Alias Season 4

The fourth season of Alias ranks among my favorites, second only to the second season. The action is fast-paced and it never feels like there's a dull moment. I love the addition of Mia Maestro to the cast (we met her character very late in the third season) as Sydney Bristow's half sister Nadia Santos. Nadia is the daughter of Syd's mother, Irina Derevko, and her arch nemesis, Arvin Sloane. The relationship between Sydney and her father Jack Bristow (Victor Garber) is tested once again when Syd learns that her father murdered her mother in cold blood after learning Irina had put a contract out on Syd's life. They actually filmed the scene, which is shown as a flashback. I absolutely love the chemistry between Victor Garber and Lena Olin. This does produce a slight continuity question, however. When the flashback is shown, toward the end of season four, it says "eighteen months earlier" at the bottom of the screen. Eighteen months prior to the end of season four would place this event as sometime during the middle of the third season. Since Lena Olin did not appear in the third season, one has to conclude that Jack carried this out off-screen, which is certainly fine, but it would have to have occurred right after Jack and Irina stopped communicating via IRC instant messaging, which was actually towards the end of season three in an episode called "Blood Ties." So if the murder of Irina Derevko occurred eighteen moths prior to the end of season four, that means some significant time had to pass between seasons three and four. Anyway, I digress ... it turns out Irina Derevko is alive! Alias pulls this off beautifully ... think back to season two and the Francie/Alison fiasco. Season four also sees Greg Grunberg and his character Eric Weiss (Vaughn's best friend)get a lot more screen time as Weiss and Nadia become an item. The always awesome David Anders returns Julian Sark. Fan favorite Gina Torres (Syd's former K-Directorate nemesis, Anna Espinosa) returns as well. Season four reintroduces Katya Derevko, played to perfection by Isabella Rossellini, who was featured in three episodes in the third season) and the third (and deadliest) Derevko of them all ... Elena, played by the wonderful Sonia Braga. This is the only season to feature all three Derevko sisters. Some other highlights from this season include "the Arvin Clone," Sloane (Ron Rifkin) being placed in charge by the CIA legitimately, Vaughn (Michael Vartan) learning more about why his father was killed and what he was really involved in, Sloane's attempts to be a father (which make Jack look like the poster child for fatherhood). We also see much more of Marshall's' life as a father and a husband; he even pulls an interesting deception over on Jack. One final thing to mention ... as much as I enjoy the chemistry between Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan, it is the chemistry between Victor Garber and Ron Rifkin that truly made this series amazing.

Alias: Season 4. Wow. The characters have been through heck in the first three seasons, much of it caused by a man named Arvin Sloane, and afterwards by a group called The Covenant. In a stroke of genius, now the best of both SD-6 and the CIA are combined into APO, and headed up by (guess who?) Arvin Sloane, the guy everybody loves to hate. The usual cast of Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, and etc. are accompanied by the absolutely adorable Mia Maestro, who plays Sydney's half-sister Nadia Santos. Throw in some nice guest stars like Angela Bassett, some Derevko sisters (yes, plural) and a person or two who you probably thought was dead, and you've got a great season, culminating in the ultimate family team-up to take down a terrible Rambaldi device that could trigger the next apocalypse! And of course...The Chosen One must battle The Passenger. And only one...will survive. Unless you want either one to be in the next season, in which case, they might live. But I'm not sayin' if they both survive or not, 'cause that'd be a spoiler. And the big shocker at the very end of the season, wow. Let's just say not everyone is who they claim to be. Now I don't know what happens in Season 5, except that somebody gets a clip or two unloaded in 'em and there's probably a double or a clone or two somewhere in there. (I saw a few moments of the series finale...not knowing how great a show it was at the time.) Whatever the case, while I admit there was a creepy episode or two in there, Season 4 comes on strong and has a well-deserved place amongst the other three seasons, all of which I enjoyed. Trust me, you won't be let down by Season 4 if you enjoyed the other three. I highly recommend it.

