Alias - The Complete Third Season

Rating: NR

Distributor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Release Date: September 7, 2004
Review posted: September 15, 2004

Reviewed by Dennis Landmann

SYNOPSIS

In the first year, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) worked for Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) at SD-6, which she thought was a secret branch of the CIA. Her father Jack Bristow (Victor Garber) worked there, too, but as an uncover agent for the CIA. With the help of her CIA handler Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan), Sydney vowed to take down SD-6. In the second year, SD-6 crumbled and so did The Alliance, but the return of Sydney's mother Irina (Lena Olin) changed everything. Meanwhile, Sloane pursued his journey to complete his Rambaldi collection, while the CIA tried to stop him and other terrorists in the process. At the very end of the second year, after an incredible fight in her home, Sydney wakes up in Hong Kong two years later without any memory of the lost time.

Finally, the third season explores what happened to Sydney, as well as the conflict of relationship between Sydney and Vaughn, who is now married to Lauren Reed (Melissa George). Meanwhile, Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly) now serves as the director of the rotunda, Agent Weiss (Greg Grunberg) is back on duty, Marshall (Kevin Weisman) devises the tricks of the trade, Sark (David Anders) is in CIA custody, and Sloane operates OmniFam, his health insurance company. On the bad news front, a new and perhaps more violent terrorist group called The Covenant aims to complete the Rambaldi prophecy by any means necessary. But that's just the very beginning of what's to come in the third season of Alias.

CRITIQUE

Alias has become one of my favorite shows on TV, and along with 24 it's cutting-edge, fast-paced, and exciting to watch. The only thing is I've never seen one episode of Alias on the air. Instead, I've followed the show on DVD, which has been a really exciting experience, because first of all, there are no annoying commercials breaking up the flow of an episode, and there's absolutely no waiting period in between shows. In fact, I watched all 22 episodes of the third season in only a week. With that in mind, Alias not only takes on a new presentation format, namely DVD, but it makes for more exciting entertainment the more episodes one can watch in a row. The first two seasons were very solid, although I detected just a little distraction in the third season.

The stories, character elements, and events explored in the first half of the third season spend more time on Sydney's missing two years, which tends to slow down the forward narrative structure by revealing incidents from the past. So instead of moving ahead with the story and characters, the first half deals with mostly what happened before. Granted, the second half speeds up the action and overall flows better than the first half. One reason for this is the sort of twist that occurs halfway, but I won't say what it is. The twist changes the show's focus a bit, which doesn't necessarily offer more suspense but sets up the idea that in the end everything will (probably or most likely) come full circle for the major characters.

In addition, there is the constant mystery surrounding Arvin Sloane and his true intentions. On the other side of the world, Jack Bristow makes a return from prison, this is realized in the first episode The Two, and throughout the season he manages to impress with his calm yet dangerous cool. Victor Garber is just perfect, and that's all I need to say about him. Michael Vartan shows some interesting emotions as an actor portraying a character who feels differently but essentially expresses the same feelings for Sydney and wife Lauren. Jennifer Garner is strong once again, she looks hot and knows how to fight, and season newcomer Melissa George plays her character quite well.

Carl Lumbly's Dixon feels a little reduced in his actions despite being the director of the rotunda, yet the actor plays his part well in the episode that involves his two children. Greg Grunberg and Kevin Weisman provide solid comic relief, although being funny is not the only thing they're good at. Weiss sees some action going on missions, while Weisman's Marshall becomes increasingly more off-topic in his presentations and discussions during the briefings. Despite that Marshal remains a quirky character, although in reality Sydney, Dixon, and the rest of the group would probably find him annoying over time.

It wouldn't be smart to discuss plot threads in this review, so I'll just skip to the next point in my discussion. The Rambaldi mythology, set up in the prior seasons, gets a bit too over the top as the third season progresses. Some of the artifacts are well realized and look pretty cool, but the show also asks the viewer's imagination to stretch just a bit too much.

Speaking of Rambaldi, the new terrorist group The Covenant wants to get their hands on the artifacts to fulfill the prophecy. Throughout the season this new group becomes more synonymous with Mr. Sark instead of a group of people (it's supposed to be headed by a variety of members and cells). With The Alliance there was a presence of "bad guy" karma flowing around whenever Sloane and the other members would meet, but the Covenant is not a strong enough villain. Djimon Hounsou (In America) guest stars in a few episodes as a bad guy, plus good old funny man Ricky Gervais (The Office) guests as a bomber in Facade. Other guest stars show up this season as well, but I won't mention them to ruin the surprises.

As in the second season, and most likely in the first as well, some goofs, as well as logical and factual errors turn up, not to mention errors in geography (establishing shots of various international locations are sometimes portrayed incorrectly). The technical goofs I can dismiss easily because I have no real problems with them, yet the occasional gaps in logic can become a little irritating after a while. What stands out most is the fact that Michael Vaughn gets hurt pretty bad this season, but not only once, he finds himself in near critical condition three times! His third injury is a stab wound in the back and a fractured lung. Yet he recovers miraculously fast from his pains and is able to go back to work in very short time.

Singling out the following example is probably not going to make a very strong case about logic gaps, but I just have to say it. On a mission in Vancouver, Sydney and Vaughn race after a suspect in a parking structure. The suspect gets into a Ford Mustang and races away, so Sydney and Vaughn (apparently) hotwire a Ford F-150 to pursue the Mustang. At the bottom of the structure, the Mustang races to the entrance lane only to find a stopped car, which it then bumps back onto the street. The Mustang gets away, and the F-150 appears to be right behind it. That's not the case, however, because the F-150 can't seem to jump over a small curb that separates another stopped car in the entrance lane to the structure. All Vaughn had to do was apply some horsepower to the truck and move the other car out of the way! Come on - okay, I'm really nitpicking here, but it was just a thought.

