The fourth season of the action packed, plot twisting hit television series,
Alias, arrives on DVD and tries to recapture the first season’s
magic and suspense but fails in its attempt at recovery.
THE MISSION Alias creator J.J. Abrams’ previous series, Felicity,
started off with a bang but gradually lost its original focus, and sadly so
does Alias. Critics reported the change in season three of
Alias, so in an effort to combat this, season four tries to
imitate the success of the original espionage team focusing on Sydney’s
aliases and sexy costumes. It even brings together the original SD-6 team (Syd,
Vaughn, Jack, Weiss, Dixon and Marshall) with Arvin Sloane as their leader again,
but this time he is in charge of a top secret Black Ops unit of the CIA, i.e.
the good guys. Yes, apparently Sloan is not evil this season now that he is
a father and put his Rambaldi obsession behind him… at least for now.
The end of the third season brought Sydney’s half-sister Nadia (Mia Maestro)
in the picture, so there is one new addition to the spy team. Despite the fact
that they just met, and a prophecy states they will fight to the death, the
sisterly bond is somehow strong between Sydney and Nadia; they even become roommates
and save each other from difficult situations. Nadia also starts dating colleague
Eric Weiss.
Michael Vaughn and Sydney Bristow, meanwhile, are finally together in this
season, yet they do not act like they are. The mushy love, wanting and caring—demonstrated
in the past seasons—has disappeared. At times, it’s like they are
not a couple at all and are still as angry with one another, as they were in
season three. It’s not until the end of the season that their relationship
is reignited with Vaughn proposing out of the blue.
Also, the Rambaldi prophecy, which is the main plot driving element of the
previous seasons, is seemingly dropped at the beginning of season four and not
picked up again until halfway through the season – flimsy at best.
The show finally recaptures a bit of its original momentum in the last several
episodes, with the revival of Sydney’s mother, played by the awesome Lena
Olin. Apparently not dead after all, the fabulous Olin comes back to help the
team and meet her daughter. Additional characters are brought back as well,
like Sark, but unfortunately only for two episodes. Also, we finally get some
answers to questions that have been around since the first season, so if you
are willing to look past the terrible first half of the season, the second half
has some good Alias-style episodes to watch.
THE ASSIGNMENTS
For the episode “Welcome to Liberty Village,” Sydney and Vaughn
go undercover as a married couple in the model community, Liberty Village, in
order to find a powerful weapon. However, posing as newlyweds may actually be
harder than it may seem for the real couple since their fake marriage and love
are put under the microscope and its validity questioned. The neighborhood that
they've infiltrated meanwhile is a Stepford Wives, Pleasantville-esque
town, where everything appears perfect, but each couple is a trained assassin.
Besides their passion for each other Syd and Vaughn’s lack of impulsiveness
is also questioned, when Weiss says to them, “You guys are as spontaneous
as my grandparents. And they're dead.” Now the couple has something to
prove.
In “Tuesday,” any ongoing plots are temporarily put on hold for
a countdown episode where Sydney is buried alive. When a mission goes wrong,
Sydney is attacked and placed in a wooden coffin and buried in a cemetery in
Cuba. Her cell phone is her only means to alert the LA office about what happened.
Meanwhile, Dixon is exposed to a deadly poison released inside headquarters
which is currently in Lock down due to the toxin and Marshal is the only one
who can save Sydney. It is such a flip to see the trained team listening to
Sydney’s distress and unable to do anything to help, and having Marshall
be the role of savior instead.
“Another Mister Sloane,” reveals that an eerie Sloane look alike
is on the loose and procuring Rambaldi artifacts just like the real Sloan. Once
they realize what "Arvin Clone" is after, Sloane suggests he step
down temporarily. However, Sydney reluctantly convinces him to stay on the case,
since he may be the only person able to anticipate his double’s next move.
But Nadia fears that this mission might revive her father's past Rambaldi crusade.
Although the plot is incredibly unrealistic and pointless the idea is still
interesting.
