October 21, 2002

Roush Room

By Matt Roush

Question: As an avid fan of the now defunct La Femme Nikita, I am highly annoyed at all the praise and attention heaped on Alias, which seems to be a direct ripoff (girl unexpectedly and unwillingly recruited for questionable government agency plus lots of sexual tension). My question is, do you think Alias is that much better, acting and storyline-wise, than La Femme Nikita? Or is it that with ABC/Disney's budget the show just seems better? Jennifer Garner seems able enough in the role, but it would take a lot of convincing to prove to me that there is or could be any more sexual tension than that between Peta Wilson and Roy Dupuis. — Andee
Matt: No question that Touchstone (the production arm of ABC/Disney) gives Alias lots more money to work with than poor Nikita ever got at USA Network. But at the risk of annoying those avid Nikita fans, I do think Alias is an improvement on most levels: writing, acting, directing. The production values really do make you think you're globe-trotting with Sydney. But more to the point, Alias works with a fuller palette of emotional colors, including humor. And the family situation involving Sydney, her father and especially her lethal mother this season gives Alias a subtext that's as poignant as it is suspenseful. I understand why people enjoyed Nikita, but I sometimes found its chic nihilism and paranoia a bit suffocating. Besides, if Nikita hadn't ended, its producers might not have gone on to create 24, the best spy thriller on TV.

Question: I've heard that Alias and 24 are going to be "toned down" (read dumbed down) this season at the request of their respective networks. The new Alias opening voice-over seems to be a move in this direction. If true, what effect do you think this will have on the shows' relative qualities? And I hope it isn't true that on 24, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has left CTU. The CTU backdrop and underlying "advanced" technology was actually quite accurate (within the confines of not revealing the actual capabilities we have) and served as a major subject on the message boards. Without that the show could easily become another "dumbed down" also-ran. Can you supply any more general details about the season? — K
Matt: I'm sure both shows are doing whatever possible to be more inviting to a larger audience, but from what I've seen so far (opening credits notwithstanding — and I kind of like this year's Alias opener), both shows are as smart and as addictive as ever. I've seen the first two hours of 24 so far, and while Jack did quit the CTU in the wake of his wife's death, the season's new crisis compels him to return, however reluctantly. You'll see new and familiar faces at the CTU. It's a major focus of the action this year.

Question: I thought that on last season's Alias, Vaughn (Michael Vartan) died in a flood. So how was he alive in the next episode? — Shadia
Matt: C'mon, you didn't think they'd kill a looker like Vaughn so soon. In the season premiere, it was established that he was able to hold his breath long enough to fight his way out of the tidal surge. But his exposure to the water from the Rimbaldi device may return to haunt him. Just guessing. (But why else was Khasinau about to drill into him when Syd rescued him from the slab in the lab?)

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