Oh, Our Pro...

Aside from being a super-spy, trained in hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship and bomb diffusion, all the while holding a Master’s in Education, Sydney Bristow is the ultra protagonist. For those of you not familiar with the term, a protagonist is the central character of a story, often times the hero or heroine. In Sydney’s line of business, she comes up against main foil characters or antagonists. Antagonists represent or create obstacles for the protagonist, and Sydney has come up against many, many antagonists.

As you know, I’ve spoken of Alias as an onion, and how the core of the Alias onion is conflict. It is the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist that creates this conflict. One of Sydney’s number one antagonists is K-Directorate Agent Ana Espinoza. Born in Russia, raised in Cuba, (the last of the Cold War babies) Ana is trained in wet-work and close range hits. Ana has been Sydney’s enemy since her SD-6 days, constantly keeping Sydney from reaching her goals and completing her missions. They have had some of best action sequences, duking it out over high-demand Rambaldi artifacts, racing to stay one step ahead of each other. We see Ana reappear in season 4 as a loyal Rambaldi follower. She kidnaps Nadia, brands her with the Order of Rambaldi <0> and uses her as bate to force Sydney into completing a hit for her. Despite years of all out physical battles and her best efforts, Ana Espinoza was duped by Sark and finally captured. What role she will play in the future is as predictable as her behavior.

Who is your favorite Alias antagonist? How would you categorize Irina Derevko? Is she an antagonist? Aside from Sydney, who would you view as protagonist?