In “Mirage,” Jack Bristow’s radiation illness acquired from
a previous episode has caused him to hallucinate about a cure, reverting back
to twenty years earlier. Sydney must recreate the time when Jack was working
for the CIA and hid the only man who might be able to help him now. In order
to do this Sydney must pretend to be her own mother and hope he will confide
in her. Meanwhile a child actress plays Sydney as a little girl. It is a creepy
episode with Sydney pretending to be her own mother and father’s wife,
but it also gives a glimpse into Jack’s life before he was double crossed
by Irina and reinforces his love for Sydney. SPOILER: In the closing seconds of the season finale,
“Before the Flood,” Vaughan reveals to Sydney while driving that
it was no accident that she had been sent to him in the first episode of the
series and that his name is not Michael Vaughan and then BAM a car crashes into
them. End Season. END SPOILER
SOUND AND VISION
The season is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound and shown in Widescreen
(1.78.1) format, enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Episodes come with Closed Captions,
available in English and Spanish.
PACKAGING AND LAYOUT
The 22, one-hour episodes come on six discs. However, they are not presented
in a six-flap case like the previous seasons, but in a tri-fold with the discs
almost interlaced on top of each other. There is a slim insert with short episode
descriptions inside too.
TOP SECRET GADGETS
Over four hours of bonus features are included in the box set.
• Commentary by cast and creators on four episodes – with some
commentary by Jennifer Garner, creator J.J. Abrams, and directors Ken Olin,
Sarah Caplan, Jeff Melvoin, Drew Goddard, Jeffrey Bell, Lawrence Trilling, Jeff
Pinker and Jesse Alexander. The audio tracks can be found on the first two episodes,
“Authorized Personnel Only, Part 1 and Part 2,” the fourth episode,
“Ice,” and episode 6 “Nocturne.”
• A Chat With Jennifer Garner – is an interview with the leading
lady herself as she discusses the show, filming and the season.
• Meet Mia: Syd's Little Sister – introduces the new character to
the cast, Nadia and the actress that plays her Mia Maestro.
• Director's Diary – is where director Jeff Bell explains how he
goes about directing an episode, right down from the storyboard outline of the
different acts to directing the stars.
• Marshall's World – follows Kevin Weisman, who plays Marshall,
and his behind the scenes look at the set, filming, post production and his
trailer and work routine.
• Blooper Reel – is introduced by J.J. Abrams. The montage then
starts with the actors laughing or making funny faces into the camera during
their scenes, revealing their personalities. The rest consist of the cast getting
caught in tongue twisters, entering the scene at the wrong time, prop malfunctions
and awkward stunts. However, the majority of bloopers feature Jennifer Garner
breaking character and causing the others to laugh. It’s pretty funny.
While Michael Vartan seems to like to mess with his fellow actors by changing
his lines to say things like, “Guys! Wait up, let’s cuddle!”
• Deleted Scenes – consists of extended versions of previous scenes
like when Sydney rescues her mother and other cut segments that did not make
it to the final episodes. There were a couple deleted scenes between Vaughn
and Sydney, which the season lacked and could have included, but none of them
are essential.
• The Guest Stars of Season 4 – highlight the different high profile
guest appearances including those of Angela Basset, Lena Olin and Joel Grey
and interview them about their role.
• Anatomy of A Scene – includes the making of “The Train Fight”
and “The Chopper Escape” and show all the work and engineering it
takes to produce the two big stunt segments in the season.
• Agent Weiss' Spy Camera – is narrated by Greg Grunberg as he shares
candid snapshots and stories about his coworkers and crew. His jokes and take
on stuff are amusing.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Season four is not as riveting as the previous seasons; in fact it is the show’s
weakest year yet. But, despite its failings, it is still has some enjoyable
and exciting episodes, especially mid season.
DVD Show Season Score: C
DVD Sound & Vision: A
DVD Packaging/Layout: B
DVD Special Features Score: B DVD Show Collection Overall Score: B-
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