Hype TV Club watches "ALIAS" in September

[flickchick85]

ALIAS​

Any Hype members are welcome to join us in our viewing of these shows.
The Discussion Thread: http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=491461


The only rules are

• Only shows on the list will be selected
• Only the first season is required for the monthly viewing. If a show has multiple seasons
• Each show on the generator has a minimum of 10 episodes per season, if not, we will watch S1&2
• ALL spoilers must be tagged as such, as none of us have seen these shows before aka don't be a jerk
• Any posts not following the spoiler rule as subject to Deletion

In this thread we will be talking about our viewing experiences with the show. You all are welcome to join, so we'll talk about what we like and/or dislike about the show we're watching.

So let's watch some Alias!

What is Alias?
Sydney Bristow is an international spy recruited out of college and trained for espionage and self-defense.

 

[E-Man]

In this thread I shall start an unsuccessful rap beef between Alias and Nikita. That will finally get me over the wall that was the downfall of the first season of Alias. This started so great, but man the quality of it seemed to suffer in season one. I hope season two is better.

 

[flickchick85]

Btw, that was the only summary I could find that didn't spoil the events of the twisty-turny pilot, lol. While he did Felicity before this, this was really the show we have to thank for J.J. Abrams being the big film producer he is now, as it's the one that got him his first feature film directing gig, M:I-3.

Anyhoo, I've seen this one, but I think it'll make the perfect follow-up to last month's Chuck (I actually used to refer to Chuck as a "comedic Alias"), so I shall definitely be watching.

 

[flickchick85]

In this thread I shall start an unsuccessful rap beef between Alias and Nikita. That will finally get me over the wall that was the downfall of the first season of Alias. This started so great, but man the quality of it seemed to suffer in season one. I hope season two is better.

Interesting, I really didn't think the show fell off until the very end of S2. I don't recall being disappointed w/ S1. The new character that was introduced at the end of S1 was a great addition to the show, imo, so I enjoyed S2 quite a bit until one moment at the very end which ruins EVERYTHING.

I've literally never seen a show torpedo itself so quickly, but S1 and 2 were still (mostly) gold to me.

 

[E-Man]

Interesting, I really didn't think the show fell off until the very end of S2. I don't recall being disappointed w/ S1. The new character that was introduced at the end of S1 was a great addition to the show, imo, so I enjoyed S2 quite a bit until the one moment at the very end which ruins EVERYTHING.

What hurt it was the filler episodes. The relationship with Sydney and her friends was done well at times, but to me it didn't feel too interesting after a while. It felt like the were stretching things out, and I lost interest. Hopefully it gets better because I straight up loved this show in the first eight episodes.


Meanwhile Nikita kept up the same quality over four seasons. Why? Because Nikita is a boss. That show was the elite in spy television. Alias couldn't keep up. /rap diss

 

[flickchick85]

Oh I agree Nikita was better. I had already seen Alias before Nikita aired, so when I first got into Nikita, I was like "yay, a show to fill the Alias-shaped hole in my heart!" But then by the time I was on Nikita S2 I was like, "no, this is BETTER." Now my general thought on the two is, Nikita and Alias are very similar shows (in that if you like one, there's a good chance you'll like the other to a certain extent), BUT Nikita had the stronger writing, while Alias had the better production values.

Alias still has one of the all-time great TV pilots though. That's just one of my favorite TV eps out there.

 

[E-Man]

Oh I agree Nikita was better. I had already seen Alias before Nikita aired, so when I first got into Nikita, I was like "yay, a show to fill the Alias-shaped hole in my heart!" But then by the time I was on Nikita S2 I was like, "no, this is BETTER." Now my general thought on the two is, Nikita and Alias are very similar shows (in that if you like one, there's a good chance you'll like the other to a certain extent), BUT Nikita had the stronger writing, while Alias had the better production values.

That's right. Join my silly internet beef. It'll make you feel good about life.

 

[flickchick85]

I already feel good about life.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I love Jessica Jones, it's an awesome show, but I know the comics she debuted in has...............

Oh, this show starring Fox's Elektra as the daughter of CW's Martin Stein.
Meh, some episodes are fine, but what I saw mostly left me unimpressed.
I just remembered that there is a PS2 game tie-in.

 

[flickchick85]

LOL yes, this is also the show we have to thank for Jessica Jones having to be called Jessica Jones instead of it's proper title.

I had no idea there was a PS2 game. But I'm guessing it was terrible as most game tie-ins are.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I have no doubt about it being bad, but I think most PS2 games are at worst tolerable, with rare few exceptions from the ones I experienced.
I'll check a little of the game based on the show, and I will remind myself that the name Acclaim doesn't inspire trust out of Mortal Kombat.

 

[flickchick85]

I have no doubt about it being bad, but I think most PS2 games are at worst tolerable, with rare few exceptions from the ones I experienced.
I'll check a little of the game based on the show, and I will remind myself that the name Acclaim doesn't inspire trust out of Mortal Kombat.

LOL, well I hope you report back with your findings.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

LOL, well I hope you report back with your findings.

Average.

