn Notice), they don’t come from happy homes, and because of their experience they don’t see the world in a positive, upbeat, optimistic kind … READ MORE

I’m plodding my way through the second season of Alias, after having watched the third and forth seasons initially, and something occurred to me:

Michael Vaughn is pathologically incapable of being faithful - emotionally and/or physically. Unless, of course, he’s with Syd; then he epitomises the word. But when he’s not, then he wants to be with her - or he just gives up all pretence at fidelity and cheats on whoever he’s with to be with our heroine.

Conclusion? Fidelity is … READ MORE

This may sound odd, but I’ve been watching Alias on DVD, and I think I know now why the character of Sam Carter got decimated on Stargate. Maybe it’s not misogyny: maybe it’s just an extreme failure to understand character, and why you can’t simply transpose a character dynamic from one show to another.

Before you accuse me of accusing the Stargate writers of being hacks, let me spell out what I’m really saying: some writers are better with plot, … READ MORE