Deep thoughts.

[sunshine_queen]

My love for Lena Olin knows no bounds. I just watched "Polish Wedding" with her and Claire Danes and Gabriel Byrne and... yeah. Do not mess with SpyMommy. Ever.

How is it that I get nine hours of sleep and I'm exhausted? How? I mean, seriously tired.

I got a phone call today from one of my sister's friend's mothers. She offered me a part-time job answering phones at wherever she works. However, she wants me to work on Friday and Monday- and I totally can't, because I'm going to Virginia. I offered this weekend to Heather, but Marie said she wanted to make sure I had the opportunity the rest of the summer. Apparently something about me screams "PHONE-ANSWERER."

Yesterday when I drove, I made a three-point turn, waited for my turn at a four-way stop, and parked in my driveway perfectly.

Today Ma and I started laying out outfits for me to bring to Virginia. I am going to have to have about ten suitcases at this rate. I have, like, four polos, two white pairs of pants, a pair of black slacks, two dress shirts, and two dresses. Mind you, I haven't yet even started with pajamas, underthings, jeans or shirts to wear. Or what I'm wearing on the plane (I changed my mind, Nica.) I'm kinda doomed.

Today Mel and I were discussing the best seasons of Alias. She says Season Four was best overall. I think the best seasons were, in this order:

Season 2
Season 4
Season 1
Season 3

Because:
(and this is soooo going to be incomplete)

Season 2 had:

The Good
- SpyMommy!
- SD-6!
- double agentry!
- Syd/Dixon partnership!
- covert goodness!
- SyVa UST!
- SyVa RST!
- SpyMommy!
- SyVa cuteness!
- SpyFam!
- SpyRent goodness!
- Syd's life!
- Syd and Daddy's growing relationship!
- KENDALL!
- Uncle Inappropriate!
- Emily!
- WILL! WILL!
- (and Francie.)
- SPYMOMMY!
- Related episodes!
- Cliffhanger episodes/finales!

The Bad
- Nothing that comes to mind.

Season 4 had:

The Good
- Nadia!
- covertness!
- fun missions!
- Family Dynamics
- SyVa (but crazy.)
- Intrigue, Danger and Romance
- SpySisters
- Angst
- Bitter Syd!
- Uncle Inappropriate!
- SPYMOMMY!
- Cliffhanger finale

The Bad
- Lack of continuity
- "Taking it slow"
- Syd being a bitch needlessly

Season 1 had:

The Good
- Angst!
- Covertness!
- Bitter Syd!
- SD-6!
- fun missions!
- Syd/Dixon!
- Changing Syd/Daddy dynamics!
- Kinder, gentler Rambaldi!
- Prophecies!
- Cliffhangers!
- Enemies!
- Related episodes!
- Will! (Francie!)
- Uncle Inappropriate!

The Bad
- Will's silly plotline that made everyone angry

Season 3 had:

The Good
- Angst!
- Angst!
- Angst!
- SyVa UST!
- LAUREN!
- Will!
- SIMON!
- Julia Thorne!
- SyVa UST!
- The Lost Years!
- Rambaldi!
- Guilt!
- GREEN GOO!
- Crazy Rambo shit!

The Bad
- Crazy Rambo shit
- The lack of Lost Years explanation
- St. Aidan?
- Lauren's random transformation from a Desperate Housewife to a Cheap and Evil Girl

 

Alias has never really had a bad season. Just less fun ones.

Comments

[dollsome.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I totally watched part of Polish Wedding. And while the movie itself kinda bewildered me (this may be because I only saw the last forty-five minutes or so) . . . it was Lena. And I don't think anyone's love for her knows any bounds. Oh, SpyMommy.

Those lists were fun. :D I think seasons 2 and 1 are still my favourite, but . . . well, I agree with it not having a bad season.It has bad moments, but overall I still think it rocks the heck on quite consistently. And hee! at SyVa (but crazy.), because that just amuses me massively for some reason.