Great

As always, the ALIAS writing, effects and stunts are top of the line, especially in this season. All Alias fans should get season 4, if only to watch just once. And see the way the story actually ended, before they knew the show had been renewed for seson 5. Sydney, her mom and sister save the day, & the planet, and it will bring a tear to your eye, EVEN though no one dies. that's all I'll give away! I actually liked it this way, because all the episodes were so good and imaginative. But I also didn't complain when they were renewed and all the ALIAS fans got another season (season 5) kind of like a gift. But WOW! did they take ALIAS in a different direction. Guess they had to after season four. Now, if they'd just get on with making some ALIAS made for tele movies...

Que lo recibí en pocos días. Lo que no me gustó es que sólo estuviese en inglés.

Ich gehöre zu den Leuten, die ab dem Tag, an dem Pro7 die erste Folge ausstrahlte infiziert waren. Und trotz der unmöglichen Sendepolitik von Pro7 ist es nicht gelungen mich zu vergraulen! Deshalb habe ich die knapp 80 Euro für den UK-Import bezahlt und sehe es keinesfalls als Geldverschwendung an. In der vierten Staffel arbeitet Sydney zusammen mit Jack, Vaughn, Dixon, Weiss, Marshall und ihrer Halbschwester Nadia für eine geheime Unterorganisation der CIA, die ironischerweise von keinem geringeren als Arvin Sloane geleitet wird! Allerding muss ich sagen, dass mir in der vierten Staffel einiges gefehlt hat: 1. Während es in den ersten drei Staffeln von Anfang an mindestens eine Organisation/Person gab, die sozusagen den Bösen darstellte und dessen Bekämpfung über die gesamte Staffel oder wenigstens über mehrere Episoden hinweg im Mittelpunkt stand, verliert man in dieser Staffel meiner Meinung nach etwas des Überblick, da jede Woche neue Namen auftreten!(zur Errinerung in der 1.Staffel hatte man SD-6, sowie das K-Direktorat und The Man, in der 2. Staffel das geniale Trio Sloane, Sark und Irina und in der dritten Staffel dann The Covenant mit Sark und Lauren als diabolisches Pärchen) 2. Und eben dadurch und durch die Tatsache, dass sich das Leben aller Hauptdarsteller nur um APO dreht ( Da Freunde und Familienmitglieder aller Hauptdarsteller in den letzten 3 Staffeln zumeist getötet wurden: Francie, die Ehefrauen der Hauptdarsteller,...) fehlte mir ein bisschen die Mehrdimensinalität. Aber es gibt natürlich auch Lichtblicke: Anna Espinosa kehrt für kurze Zeit zurück, und auch Sark ist nicht für immer in US-Gefangenschaft verschollen. Außerdem erfahren wir mehr über die Derevko-Schwestern und über Nadias Hintergrund. Was mir auch gut gefallen hat, war das es bei den Aufträgen immer neue Paarungen gab: Also nicht immer nur Sydney und Dixon oder Sydney und Vaughn sondern auch mal die beiden Schwestern Sydney und Nadia oder Dixon und Vaughn. Und die letzten Folgen der Staffel begeben sich dann ganz wider auf das Niveau der ersten drei Staffel und halten eine Menge Überraschungen bereit. Und der Cliffhangar am Ende sorgt wie üblich dafür, dass man die nächste Staffel am liebsten sofort sehen will!!! Also: Die 4. Staffel am besten sofort kaufen und nicht auf die deutsche Version warten, wer einigermaßen fit im Englischen ist wird keine großen Verständnis-Probleme haben!!

Alias Was a show that was ahead of its time. Excellent writing and a cliffhanger at the end of every episode.

Great entertainment

spoilers, spoilers,spoilers a number of people have complained that season 4 was not one of it's best, i have to disagree it was awesome we got a episode entirely devoted to sydney and vaughn in 'welcome to liberty village' and we had the addition of sydney's have sister nadia which i thought worked really well! and a new base of operations under the subway which basically gives them the idea for their new operations ' APO' meaning 'authorised personnal only' vaughn's marriage proposal to sydney amidst the crisis in the final 2 episodes and irina's surprise return!!! and the shocking cliffhanger at the end of the season which sets us up nicely for season 5! spoilers spoilers spoilers as one of the lucky UK viewers to have watched the season 5 premiere be warned there's more shocks to come that i did'nt even expect!!!