 

[flickchick85]

Average.

Well hey, it's better than "garbage," which is what I'd expect.

Anyhoo, watched the pilot. Still loved it.

Also got a notice saying it's leaving Netflix on September 25th. So if y'all are watching it on there, don't wait 'til the end of the month (CC!).

 

[E-Man]

I watched the last two episodes of season one over the weekend, and I don't really care much to finish the series. I loved this show early on, but somewhere along the way I got bored with it. The relationship triangle was annoying, but I think they did a solid job of showing how Sydney's life is so different around the people she loves and those she works with at SD-6. Where they went wrong is that the filler just kept adding up, and by the time they got to the more mystical parts I just wasn't feeling it anymore. The twists weren't bad, but I felt like I was watching the same thing over and over again at times because the show lacks heart. Some of the ideas are good, but the execution is kind of meh.

Now I will likely watch the rest of the series some day. I haven't completely given up on it. I'm a little curious where things go with some things, but I really think that this show would be better if they only had about 13 episodes a season as opposed to 22. Makes me worry about when I finally get to Quantico, The Blindspot, and The Blacklist. Too many shows really don't do well with that many episodes.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I started watching Alias for the first time a month or so ago and almost done with S2. While I am enjoying it....killing off both of your "major" black female characters...not a good look.

Bradley Cooper was so cute back in the day....and he becomes severely underused after the 1st season.

I've been totally unspoiled about anything that has to do with this show so Francies death was a major shock to me and thus far a waste. Would've preferred if she were just secretly an agent on her own.

 

[Dark Raven]

Season 5 was the worst and was rather boring. I think it came to its natural end in the finale of Season 4 but then they went and extended the story. Everything else felt like an add on afterwards.

Also Covert Affairs felt a bit like a retread of this series. Piper Perabo even looked like a blonde Sydney Bristow.

 

[flickchick85]

I started watching Alias for the first time a month or so ago and almost done with S2. While I am enjoying it....killing off both of your "major" black female characters...not a good look.

Bradley Cooper was so cute back in the day....and he becomes severely underused after the 1st season.

I've been totally unspoiled about anything that has to do with this show so Francies death was a major shock to me and thus far a waste. Would've preferred if she were just secretly an agent on her own.

This show was literally the last time I loved Bradley Cooper. I don't even remember any major WOC's on this show besides Francie. I do remember loving S2 until the very end, though. As frustrating as what happened to Francie was, I think Merrin really had fun playing the other version.

 

[Dark Raven]

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's relationship changed the nature of this show. Michael Vartan (who was both Sydney's love interest and Jennifer's real life ex) was written out for most of season 5. Affleck couldn't have been comfortable having him around still.

 

[Primal Slayer]

This show was literally the last time I loved Bradley Cooper. I don't even remember any major WOC's on this show besides Francie. I do remember loving S2 until the very end, though. As frustrating as what happened to Francie was, I think Merrin really had fun playing the other version.

The other "major" female is Dixons wife. I only call her major since she was the only black female to reoccur at this time.

Sidney's mom is a badass! Would've loved to see her spun off into her own show.

Its kind of sad that Francies friends couldn't tell it wasnt her until some pills were found (on the s2 finale now)

Nooooooo Will bit the dust. Jeez his life sucked since Sid's fiance died. Part of me likes that the bad guys win so much but any connection to her normal life is killed off.

 

[Primal Slayer]

This kitchen fight is intense, reminded me of Kill Bill. Annd... now fake Francie is dead and Sidney only has her CIA friends left. Sad.

Oh...Wills alive? And...we get a random 2year time jump?? I'm so confused.

 

[Dark Raven]

If you've only ever seen Victor Garber on Legends of Tomorrow before, you might be surprised to see him acting much tougher and colder here. I think he would've been a good pick for a more faithful version of The Equaliser, either as a film or rebooted TV show.

It's also a shame that Martin Stein never met M'yrnn (Jonn Jonz's father from Supergirl) as both Garber and Lumby worked together here. They could've had an Alias reunion.

Also from this show, we've had several people who have since been in comic book properties:

Jennifer Garner: Elektra
Victor Garber: Martin Stein
Carl Lumby: M'yrnn in Supergirl/ Jonn Jonz on Justice League.
Bradley Cooper: Rocket Raccoon
Kevin Weismann: Dale Yorks on Runaways

 

[flickchick85]

This kitchen fight is intense, reminded me of Kill Bill. Annd... now fake Francie is dead and Sidney only has her CIA friends left. Sad.

Oh...Wills alive? And...we get a random 2year time jump?? I'm so confused.

Yep, I like to pretend it was a two-season show that ended right before that damn time jump.

 

[Dark Raven]

Yep, I like to pretend it was a two-season show that ended right before that damn time jump.

Enough time to jump a shark.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I wish this show had been above the love triangle that is seemingly Vaugh/Sidney/Vaughns wife.

Sids "missing 2 years" doesnt really seem that interesting. She killed a guy, was paired up with Justin Theroux, and now has something locked away in her memory that The Alliance wants. They are constantly finding something that makes her special.