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Chicago Sun-Times
September 28, 2001
A spy show you won't believe
by Phil Rosenthal
Series creator J.J. Abrams readily concedes, "'The premise of the show is ludicrous."
And--so long as we have that confession out of the way without having to threaten to pull anyone's teeth--we can set out to enjoy ABC's *** "Alias," as realistic a series as you're bound to see in which a beautiful, smart, athletic and resourceful young woman moonlights for an ultrasecret wing of the Central Intelligence Agency in between her grad school studies.
Abrams, the man responsible for the WB's "Felicity," a show that struggled after an outstanding pilot episode, launches "Alias" at 8 p.m. Sunday on WLS-Channel 7 with a comic sensibility to match its high-kicking stunts. In order to keep you from pausing a moment to catch your breath and perhaps considering how silly some of what you're seeing is, ABC is shrewdly running the 66-minute first episode without commercial break.
A brand of cell phone that figures marginally in the story has picked up the tab for the show.
Jennifer Garner (wife of "Felicity" co-star Scott Foley) plays Sydney Bristow, the grad-school spy who can fend off overseas bad guys and steal their technology one day and take her midterms the next.
The bummer is that Sydney can't tell anyone why she's sporting so much as a bruise on her cheek, which is a shame because wouldn't "I was saving the Western world" make for a far better excuse for a missed school assignment than "The dog ate my homework."
But she really can't tell anyone she's a spy. Not her boyfriend (Edward Atterton). Not her roommate (Merrin Dungey). Not the platonic friend who secretly pines for her with puppy dog eyes (Bradley Cooper). It's against the rules, and spymaster Ron Rifkin, fellow spy Carl Lumbly and the rest of these victory-at-all-costs types may sometimes seem amoral but are nothing if not sticklers for their own rules.
Abrams supposedly listened to the soundtrack of the German film "Run Lola Run" over and over while he worked on the script, and perhaps that explains why Garner is decked out in shock-red hair a la Lola in some of the opener. Besides, it looks really cool and does anything but blend in, which one might think was important for a secret agent if one thought about it for a bit.
But things move at a breakneck pace as you learn just how complicated Sydney's relationship is with her dad (Victor Garber) and as she encounters a fellow agent (Michael Vartan) who's all too happy to meet her.
How all this will play out week after week, when commercials return to the mix and the grind of regular production schedules is likely to exact a toll on the show's glossy look and feel, is anyone's guess.
Certainly, the casting shows promise. Garner, Rifkin and Garber are all strong, Lumbly's a seasoned pro as a character actor and Vartan ("Never Been Kissed") has his assets.
It's easy to see how watching Sydney contort herself in trying to avoid spilling the beans to her pals will wear thin. Ironically, given Abrams' background with "Felicity," it's the non-spy portions of this show that are weakest.
But the first hour's wet work, as they call it, which includes serious gunplay in a public parking garage and a guy getting his thorax crushed by someone shackled to a chair, will have your heart racing.
Unless you think about it too much.
Then, there's nothing to sink your teeth into and it's just ludicrous.
© Chicago Sun-Times Inc.
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