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

"I think we should take it slow."
"Absolutely. You're totally right."
"Because... you just killed your wife."
"And burnt down my house."
"Yeah."
"So... takin' it slow."
"Uh huh."
"We can still see each other, right?"
"Yeah, fully clothed."
"Okay, that's cool."
"... Want to come in?"
"Sure."
"Just for coffee."
"Okay."
"... Or maybe some wine."
"Wine?"
"Yeah. Wine. Vino. Is that okay?"
"Sure. I mean, that's fine. We're taking it slow. We can talk and stuff."
"No 'and stuff.'"
"Right. Taking it slow."
"Mmhmm."
"Taking it slow."
"Yep. Slowwww."
"Sloooooow."
"You're looking down my shirt."
"I am not."
"You are too."
"Dude. ... Well, I am now!"
"We're taking things slow!"
"Then button up your shirt, for god's sake!"
"Take off your leather jacket then!"
"God!"
"Jesus!"
"This is nice wine."
"Mmhmm."
"It's warm in here. Is it warm in here?"
"A bit."
"... Okay. We're taking things slow."
"Yep."
"Can we make out on your couch, please?"
"WE ARE TAKING THINGS SLOW."
"Jesus CHRIST, do I have to carry your books to class?"
"Dude-"
"... Pass you NOTES in study hall?"
" - don't even go there..."
" DO I HAVE TO TAKE YOU TO THE MOVIES AND PAY FOR YOUR TICKET?"
"IT WOULD BE NICE!"
"Pretend we did. And now we're at your house, and your parents aren't home. CAN WE MAKE OUT NOW?"
"ARE YOU FIFTEEN?"
"NO."
"This is NOT SLOW."
"My hands will not venture past any barriers you give me."
" ... You promise?"
"I promise."
"Okay."

"Dude, I didn't DO ANYTHING."
"Will you relax?"
"You're pulling away!"
"I'm LEADING YOU to my BED."
"I am so not fooling around with you on your bed."
"So we won't fool around."
"What happened to taking it slow?"
"We did."
"God, are you easy."
"What?"
"Not complaining."

[dollsome.livejournal.com]

*thoroughly slain*

Okay, that right there is all kinds of beautiful. There are not words.

And now I feel like I need a happy SyVa icon.

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

SyVa is entirely too iconable.

[thepodsquad.livejournal.com]

I still hate the cloning plotline in season two. But other than that, it's fabulous, fabbity fab fab.

*sighs*

And yes, stupid Will in season 1! grr.

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

dude, i forgot about that!

[non-horation.livejournal.com]

I don't know what everyone has against Will in season 1. I liked him. He was cute. And he loved Syd way more than she deserved. :P

But I guess we all watch for different reasons, and would rate accordingly. :P

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

It was just that he kept chasing the story. And since (A) the viewers already knew what was going on and (B) I really knew what was going on because I started watching mid-season 3, it was irritating watching him pursue danger. It was adorable that he was doing it, and he was doing it for all the right reasons, bless his little heart, but all I could think was

JESUS CHRIST WILL YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED AND SYD WILL DIE OF ANGST SO KNOCK IT OFF!

It wasn't that I hated Will. I mean, hello, girly scream? But I hated that storyline.

[non-horation.livejournal.com]

LOL! See, the whole KGB/Irina/PV/Jack/OMGWTF thing bored me a little, because I already knew what happened, but though I called the Haladki thing before it was revealed, I'd never heard much about Will's plotline except that it was stupid. Maybe it's a case of Noah, where I was so prepared for suck that I liked it.

And besides, I shipped SWill anyway. :P

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, the whole DUN DUN DUN is Jack a KGB agent was kinda... nonclima-whatever that word is. And the whole Haladki thing was obvious, I called it too, slimy little weasel that he was. And you liking Noah was priceless.

Yeah, you ship TipTow, but you also ship SyVa. Shut up.

[non-horation.livejournal.com]

LOL. When Jack was all, It was your mother ... and the music literally went DUN DUN DUN! Rachel and I died. :P I figured Haladki had something to do with it, because I remembered a throwaway line about Jack having killed him in season 2.

And Noah is totally not my fault. I was expecting him to be gross and mean. :P

Also? I so do not. And what the hell is TipTow? :P

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

LOL, I know! They make this big official meeting and then it's like, DUN DUN DUN. And I was like, ahem. Moving right along... And Haladki DESERVED to be shot in the head. I can't remember what he was doing, but I was very happy when Daddy killed him.

Ugh. He is gross and mean. There was like, a turkey baster full of excess saliva in his mouth. It was like, don't kiss him, Syd! He'll DROWN YOU!

And? You entirely do. I have ten folders of proof, beyotch. And TipTow? Gee, Tess. Figure it out.

