A Farewell to the Wigs, the Accents, and the Rubber Dresses

Last night, the final to episodes of Alias aired, and while I do think it was the right time for it to end, I am sorry to see it go. I didn't think season 4 was very good, but in season 5 it really had its legs back. I was hesitant at first. Killing Vaughn off in the first episode and then adding a whole bunch of new characters did not sit well with me. But once everyone settled in, and I felt certain that Vaugn wasn't really dead, I was able to sit back an enjoy the ride. (Yes, my enjoyment was contingent on Michael Vaughn being alive. I am a girl and I have a crush on Michael Vartan.) One of my favorite shows of all time was back to what it should be.

And now it's gone...

Overrall, I would say it was a satisfying end. Several months ago, I had said that if Alias didn't end with Sydney, Vaughn and the baby walking along a beach somewhere, I would be very upset. The producers did me one better, but I will get to that later. In addition to being satisfied that Sydney got the happy ending she had earned, I thought that they did a very good job of tying things up in the end. I had actually predicted back in season 1, when they met the guy in Italy about the Rambaldi clock, the Rambaldi's end game was some sort of secret to eternal life. It's kind of cool that I was right, but I think a lot of people saw that coming.

One of the things I liked best about the first part was how they spread the moments around between the characters, Marshall especially got his moment to shine, which I thought was due to the character. I also really loved that over the course of the last half of this season, we got to see all our old favorite characters. When I had initially heard that Merrin Dungay would be guest starring, I assumed they had found a way to bring back Evil Francie again. I was pleasantly surprised to see original Good Francie in flashback. I was also surprised that I got a little choked up when Tom died. I do think that, had the show gone on, I really might have grown to love Rachel and Tom. In the first half of the season, I felt that Rachel was being forced down out throats a bit too much, and that they were trying too hard to make Rachel and Tom the new Sydney and Vaughn. But in the second half of the season, I think they fit in more organically, and in the past couple of episodes, I had really grown invested in the nascent relationship. For that reason, I found their goodbye touching and nicely understated.

The second part was the really heartbreaking part though. Even though I expected it, I was still a little shocked to see Jack get shot in the chest, and was thrilled to see Sydney lash out at Sloane and shoot him seven times. The moment I completely lost it though was during Jack's speech to Sydney. It was so touching and a little inspiring. "Nobody else in the world can do what you can do," he told her, and you knew he meant that she was just that extraordinary, and not because of any Rambaldi prophesy. He just loves her so much, and with all the flashbacks in this episode, I was reminded of how Sydney's relationship with her father had evolved since the first episode. It was so strained then, but by the end, she really was daddy's little girl.

The flashbacks to different points in Syd's life, showing how she became a spy, were wonderful as well. I loved seeing that Sydney was exactly who she was meant to be. They did white wash the fact that Jack used Project Christmas to condition her to be a spy, but since we had already known that she had solved that puzzle before he put her in the program, I'm more than willing to let that go. When we had initially found out about that, Jack told her that he had done it to protect her, and that makes perfect sense to me. Project Christmas was just another step towards her becoming the hero she needed to be. Also, I thought the scene when she told Jack about her job with Credit Dauphin, was interesting. We had already known that he had hoped to recruit Sydney into the real CIA, but Sloane had gotten to her first.

I was glad that in Sydney's final confrontation with her mother she showed compassion to the very end, always willing to give Irina the chance to turn back from her obsession. Seeing Sydney completely give up on her mother would have been too disheartening. Sydney had been willing to trust her mother at every opportunity since season 2. One of her defining characteristics was her constant need for her mother's love. And I think it's telling that earlier in the episode, Jack had admitted to Dixon that he was wrong about Sloan. As badass as Jack is, I think it's hard for him to give up on the people he loves, whether they be family or friends. I think Sydney inherited that from Jack, as we have seen them both make mistakes with trust in regard to both Sloan and Irina. As nice as it was to see that Sydney hadn't grown so cold that she could wouldn't try to save Irina, it was awesome to see what Jack did to Sloan. Jack had made mistakes, mistakes that indirectly caused a lot pain to Sydney, but he wasn't going to leave this world without doing what he could to make sure that he saves Sydney from further pain. The best line of the night: "You could beat death, Arvin, but you couldn't beat me."

Now for the end, I loved it. I do think that Sydney and Vaughn earned their happily ever after with their little family (and I have never been the type of person who needed for stories to end happily), but I loved the fact that Sydney never really gave up the spy game. It's who she is, and the fact that Isabelle takes after her mother seemed only natural to me. I'll miss Sydney Bristow, as I still miss Buffy Summers, but I am more than satisfied with the way Alias ended. And at least I still have Veronica Mars, so I'm not left without any of my favorite television heroines.