James Bond, With a Heart

I was never a big fan of the James Bond movies. Sure, I liked them. They had great stunts, over the top villains and witty double entendres. I just didn't care about it. I mean did anyone really care whether or not James Bond was gonna die? There was just no emotional attachment, and some of the worst Bond films were nothing more than a stuntman's demo reel. Alias is a fast paced television show that combines the great action and stuntwork of Bond, but also provides a central character to care about.

Alias stars Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a graduate student who is also a spy. She works for SD-6, a secret black ops division of the CIA. Sydney is a very emotional person, and finds difficulty hiding what she does for a living, especially to her fiance. When she finally tells him what she works for the CIA, it starts a chain of events that leads to his death. Sydney soon learns SD-6 is not part of the CIA, but part of a rogue organization called the Alliance of 12. Not only this, but she learns that her father is part of this organization as well. Sydney decides to go to the CIA with her information and is assigned as a double agent. She will pretend to be working for SD-6 while reporting their intentions back to the CIA. For one final twist, Sydney learns that her father is not really part of SD-6, but has been a double agent all along.

I know it sounds like I just gave the whole season away, but really that's just the pilot episode. It's a very breathtaking show and if you blink, you can miss quite a bit of the story. However, the show would not work if it didn't possess interesting characters and a talented group to play them. Creator JJ Abrams found a wonderfully eclectic group of actors to play the various parts.

Jennifer Garner is perfect as Sydney, combining vulnerability with confidence and is completely convincing in all of her fight scenes. Victor Garber is a wonderful character actor and brings a steely reserve to Jack Bristow. As the head of SD-6, Ron Rifkin is perfectly sleazy, but is versatile enough to make you sympathize with him from time to time. Also, Michael Vartan plays the delicate role of Sydney's handler and possible love interest, Michael Vaughn, and creates terrific chemistry with Garner. Comic relief comes in the form of Kevin Weisman as SD-6's tech expert Marshall. He's a genius but really doesn't know when to shut up, and his blabbering is good for at least one huge laugh an episode.

Most of the season focuses on Sydney's two major relationships. One is the developing bond with her father Jack, who's been a stranger for most of her life. The other is the potential romance with her CIA handler, Michael Vaughn. Of course it also deals with her attempts to take down SD-6 and the dangers of her various double agent missions. Each episode ends with an exciting cliffhanger that looks like it will be an impossible situation for Sydney to get out of, and these are resolved at the beginning of the next episodes. This technique makes it very exciting to wait for the next episode and see just how she will pull it off.

I should warn you, though. If you are not someone who is willing to suspend disbelief, you will not likely enjoy this show. Just like in the Bond series, or on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, many of the events and action scenes would not be possible in the real world. Sometimes it seems like they're coming up with stuff out of thin air. But I think that's part of the fun of the series. There are no limits on what the writers/producers are willing to do, so literally anything can happen.

The season comes in a set of 6 DVD's and includes a Pilot Production Diary, Stunts featurette, TV Spots, and an audio commentary with nearly the entire cast commenting on the season finale. It's a great package and I strongly recommend it fans of both action and drama.