Farewell to Sydney

Shocho mentioned last night's Alias series finale in my 24 talkback. I've got some things to say about it myself, actually -- it's just that the double-length 24 post was all I had in me last night.

Alias went out decently. I was never expecting it to return to its early glory, and I hope no one else was either. But it did improve upon the mess that seasons three and four made of what was such a phenomenal show in seasons one and two. The back half of season five, in particular, was probably better than I expected the show to be once again before it ended.

Most of what happened in the finale really worked for me.

The opening sequence of all the team members gathering photos of Prophet 5 members from around the world was inspired. Getting to see everybody out in the field one last time was perfect for a final episode. And sending Sydney to Sydney, for the only time in five years. Necessary, if only to see the place name -- hers -- written large on the screen.

Bringing Marshall's wife back in for the first hour was unexpected, but welcome. I was a fan of the show Felicity back in its time, and so I was of course thrilled when this actress crossed over to Alias for a while. One of the many, many disappointments of seasons three and four was that she totally dropped off the radar. She may not have been readily obvious as a character deserving a "send-off" in the finale, but I'm glad the writers saw the opportunity.

And speaking of Marshall -- watching him stand up to Sloane was quite possibly my favorite moment of the entire finale.

I respected the efforts to try to give some closure to the entire Rambaldi storyline. The return to Mount Sebasio... the realization of his greatest work (apparently, eternal life)... I know some people weren't crazy about the Rambaldi stuff and thought it bogged the show down. But it was necessary to pay it off to conclude the saga, and I thought they did mostly pretty well there.

The flashbacks of the second hour were nice. Good way to bring back "the beginning" in the end. Nice to flesh out a few specific moments you knew had happened in the past. Particularly nice to find a way to bring Francie back for the finale (without resurrecting the Evil Francie yet again).

The deaths of most of the characters worked well. We were never really given time to invest in either Rachel or Tom, so it's hard to wish that Tom's death had carried a little more weight. But I figured going in we'd lose one or the other, and it was wise to frame the loss of one in terms of how the other felt.

Jack's death actually shocked me. Alias has -- under all the action, all the spy stuff, and all the Rambaldi plots -- always been a show about family. So I figured going in that Syd would have to end happily with her family for the show to have the "right" ending. I assumed that meant Vaughn and Isabel, and Jack. I suppose if I'd thought it through a little more, I'd have realized that her mother Irina was family too, and there was no way she'd be surviving the finale -- so that put Jack in jeopardy too. Having him take out Sloane was the right way for him to go. (Well, taking out Irina might have been better -- but you had to pair Irina and Sydney for one final showdown.)

And Sloane's fate. Perfect. I suppose you could argue it's not completely original, that it's cribbing Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" or some such, but it was absolutely the perfect ending for that character, to be forced to face horrifying consequences for his obsession. Death was not enough for Sloane; it was right that he endure a fate worse than death.

The flash forward at the end, showing Syd and Vaughn happily moved away from the spy life (but not entirely) and living with their children. Again, perfect. The only correct ending for the show, really. And having young Isabel showing signs of taking after her mother? The perfect grace note to end with.

But now, on the down side...

I'm not sure what to make of Sloane being haunted by the ghost of his daughter. On the one hand, I suppose they had to have that actress and character in the final episodes, even though they killed her off a few weeks ago. But I sort of felt too many shades of Baltar and Six in the whole set-up. I know, Battlestar Galactica was not the first to feature a morally murky character being haunted by someone he is hallucinating. But they've done it so prominently and effectively on Galactica that Alias' attempt to tread the same ground came up short.

All the past characters they managed to include -- even Francie!! -- but no Will Tippin or Eric Weiss? Sniff.

The Rambaldi pay-off, while generally good (as I mentioned above), seemed to be missing a critical piece or two. How did this man make all his predictions? We'll never know. And if he discovered eternal life, why/how did he die and end up in a sarcophagus in Mongolia? Or did he? Was that supposed to be him in the prison last week? I guess I just always assumed that the ultimate answer to all this Rambaldi stuff was that eventually we'd meet time-traveling/immortal Rambaldi (or his reincarnation) in the flesh. I'm not saying they had to give me exactly what I wanted, but still... they didn't give quite enough, I think.

Irina Derevko was totally bungled, in my opinion. What made her brilliant throughout season two was how nuanced she was. Evil, but subtle. For that matter, you didn't even know for certain she was evil, until she betrayed them all. Even in her appearance a few weeks ago, she totally used Jack and Syd again, but stopped long enough for tender moments in delivering her new granddaughter. But in the finale, Irina was just flat-out, irrational, mustache-twirling evil, with a truly apocalyptic endgame plan that, in my mind, had nothing to do with anything we'd ever seen her character do. And her death, though necessary of course, was just anti-climatic to me.

Still, overall, there was far more about this finale that was well done rather than flawed. It was absolutely the right finale for the complete ride that Alias has been. I'm satisfied. I'm not left wanting for more. And despite the rocky years, I'm glad I stuck around for the whole thing.

Time to hang up the wigs. No more musically-synchronized strutting. Syd has assumed her last Alias.