{"id":6705,"date":"2018-01-08T13:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T21:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6705"},"modified":"2018-01-01T11:44:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T19:44:16","slug":"mark-watches-alias-s01e01-truth-be-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/01\/mark-watches-alias-s01e01-truth-be-told\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Alias’: S01E01 – Truth Be Told"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first episode of the first season of Alias<\/i>, I WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T READY. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to start watching Alias<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh my god, that was so much fun LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ALL YELL ABOUT THIS TOGETHER.<\/p>\n

If this is your first time here at Mark Watches, welcome! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inevitable that whenever I start a new series, some new faces roll in to participate. I do things a little bit differently than you might expect for a review site, so please take note:<\/p>\n

1) Spoilers are not allowed in any form on Mark Watches<\/b>. Please refrain from ever posting (in normal text) any sort of spoiler or reference to future storylines or developments while commenting on this site. This rule is probably a lot more strict than you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to, so if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re warned about spoilers or if your comment is edited because of it, trust me. This is for a reason. Please visit the\u00c2\u00a0Spoiler Policy<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0for guidance.<\/p>\n

2) You may, however, post spoilers in rot13.\u00c2\u00a0<\/b>You will inevitably see what looks like gibberish in the comments. We use\u00c2\u00a0rot13<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to cipher all possible spoilers so that y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0still have a conversation about each episode if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen the entire show. Please cipher all spoilers.<\/p>\n

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4) Mark Watches videos are attached as a link at the end of the post.<\/b>\u00c2\u00a0They are $0.99 each, and you can download each video 15 times, meaning you can send them to friends or anyone else for free. The system is built to handle free downloads, so download away. The lovely folks over at Mark Spoils run a place called the\u00c2\u00a0Black Market<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0where you can find extra downloads of videos in case you cannot afford them or don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to pay for them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s totally sanctioned (and adored!) by me, so go ahead! Test them out. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically me sitting and yelling at my TV, and I cry a lot because reasons.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of episodes left that you can commission!<\/strong> If you would like to support me and get a shout-out in any remaining videos that have not been claimed, you may check the master list and order commissions here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And with all that said: Holy shit<\/i>. I knew Alias<\/i> existed, that it was a J.J. Abrams project, and that Jennifer Garner was the star of it. I have had friends over the years who swore by it, who tried to get me to watch it, and I know it was marginally popular? I think??? I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T CONFIRM THAT. But it was frequently recommended to me by folks who found out I am a fan of LOST<\/i>, who said that I should totally watch this show, too!<\/p>\n

WELL, IT NEVER HAPPENED. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad I avoided spoilers because if Alias<\/i> itself is anything like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truth Be Told,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I am in for a wild ride. This is a plot-heavy and twist-y pilot episode, one that sets up Sydney Bristow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reality and then spends an hour tearing it all apart. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s astounding to me to look at Sydney in those scenes at school and then see where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at during the final scene of the episode. The amount of development and growth we get in just over an hour is UNREAL to me. It happened so fast, and yet, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still compelling. The writers chose to focus almost entirely on Sydney here, only giving us glimpses of the lives of Will, Dixon, and Jack, while hinting at so much more.<\/p>\n

But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good thing. I appreciate that this is so wholly centered on Sydney, whose life is idyllic, if a little strange, before the THING happens. Maybe idyllic isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the right word, but at least one part of it is. She has a fianc\u00c3\u00a9 who adores her, who is willing to compromise and work through the complications of her other<\/i> life, working as an operative for a secretive branch of the CIA. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in grad school. She has a really great friend in… did they say that woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T REMEMBER. And until we actually see her on that rogue \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mission,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually get the sense that Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job is terrible. Dangerous and risky, yes, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no real conflict until<\/i> she tells her fianc\u00c3\u00a9 Danny about who she really is. And initially, I thought that<\/i> was going to be the main conflict here. How would Danny deal with the fact that his soon-to-be wife was basically a spy for the CIA? Would he support her, or would he be unable to handle not knowing exactly where she was or what she was doing? And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to me that this whole conflict plays out in a scene where his admission of support is intercut with images of the torture that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going through….<\/p>\n

IN THE FUTURE. IT WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HAPPENING SIMULTANEOUSLY. Oh my god, the timeline here is all over the place until it perfectly<\/i> falls into order, and then you realize just how fucking tragic it is. Yeah, Danny won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t protest Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job because HE IS DEAD. The scene of her torture is happening after<\/i> she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lost her fianc\u00c3\u00a9 and may have lost her job, too. And I admit there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of me thrilled that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the man<\/i> dying to give a woman character development and motivation, simply because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so rare that we get to see that. But y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all… THIS ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN THE BIG TWIST IN THE EPISODE. Oh, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important, a vital moment that demonstrates to Sydney that the organization she works for is ruthless and rarely forgiving. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a callous twist, and everything we see after it\u00e2\u20ac\u201dparticularly Sloane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction\u00e2\u20ac\u201ddemonstrates to us that these people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really care about Sydney. Well, Marcus seems to more than the others, but… well, let me get back to that. Because once Danny was murdered by SD-6, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand how there was anymore to Alias<\/i>. In that one act, the writers had pulled the rug out from under Sydney, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d also done so for us<\/i>. How could we possibly like this place? Or Sloane? And if Alias<\/i> was going to be about to be about the struggle Sydney faced with her dual life, then how the fuck was she going to continue in SD-6? She left them! She was gone for three months, and even when Marcus comes to bring her back, she still<\/i> refuses. So… how was there a show?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the solution to this that the writers lend Alias<\/i> a longevity that makes me understand how there are five seasons of this show. Prior to THE THING, all we knew of Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father as the detached asshole who gave Danny THE WORST BLESSING OF ALL TIME TO MARRY HIS DAUGHTER. Oh my god, I love that I wondered why<\/i> Sydney hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t called her father to talk about the proposal, and then, in two minutes, the show managed to succinctly convey that reality to me. So, again, another unlikable element, much like Sloane, was a significant part of this story. Yet Bristow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reveal to his daughter that they both<\/i> work at SD-6 and<\/b> that SD-6 isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t CIA at all was just… jesus, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I am still amazed at how one twist<\/i> rewrites this whole fucking show. First of all: We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know what the Alliance is, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re given just<\/i> enough to know that this is bad, leaving the future open for the show to develop who this Alliance is. We also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if any<\/i> of the other agents at SD-6 suspect the truth either. DOES MARCUS KNOW? So there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that<\/i> to develop.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sydney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s estrangement from her father that interests me more than anything else. He cares about her; that much is obvious. But something<\/i> happened to make her not trust him, and whatever that is, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious to know how much of it is wrapped up in Bristow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life as a double agent. I mean… they both lied to one another about their real lives, but only Syndey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father knew<\/i> that she was lying. Did he try to stop SD-6 from recruiting her? Why would he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153let\u00e2\u20ac\u009d her work for an organization he knew to be evil? HOW LONG HAS HE BEEN A DOUBLE AGENT FOR THE CIA??? Did that come later or was that always in place at the start?<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I love about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truth Be Told.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a jarring introduction, but in all the ways that keep me interested. I want to know more about Sydney. Her training. Her relationship with her friends. How she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll deal with living TWO double lives AT THE SAME TIME. (Seriously: one double life at SD-6, and one out in the world.) What about the CIA? Is she going to trust those people, too? HOW MANY MORE TEETH WILL SHE LOSE? WILL SHE DO ANOTHER FUCKING BACKFLIP WHILE HANDCUFFED TO A CHAIR?<\/i><\/p>\n

Jennifer Garner was so fun to watch here, I AM IN, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truth Be Told\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"