Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

all the time in the world

So the Alias finale has come and gone. (It aired Monday night, though I’m only now getting around to posting about it.)

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a fitting ending to the show. I teared up after the final scene, when a message to viewers flashed up in place of the usual Alias title.

Thanks for five incredible years.

:: sniff ::

(Note, for those who haven’t seen it: Spoilers ahead.)

The most important part (to me, at least) was that Syd and Vaughn got their happy ending, living on a secluded beach and starting a family of their own. They seem to have mostly left the spy life, though not completely, taking the occasional assigment from Dixon. It’s fitting: Syd’s spy life is now more a matter of choice — doing something she’s good at — rather than a huge burden she can’t escape.

And while I was sad that they killed off Jack, at least they gave him one hell of a sendoff: a superb, emotional goodbye with his daughter, followed by a a moment of badass self-sacrifice to defeat a now-immortal Sloan. “You can beat death, Arvin. But you can’t beat me.”

The characterization of the other SpyParent, Irina, didn’t make sense to me: She was far more ruthless with Syd — here, even willing to kill her — than I’ve ever seen before. The undercurrent up until now has always been that while Irina has her own agenda and she’s willing to do almost anything to pursue that agenda, she still loves Jack and Syd and tries to protect them in her own way.

Meanwhile, between Peyton’s fear of snakes, Jack getting shot and Irina grasping for the Horizon, I was having a lot of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade flashbacks.

And I can’t forget: Go, Marshall! The team’s resident geek had a fine showing in the finale, especially in his defiance to Sloan. And I love that they brought back Carrie, Marshall’s super-smart wife, to help with his rescue.

Other great moments:

• Sydney in Sydney, Australia. They had to do it sometime.
• Sloan interrupts his intimidating speech to Syd with a quick happy wave to baby Isabelle.
• Sloan’s story about a young Syd trying to “rescue” the stuffed animals after her mother’s “death.”
• The flashbacks — especially the one where Syd tells Jack about her new job at Credit Dauphin.

Aside from Irina’s characterization, the only other thing that really bugs me is Rambaldi. I understand that the red liquid brings immortality (or, at least, a vastly lengthened lifespan). But I’m going to need the help of someone far more immersed in the show to figure out how the whole Rambaldi mythology — the artifacts, writings and missions we’ve seen in the past five seasons — fits together. Because right now it just makes my head hurt.