The End of Alias

Tomorrow is the Alias series finale, and for any show that has a group of dedicated fans, those are very sad words.

For me, the appeal of the show can be summed up in one bit of a scene last week. Sydney was deep undercover, making contact with her boss/father. She asked where he was.

"I'm with Isabel."

Actually, he was standing in his impeccable suit, staring at his granddaughter as if she might be a spy from a rival agency.

"She's smiling. Apparently, I'm funny."

So much is said in those words. Jack Bristow is the most humorless character on the show, yet the way Victor Garber plays him cracks me up every week.

"She's never done that before. That's a first."

All the things Syd's missed out on in her life are in those few wistful words. She doesn't want to miss them the way her father did, and that's indicative of the heart her character brings. Sydney is such an effective warrior because she cares so much about everything and everyone.

"Of which there will be many."

Brisk yet tender, this line evokes the balance Jack and Sydney have sought in the last five seasons. They went from being people who ached for a relationship they'd never been able to build, despite their intense love, to a father and daughter who finally know who the other is. Now Jack is not only someone willing to DO anything for his family, but someone willing to SAY it, too.

The relationship between Syd and Vaughn has been the focus of much of the show and much fan discussion, and the outcry when Vaughn's character was removed was huge. But I assert that the show, which did suffer this season (not only from Vaughn's absence but also from the pregnancy, the addition of yet another whiny, ineffective female and a male we never got to know, and the loss of Weiss), would have been a disaster without Jack Bristow.

I tried to avoid spoilers about the finale, but I did catch one that seemed to be saying someone was going to die, and speculation that it might be Jack. I will be extremely disappointed if they pull a father sacrifice/deathbed declaration of love, especially if Jack is sacrificing himself instead of Vaughn. It was barely acceptable in Armageddon, eye-rolling in Poseidon, and will positively ruin the show if it ends Alias.

Feel free to post your own disagreements, elaborations, or other thoughts on this upcoming finale!