Compared to the first 2 seasons (which I consider to be some of the best genre TV produced at the time), season 3 was a dissappointment as has been this season. Some of the eps have been bleh and others have been good. The last few weeks have been better than the start of the season. Now that we have Vaughn's father's mystery in the mix things have started to pick up.
Last week's Nadia-centric ep did not suck, for example. Nor did the 2 eps where they brought back Anna Espinoza. I hate to say it, but S3 & S4 of Alias remind me a little of S4 & S5 of Buffy (without the standout eps of Buffy like Hush). Still good TV but not up to the quality of what came before, especially on an emotional level.
They keep hinting that Jack & Sloan are up to something and it has to do with both Syd and Nadia for certain. We also have the whole sister vs sister prophecy going on and they are setting up a conflict between the 2 starting with the opening of the season where Syd lied about who killed their mom. It doesn't quite have the same impact of The Alliance and Rambaldi stuff.
The reasons I keep watching:
- I REALLY want to know what the hell Sloan was told at the very end of S2 in the monestary right before we jump 3 years into the future and he is a "good guy." It really drives me buts because we know it has to do with Rambaldi and we know he's already moved past artifacts and is now waiting/perpetuating something else.
- Sloan and Jack in general. Jack's "do whatever it takes" methods and Sloan's super smarmy evilocity need to be in every ep.
- Weiss.
- Syd and Nadia are hot, I can't help it.
- The knowledge that any week something REALLY damn cool could happen. I'm not waiting for something like the death of SD-6 or Lauren's reveal last season but more along the lines of the usual cool stuff (like Tarantino) from season one. They've replaced some of that cool with more Banter with Marshall (not bad but needs to be toned down a bit) and a new club every week that Syd/Nadia have to infiltrate. I don't mind the club stuff but please don't do it every week. We get that spys/villains love these joints.
- I've been with it from the very start and have never missed an ep. I'm a very loyal viewer and they'd really have to do something that made the show unwatchable or simply not entertaining for me to stop. With the advent of TiVo I can just let the eps sit there and watch them whenever if I don't feel like seeing the show for a few weeks. There is still plenty there to keep me onboard but I have felt myself watching the show with considerably less gusto. It used to be one of the first things I would watch and that would be one of the highlights of getting home from work on Sunday nights but now it sometimes sits there for a few days or weeks. I have been watching "on time" the last few weeks simply because most other shows are on break right now.
