The TV Review Blog

Alias: Season the Third

There follows, in the continuation section of this post (see how considerate I am about spoilers and the like?) an episode-by-episode review of the third season of the show. Expect humour, expect insight and expect theories-begging-to-be-disproved. Just don't expect me, any time soon, to respect Michael Vartan as an actor, nor to give two hoots about the Syd/Vaughn thing. Kay?

Ithengyou.

Speculation ...

So after a rather wonderful couple of weeks, binging on two seasons' worth of 'Alias' DVDs, I got to thinking. What does it all mean? What are we working towards? How will this story end? (And will we get to watch the story end, or will the network-monster rear its head and spoil everything with an ill-timed cancellation order?)

Seemed like a thread worth starting: theories and speculation about the plot morsels with which JJ Abrams is tempting and teasing us.

Let's start with the main man, Rambaldi. He predicted technologies, designed hiding places for his artefacts, bestowed near immortality on his friend, the clock-maker ... how? Is this guy really a prophet? Is this magic? Because to me, that seems lazy and un-Abrams-like plotting.

There's a law, that any sufficiently advanced technology can appear to be magic. I forget what the law's called, but it doesn't matter. What if the essence of Rambaldi's insight is not magic at all, but just looks like it, because we have no context to explain it in any other way?

Well that got my head spinning. Science fiction cliche did battle with drug-induced imagery (I'm talking caffeine) in my mind. Is Rambaldi a time-traveller, who found himself stuck in the fifteenth century like a Sontaran? Did he have a crystal ball-type set-up? Is he a fake, who's stolen another person's insight and used it to cloak himself in Magnificence? Is he bound to other individuals, people who don't even know it, in some way; with access to their knowledge? People whose faces he might draw in his jotter?

I guess there's little enough to go on, as yet. But it's lots of fun to think about it.

I have an inkling that we're going to meet Milo Rambaldi, the man, before the series is complete; and that he'll be walking around, living and breathing in the 21st century. (I also have the vaguest of suspicions that we might already have met him ...)

I'm pretty convinced that whatever happened when Sloane put his Rambaldi collection together at the end of season two, it resulted in Syd's lost time. Whether directly or as a side effect, I think Syd is too tied to Rambaldi for this to be coincidence.

Here's another thought. We've been constantly beaten over the head with Sloane's paternal feelings for Sydney. I think this is a blind. A ruse. A misdirection. I wouldn't for one minute buy the idea that Sloane and Irina had an affair, almost thirty years ago.

But what if Sloane's obsession with Rambaldi had led him to ... I don't know, tamper with the pregnancy in some way? Emily gave Sloane no opportunity to practise on his own offspring. So maybe Sloane feels as though he has helped shape Syd, right from the start - hence the paternal feelings. And extending that theory, maybe this provoked Irina's obsession with Rambaldi - fuelled by the need to find out what Sloane had done to her unborn child.

Okay, that was lots of thoughts, not just one. Once you get me started ...

I'll add to this thread as time allows. You can mail me here to tell me I'm talking nonsense.

Anticipation

The holiday period brings the inevitable Xmas specials as well as repeats of old shows, some which I could do without seeing again. It also means that my favourite shows go into hiatus.

I'm currently anticipating the return of shows like

Alias and The West Wing.

The West Wing can be a bit hit or miss at the moment but so far this third season, Alias has not disappointed! Next episode, warning - spoilers in that link, is a week away but sounds good. It also sounds like a make or break or episode for the show.

One series which may not be returning is Tarzan but I only watch that for Mitch Pileggi who plays Tarzan's evil uncle - sort of related but yet unrelated interview clip here. Otherwise I've not found it to be that engaging, just ok. It's not even listed under the shows section of The WB website anymore so that probably means the series fate has been set.