Alias 5.1: "Prophet 5"
Written by Alison Schapker and Monica Breen
Directed by Ken Olin
In which the truth about Michael Vaughn’s true identity is revealed, but when Sydney and Vaughn try to hunt down a document tied to his father and his past, Vaughn pays the ultimate price…
Status Report
Change is never an easy thing, and this is particularly true with the fandom of any given genre television series. There are tales of bitterness and hatred whenever a beloved character is removed from the board for whatever reason. Even when the actor or actress leaves of their own accord, accusations are leveled at those still staying behind and marching on, as if the world must stop when an actor gets bored or seeks new frontiers.
The situation is even worse when there are accusations that on-set relationships (and the subsequent break-ups) are behind the ouster of a beloved actor or character. In this case, there are thousands of rather vocal and rabid Michael Vartan fans who accuse Jennifer Garner of forcing him to be written off the series. This flies in the face of logic, given where the fourth season went and the likelihood that the writers wouldn’t intentionally back themselves into a corner, but logic seldom matters when dealing with such things.
What’s interesting here is how the premiere didn’t necessarily end with Vaughn’s death. In fact, there’s plenty of reason to think that Vaughn isn’t dead. For instance, on this series, when someone is dying after an attempt to fake his death already, and the window blinds are shut, what are the chances that things are so clear cut? There was no autopsy scene, it was a closed casket…wasn’t there a character a couple years ago that was assumed dead with plenty of evidence to support it?
So from a number of perspectives, this is not necessarily what it seems to be. In fact, there’s good reason to doubt that Vaughn is really dead. But even if he is, this still remains a viable plot development, in terms of unlocking yet another aspect of Sydney’s life that was assumed to be constant and relatively simple. That’s been the mantra for “Alias” since the very first season, and though some aspects of the premise are becoming overly strained at this point, it is what it is.
Moving on from what will no doubt be an endless controversy all season long, what about the rest of the episode? Two things make this episode somewhat hard to characterize. On the one hand, Jennifer is quite obviously pregnant throughout, and while a number of things are done to overcome this problem, it’s not perfect and it gets distracting. The other thing is the obvious network mandate not to refer to Rambaldi.
The problem is that the series, as a whole, cannot have some other prophet from the same time period with devotees connected to Vaughn’s father, so anyone already a fan knows that this is another piece of the overall Rambaldi puzzle. It’s just galling that the writers can’t come out and say it, especially when Sydney and Vaughn ought to come to that conclusion instantly. For fans of the series mythology, it’s another sign of how the producers had to accommodate network demands to stay on the air.
As far as the whole “Prophet 5” scenario goes, this seems like a way to explore how Vaughn’s father was connected to the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. The text in question, and its translation, fits perfectly into the Rambaldi mythos, so as a fan, it’s not hard to see how it all progresses from the fourth season. Though some mistook Elena’s plot as Rambaldi’s goal, that wasn’t the case at all; Rambaldi’s plot was all about the pacification of humanity so that an elite few could keep things in line. These genetic references are probably related to Rambaldi’s immortality quest and the whole question of the Rambaldi legacy for Sydney, Nadia, and nearly everyone else on the show.
So in effect, despite Vaughn’s apparent exit, his family history and its connection to Rambaldi are at the center of everything Sydney and APO will be doing this season. The real question is how Sloane will be interacting with all of this, since the writers will have to dance around the Rambaldi references even more whenever he’s involved. And if this is the final season, as so many people believe, why not just refer to Rambaldi and be done with it?
There’s also the small problem of yet another timeline for the death of Vaughn’s father. It’s bad enough that the fourth season played all kinds of games with Bill Vaughn and his involvement with Nightingale, but now there’s yet another iteration of the Vaughn family tragedy. Why can’t the writers stick to one timeline and make the story work within the established continuity? It shouldn’t be that hard!
With so many outside influences and issues impacting the creation and interpretation of this episode, it’s hard to know if this is a solid premiere and a sign of good things to come. Baby plots are usually the kiss of death for genre series, and in this case, the writers need to establish a stronger sense of direction in the next few episodes. As it stands, this is probably the weakest season premiere since the third season, and quite possibly, the weakest of the entire series. Bringing the series back in the fall, instead of taking the time to address the various issues for another January start, might have been a critical error.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was arguably the weakest season premiere of the series to date. Too many outside influences and issues impacted the creation of the story, and it was almost impossible to stay within the story itself and not consider the other implications. In particular, Garner’s pregnancy is a visible complication, and the network demands force the writers to eliminate natural connections to the series mythology, to the detriment of the concept.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
Directed by Ken Olin
In which the truth about Michael Vaughn’s true identity is revealed, but when Sydney and Vaughn try to hunt down a document tied to his father and his past, Vaughn pays the ultimate price…
Status Report
Change is never an easy thing, and this is particularly true with the fandom of any given genre television series. There are tales of bitterness and hatred whenever a beloved character is removed from the board for whatever reason. Even when the actor or actress leaves of their own accord, accusations are leveled at those still staying behind and marching on, as if the world must stop when an actor gets bored or seeks new frontiers.
