It turns out I have no idea how to spell “Shmalias”. Perhaps it should start with “sch”, as in the Laverne and Shirley theme song. Regardless, you should be able to figure it out. Anyway. Like many (I assume), we watched the Alias premier on Wednesday. I have to say that I was disappointed like crazy.
The latest soap opera plot was okay, but it didn’t even last the whole episode. And who didn’t see Sloan heading the new team as it was being introduced? And what’s up with the “black ops” agency that just happens to have another few dozen people working out of the same location? Surely someone in the train tunnels of LA would see someone taking the secret exit. What happens at rush hour? It would all seem to be a bit less than covert, wouldn’t it?
I am glad to see Marshall come back – I thought for a moment that he wouldn’t, and that would have just sucked. Though he appeared to lose some of his innocence, and his lines just weren’t natural. Similar to Stifler in American Wedding.
Then again, it could be that he just wasn’t around much. Or that the act doesn’t fly anymore, that his character’s well is tapped out. Speaking of Marshall, what will his girl think when she finds out that he’s not actually imprisoned for hooking up an X-Box to the CIA network? Speaking of plot loopholes, did anyone notice if Sloan’s finger is still missing? I only saw one decent shot of his hands, and didn’t get a good enough look, but it seems that all digits were intact.
From the tail end last night, it seems that Weiss will be involved with and/or trying to get involved with Nadia before long, and that Marshall will be going on another undercover operation. Marshall and Weiss are probably my favorite characters these days, so those could be entertaining.
Finally, I must say it. There are, of course, all sorts of rumors flying about Jennifer Garner being pregnant, and it looked to us like that might be the case. Whether she is or not, she sure has some more weight on her than she has in recent memory. Not that that is a bad thing – it really softened up her face nicely. She looks much less masculine than she did last season, when she could have been mistaken for Ah-nold if you just had a passing glimpse in dim light.
The weight alone may not be the giveaway, though. The action seemed very choppy, and Denise speculates that it might be because Jennifer Garner couldn’t perform all her stunts, so they had to cut and paste to get the scene to work. I could buy it. The action scenes were all horribly jumpy. And what is up with the CGI, specifically on the train? That was the worst job I’ve seen. Did the cast just get raises so large that they can’t afford decent effects? Geez. They ought to hire Dreamworks Animation (who did an admirable job on The Polar Express).
I’ll probably watch another episode or two at least, but man was this one bad! Maybe it would have been better if the prior seasons (specifically the first) weren’t so good. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your view), they were. So it was. What a stinker. Hope they get things ironed out and get things moving again.
