ALIAS - Love Story: Section One

Glasses: Who do you work for? I'll not ask you again.
Sydney: Ok, get a pen, write this down. E-M-E-T-I-B. Got that? Okay, now reverse it...I've got bad news for you man. I am your worst enemy. I've got nothing to lose.
Glasses: That's not exactly true. You have teeth.


Okay, this post isn't exactly like it sounds. I thought about what to call it for a bit and finally decided that "Love Story" was as appropriate as anything because my love for Alias is why I'm writing this post in the first place, and I'm doing it because Alias is ending and well that's just sad. So, what this post is actually about is this. Since I'm watching the first 4+ seasons right now to celebrate Alias' April 19th return (mark your calendars!), I'm going through and instead of doing a synopsis of season 5 episodes liked I'd originally thought about doing, I'm going to mark turning points and pivotal moments throughout Alias history. For example, the first one will obviously be Sydney finding out about SD-6 as a result of her first fiance's death. So its an Alias timeline, if you will, complete with a touch of review and some snark here and there, I'm sure. And since there will probably be at least 4-5 a season, it'll be pretty long, so I'll most likely break it up into sections. This will be section one. Because sections sounds cooler than parts and definitely cooler than chapters, and lets face it, its loosely based on SD cells of seasons 1 & 2. Here we go.

Season One:
Truth Be Told (1.01) - Sydney discovers the true nature of her employer, SD-6, as a mercenary group, rather than a black ops division of the CIA and also learns that her absentee father has also been working for the same mercenary group, but also for the CIA. Read: Syd isn't the only one pulling double duty. Unfortunately SpyDaddy (aka Victor Garber, aka the Sexiest man over 50) , in the same episode, coins the phrase, "you've been working for the very enemy you thought you were fighting," which becomes a part of the Sydney voice over as well as a staple for anytime the true nature of SD-6 is discussed, and which I am convinced was thought up for the express purpose of annoying me.

In the pilot we also see the small red ball that slowly turns into a big red ball. Its also the first time we hear the name Oscar Mueller, who is apparently the one who designed the device. He gets real important later...Prophet Five anyone?

Parity (1.03) - Milo Rambaldi is introduced. We find out that the red ball thing was actually his design and Oscar Mueller was just "an academic". He just found the design and made it or improved it I guess. Anyway, we all know how important Rambaldi is...no need to elaborate here.

The Confession (1.11) - After Sydney and Michael do some sleuthing, they ultimately decide that SpyDaddy's been a bad boy for the KGB including killing Michael's dad (aka SpyDaddy2). The interesting thing is, Vaughn was pretty against turning Jack in for the good of bringing down SD-6 until he found out it was about his daddy. Way to separate the personal and professional there, Mike. Sydney whines a bit, but they finally go to Devlin about it, only to find out that it was actually SpyMommy. That family's more dysfunctional than mine. Sydney, as expected, has some trouble processing.

The Coup (1.14) - I had a hard time deciding whether or not to include this as a pivotal event or not, but I figured what the hell. Its the first time we see the man known as Julian Sark. Actually at this point he's only known as Sark...he doesn't have a first name yet, but who cares because he's still absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, he becomes a major player later on, so I think this is important. I'll talk about him more later when I talk about SpyMommy.

Page 47 (1.15) - This is when Alias gets creepy and completely moves away from anything realistic. Some guy named Rambaldi drew a picture of Sydney, or someone who looks a whole lot like her, over 500 years ago. Sure, he drew plans for a cell phone and created a synthetic polymer around the same time, but none of that is as freakish as looking at a picture of yourself drawn in the 1500's. But so yeah, this is the first time Sydney is tied to Rambaldi, but it won't be the last.

The Prophecy (1.16) - "This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks, signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works, bind them with fury, a burning anger. Unless prevented, at vulgar costs, this woman will render the greatest power unto utter desolation." And we thought just the picture was bad news. Now she's seriously tied to Rambaldi. Not only did he draw her, but he knew her platelet levels and heart size. This guy's good. And the prophecy doesn't seem so important in the span of the first season, but proves how talent JJ is, damn him, as it comes back and becomes oh so important all the way to the third and fourth season, and I'm not convinced it won't come back in the end of the fifth.

Q&A/Masquerade (1.17/18) - We "find out"/assume that Laura Bristow is alive. It's unclear when exactly we find out that her real name is Irina Derevko...its somewhere around here though. We hear it on the video that Jack listens to, but Sydney also types it in the search on her mission with Agent Overbite Hicks.

Rendezvouz (1.21) - Although we know that Vaughn's got Sydney on the brain long before this episode, this is the first one where it becomes an issue/is verbalized. At least by Weiss, who is clearly counting on that vesting. Come on Weiss...you're a government employee, you better be saving your pennies now. At this point, I think she likes him too, but she's still recovering from dead fiance #1, so its still in the back of her head. Ahh, she'll change her tune during his first near death experience.

Also, Will finds out about SpySyd. He finds out about SpyWorld in the episode before this, but what the hell...I threw it all together here. This is actually where he puts it all together and finds out about Sydney, Jack, and the whole deal.

Almost Thirty Years (1.22) - We actually see, or Sydney actually sees (because Lena Olin hadn't been cast yet), that Irina is, in fact, alive. Oh, so pivotal. Unlike a lot of Alias viewers, I haven't even bothered to come up with conspiracy theories about the end of Alias, it makes my head hurt. But whatever lies in store for those last six episodes, Irina is a major player. Its fabulous how Irina Derevko has been such a crucial part of Alias from beginning to end, and Lena Olin was only a regular in season 2, and didn't even appear in seasons one or three. More on Irina later.

We see the red ball for the second time and it has grown significantly. As Sydney put it, "Vaughn, its bigger than I thought."

Sloane: I can't really be the first person to have difficulty taking you seriously can I?
Cole: Well, while that was a moderately clever retort, I'm the man holding the box.