[non-horation.livejournal.com]

And they're all like, GASP! and Syd is freaking out and burning all her Laura Hatbox Stuff, and taking the picture of her mom out of Vaughn's frame, and I'm just like, Heh, it's about time.

Haladki was ... like, a spy for everyone. He was former FBI so I think he was in on all that stuff, but then he was doing something with SD-6 or K-Directorate or something. He was the one who wouldn't let Will stop the story.

He had funny teeth or something, and his nose ws kind of weird, but he wasn't world-shatteringly ugly or anything. And he was kind of cute with Syd, aside from the whole assassin thing.

I do not! On the show they tend to get a little juvenile.

On the subject of TipTow, though, I just figured it out. And announced it to Hannah, who already knew it. And then felt stupid. :P

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

Heh. It would've been awesome if you were watching it for real, but for retrospecters... yeah. Not so much with the surprise there, chief.

Haladki was like, omnispy. And he was obnoxious. My love for his snittiness with Vaughn and Weiss is... crazy. It cracked me up because they were so eight about it all.

He had a lisp and a lot of spit and a bit tongue and snaggly teeth and aaaaaaugh. And no, he wasn't earth-shatteringly ugly but he's on the show with Vartan and Coop and it was like, yeah, NOT SO MUCH, SNAGGLE. And yeah, he was totally cute! Ditching Syd without a word and leaving communication up to a coded email and then trying to lure her away from her friends and family WHILE HE MURDERS PEOPLE TO BANKROLL THEIR LITTLE LOVE NEST is totally romantic.

You totally do or I wouldn't have ten folders of evidence, now would I?

LOL, poor Tessa. user came up with it and I think it's brilliant.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Here's how I'd rate them:

Season One
Season Two
Season Four
Season Three

But Season Two and Season Four are very, very, very close; S2 essentially wins only b/c of more SpyMommy face time and the episode "Phase One."

Season One: The Good

1) The first unfolding of the Sydney-Jack relationship, and the incredible twists and turns their relationship took that year. The relationship has never been quite as central to the show again, and to the show's detriment.

2) The cliffhangers. Whee!

3) Will, who was adorable and cute and DEAD ON THE MONEY. People who think he was stupid for behaving that way are not people who have known/worked with/been actual reporters. If you dangle a carrot like that in front of a real investigative journalist, that person will do exactly what Will did, only probably not so well. And having Will and Francie around gave Sydney's life texture; although I fully agree that this had to stop being a part of her life eventually, I liked it when it was there.

4) More and better stories for Dixon.

5) Vaughn not operating as a field agent, but as her guardian angel/backup. IMHO, he was more effective and winning in this role than in any other.

The Bad:

Nothing. Just nothing. I love pretty much every frame of Season One.

Season Two: The Good

1) SpyMommy! SpyRent love! Syd and her mom!

2) "Phase One" -- nuff said.

3) Kendall, who worked wonderfully well as a coordinator/foil.

4) Sark, used intelligently and with a directed goal.

5) Sloane's brilliant gaslighting of himself, complete with Emily escape.

6) Sweet Syd/Vaughn snugglies.

The Bad:

1) The season loses a lot of steam after "Phase One," and a lot more after "A Dark Turn," when suddenly there are all these episodes with SpyMommy interacting with Sloane and Sark, like we care.

2) Syd's life no longer really involving her friends, but in a bad way, a way that wasn't part of the story.

3) Too little Sydney and Jack in the second half of the season.

Season Three: The Good

1) WONDERFUL Sydney and Jack, with their relationship better but still complicated, confused and open to conflict.

2) Vaughn's demons coming home to roost, with a hasty marriage to Lauren that was 100% in character -- and yet the better virtues of his character still richly on display.

3) The intriguing lost-memory plot, which gave the characters terrific focus and opened up the arc to kinds of stories they hadn't told before ("Conscious," for instance.)

4) Katya, bless her sneaky little soul.

5) Nadia's introduction, with all the glorious complications thereby.

The Bad

1) Vascillation on Lauren, which resulted in both turning her bad and killing her off too quickly.

2) The unexpected absence of SpyMommy, which I don't blame the writers for (not their fault), but left them obviously grasping at straws, particularly in the first bit of the season.

3) The Rambaldi stuff got a bit too thick.

4) Not nearly enough Dixon.


I'll do a Season Four review eventually -- soon, I think -- so I wil leave that for then.