Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Shaking my fist at the writers again!!

Okay, here I am, in bed, watching the gloriousness that is season 2 and I am reading everyone's comments about inconsistencies in the story now that we have hindsight (ohhh, I am not the part where Syd first comes into the CIA rotunda. I heart the rotunda) and it hit me!!!

It is mentioned that Sydney, at one time, lived with Arvin and Emily after Irina died. Sydney, years later, starts working for Sloane, has he recruits her under Jack's nose. Sloane invites her over for dinner and she meets Emily. Are you telling me, Sydney Anne Bristow, master CIA agent who has been trained since childhood, doesn't recognize Arvin or Emily? (Sorry, sad moment, Syd just saw her mom in CIA custardy, hahaha). And Emily? Are you telling Emily doesn't know that the woman at her dinner table is the same little girl that stayed with her and Arvin? Are you telling me Emily doesn't have questions about why Sydney doesn't remember them?

I am soooo confused by this! Why put it in there if its inconsistent? Isn't there a master time line? A Bible of all things Alias, that the writers can reference? The history, the background, the who, what, where, when and why of Alias!!!?? Come on JJ- you are a writer man!! You know that inconsistency is the death of a TV show!

Now, go on read my post below... that was my rant. Hahaha!

13 comments:

Page48 said...

"Sydney and I were never in Cartagena."

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!

It's clear that the actors have no emotional investment in the story itself (in terms of getting it right), although they do a stellar job of delivering what is put in front of them.

Sometimes I wonder, had the writers accidentally written an episode with "Jake" Bristow instead of "Jack" Bristow, would any of the cast and crew have spoken up about the importance of getting the facts right or would they just run with it.

Girlscout said...

HAHAHAHA!! Oh Page, I missed you!

Bonkers for Bristow said...

I just rewatched Free Agent, Double Agent and Firestorm last weekend. I was confused by the character played by Christian Slater. We saw Syd saving his wife and child from Sloan's custody but we never saw what happened to Christian. Did I miss something? Is it coming in a later episode? Are we supposed to assume that he was killed?

I think it was in Firestorm when Syd was captured because of old intell and Dixon was the only one who knew how to get in and save her. This was right after he learned the truth in Phase One and wanted nothing to do with the CIA. How amazing was the moment when Syd's captor was about to break her knee cap and Dixon and Vaughn stormed in and saved the day. I think she more happy to see him than she was to see Vaughn. The look was heart-breaking.

Back to Girlscout's rant. I don't remember the scene when Syd was introduced to Emily. I remember it as Syd always knowing Emily and having to pick up the phone to talk with her when she was so sick on someone's coaxing. Wasn't she trying to finagle a dinner invite to get something from the house? I remember she felt bad exploiting her relationship with Emily as she was an innocent married to a monster. Maybe I'm combining scenes and seasons.

You will notice that I have finally created an account. I figure if GS is bringing the blog back, I'm going to jump back in with two feet. Don't let me down, guys!

Now if I can only figure out how to add a picture...

Girlscout said...

Bonkers- Christian Slater's character continues to be held captive. Then, you remember the episode where Syd gives Vaughn a drawer at her apartment? In that episode Sydney goes rogue (dressing as a sorority girl) to find Slater and Sloane, Irina and Sark. Slater is reunited with his family.

And thanks for setting up an account and reminding me about all the great eppies I still have to watch again!

SRM said...

yeah I hear ya GS, I don't know why they threw in that tidbit of Syd living w/ Sloane after Laura "died" in the last two episodes of the show, that totally screwed up everything they had said in the past 4 seasons. I remember there's an episode (don't remember which season) where Syd is remembering her recruitment into SD-6. She's introduced to Sloane and he says "so this is Sydney Bristow" or something like that and she answers him "yes sir", definitely not the greeting you'd expect if she had lived w/ him as a little girl. Also at Emily's funeral, Syd tells the story of meeting Emily for the first time after she started working for SD-6 and Sloane invited her to dinner. Again, makes no sense if she had lived w/ him. I realize the writers prob don't watch the old seasons over and over like us, but still, you'd think they would have some clue of what had happened in the past to not screw it up right at the end, sheesh.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reliving the Alias glory days. I'll start watching it again, but I always have to start at the beginning just cuz I'm anal. :)

Glad you created an account bonkers!

Anonymous said...

Someone should have been in charge of the overall story. Clearly Alias never had such a person. The fans learned early on to pay attention to everything and the writers knew that.

We look back on it and now see the lack of vision that an arc TV show should have. The same group of writers through the entire run would have tighten up those inconsistencies. But it was fun, entertaining and we were all caught up in the moment of it.

uncle111 said...

In the boxed DVD set there were comments by the writers and others that indicated they did a lot of things for the "Wow" factor. That tells me they were not at all looking down the road or trying to keep things consistant. It was, what will get a reaction this week, or what is easiest today.

It was a job. It was money. It is a business.

I'm still checking to see if there are appropriate ways of releasing the contents of my screenplay, Alias - Revelation. It is now registered with the Writer's Guild, off to the Copyright Office, and submitted to the Scriptapalooza contest. I DID take care that in fixing the story and bringing in new elements I didn't create any timeline problems. Unfortunately there isn't time in a screenplay to address all the issues we have and unravel all the mysteries. That will take more movies, or another series:)

Girlscout said...

YESSSS!! Uncle I am sooo excited!! I want to read it sooo bad!! hurry up!

Anonymous said...

This was a major inconsistency that I hated in the series finale. I literally yelled at my tv "Don't ya'll ever watch your own show??"

Anyway- I have a question that has nothing to do with this topic but I figured all you Alias buffs could answer it. Is there an episode that features the song "Have a little faith in me"? I heard this song on a commercial and it immediately brought Alias and Francie to my mind--Am I crazy or are they related?

Anonymous said...

Anon:

Have A Little Faith in Me (by John Hiatt) was the song Charlie sang to Francie in the Reckoning ep.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much!!

bristow_24 said...

Sydney did not remember her time with Emily & Sloane... she had just been subjected to Project Christmas, and like she said, she remembered very little of the time surrounding her mothers death.

Sloane could not tell her before, because that would involve telling her about project christmas (which she did not remeber) as well as the truth about Irina (which she did not know at the time).

That would, though, explain her & Emily's relationship. They felt like mother and daughter, because for a while, Emily raised her... despite Sydney not remembering. The only glitch would be Emily never telling Sydney, which was most likely an order from Sloane (although we are not sure what reasoning he would have given, as she did not yet know about his SD-6 life).

SRM said...

bristow, that is a good theory and holds true up until the end of the 2nd to last episode of the series. When Syd discovers Sloane up in the mountains, he says to her something like "do you remember coming to live with Emily and I after your mother died?" and she replies "I try not to think about it," indicating that she does. If they had left out that tiny bit of dialogue then it would have been fine, but that really mucked it up.