Great show and great actors. The rambaldi plot went too far though.

It's 2021 and I got to download the complete series. What a great show. This is exactly what TV was created for.

❤x7 I've been re-watching this show (in 2023). I kind of remembered the show a bit wrong - but thats OK, cause now it's all straightened out in my mind. Garner was very actiony in this show and I also just read that she did all(?)/most of her stunts herself. Very impressive. I'm just part-way thru the 3rd season and so far my opnion is that the first 2 seaons were much better than season 3. Update: finally finished binging Alias again. I was right the 1st 2 seasons were the best. Then it just kind of went nutz in seasons 3-5. So many changes, loyalty shifts, betrayals and [spoiler] fake deaths [/spoiler] How I rate: 1-3 ❤ = seriously! don't waste your time 4-6 ❤ = you may or may not enjoy this 7-8 ❤ = I expect you will like this too 9-10 ❤ = movies and TV shows I really love!

Alias was somewhat of a pop culture phenomenon back in its day, alongside other shows such as 24. However, I never watched it myself as it was airing, and I also did not personally know anyone who was a fan of it. It also hasn't really had the same lasting impact as some of its contemporary shows have had. After having now watched it, I think I know why - it's entertaining in a brainless action flick/spy thriller sort of way, but outside of that, it's utterly stupid. The plots are slapdash and incoherent, and entire plot threads are often completely abandoned once it's no longer convenient for the show to keep following them. Evil shadowy organizations pop up out of nowhere to provide a reason for the next action scene to exist. Each crisis is the most important thing that has ever happened until they inevitably overcome it and thwart the evil plot, and then they stop caring about it and by the time the next episode begins it might as well have never even happened. Alias is emblematic of the typical JJ Abrams "mystery box"- they came up with a mildly intriguing premise/initial mystery to reel you in, but they had absolutely _no_ larger plans for what the plot would be in the long term. It quickly becomes painfully obvious that, as the show keeps going on, they're just throwing random bullshit at the wall and seeing what sticks, week after week. After a couple of seasons of this pattern, it starts to become very stale. There is entertainment to be had when watching this, but don't expect anything deep, and don't expect to be contemplating it for more than a few seconds after you turn it off.

Binged all 105 episodes of Alias in 2026 — easy to see why it was popular: it’s peak early-2000s spy TV, glossy and fully committed to its own chaos. Not my era exactly, but close enough to feel like a time capsule of when TV was bigger, messier, and more fun. Great for gadget-driven espionage, rotating femme fatales (moral and otherwise), and a mix of episodic and long-form arcs that constantly flirt with going off the rails. You need suspension of disbelief, but if you give it that, it pays you back in momentum and style.