However, it's easily recognizable this option wouldn't work because otherwise the two passengers inside the Mustang wouldn't have escaped, and surely they "needed" to get away. Well, okay, I just wasted an entire paragraph on a stupid example, but maybe you get the point. I was reminded of another logic gap, or simple error in judgment, when reading another review of the DVD; Sydney and Vaughn riding up to a convoy of trucks on horses in the desert without being spotted until after a rescue attempt. On the positive side, I find the logic gaps don't distract all that much.

Despite any negative issues about the third season, and considering they're small detail as part of the big picture, Alias is still an exciting, fast-paced, and smart TV show. I enjoyed Season 3 as much as possible. The narrative structure isn't up to par with the first two seasons, but if you like Alias you'll be entertained nevertheless. On one final note, I can't wait for the continuation of the new twist that was revealed at the very end of the season finale. Season 4 begins in January 2005 on ABC.

THE VIDEO

Buena Vista presents Alias in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors are vibrant and well-saturated. Color detail is pretty good and shadow detail is good. Softness is not apparent. Skin tones look just fine. Dark tones are not consistent and deep blacks don't have much depth. Image quality is fresh and devoid of major problems. However, there are noticeable amounts of grain in even the slightest of dark scenes. I didn't notice any compression artifacts. Special effects shots look nice, but are very obvious. I'm not sure if they're intended to look that way or if the effects are just of lesser quality; I guess it ultimately depends on the show's budget, which is not very high. In any case, Alias looks pretty good to me in the overall sense. The widescreen presentation makes the show look cinematic.

THE AUDIO

Buena Vista presents Alias in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. It is nicely spread across and reproduced among the two front channels. Sound effects are aplenty, like gunshots, punches, kicks, kisses; heck, you name it. Despite that, the surrounds are not used to great effect. The rear speakers pick up sounds from time to time, but the presentation is usually without much dynamic range. The score comes across nicely, however. Overall, the show sounds just fine.

THE EXTRAS

There are four audio commentaries available on this third season DVD set, yet there isn't as much fun interaction and discussion on the four tracks here than on the commentaries from the second season DVD set. Personally, I would've liked a cast commentary that included Michael Vartan, Victor Garber, Kevin Weisman, and Carl Lumbly, in addition to the three cast members who appear in two separate tracks already. More on them in a bit. I'm saying this because the commentary on the second season set for Phase One proved to be quite entertaining and fun.

Disc 1 offers commentary on The Two by "Alias" fans Erin Dailey and Jennifer Wong. One is a writer for a TV website, the other won a national contest. This track is only mildly interesting, and not too informative for my taste anyways.

Disc 3 offers commentary on Conscious by Jennifer Garner, Melissa George and director Ken Olin. A decent discussion that covers some good topics. The disc also offers commentary on Full Disclosure by director Lawrence Trilling, writer Jesse Alexander, and Scott Chambliss.

Disc 4 offers commentary on Facade by series creator J.J. Abrams, director Jack Bender, and actor Greg Grunberg.

Available on disc 5 is The Museum of Television & Radio - Creating Characters, a nice featurette discussing the creation and writing process. It was taped at an event earlier this year.

The Animated Alias: Tribunal (7:25) reveals the unknown chapter of Sydney's missing two years, but not really. Some man is captured and must tell his captors about a mysterious woman or he gets killed. We then see some flashback action with Sydney casing out a night club and then stealing something. Overall, a disappointing feature.

Alias Up Close offers revealing behind-the-scenes footage and chats with cast and crew. This is really a six-part documentary that can be played as one documentary (56:06) or individually by selecting the following headings: The Guest Stars includes a hilarious interview with Mr. Ricky Gervais (but unless you know Gervais from The Office you might not find it so funny) and three others; The Assistant Directors spends 18 minutes showing the viewer what goes on on the set, such as prepping and setting up shots, and explaining how much work assistant directors actually have to do (which is a lot); The Stunt Team featurette deconstructs the parking garage chase which is supposed to take place in Vancouver; The Effects Team featurette details what goes into making an air plane explode without actually damaging it; Creating Props offers a 3-minute look at the creation of an important Rambaldi artifact; and Set Dressing shows how the inside of a Cathedral in Los Angeles is transformed into a Covenant lab.

Burbank to Barcelona (9:32) is an exclusive production featurette that focuses on the international locations, and how the production leads the viewer to believe that the show actually travels abroad, but in fact the show does a pretty good job disguising locations in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas to appear foreign.

7 deleted scenes (7:19) show some insight, but not a lot. Still, they're nice to watch.

The Season 3 Blooper Reel (7:28) is a lot of fun with the actors messing up their lines and simply laughing it up. Many blooper reels run for no more than five minutes tops, but this one goes on longer, which is fantastic. Thanks, guys.

The Monday Night Football teaser (1:17) has Sydney talking to the camera and loading up some information on the NFL and select players, or something! In all seriousness, I find the teaser pretty silly.

Michael & The Stanley Cup (2:31) is a little featurette on hockey, and then some.

As part of the DVD-ROM feature on disc 3, ScriptScanner allows the viewer to read the script for Conscious with interactive access.

The packaging of the six-disc DVD set is a very nice step up from the previous design. The six discs are housed in small plastic treys stacked on top of each other, and then you slip the case inside a plastic sheath. A neat booklet lists episodes, basic credits, episode synopses, and features some pictures (one pic should be considered a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the season before).

SUMMARY

So who cares if the third season of Alias is not as solid as the previous two seasons, the enjoyment of the series is still there, which makes for entertaining television, and therefore I'll highly recommend the third season.

VERDICT: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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