Goodbye, Sidney Bristow
Well, Alias took its final bow last night. I will miss it. Just for the record, though, it was JJ Abrams and the network that killed this show.
First, the network moved this much beloved sleeper hit from the original Sunday night time slot, banishing it to Wednesdays, of all things. Then, JJ Abrams just couldn't let the Milo Rambaldi plot lines alone. As thought the CIA is solely concerned with "prophets" from the 1400s. Oh, yeah, and the accumulation of his artifacts.
It was always a stretch of the imagination and the show suffered for it. You could sometimes see Ron Rifkin, Victor Garber, and Jennifer Garner suppressing guffaws as they delivered yet another line about some ominous new artifact hidden in some extremely unlikely location (like a cave in Mongolia) that will deliver some dreaded end of the world cataclysmic event.
Nah. The Rambaldi story line and the eternal life stuff was bullshit a bit deep for hip-waders.
Nevertheless, the cast was fabulous.
Victor Garber was divine. He was stoic. He bristled with electric energy. He was fabulous, snarky, sarcastic, and wounded. I loved that he had fallen for a KGB agent, that he loved her still, even if he knew he couldn't trust her. I loved that, having learned the lesson of a duplicitous wife, he instructed Vaughn to put his own bitch down. Victor Garber is the sort of amazing actor that doesn't get enough credit today, simply because nobody has given him the spotlight. But, when Victor Garber raises an eyebrow, he speaks eloquently and clearly. I love SpyDaddy.
Ron Rifkin is Arvin Sloane. I have despised him from the first moment. I wanted to tear him limb from limb a million times. He was slimy and rarely liked to do his own wet work. But, he was at his best when he did. Like the time he shot the guy with the robotic eye that recorded his own murder. But, my absolute favorite moment has to be when Sloane was being tortured and they had to cut off his thumb to deactivate the bombs. Such nobility from the slimeball, it was a high. Ron Rifkin was sublime. I will miss hating him. He was the quintessential villain. He cared for no one, would lie to you all the while swearing his sincerity. Snake.
Lena Olin was masterful as Irina Derevko. She was an enigma. Clearly she could be vicious, but she also had her tender side. Of course, this tenderness was frequently masking some hidden agenda, but she always livened up the plot. The interplay between her and Victor Garber was nothing short of brilliant. And I shall never forget her tender words when Sydney was in labor, "I came to realize that I could either be a good mother or a good agent, but not both. I chose to be an agent." How is that for maternal rejection?
Michael Vartan played the boy scout Michael Vaughn. We could count on him. We could trust him. That is, until we weren't so sure anymore. He was always nice to look at too.
Carl Lumbly played the intrepid Dixon. He had his ghosts, but he was a genuine good guy. How many times did they put him in that Jamaican get-up, anyway? Hey, mon.
Eric Weiss, lovable puppy dog and sidekick to Vaughn, was played cleverly by Greg Grunberg. He deserved more airtime and more plotlines.
Kevin Weisman showed serious comedic chops as the technogeek Marshall Flinkman. His uncertain stuttering and clearly genius intellect often created hysterical moments in briefings. Some of my favorite episodes, though, are the ones in which Marshall goes into the field. "My name is Marshall Flinkman and I am here to save you." Heh. Indeed. Fabulous.
David Anders and Melissa George were the perfect evil duo as Julian Sark and Lauren Reed. Can I just say, David Anders - yummm. He lit up the screen and played the survivalist. He had no loyalties but to himself. He constantly talked when captured, almost as if to say, "anything! just don't mess up my beautiful face." I loved the slimy little devil. Lauren was cold, methodical, and a lot like a preying mantis. And, she did a great cat fight.
I never warmed up to Nadia, Renee, or Thomas, but I did like Rachel. She was sort of the "Sydney Revisited" and it was interesting to watch the teacher and pupil thing they had going. And then there was Will and Francie, who made the first couple of seasons fun, if only because they were so stupid not to see the truth about Sydney's life. (This is why my theory about SpySistah isn't so far fetched. Who goes to Switzerland for the weekend? Only a spy!)
Which brings me to Jennifer Garner and Sydney Bristow. I feel like we are old friends. I so love to watch her kick ass. How many times have I instructed her, through the screen of course, to plug Sloane right between the eyes? Too many to count. She played the stuck in the middle, personal turmoil of the double-agent perfectly. I loved every Alias, every wig, every vampy outfit. "What's your name?" she was asked. "Ima. Ima gonna kick your ass!" Perfection. She was brilliant with the tumultuous relationship with her father and the tortured relationship with her mother. She was the every girl when she got drunk and kissed Weiss after realizing Vaughn had moved on and married after her "death". She got punched, skydived, fell from great heights, got shot by her mother, and a million other things, but cheated death every time. Well, sort of. Nearly everyone on this show has been "dead" at least once.
I will miss it. I will miss Syd, SpyDaddy, and even the ridiculousness that was Arvin Clone.
Damn them for canceling this show. Damn them!
And just for the record, if Mark Harmon leaves NCIS, I may stop watching television for good.
