Maybe "Alias" creator JJ Abrams was inspired by his feelings in the third season of "Alias" for his new television show "Lost." Loss was a recurring theme for the third installment of "Alias," literally and figuratively.
Found lying in a Hong Kong alley missing two years of her life, CIA agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) cannot grasp all that she has lost.
The third season of "Alias" — now available on a six-disc DVD box set — isn't as strong as the two before, but it still had enough twists and surprises to keep its audience on the edge.
Bristow finds that everything she knew is backwards. Former evildoer Arvin Sloan (Ron Rifkin) is now a humanitarian. Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), CIA officer and Sydney's father, is in jail. Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly), Sydney's former partner, is now the CIA director. Sydney Bristow's love interest, Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) is now married to another CIA agent, Lauren Reed (Melissa George), who turns out to be the femme fatale everyone loves to hate.
There's a new terrorist cell, called the Covenant, which takes over as the CIA's nemesis. An old enemy, Julian Sark (David Anders), becomes the Covenant's financial backer. It turns out that Sydney Bristow was working for them under the alias of Julia Thorne for the two years that she was missing.
Most shocking is the fact that Sydney has a sister, Nadia, who also turns out to be Sloan's daughter, which sounds more like a soap opera.
Through the 22 episodes, the viewer is brought through Sydney's super-spy world for which Garner earned her Golden Globe nomination for best actress. This season also allowed for the spy-daddy of the show, Garber, to receive an Emmy nod for "Best Supporting Actor in a Drama."
The established "Alias" cast is high-caliber, but the long list of guest appearances surely takes the cake for season three.
Golden Globe winner and "The Office" star, Ricky Gervais appears as Daniel Ryan, Justin Theroux ("Six Feet Under") shows up as Simon Walker and Djimon Hounsou ("Amistad" and "Gladiator") plays Kazari Bomani. The three bring enough evil to their portrayals to be amazing villains.
"Kill Bill" alums David Carradine, Quentin Tarantino and Vivica A. Fox also make appearances on the show.
Isabella Rossellini took over for Lena Olin (who played Sydney Bristow's mother Irina Derevko) as the token Russian spy and as Sydney's long-lost aunt, Katya Derevko. However, Rossellini is not as well used as Olin had been in the previous season.
The special features are worth taking a look at, but generally not a second look. There are interesting featurettes provided, like following an assistant director around for a week and learning how the designers created scenes from around the world using a combination of Los Angeles and computer generated scenery.
The gem of the extra features is the blooper reel. The reel is worth watching several times to see all the actors' screw-ups and to catch a glimpse of Vartan falling down a flight of stairs in a shot's background.
Season four of "Alias" won't show up on ABC for about four months, which means the DVD set will have to suffice for diehard fans until Abrams unleashes another 22 convoluted episodes on an unsuspecting public.
Alias Season Three: AB
Special Features: B