Tuesday, January 7, 2020

WHY is Alias not available to stream anywhere? WHY??? I own the entire series on DVD, but the first two discs of Season 2 both mysteriously refused to work last night after years of smooth operation. Consequently, we had to purchase those episodes again. Either the library needs to get more copies of the DVDs (they were all checked out, as if a bunch of people suddenly thought, "Oh, it's early January? Time to binge-watch Alias"), or Disney+ needs to integrate more material from the many companies it now owns. Alias is an ABC show, after all, and what about the X-Men movies? They were made by 21st Century Fox, which Disney also now owns.

Alias is an espionage thriller with a sci-fi edge that, despite receiving less attention than J.J. Abrams' later project Lost, is frankly awesome. Less than halfway through the first season, I realized I was totally hooked, and haven't looked back since. So many reasons that everyone can find something to like here: quite likely Jennifer Garner's best acting work, a kick-butt female spy as the lead character, Michael Giacchino's first major score (for you music nerds), Quentin Tarantino as a guest star (which I thought went over well even though I have never seen any of his movies), edge-of-your-seat cliffhangers at the end of literally almost every episode, plot twists, emotional drama, even the occasional moment of comedic brilliance. Oh, yeah, and if you're into spectacle, there are lots of explosions and fistfights, and Jennifer Garner does many of her own stunts. And even though it acts as the ideal escapist TV show in the action-adventure genre, many of its darker elements can't help but seem all too real. So, yeah, you should check it out - if you can find it anywhere. Hey, maybe SD-6 encrypted my DVDs...

CRITICAL UPDATE!!!!!!!! - Alias is now on Amazon Prime! I'm not a fan of lining Bezos' pockets, but this show is worth it. Stop reading my fanatical rants about it and watch the freaking thing, please!