Alias: Complete Season 1 [DVD] [2001]

The dialogue is razor sharp, the acting (while somewhat hammy at times) is compelling, and the characters are memorable. However, where Alias really excels is in the over-riding plot arc - the episodes are links in a chain of breath-taking cliff-hangers. There's something very appealing about a show that leaves you with your mouth open while you inch ever closer to the edge of your seat every time the credits roll.

The villans in Alias are more than the simple 'baddy of the week' stereotypes popularised in many shows. They are complex and multi-faceted - something that is inevitable considering how densely layered the plot is. Your perceptions are constantly shifting as the characters react in terms of their own personal agendas and their often complex emotional attachments to each other.

Arvin Sloane for example is rephrensible in almost all of his actions, but as a man you can't help but be impressed by his determination, his fortitude, and his devotion to his duty as he sees it. He has a deep affection for the main character (who despises him), which causes him considerable anguish when he must take steps that will harm her.

This is a most excellent show - you would be doing yourself a service if you checked it out.

When she makes the mistake of telling her fiancée, however, she learns the truth. SD-6 is not part of the US Government but really deals in organized crime. Now, she must join the CIA as a double agent to try to take down the people who have been lying to her for six years.

But life is not that simple. She now must work closely with her father, someone she hardly knows and doesn’t trust. She must fight her attraction to her CIA handler. And a friend is investigating a story that gets him closer to finding out her secret and putting his life in danger.

I absolutely love this show. There are multiple stories going on all the time, but the writers keep all the balls going believably, balancing action with the stories of what’s happening with her friends and giving us very real characters. And you can’t miss a moment. All the actors are top notch, keeping what could be an over-the-top concept real. Extra kudos must go to star Jennifer Garner who makes Sydney real as an action hero with a very vulnerable side.

When I got this set, I intended to watch just a few minutes and then dig it out when I’d have the time to really enjoy it. Didn’t happen. Even though I’d seen every episode here twice, I got pulled right back into the story. Of course, the cliffhangers at the end of every episode certainly help.

This set is any collectors dream. It contains the pilot and the rest of the first season, and the episodes, presented in surround sound and widescreen, look and sound incredible. Each episode is broken down into several chapters, mostly around commercials breaks, although they aren’t listed anywhere. There are four audio commentaries with various members of the cast and crew. Especially fun was the commentary on the finale featuring the entire cast. Since the commentaries were recorded as season two drew to a close, they provide some interesting insight into both seasons and helped me understand a little more about their choices this last year. Also included are a few deleted scenes, bloopers from the season, looks at the stunts and the filming of the pilot, and more. About my only complaint with the set was that no where did they tell you where to find these special features. While most are on disc six, I had to put each disc in to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

I can’t recommend this series highly enough. It’s highly addictive fun that you’ll come back to time and time again.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear the pilot calling me again.

Sydney Bristow, played by Jennifer Garner, that's who.

What can you say about Alias? This show is hip, sexy, and as Quentin Tarantino, who guest stars in the two-parter, "The Box", puts it, "It fulfills the promise of Man From UNCLE". That isn't to say it's corny and stars David McCallum, either, but rather that it's a globe trotting, action packed drama, with the fantastical spy-devices of Bond, the romance and intrege of a top notch drama, and the suspense of a man on a high wire with no safety net and no experience. And that doesn't even get to the plot, which is a twisty, turny, shocking and exciting story which even puts the shows action in the shade.

What else can I say? Well, the first and last episodes of this season are on a par with anything to have been released at the cinema... ever. The final episodes final cliffhanger is a work of genius. Any one who says Casablanca has the best final line ever, obvious has never heard the final, loaded for bear, line of Alias season 1.

Do your self a favour - buy this and then buy the next season. If you dont, you'll just feel left out.