Alias - Series 2 (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	gripping viewing, great characters, a shock twist season finale
Disadvantages:	the viewer can lose the plot occasionally

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have just finished watching "Alias Season 2" on dvd and I loved it so much that I felt I really had to write a review on it! So here goes . . .

♥♥♥ PREVIOUSLY ON ALIAS . . . ♥♥♥

Sydney Bristow was approached and recruited for a government agency SD-6. Or what she THOUGHT was a government agency. After the murder of her fiance Danny, she discovered not only were SD-6 behind his death, but that it also was not what they seemed - rather than being a hushed-up faction of the CIA, it was a criminal organisation which made money from terrorism, drug-trade and weapons which was part of a larger umbrella organisation named The Alliance - in other words, the type of organisation which she always believed she was fighting AGAINST. Realising the truth, and particularly shocked by the fact that her boss Arvin Sloane had directly ordered Danny's death, she became a double agent, working for the CIA to help bring SD-6 down. Along the way, she discovered that her estranged father Jack was ALSO a double agent and the two became united in their deception.

Towards the end of series one, Sydney discovered that her mother, who she thought had died 20 years previously, was actually alive. A shocking enough revelation in itself, but her mother was actually a Russian spy who had met and seduced Jack in order to try to extract secrets from him. And at the start of the second season of "Alias", she is reunited with the woman who abandoned her and betrayed both her father and America - but the reunion is far from a happy one.

♥♥♥ THE MAIN PLAYERS ♥♥♥

SYDNEY BRISTOW
(Jennifer Garner - "13 Going on 30", "Dude, Where's My Car?", "Daredevil", "Elektra")
Sydney is in most ways ideal spy material - independent, feisty, capable of acting her socks off under various aliases, an expert fighter, can speak many languages when necessary and is clearly highly intelligent. However, she also seems a bit more sensitive than the average spy and, while she can kill when necessary, she is unwilling to put anyone she loves in the crossfire. She also seems a little bit more trusting than your average spy, which could cause trouble for her in this series.

JACK BRISTOW
(Victor Garber - "Titanic", "Legally Blonde")
Jack Bristow started working for the CIA alongside his friend Arvin Sloane in the seventies and went to SD-6 with him when it was formed, although he continued to work for the CIA without Sloane's knowledge. He's still bitter about his wife's betrayal and can't forgive and forget when she appears back in his life. He is also extremely protective of Sydney and is willing to do just about anything to protect her - even if it means sending her mother to death row in the process.

MICHAEL VAUGHAN
(Michael Vartan - "Never Been Kissed", "Monster in Law", "One Hour Photo")
Vaughan is Sydney's CIA handler, giving her counter missions to help conspire against SD-6. Due to their close working relationship, the two have developed a bond of friendship which is rife with sexual tension and could possibly be on the verge of developing into something stronger.

IRINA DEREVKO
(Lena Olin)
Known as Laura Bristow to Sydney, Irina reappears in her daughter's life in this season. Their relationship doesn't get off to a good start when Irina shoots Sydney in the shoulder, but she laters turns herself in to the CIA and it seems that she wants to make amends for her past crimes - one of which includes the murder of Vaughan's father. Gradually she rebuilds relationships with both her daughter and her husband, but even then its hard to know if the former-KGB agent can be trusted.

ARVIN SLOANE
(Ron Rifkin)
Sloane is the head of SD-6 and, in this season, he is voted into The Alliance - something he has had to kill his cancer-ridden wife to achieve. But is she really dead? And it seems Sloane has bigger fish to fry than becoming a major part of The Alliance - something that becomes increasingly clear as the season progresses.

WILL TIPPIN
(Bradley Cooper)
One of Sydney's closest friends, journalist Will was on the verge of blowing the SD-6 story wide-open (not knowing of Sydney's part in it) when he was kidnapped at the end of the first season. Now he knows the truth, and SD-6 knows that he knows, so there is only one way to make him safe - to ruin his career and reputation. Now he knows Sydney's secret, but will never work as a journalist again. He eventually gets to help out the CIA, but it seems his stroke of bad luck may continue.

FRANCIE CALFO
(Merrin Dungey)
Sydney's best friend and flatmate has always been there for her, despite always knowing that there is probably something her mate isn't telling her. In the first season, Francie's character wasn't particularly interesting and she gets off to a slow start in the second season also as she achieves her lifelong dream of opening a restaurant. Wow! However, halfway through the series, Francie . . . well, let's just say she isn't feeling quite herself, and leave it at that.

OTHER CHARACTERS:

Marshall - the techno-whizz/nerd of SD-6, he has a photographic memory and a nervous disposition. A lovely little bloke, he seems more than a little in love with Sydney, and in this series he actually gets a chance to go on a real mission.

Dixon - Sydney's partner and good friend to her, he has previously doubted her loyalty to SD-6 - although he obviously is yet to find out who he is working for.

Weiss - a CIA agent who is a good friend to both Vaughan and Sydney and often provides a bit of light relief in the series.

Sark - a cool-as-a-cucumber and uber-polite terrorist who can switch allegiances with the click of a finger, he was last aligned with Irina, but its hard to tell what his gameplan is now.

♥♥♥ WHAT IS SEASON TWO ALL ABOUT? ♥♥♥

I don't want to give too much away here so I am not going to tell too much of the storyline. The CIA continue to work to bring down SD-6 and Sloane, who is seemingly obsessed with finding more of Rambaldi's work (Rambaldi was a 15th century scientist, artist and prophet who seems to be based on Nostradamus) and unlocking the secrets of his prophecies. In the meantime, Sloane confesses to Jack that he murdered his wife to gain entry into the highest echelons of The Alliance, but that he is starting to believe she isn't actually dead, asking Jack to help him uncover the truth.

