September 28, 2001

Alias

By David Bianculli

Three things you should know about "Alias," the new ABC spy series that begins Sunday at 9 p.m.

One: Its first episode runs without commercials, sponsored entirely by Nokia.

Two: Even without ads, the episode runs about seven minutes past the 10 o'clock hour. Set VCRs accordingly.

Three: "Alias" is bound to be one of the few new hits of the fall TV season, and Jennifer Garner is even more certain to emerge as one of the year's hot new stars.

"Alias" comes from "Felicity" creator J.J. Abrams, who has been honest about his new show's twin inspirations. Part comes from a hypothetical scenario too outrageous for his other series but too good to dismiss ("What if Felicity became a spy for the CIA?"); the rest comes from the hyperkinetic, flame-haired heroine of the hit German film "Run, Lola, Run."

Consequently, when "Alias" opens, the first thing we see is a flame-haired heroine being tortured by bad guys who are after the information she holds. Then "Alias" shifts between past and present, introducing us to Sydney (Garner) as a college student dealing with finals instead of finality.

We meet her boyfriend, who becomes her fiancé, and her estranged father (Victor Garber). Eventually, we meet her spy boss (Ron Rifkin) and bad guys and good guys who sometimes trade allegiances. And before the show is over, we learn how she got her red hair and how she got tied to that chair, facing a pliers-wielding inquisitor whose inspiration seems to have been Laurence Olivier in "Marathon Man."

"I've got nothing to lose," she tells him.

"That's not exactly true," he says, prying her mouth open. "You have teeth."

"Alias" is so captivating because the actors and the writers make you believe in the characters, the situations and the jeopardy. There's a lot of humor, too, in both the romantic relationship and the James Bond-style spy gadgetry. And there are plenty of surprising turns, though ABC's on-air promos already have bled the suspense out of one of the best of them.

One line of dialogue resonates differently in this post-Sept. 11 environment. It's the line where Sydney's fiancé, speaking into an answering machine, tells her "the whole world's a nightmare" and "it's all dangerous, no matter what we do."

That's truer than ever now, and "Alias" seems undeniably escapist. Yet Garner's Sydney is such a cool, tough heroine -- with an accent and demeanor to match every new hair color and outfit -- that it's an escape route everyone should enjoy following.

Thanks to vaughnetc.!

© NY Daily News 2001

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