Alias: Solo (5.6)

Something Alias did to make the Rachel character less troubling in this season's first five episodes was allowing her to be kind of lousy in the field, somebody intimidated by the world she's stepped into, and not the transparent, kick-ass Sydney replacement that she easily could have been. Solo, as fun as it occasionally is, throws you off-track every once in a while because it compels you to accept Rachel as a 'necessary' part of the cast. Here she isn't just exploited for her Gordon Dean knowledge, instead she fully takes on the traditional Sydney role, and the plot suffers from the mechanical means utilized to get her into that spot.

Alias: Out of the Box (5.5)

Season five is so far being driven more by characters than it is by action, meaning an episode like Out of the Box is rendered nowhere near as flat as it otherwise could have been. It's an hour that struggles to move overarching stories forward, Prophet Five still vaguely ambiguous as an organization by the time the end credits roll, but what really stands out is the season's continued dedication to developing its key protagonists, particularly those we've only just met in the last couple of weeks. It's in direct contrast to this time last season, where ABC seemed to think short and standalone bursts of plot, and not deeper character work, would lure in fresh eyeballs. That isn't happening this year, and you can't help but wonder if this will be a season playing on its own terms.

Alias: Mockingbird (5.4)

The wigs are terrible this year. That dead cat on Sydney's head when she first met Renée, the RuPaul 'do for this week's Monte Carlo scenes. It's all pretty heinous, and the one part of season five that isn't gradually improving over time. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Mockingbird, away from hair, is an energetic high-concept thriller, one that improbably mounts a bunch of frantic intensity on the sight of a pregnant Sydney sitting down in a car for two whole acts. Drew Goddard has been a mixed blessing for this show, at times a little too reliant on the big bag of tricks he developed over on Buffy, but he's also capable of producing propulsive action-adventure drama that brings to mind classic Ian Fleming. His work here results in one of the best Alias hours in a while.

Alias: The Shed (5.3)

Everything new is old again. The Shed brought to mind the old adage that just because you acknowledge that history is repeating itself doesn't mean it's all that fun to watch happen all over again. Rachel Gibson is Sydney Bristow 2.0, obviously -- a young woman absorbed into espionage, trained to believe she's one of the good guys, only to discover that she's been used for years by very bad people. It goes without saying that it's difficult to care a ton about Rachel's betrayal due to how little we know her, but it's important to remember that, like so much of season five so far, Alias is still adjusting the chess pieces somewhat. This is a show trying to become something else, and with that comes some inevitable growing pains.

Alias: ...1... (5.2)

Jennifer Garner's real-life pregnancy is the kind of thing that really ought to derail Alias. I mean, it's a show built on the premise of her kicking all kinds of ass, and having Sydney sit out all her action scenes or, at least last week, constantly get positioned behind speeding trains or conveniently-placed sheets to cover up her bump is all a little frustrating for us at home. In as much as you can express frustration over a lady daring to conceive a child without coming off like a total tool. But, so far, the show is mostly handling it well.

Alias: Prophet Five (5.1)

There's something inorganic about this season premiere. That's not necessarily a terrible thing, but on a show that has only ever really built and grown piece by piece over additional seasons, it's particularly noticeable. The problem here is that so much of this week's episode involves people talking about things that have apparently been in motion behind-the-scenes for years, whether it's the vast "Fifth Prophet" conspiracy, or Vaughn actively investigating his past all along. It's specifically a problem because it lacks an organic quality. Not only is the audience having to play catch-up, but the actual show is, too -- developing a new strand of mythology that was apparently always there, even when it's clear that it wasn't.

Alias: Before the Flood (4.22)

As season four comes to a close, it's probably the right time to ask what type of show Alias wants to be. Alias has obviously never been afraid of reinvention, both the events of Phase One and the two-year flash forward radically altering relationships between characters as well as the 'mission controls' they call home. But there comes a point where constant reinvention can only jeopardize the show's foundation itself, resulting in something potentially unrecognizable. Before the Flood is as big and as loud as any other Alias finale, but it's also smeared in overt blurring between sensibilities. Where does Resident Evil end and Alias begin?

Alias: Search and Rescue (4.21)

There's something refreshingly cut-and-dry about Irina's return here, the show refusing to make her all shifty and suspicious, instead running with the idea of Irina as a doomed martyr -- a woman trying to do the right thing, in spite of the outcome always landing her in hot water. She has some fantastic scenes this week, her teary-eyed reunion with Nadia particularly moving, while Lena Olin once again arrives with this forceful, commanding presence. She's headstrong and tough, but also tender and vulnerable. It's an astoundingly assured performance, and everybody else seems to up their game by proxy of just having her around once more.

Alias: The Descent (4.20)

It always gets positioned as the thing that sort of killed Alias, the narrative barrel well and truly scraped, but I never found the Milo Rambaldi story particularly aggravating. The never-ending bluffs and double-bluffs that it inspired (looking at you, Arvin) were absolutely driven into the ground, but the idea itself was always so cool and intricate, like something out of Indiana Jones or one of those choose-your-own-adventure novels from when you were a kid. So there's naturally something rousing about characters hunting down a related component of it, be it the Hourglass, or the Il Dire or, as seen here, the Sphere of Life. Sure, most of it is just a means to an end, but when it's sparkly and fun, who are we to complain?

Alias: In Dreams (4.19)

Alias is still capable of greatness, In Dreams being an emotionally-draining and ultimately rewarding episode for long-term fans, but it also drives home where the show has gone wrong over the last two seasons. With J.J. Abrams stepping down from day-to-day EP duties at the end of the show's second season, Alias lost its proverbial 'voice', the God figure controlling where the show went, how the characters would grow and evolve over time, and how the show itself would change. What's left is an Alias made up of random components, a narrative rendered fractured and frequently unsatisfying, and strong storytelling only ever buried between the mess forming elsewhere.

Summertime

So... yeah. A year happened. Before I start anything, I should probably say that I haven't been lurking around all year and just choosing not to respond to all the comments left here from people wondering where I was. There's even been vague implications that I could have died or something, which I would have clarified as inaccurate if I had actually read it. But I didn't, because around the start of July last year I just stopped coming here.

Some of you guessed right -- I was just burned out. I got tired of writing reviews of stuff, I got tired of thinking about Blogspot, thinking about readership, wondering what I could do to get more of a response, thinking about silly blogger politics and so forth. It got old, and I had realized I had become one of those people who takes all of this very, very seriously. So I stopped and quit doing it. It was surprising to me that I did, since I was so wrapped up in all of this for what felt like such a long time, but it was ultimately real easy when it came down to it.

But then I just came back here and saw all these comments, and it's overwhelmingly flattering that people actually wrote me stuff. That's huge and lovely and fantastic, so thank you. I love to write, and I haven't written TV stuff in a year now, so I'm finishing up Alias and maybe doing some other stuff this summer if I get a feel for it again. The blog won't be as busy or meticulously scheduled as it once was, and I don't know how long I'll even be hanging around, but feel free to stop by if you'd like. I'm doing great, by the way. Like 'finding your whole purpose' great, working and being responsible for stuff and developing who I am and what I do. Hope everybody's cool, too.