Review of
Episode 1: Authorized Personnel Only, Part 1
1/5/2005
Sydney: "You're transferring me to the mailroom?"
"Alias" is so good at remaking itself. They just
did it again.
Even though "Alias" tends not to have the greatest
premiere episodes, this one was a lot of fun. The Hitchcock-like
opener on the train was fabulous, and reminded me of the Superbowl
episode; the music ("At Last") was an acknowledgement
of how long we've been waiting for season four.
They moved directly into the misleading setup for Sydney's
"demotion" that was a cover for her transfer to
APO, which seems to be a sort of legitimate SD-6. Back to
the beginning, so to speak, with all of our favorite characters,
and now they even have a license to kill. Once I got used
to the idea, I started liking it a lot. Sydney now gets to
work permanently with her father, her lover, and her former
partner.
Putting Sloane, her mortal enemy, in charge felt bizarre,
but (another
Hitchcock reference) you set a thief to catch a thief, right?
Who better
than Sloane to put terrorists and international criminals
out of business?
He still gives me the shudders, and we'll always suspect him
of having
another agenda: the drama and the conflict are built right
in. And I can't
imagine this series without Ron Rifkin, anyway.
So Sydney and Vaughn went out on one mission and immediately
jumped back into bed together. It can only go downhill from
here. Of course, that's exactly the opposite of what they
usually do with will-they-won't-they couples on television.
It's sort of ironic, too; last year, Garner and Vartan were
a real life couple, and didn't do a single love scene. This
year, they've broken up, and Sydney and Vaughn immediately
hit the sheets. Life is strange.
Finally, there was the cryptic Sydney and Jack argument about
what happened in the Wittenberg bank vault. More about that
in my review of part two.
Bits and pieces:
-- The new opening credits (twenty minutes in, typical "Alias")
kicked
major, major butt. No more David Anders (boo). No more Melissa
George (yay). They've added Mia Maestro, which is fine with
me. But I want Sark back, do you hear me, J.J.? And while
you're at it, could we have Will Tippin back, too?
-- Speaking of casting, we may have "lost" the
wonderful Terry O'Quinn, but Angela Bassett as Director Chase
appears to be his equal. Loved her, loved her, loved her.
-- The <o> is gone from the credits, and there was
only a brief mention of
him. Is Rambaldi off the menu?
-- The new set is so white and shiny! SD-6 was such a dungeon,
and the CIA office was slick with the black marble, so white
and shiny is a big change. You'd think a black ops office
would be in a warehouse or something.
-- Vaughn told Weiss, "It's not because of Sydney. It's
because last year
sucked." Was that a backhanded way of acknowledging that
season three was less than stellar?
-- Sydney: "You're sure she really left? Fake quitting
seems to be all the
rage."
-- Kamarov: "What is inside can be used for good or
evil." Sydney: "Me,
too."
-- In this season's hair report, Jennifer Garner's hair is
the same length,
but the cut sure looks different. Love Angela Bassett's do.
Michael
Vartan's looked more mussed, and he had more stubble than
usual; getting out of a three piece suit will do that for
you, I guess.
-- This week's itinerary: Shanghai, Washington D.C., Belarus,
and somewhere in Argentina.
-- This week's hot look: Like I have to write it down? Short
blonde hair,
skimpy white nightie, Swedish accent. Kamarov must have felt
like he had won the lottery. I also thought Vaughn looked
cute in glasses.
More in part two,
Billie
- Review by Billie Doux
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