reviewed by: Charity Bishop
      

Withdrawing from the format of previous years and concentrating more on individual plots than cliffhangers, Alias' fourth season is one of the strongest the show has to offer. It's full of the twists and turns that producer and writer J.J. Abrams loves to throw our way, but is also concentrates on more streamlined plots and focuses less on Rambaldi. It may be my favorite season.

When an extraction goes wrong abroad and results in the death of a fellow agent, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is forced to hand in her resignation to the CIA. Or so most of her fellow agents believe. In reality, she has been hand chosen from the best the agency has to offer to become part of a black ops group known as APO. With more liberty than government-sanctioned branches of the agency, APO has a much wider scope ... from halting terrorists in their tracks to rescuing operatives from the field. Excited to be part of this great opportunity, Sydney is devastated to learn that the entire operation is under the command of Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin). Formerly the head of one of the largest underground terrorist groups in the world, Sloane has bought his way back into the CIA's favor by turning over a priceless artifact.

Sloane's second in command is Sydney's estranged father Jack (Victor Garber), whom she blames for the recent murder of her mother. While attempting to repair that broken relationship and find out the truth behind the assassination, Sydney is kidnapped by a dangerous foreign agent, forcing Sloane to recruit his daughter and her half sister, Nadia (Ma Maestro) to assist in her rescue. The sisters form a close bond as other familiar faces are recruited into their organization, from Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan), and Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly), to the lovable, brainy Marshall Flinkman (Kevin Weisman). Sydney must put aside personal feelings and work with Sloane to "save the world."

Then comes the complications, everything from British spies in custody to old rivalries, accumulating in a search through the dark past as Vaughn attempts to discern what really happened to his father, Sloane tries to turn over a new leaf, and Sydney learns the true meaning of family. I must admit that the first couple of episodes seem a little disjointed, as they attempt to introduce us to the entirely new format of the series, but after that the speed picks up and the audience enjoys watching the twists and turns unfold. There are plenty of undercover operations, dangerous situations, hand-to-hand fights, clever remarks, and different disguises to keep us enraptured. But more intriguing are the different relationships between characters. Nadia's budding romance with Eric Weiss (Greg Grunberg), and Sydney's never-ending struggle over whether or not to trust her father.

Content issues are also surprisingly limited this season. It is implied that Sydney and Vaughn have an active sexual relationship; in the first episode, they are seen making out in bed, and later in the series while undercover as husband and wife, they take a shower together. On one other occasion, he's seen sleeping in her room. Sydney often dons provocative outfits to provide distractions. The first five minutes of season four have her in a white teddy, flirting with a suspect before she knocks him unconscious. On two other occasions she lures men into traps by intimating she's interested in sleeping with them. There's some mild sexual dialogue. Language is almost nonexistent this year, and most of the violence consists of the norm.

Lots of people are shot at and/or killed, with gruesome results. People are punched, kicked, thrown through walls and into furniture, beat with furniture and other household appliances, or anything within reach. There are massive explosions and shootouts. Nadia has a flashback to the orphanage in which she attempted to save one of her friends from being kidnapped; the memory has her as a child beating mercilessly beaten about the head; then as a teenager, being similarly abused by a corrupt policeman. There are occasional moments of gore, such as a stomach-turning scene in which a man is destroyed by nuclear radiation, and the skin literally melts off his body. Sloane goes temporarily insane and beats a man to death with a pipe. Information is also extracted from informants through beatings and bullets. On a couple of occasions, the hero must kill someone in order to maintain their cover (and experiences a certain amount of guilt).

For most adults, season four is a tension-filled glimpse into the underworld of intelligence. I hope and pray that our agents aren't forced to do these kinds of things, but at the same time am grateful at times that they do, in order to keep us safe. The characters of Alias are far from perfect and often suffer the devastating consequences of their actions, but are human enough that we grow to understand and like them, no matter what they do. The only real danger here is accepting that the end justifies the means, and it is sometimes appropriate to make bad decisions and do evil things in order to save the day. It's never right to commit murder, and it's hard to approve of someone being beaten for information, no matter who they are.