As so often happens, the game itself was a snoozer. The ads (a few cute, a few gamy) were mostly a shrug. The only thing that lived up to the "super" billing of a Super Bowl Sunday was an astonishing hour of Alias — and for reasons that escape me, ABC made us sit through a Bon Jovi performance, an insipid Penn and Teller stunt and bloated post-game analysis, not starting the much-touted episode until 11 pm/ET. By this time, a huge chunk of the audience no doubt had drifted; ABC effectively wasted the opportunity to introduce a massive fan base to one of the most entertaining shows of our time.

The Alias episode, cunningly scripted by creator J.J. Abrams, provided just enough exposition to ground the newbies, after luring them with a jaw-droppingly sexy entrance by Jennifer Garner. "You think it's comfortable wearing clothes like this?" she snarled to a lecherous villain who made her parade in red underwear before he got his. The ensuing fight to the death aboard a luxury airplane was thrilling enough to satisfy anyone not sated by all those ads for Matrix and Terminator sequels.

From then on, the episode rocketed from one sensational, pivotal turning point to the next. It was thrilling and shocking, exhilarating and (ultimately) upsetting.

Relation"shippers" got their fix when Sydney (Garner) and her lovesick handler Vaughn (Michael Vartan) finally got to kiss. But only after leading a bloody raid on SD-6 — where does this leave her partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly) and poor sweet gadget freak Marshall (Kevin Weisman)? — and presumably destroying the shadowy Alliance.

The final revelations were staggering: Sloane (Ron Rifkin), still in hiding, had manipulated everyone, apparently aware for some time that Syd and her father Jack (Victor Garber) were double agents working for the CIA. He masterminded the Alliance downfall with Sark (David Anders), and arranged (biggest shock of all) the murder of Syd's beloved roomie Francie (Merrin Dungey), replacing her with a cold-blooded double.

(Side note for all those mourning Francie, who had just started getting amorous with Bradley Cooper's Will: While this is a tragedy for the character, it has to be seen as a boon for the actress. Obviously the murderer won't get away with this ruse forever, but what a juicy role to play — right up there with Nina on 24.)

The show's playing field has seemingly changed for good. I couldn't be more excited. As with 24, I'm now breathlessly awaiting the next episode of Alias more than I have for months.

Despite ABC's greedy milking and overextending of the post-show, I'm hoping the promotion and scheduling of Alias on Super Bowl night have a positive impact on the show's ratings fortunes. Whatever happens, no one can say Abrams didn't come through with a blockbuster episode deserving of the special treatment.

And one final observation about ABC: If the network had decided to launch one of its cheesy reality shows on Super Bowl night, do you think they would have waited until 11 pm to start it? Not likely.

© TV Guide Online 2003

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