Alias: The Complete Fifth Season

Actually 4 1/2 Stars
The Final Season / The Last Stand

By the time the fifth season of `Alias' came onto the airwaves, the fans knew something was up: Jennifer Garner had suddenly become a box-office actress (and a soon-to-be mother), J.J. Abrams had his hands full with `Lost' and `Mission Impossible 3,' and the series was finally starting to show signs of its age (which included a rather large dip in the ratings), and it came to no surprise really when Abrams and Garner jointly announced that the show would not return pass its May Finale.

Despite the fact that the show now had an expiration date (and the episode order was cut from 23 to 17), Garner and company seemed to get really into these last episodes, giving them everything they had and actually brought the quality back to the early years. Early in the season the regular cast went through a large overhale, getting rid of two older characters and bringing in four fresh-faced rookies... And with the new cast (and the...

Not The Real Alias
If you are considering purchasing the 5th Season, you're probably just trying to complete your Alias collection, right? So if that's the case, please do, but if not, you may want to reconsider. Alias is one of my all time favorite T.V. series, and during the first two seasons, it was arguably the best show on television. But, with season 5 we have to put it in context of the circumstances going on outside of the show: Jennifer Garner (Sydney) was dating Michael Vartan (Vaughan), and after breaking up, she married Ben Affleck-- and became pregnant with Affleck's child. This was devastating for Alias Season 5. Firstly, because of this Vartan (Michael Vaughan) the crucial co-star left the show...some reports had it that Affleck didn't want him working with Jennifer- but who knows the real story, perhaps it was too difficult working with his ex-Jennifer while she was pregnant with another's child-- it wasn't as if he left the show to go do another project. Secondly, the action scenes...

Alias, like "Rambaldi", goes on forever ( in our hearts)
As an addicted Alias fan, I can say that I have watched every episode of all five seasons (some numerous times), and I do not find some of the incongruities in season five that others have commented on. For example, how can any of us forget Sydney's tirade to Vaughan in the beginning of season 3, when she tells him that if he had been the one that had "died", she would have waited and believed? From that moment on, anything that happened to Vaughan (such as his supposed death in season 5)or Sydney could not be considered out of reach for this show. I mourned for Sydney's loss of Vaughan like anyone else, but I was not disappointed for the way it was handled. Michael Vartan could not be replaced in this show any more than John Ritter could be replaced in "Eight Rules". Yes, I found that Rachel Nichols and Balthazar Getty added little to the show, but that wasn't their fault. They were treading in shoes that could not be filled by other characters. I LOVED the SPYGRANDPA Jack...

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