As the series progresses, the CIA grow increasingly closer to their goal of taking down SD-6 and The Alliance - but as the dream starts to become a reality, it suddenly becomes clear that the real threat is not these organisations, but Sloane himself, who seems to be on a completely different playing field and may have been playing Sydney, Jack and the CIA like his own personal puppets all along.

Another person who seems to have her own plans is Irina. Initially furious with and extremely wary of the mother she barely knew, Sydney gradually begins to bond with her as the intel she provides is accurate and helps the CIA to gain ground in their race against SD-6. However, Jack is ever-watchful and knows that if you give Irina an inch, she'll take an entire country. And she's entirely capable of doing such a thing.

Another highlight of the season is the continuing tension between Sydney and Vaughan - it is incredible how much feeling they can convey when they barely ever even TOUCH one another. Finally they may have an opportunity to have a proper relationship - but is that possible between two people who keep secrets for a living?

And there's a LOT of secrets going on. Back-stabbing, subterfuge, friends who aren't what they seem - and there's someone running around Los Angeles with a face they shouldn't have. WE know who who the doppelganger is, but no one else seems to have a clue. Will they find out?

A huge cliffhanger is promised in the season finale and, trust me, if you haven't seen it before, it will be a major shock and completely unexpected. I finished watching just the other night and the twist had me staring at the tv in disbelief long after the credits had finished rolling. Believe me, you're in for a hell of a surprise!

♥♥♥ WHY WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? ♥♥♥

I was a fairweather fan of Season One, back when it first aired on Channel Four - I had watched enough to get the general gist of what was going on, but I didn't really pay it too much attention, beyond the phwoar factor of the lovely Michael Vartan. I decided to watch the Season Two dvd boxset because I hadn't seen it on tv (it switched to channel five and I don't get channel five in my flat) and because my sister had recently bought it and lent it to me. It took me about two months before I even took the first dvd out of the case but within about ten minutes of putting it on, I was hooked.

"Alias" is a very fast paced tv programme in some respects - Sydney and her cohorts will often take in several cities around the world and complete four or five missions in one episode - but their progress in taking down SD-6 is fairly slow-paced as they have to ensure they destroy EVERYTHING. There's a lot of exciting fight scenes - Sydney, like her butt-kicking predecessor Buffy, is very creative when it comes to turning everyday items into weapons, and she kicks and punches like a pro. She also spends a lot of time pretending to be different characters in order to infiltrate various locations or organisations - I think the best disguise she adopted was the geisha, as she looked almost completely unrecognisable as herself.

Sometimes it is completely straightforward what is going on within the show, but at other times it can get a little confusing as "Alias" doesn't really patronise its viewers and often assumes we will just be able to keep up. But generally if you concentrate on it, you'll get the gist of what is going on and be too caught up in the excitement to look away anyway.

The show also draws a lot of big names making guest appearances and this series is no exception. There are turns from Faye Dunaway and Ethan Hawke (yum!) as well as the fantastic Christian Slater who pops up in two episodes as a mathematician hostage.

"Alias" contains all the critical elements of a good action drama - fantastic special effects, fighting, tension,romance, excitement and the odd well-placed bit of humour- as well as fabulous acting from all characters - something that could have been overlooked in favour of the special effects. Jennifer Garner is particularly good as Sydney - a girl who is tough enough physically to deal with any situation, but whose tough exterior belies her sensitivity. She is extremely capable and likeable and often I want to be her - although I don't think I could cope with that sort of pressure, considering I can barely handle my admin job!

♥♥♥THE DVD♥♥♥

The DVD boxset for series 2 contains three volumes, with 2 discs in each volume. The first five discs contain four episodes of the series each, and the last disc contains the final two episodes as well as the special features promised. These special features are:

• Audio commentaries from cast and crew (this feature is on all of the discs)
• Deleted scenes
• 'The Making Of The Telling' featurette
• Season 2 blooper reel
• 'The Look Of Alias' featurette
• The making of the video game

I'm not really particularly into extra features myself, which I'm sure I've said before, and couldn't be bothered watching the documentaries (I started watching "The Look of Alias" but after they spent the first five minutes talking about a red wig, I lost interest) but I was interested in the deleted scenes and blooper reel. The blooper real in particular is pretty amusing, with the head of the CIA accidentally saying "CusTARDy" instead of "custody" and Garner proving what a klutz she is in real life by walking into various things or falling over. It's definitely worth a look, particularly since the series itself was so serious, and Garner's character seems so capable in it!

♥♥♥SOME QUOTES FROM "ALIAS"♥♥♥

Vaughn: Look, if I'm not back in a couple of hours I'm probably dead.
Weiss: Good to know.

Marcus Dixon: Listen, while you're grabbing the Rambaldi manuscript, if you happen to see a sandwich...
Sydney: You got it.

Vaughn: Any questions, so far?
Sydney: Yeah. Can you show me what a bag looks like again?

Marshall Flinkman: He also happens to own the largest collection of pornographic art in all of Madrid. Which... I thought was an interesting fact. Sorry.

Sydney: Well, go ahead and raid my closet.
Francie: Thanks... but I've got boobs.

♥♥♥SHOULD YOU BUY IT?♥♥♥

If you saw Season One and are keen to know what happens next, or know a vague bit of the story and like exciting dramas which aren't remotely predictable, then this boxset is definitely worth a watch. At the moment, it costs £29.99 from play.com, which is a small price to pay for a day's worth of viewing - and yes, you may try to watch it all squashed into one day!