The situation is even worse when there are accusations that on-set relationships (and the subsequent break-ups) are behind the ouster of a beloved actor or character. In this case, there are thousands of rather vocal and rabid Michael Vartan fans who accuse Jennifer Garner of forcing him to be written off the series. This flies in the face of logic, given where the fourth season went and the likelihood that the writers wouldn’t intentionally back themselves into a corner, but logic seldom matters when dealing with such things.
What’s interesting here is how the premiere didn’t necessarily end with Vaughn’s death. In fact, there’s plenty of reason to think that Vaughn isn’t dead. For instance, on this series, when someone is dying after an attempt to fake his death already, and the window blinds are shut, what are the chances that things are so clear cut? There was no autopsy scene, it was a closed casket…wasn’t there a character a couple years ago that was assumed dead with plenty of evidence to support it?
So from a number of perspectives, this is not necessarily what it seems to be. In fact, there’s good reason to doubt that Vaughn is really dead. But even if he is, this still remains a viable plot development, in terms of unlocking yet another aspect of Sydney’s life that was assumed to be constant and relatively simple. That’s been the mantra for “Alias” since the very first season, and though some aspects of the premise are becoming overly strained at this point, it is what it is.
Moving on from what will no doubt be an endless controversy all season long, what about the rest of the episode? Two things make this episode somewhat hard to characterize. On the one hand, Jennifer is quite obviously pregnant throughout, and while a number of things are done to overcome this problem, it’s not perfect and it gets distracting. The other thing is the obvious network mandate not to refer to Rambaldi.
The problem is that the series, as a whole, cannot have some other prophet from the same time period with devotees connected to Vaughn’s father, so anyone already a fan knows that this is another piece of the overall Rambaldi puzzle. It’s just galling that the writers can’t come out and say it, especially when Sydney and Vaughn ought to come to that conclusion instantly. For fans of the series mythology, it’s another sign of how the producers had to accommodate network demands to stay on the air.
As far as the whole “Prophet 5” scenario goes, this seems like a way to explore how Vaughn’s father was connected to the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. The text in question, and its translation, fits perfectly into the Rambaldi mythos, so as a fan, it’s not hard to see how it all progresses from the fourth season. Though some mistook Elena’s plot as Rambaldi’s goal, that wasn’t the case at all; Rambaldi’s plot was all about the pacification of humanity so that an elite few could keep things in line. These genetic references are probably related to Rambaldi’s immortality quest and the whole question of the Rambaldi legacy for Sydney, Nadia, and nearly everyone else on the show.
So in effect, despite Vaughn’s apparent exit, his family history and its connection to Rambaldi are at the center of everything Sydney and APO will be doing this season. The real question is how Sloane will be interacting with all of this, since the writers will have to dance around the Rambaldi references even more whenever he’s involved. And if this is the final season, as so many people believe, why not just refer to Rambaldi and be done with it?
There’s also the small problem of yet another timeline for the death of Vaughn’s father. It’s bad enough that the fourth season played all kinds of games with Bill Vaughn and his involvement with Nightingale, but now there’s yet another iteration of the Vaughn family tragedy. Why can’t the writers stick to one timeline and make the story work within the established continuity? It shouldn’t be that hard!
With so many outside influences and issues impacting the creation and interpretation of this episode, it’s hard to know if this is a solid premiere and a sign of good things to come. Baby plots are usually the kiss of death for genre series, and in this case, the writers need to establish a stronger sense of direction in the next few episodes. As it stands, this is probably the weakest season premiere since the third season, and quite possibly, the weakest of the entire series. Bringing the series back in the fall, instead of taking the time to address the various issues for another January start, might have been a critical error.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was arguably the weakest season premiere of the series to date. Too many outside influences and issues impacted the creation of the story, and it was almost impossible to stay within the story itself and not consider the other implications. In particular, Garner’s pregnancy is a visible complication, and the network demands force the writers to eliminate natural connections to the series mythology, to the detriment of the concept.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
posted by John Keegan | 15:41
1 Comments:
The Revolutionary Blog War
Do Online Soldiers Really Want A Revolution? I was not enthusiastic when Dick Meyer approached me about the suggestion from Hugh Hewitt that they make public their recent correspondence .
Goto: tall bar stool related stuff.
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