TV Guide
November 29-December 5, 2003
Cool Spies, Hot Babes, One Nasty Love Triangle
Just three reasons why we love Alias this season
by Shawna Malcom
SPOILERS!
On a warm October afternoon, Jennifer Garner strides purposefully into a dilapidated
warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, primed for a fight. As Alias's indefatigable spy
Sydney Bristow, she routinely mops the floor with bad guys. But this foe is different.
Standing before her is National Security Council liaison Lauren Reed, played by
Melissa George, and it doesn't take a CIA operative to figure out that this mission is
personal. Lauren is married to Sydney's former lover Vaughn (Michael Vartan), and
try as she might, Syd's having a hard time letting go. (That's what happens when you
pass out, as she did in last season's dizzying finale, and wake up to discover
you've been missing for two years and your CIA boyfriend, believing you were
dead, moved on to someone else.) Clearly, hell hath no fury like a superspy
scorned: As Lauren tries to speak, Sydney delivers a single, swift blow, knocking
her rival to the floor.
Then, unexpectedly, détente. She extends a hand and helps Lauren to her feet.
As the women face each other, inches apart and both breathless, the mood shifts.
Suddenly, they lean in--headed, it seems, for a little Britney-Madonna action.
Cut!
Garner and George dissolve into giggles. Their near-kiss wasn't in the script, and
it won't make it to your living room. No matter: The dysfunctional Syd-Vaughn-Lauren
triangle is providing ABC's Alias--already one of TV's most habit-forming dramas--with
a little extra juice. Love or hate the plot now, creator J.J. Abrams says, "When
people see where it's going, I think it's a phase of our show that will wind up being
one of their favorites."
Until then, many loyal fans seem as eager to sock it to Lauren as Sydney is. In
September, George was booed at an ABC fan event, and postings on various Internet
message boards call for Lauren's demise. Even George's accent has been maligned, with
fans questioning how the character, the daughter of a Virginia senator, wound up
sounding British. (Lauren "was born in the States but grew up in London," explains
George, who shrugs off the chilly reception as par for the course when playing a
character who comes between a popular couple.)
Garner, for one, unflaggingly supports her costar. Her empathy for George isn't
surprising, especially considering how familiar she has become with the often-harsh
glare of public scrutiny. Since her split with husband Scott Foley last spring, Garner's
personal life has been closely monitored in the tabloids. Her recent romance with
costar Michael Vartan has made things worse. It has been an eye-opening experience for
Garner, a homebody who'd rather dote on her new puppy than hit Hollywood hot spots.
"It has been an incredibly hard year," she concedes. "There are things I've done
that I won't do again. That's just life. I'm trying to move forward with as much grace
as I can."
The irony of her situation--a woman who plays a spy finds herself now routinely spied on--isn't
lost on her. But she recognizes the trade-off that comes with her increasingly high-profile
career. "Of course I don't like photographers at my house, but I wasn't ignorant when
I took this role," she says. "The good so outweighs the bad."
The same can't be said for Sydney. In the November 30 episode, she discovers the severed hand
of a man she may or may not have murdered during those missing two years, and the
duplicitous director of the NSC blackmails her duplicitous former boss, Sloane
(Ron Rifkin), into ordering a hit on her. Desperate to retrieve her memory, she enlists
the aid of a neuroresearcher, played by director David Cronenberg, who has
developed an experimental dream therapy designed to treat amnesiacs. Much of the
surreal episode takes place in Sydney's subconscious and includes two violent
showdowns with Lauren. And if that isn't enough, Garner lets slip this juicy
tidbit: "At one point, I'm dreaming and I think it's reality, and I kiss Vaughn. Later, I
think it's a dream but it's reality, and I kiss him again."
If you think that means Vaughn will automatically ditch the Mrs., you're
dreaming. But a piece of info from Syd's dream prompts her to look up another man
from her past: old buddy Will, played by Bradley Cooper, who appears in the
December 7 episode. Now a Wisconsin construction foreman going by "Jonah" (thanks
to Witness Protection), the formerly wimpy journalist is now a lean, mean
kickboxing machine. "Will is a force," Cooper says. "He's not going to let
people take advantage of him anymore."
Well, unless she's a long-unrequited crush with the initials S.B. Between spy
games, Syd and Will take time out to offer each other some very friendly comfort.
They also have a brutal run-in with evil ex-roomie Allison.
One popular character who'll remain MIA: Syd's mysterious mama, played by Lena Olin.
Negotiations for a guest appearance fell through last month amid reports that
Olin was demanding one mother of a paycheck. "I'm disappointed," Abrams says, "but
hopeful we can eventually bring her back."
He admits that Olin's decision temporarily "threw us for a loop. But now I think we
have a story that might be even better." The top-secret plot kicks off January
11 and includes a startling revelation about one of the show's main characters.
(Rumor has it somebody is working for the enemy.) "We reveal what happened to
Sydney," Abrams says, "and what it all means."
And what about a resolution to that love triangle? For now, it's classified.
© TV Guide 2003
 Back To All About Alias 2003
|
