Alias

*If you didn't see Alias and don't want to read a spoiler, don't read this post!*

Finally, a new Alias aired last night - the first since May. After last season blowing (except for 2 or 3 REALLY good episodes) in writing, cast changes, story lines, etc., I had actually put most of the finale for season 3 out of my mind - the fact that Sydney was reading top secret documents signed by her father, and they had another Ican'tbelieveyoudidthistomeI'llneverforgiveyounever moment wasn't really on my mind in the past 7 months.

So after the requisite Jennifer Garner in lingerie scene, flashing back to 72 hours earlier, we see Sydney being demoted, and then quitting. We also see Vaughn fighting a punching bag, hear from Weiss that V. burned his house down and has been in psych eval for a while for burning his house down and deciding to quit. Then Vaughn handles my favorite moment of the episode, saying:

"Last year sucked."

JJ Abrams knew it sucked - he would frequently go on Kevin and Bean and talk about the fans' reactions to the season (hated it, hated Lauren, hated the story lines, hated all the torture scenes), so that was his concession to the freakiness and crap that was last season.

So, basically, Sydney, Vaughn, Jack, and Dixon have quit the CIA, and find out they've been recruited to a black-ops division of the CIA... going back to what worked in the first 2 seasons. Furthermore, it's headed by Sloan. It's called APO (for Authorized Personnel Only). Their first mission is to get this isotope from these bad guys. They get it, it's a close call, Vaughn and Sydney realize they love each other. Blah blah blah.

This is taking too long, so very quickly:

• Sydney and Vaughn back together
• Almost no mention of Rambaldi
• Nadia, the secret sister recruited into APO
• The big secret was Jack received authorization for and indeed executed Irina (thus eliminating the need to try to bring Lena Olin back again)
• The bad guy they're following turns out to know Sydney because he had a contract out on her life, but didn't ever follow thru because Irina had the contract and she was executed right before Sydney, so he didn't have motivation to get her as a freebie.
• Marshall is recruited into APO, Weiss is not, so Sydney still has a friend to lie to about her job.
• Nadia vows to kill whomever killed Irina (her and Sydney's momma)

The missing elements: Sark (in custody), The Covenant, Rambaldi.

I'm writing these off to holding off on them for a while and ultimately bringing them back later - these writers have more restraint than anyone except maybe David Foster Wallace. Sloan's motivation is unclear. So there's places to go. Already it's better than last season. If we can hold it up for the season I'll be a happier Alias fan...