Memles said:
At the same time, I have much less positive things to say about the way they pretty well threw away Season Two/Three entirely to revert back to Season One ideals. Now, I am not of the mind that it is impossible to do so well.
I don't think they wanted to throw S2 away at all, but that one's Lena Olin's fault. Outside of the Alliance's destruction by Sloane, she basically is the S2 difference to S1, so in that way this new storyline is as much S2 as it is S1 (seeing as she was never going to come back), it's just that we're at the start of all that right now.
I do, on the other hand, have an issue with the pretty well destruction of all Season Three storylines, and hope to see the Covenant pop up again in the near future. Very simply, love it or hate it, Season 3 happened. And, in that finale, Lauren was shot, Sark was in custody, so the North American wing of the Covenant was dead. And, we learned that they killed all the other leaders a few episodes previous. But this still left the leader of the Covenant. There are theories that that particular person could in fact already be dead, in light of recent events, but the thing didn't die. It needs to return, and attempt to answer some questions.
I think they should mention the Covenant at the very least. It does make sense that they're not involved with them though. Last season they were basically part of a unit which had a focus on Rambaldi and the Covenant. Now they're not part of this unit, and it's for others to deal with. They might cross paths with the Covenant occasionaly, but they're not a focus anymore.
Then there's the thing you've touched on, that the Covenant may well be crippled and perhaps doesn't even exist anymore. As all the cell leaders were killed, that's already some shakey foundations. Then having a replacement cell leader killed and another in CIA custody...well, that's hardly helped their situation. Especially when the captured leader is Sark, who as we know, isn't the most tight lipped guy when he's been caught. His information could be helping the CIA further destroy covenant operations. And finally, if Irena Derevko really was the Covenant's head, and personally I feel it pretty likely, her death could have been the final blow.
So when you combine both a crippled or dead Coveneant with APO not specifically going after them, it's not such a reach for them not to have been mentioned. Like I say, they should be though, they shouldn't just ignore the whole thing. Hopefully Sark will be reintroduced and we can get some information then.
Where I disagree strongly with you, Cloud, is in terms of standalone episodes. You and I have very different definitions of the term. I view a standaone episode of a show as one where, when the next episode rolls around, you would not have had to have seen the last one to jump right in. CSI, for instance, is a procedural cop show that I can miss an episode and it really won't matter. As long as there are serious plot issues regarding the people involved, they are not standalone episodes.
I agree completely. Obviously we have the old long running threads like Sydney's hatred of Sloane, but already we have some storylines carrying on. Nadia's hunt for her mother's killer and Jack's attempts to make sure she never finds out. Sydney's part in all that too. Nadia and Weiss's potential romance. Weiss not knowing about the situaion only to be brought into the fold. All new things which carried on from one episode to the next, only one of which is probably finished with now.
But, I see your point entirely, and agree. What is missing is some sort of plot point that relates all episodes to one another. That was Rambaldi's purpose, and that is what very simply is missing in this situation. MS, you're right, it could come backk into play. But, without that, each episode is a different situation. Season One saw each episode focus on a different mission, a different bad guy, but at the same time there was a common theme of Rambaldi linking these missions together. That common string is MISSING in this case, meaning that the threats are almost picked at random. I am hoping that some sort of longterm threat is established, at least at midseason, if only to give them more motivation outside of saving the world.
I have absolutely no doubt something like that will come up, even if it turns out they have dropped the Rambaldi story for some strange reason. Overarching storylines have always been there in Alias, there's no reason to think it's going to stop now. For all I know, the main storyline for this season can't start yet, until something else happens. Maybe Nadia has to find out Jack was responsible for her mother's death before Sloane's storyline kicks in, for example.
Incidentally, Rambaldi wasn't even mentioned until episode 4 of S1. And then wasn't mentioned again until episode 7. It can take time to get storylines going.
Irina wanting to kill Sydney makes perfect sense, considering Katya almost killed Sydney in the Season 3 finale, and since her entry into the show was due to Jack speaking with Irina.
Damn, that's the most obvious reasoning of all, can't bleive I didn't bring it up.
They have not explained Marshall being shot
Got to say, I don't really see what needs explaining here. He got shot (we don't know how bad it was, maybe he got lucky), he was pretty immediately operated on, time passed, her recovered.
and TOO much of Season Three has been ignored. While I was not a big fan, I still enjoyed it well enough to not want to see it erased from history. It happened, and Abrams needs to realize this. It's one thing to rebuild, it's another to attempt to neglect part of the foundation, however annoying parts of it were.
The only thing I really, truly want them to ignore is the Mission Impossible mask thing. Which it looks like they have done, thank god. Luckily, a lot of the things which seem to be being ignored from S3 can be solved with a few comments here and there. If fans are, for example, unhappy that the Covenant has just stopped being mentioned (assuming that carries on), the writers will notice it (believe me, they know what the fans are complaining about) and don't have to change huge chunks of story to get these things in. The only problem with that is that a hell of a lot of the season will have been filmed already, so it would be a while before things like that could happen.
For now? All three hours thus far have been entertaining television with likeable characters, neat action, and has not been disappointing in terms of television. As it progresses, it can get better or worse. Let's not judge yet.
Indeed.