You know, this season really hasn't done anything for me yet. Everything has been so forced these past three episodes. Why do they need the the APO agian? Makes no sense. If they would have said that they needed it to combat the Covenant, that would have been perfect. But they are probably just going to disregard the Covenant, which would be a shame.
Last season really was the best season, in my opinion. And I'm not alone. I know people complain about Syd's lack of a private life, but that's just b.s. Last season she developed a strong relationship with Weiss, her new best friend. And there was motivation from the first episode. Think about it. At the end of season two, after the big fight, Syd is wondering through the streets of (I can't remember), and she calls the CIA and finds out she's been missing for over a year. Talk about a shit kicker. We had to wait all summer and half a season to find out what happened. Not only that, from the first episode of season 3, she finds out Vaughn is married, and she has to work with his wife. And Dixon is in charge of the LA branch of the CIA. And Sloan is a humanitarian. And she was a reprogrammed rogue agent working for the Covenant. It was non-stop. First, it was all about getting her memory back. Then, it was about finding the mole. Then, it was about finding her sister. Then, Syd reads some papers, and we find out this season that Jack killed her mother. But, there is nothing in the story that is keeping me interested this season. Seriously. Last season, I had to watch every episode. The story was awsome.
Going back to the beginning, the story was what drove this seires. The characters were developed because of the fast paced story. It all started in season one. Syd finds out she was working for the enemy, and that Sloan murdered her fiance. She wanted nothing more than to kill him. She can't tell her partner anything. She can't tell her best friend (Will) anything. The show had us coming back every week because we knew that she was going to take down SD-6, but we didn't know when, and we didn't know how. And Will was investigating SD-6. How many times did he almost die? We cared about him. And how many times was Syd's cover almost blown? As the season developed, we started getting into the mystery of Syd's mom. And the finale, perfect.
On to season two, where we have don't have to wait too long, just enough, in fact, for SD-6 to finally be taken down. But after Sloan sets it up, he escapes. Other things that happened? Sloans wife was fully developed, again, because of the story. And Will became an analyst. He also had a relationship with Francie, who wasn't really Francie, but a spy. And then there was Syd's mom. Again, developed because of the story. In fact, Francie was introduced from the beginning because she was going to be replaced with a spy, so her relationship with Syd had to be fleshed out from day one. We had to care. And we did. So, we spent the whole season wondering about the spy, and about Irina's true motives. Oh, and about getting Sloan. Dixon wanted revenge. He killed Sloan's wife, and Sloan killed his. So Dixon wanted revenge even more. Lot's of Syd's friends getting developed, because they had to be. Season 2 ends with a great shit kicker, and we're on to season three.
So, season 3, hmm...Will, whom we thought was dead, is in the witness protection program. He gets one episode, and it was a good one. It showed why he should have been back for the second half of the season. I'll admit that was a mistake to write him out, because that was a huge piece of Syd's private life. And Francie, or rather, the spy? Well, we think she's dead, but she's not, but Will gets to kill her, and that was great. So she's not around to be Syd's friend. Vaughn? Can't be Syd's lover anymore. Can't even be a friend. He's married. His wife is a jealous bitch. Oh, and she's really an agent of the Covenant who is having an affair with Sark. And her mother is probably one of the Derevko sisters, but they never played on that. OK, what about Syd's mom? Her decision not to come back hurt the show. A lot. They should have written in that Sydney had to kill her as Julia. That would have made all the more reason for Syd to not wanting to remember her life as Julia. Oh well, blew that. She's alive and in communication with Jack. But we never see her. Instead, we meet Katya. Turns out that she also works for the Covenant. I was thinking that the Covenant was the Derevko sisters. Too bad they'll probably never play that out. So, Syd doesn't have a private life. Instead, she gets to develop a close friendship with Weiss. I'll take that development over a complicated provate life any day. There wasn't room for anything else. It's the story that pushes the characterization. That's the strength of the show. Anyway, the season comes down to having to find Syd's sister, who is Sloan's daughter. It all ends up with Nadia and Sloan disapearing, and Vaughn killing his wife. Great ending. Except for the crappy cliff hanger. You know, they could have done almost the same thing for the cliff hanger, except, the revelation could have been that Sydney had to kill her mother while she was Julia, and that it was Katya who communicating with, and manipulating Jack all along. That's a shit kicker.
That brings us to now. The all new Mission Impossible. That's right, that's what the last episode was. I saw from the very beginning when they were working as a team to break into the vault. I saw it as the show moved to the next stage of the opperation. I saw it when Weiss kept going "I knew it!" And I saw it at the end, when they were all hanging around at headquarters. It was entertaining, but it wasn't Alias. Not even close. There is nothing driving this story. There is no motivation. They formed APO, with Sloan in charge, because they couldn't deal with government tape? Sorry, that doesn't work. Every step of the way there has always been a goal. There is no goal. These past three episodes were all about forced character development. Syd still wants to kill Sloan. Great. Now she has to work with him. Why? Dixon hates Sloan. He's there. Why? This is all wrong. All wrong. The only people who should have gone rogue were Syd and Vaughn. And it should have been over something big, something that we missed last season having to do with the Covenant. In fact, they could have surprised us and teamed up with Sloan and Nadia, who could have still been on the run. Except, half way through the season, we could have found out that it was Jack who put this whole thing together, and that the four of them were actually running black opps for him, while he was working with Dixon and Weiss at the main office, who thought Syd and Vaughn really were rogue. That's what Alias is all about. That's a story. But, instead, we get the latest version of Mission Impossible.
I'll keep watching, because I like the charcters. But this show has got to pick up the pace, starting with the next episode. We've already lost three episodes this season. Anymore, and it may not be able to hold my interest.
