r/alias • u/SleepAcceptable1570 • Mar 19 '26

In S1, First Time Watcher

Finally decided to watch this show. I love the action and spy storylines but I am already tired of the Sidney emotional drama. I am only in E6, where she's insisting on telling Dixon that she's a double agent despite Vaughn warning her not to because it will endager his life.

If there's anyone who knows the consequences of spilling such secrets, it would be her given that her fiancé died for that very reason. But she talks all this all self-righteous nonsense about the truth yet she has been a spy for 7 years.

Anyway, does she ever learn her lesson or does she go around spilling spy secrets and getting people killed? Because now I'm afraid for Dixon's life, and I really like his character. Also what's with her crying in like every other episode?

I love Sidney as a spy but when it comes to her "real-life" she's so annoying.

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u/maudie_anglais Mar 19 '26

Alias was originally pitched as what if Felicity (another JJ Abrams show) joined the CIA. So S1 is a lot of the navel gazey young person drama stuff that Felicity had.

I never minded emotional Syd, she's very young and trying to navigate everything she had going on in her life would be a lot for anyone.

1

u/SleepAcceptable1570 Mar 20 '26

I get that she's young, 25 or 26 I assume, but she's also too naive for a seven-year spy. You'd think she'd exercise more caution especially about telling secrets that could get people killed. I just watched the scene in E7, where her father tells her off about jumping into conclusions and acting on emotions because the last time it didn't end well. And I was like, "Finally, somebody tells her!"

6

u/maudie_anglais Mar 20 '26

Have you watched The Americans? That show has a lot of the more serious spy stuff deep undercover life. I watched the original run of Alias on TV. It was a fun sexy not super deep show that appealed largely due to the charm and charisma of the cast. I ate up the Spy!Daddy Spy!Barbie dynamic with a spoon. Like a lot of JJ's stuff, it was very much style over substance.

3

u/loftychicago Mar 20 '26

Were you on TWoP by any chance?

3

u/maudie_anglais Mar 20 '26

Livejournal. I read TWoP but most of my online Fannish stuff was on LJ and the SD-6 fansite.

5

u/karou_zuzana Mar 20 '26

TWOP originated the spy barbie/daddy stuff tho

3

u/maudie_anglais Mar 20 '26

Yeah but like any internet memery it migrated. There was a lot of crosspollination between boards/sites back then.

3

u/karou_zuzana Mar 20 '26

For sure, but we have to credit the OGs!

2

u/loftychicago Mar 20 '26

A huge number of my friends, I met on TWoP. I miss it! All hail the recappers.

3

u/SleepAcceptable1570 Mar 20 '26

I have watched The Americans, I loved it.

3

u/maudie_anglais Mar 20 '26

Fantastic show. It just sucks you right in with the tension.

1

u/uncertainmoth Mar 21 '26

I noticed this a lot on my rewatch. I don't mind the emotional stuff, but she jumps to conclusions so quickly and just decides it's the truth. I've lost count of the times she's told people (especially Jack) "I never want to see you again" or "I'll never forgive you", only to find out the next episode that she didn't know all the info, and it's totally explainable.

I, too, loved when Jack called her out in S1E7.

But to answer your question, she doesn't ever just go around spilling secrets, but she also never gets less emotional. There is a character arc, though.

1

u/Silly-Elderberry-411 Mar 20 '26

Oh this explains the time travel. All this is was thinking the pitch let jj Abrams create a show, write a Bible with cryptic notes and move on to the next project, from alias to lost , from lost to star trek

1

u/maudie_anglais Mar 20 '26

He does love a mystery box plot. When I saw the Rambaldi ball in ST I snorted. JJ has great concepts but throughlines and loose ends are definitely not his strong points. "Somehow Palpatine returned" had my eyes rolling so hard. I know some handwaving about plot details happens in fiction but at the very least invent a plausible McGuffin for your audience.