Alias 5.11, 5.12, 5.13

[belsum]

Interesting that Amy Acker makes the main credits as of “Maternal Instinct” but Elodie Bloucher is demoted to guest star. For a moment I wondered if that meant Fred would be dying but then I remembered this isn’t Joss Whedon’s show. I loved all of Fred’s badass scenes, like blowing up the helicopter out the window. But it wasn’t much of a

Comments

[nomadicwriter]

With the Sloane kills Nadia storyline, I thought the idea of it was brilliant tragedy, but the execution (excuse pun) of the death scene was just painfully clunky. Sloane, criminal genius, not only hides page 47 under a folder but leaves a corner sticking out? Nadia waits over a day and night to get round to cutting off her hospital bracelet? Sloane outright begs Nadia not to make him choose between her and Rambaldi? Nadia dies by falling through a glass table that isn't in any establishing shots and doesn't remotely fit with the rest of the decor in Sloane's house? Yow, that was clumsy.

That said, the storyline as it follows on from that is mostly very well done. Really, I think both Sloane's and Irina's ultimate fates/decisions are actually perfectly in-character and make narrative sense on paper; it's just that the shortcuts taken in the storytelling fail to sell how we get from A to B at times. So I didn't come away from s5 thinking it was an absolute travesty of character assassination or anything, more just, "Wow, they could have done that so much better if they'd had a full twenty-two episodes to do it in."

And Dixon's mini-dreads popped up at the start of 5x11, I believe (as did Sloane's new slightly spiky 'do, if you've noticed it) so they did actually wait until after Sydney's shipboard adventure was over to avoid breaking continuity too much. I assume that 5x10 was probably filmed before the hiatus even though it aired afterwards, and 5x11 was the first one filmed when they came back.

[belsum]

Nadia waits over a day and night to get round to cutting off her hospital bracelet?

YES. This bugged me hugely. I guess I was hand-waving away the terrible execution of the entire scene at Sloane’s house because a) I was speeding through episodes that night and b) I was definitely going with “it’s the thought that counts” in my estimation. Heh.

I didn't come away from s5 thinking it was an absolute travesty of character assassination or anything, more just, "Wow, they could have done that so much better if they'd had a full twenty-two episodes to do it in."

Abso-freakin-lutely. But honestly, they wouldn’t even have needed the full 22. They just needed to tighten up what they DID have. There was plenty of space even in these episodes, not to mention the front half of the season.

And Dixon's mini-dreads popped up at the start of 5x11, I believe (as did Sloane's new slightly spiky 'do, if you've noticed it) so they did actually wait until after Sydney's shipboard adventure was over to avoid breaking continuity too much.
I keep getting distracted by Sloane’s green glasses to notice his hair! HA! But that makes me feel better that the mini-dreads were introduced post-hiatus. Hair style continuity bothers me often. I know there was an episode earlier in the series that was supposed to take place the very next day but Syd suddenly had bangs that weren’t there before. And I don’t think she just popped in at the beauty parlor on her way home! Come to think of it, I remember that happening with Buffy at least once, too…

[nomadicwriter]

My personal theory about the hospital bracelet is that Jack must have baby-proofed Sydney's apartment so well Nadia couldn't find any sharp objects anywhere.

But honestly, they wouldn’t even have needed the full 22. They just needed to tighten up what they DID have.

Exactly. As I was saying about the early half of season five, they're all good, fun episodes with some great character stuff, but when you get to this point in the season and see how much plot they're stuck trying to cram in, they really should have got things moving a lot earlier in the season. "30 Seconds" would have been brilliant as a three episode arc; one ep for the cure, one to establish Sloane feeling at a loose end, and episode three for the inevitable disaster. Trying to do the whole thing as a three scene arc... not so good.

That said, I'm kind of with you on the "thought that counts" approach. I seem to have a much more charitable view of season five than most people who watched it in real-time. I think marathoning shows on DVD does help you move past the rough patches, instead of building up too much anticipation beforehand and then dwelling on how much it sucked for a week. It's the only way I watch TV now, I just don't have the patience to follow things as they air.

[belsum]

Hee! I did love the babysitters. Awesome.

I'm becoming quite the fan of watching serialized shows on DVD. Yes, there are still some that am hooked on that I will watch live (or streaming the next day, you know what I mean) but I find myself making conscious decisions not to catch up to other shows that are still airing that I think I might like. I'd rather wait for them to run their course and then watch from the beginning straight through. It's also a helluva lot easier scheduling-wise with two kids in the house...