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Alias - The Complete Third Season

Alias - The Complete Third Season

List Price: $69.99
Your Price: $52.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Must-Watch For All Alias Fans.
Review: I have watched the entirety of the first, second, and third seasons, and I, like many, found this season to be disappointing overall compared to the previous seasons. There was a block of episodes in the middle of the season that accomplished nothing (the 3 episodes between the North Korea incident and the episode where Vaughn pretends to be Sark). Additionally, the aura of the show has been a lot darker, especially with the absence of Will. The charm of Sark is lost in midseason as well - some of his lines get a little too cheesy, especially since in the past he's been pretty on-point with having a certain cynical, dry wit.

However, I think there are a lot of things that make this season worth watching and give the fourth season a fighting chance for being one of the better seasons. First of all, the first half of the season is excellent to watch - the attempts by Sydney to discover what happened to her in the past two years are interesting and well tied together in the resolution to this dilemma in the middle of the season. The second half of the season has its moments as well. The North Korea episode, while not a pivotal episode for the main themes of the show, was well done and intense. There is a glimpse of the humor that gave the show some charm in the first two seasons with the return of Will in one episode, as well as the episode where Vaughn pretends to be Sark. The return of Conrad (the monk in Nepal who originally sent Sloane on the Rambaldi mission) resolves what the documents were that he revealed to Sloane. The final episodes where The Passenger is revealed are also pretty well done, and the finale, while not as mindblowing as previous seasons, leaves the show open for the fourth season. Since the show won't be returning until January 2005, the writers have much more time to concoct a more intricate and satisfying plot.

While this is not the best season, it is interesting, worth-watching, and necessary to enjoy the subsequent seasons of Alias.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: By Far The Best Show On Television
Review: I must agree with the majority here... Season 3 was definitely not as good as Season 2, however I do believe it was better than Season 1 as a whole. But who cares? Season 3 was still better than anything else on television!

The one thing I love about Alias is that every season is different and has a completely different story line than any other season. Season 1 was all about Sydney being a double agent, Season 2 was mainly about Sydney's family and Irina, and Season 3 was about the love triangle between Lauren, Michael, and Sydney. I also think that Season 3 was more about Rambaldi than the others but maybe that's just me. Rambaldi is the only constant story line in Alias.

Anyways, I found Season 3 to be excellent. A lot of people who have reviewed Season 3 have complained about the absence of Lena Olin. In my opinion, I believe that Melissa George's character, Lauren Reed, definitely made up for it. Lauren brought a lot of elements to the show. I've never been so mad at a character on a television show. Truthfully, I was actually disappointed that she died in the finale (or did she?... lol). But like I said, a good thing about Alias is its ability to end and create different characters every season.

Alias Season 3 has everything you could ever want... drama, suspense, action, romance, and comedy (Thanks to Marshall). Alias is by far the best show on television. And I believe that Season 3 is NOT a disappointment. I just don't know if I can wait 6 months for season 4!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great Action Series! Something For Everyone!!!
Review: I think one of the reason's why I like this series so much is because it offers a little something for everyone. This action/spy series seems to pull off the unbelievable in a reasonable fashion. This six disk collection contains all 22 episodes with a special features section with blooper reels, deleted scenes, and television teasers. Again something for everyone. I highly recommend this DVD set!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Appointment TV, and a must-have DVD set
Review: I'm one of those "geeks" who have yet to miss a first-run episode of Alias. What can I say? I actually LIKE having my intelligence, for a change, OVERestimated by a TV show.

Season 3 came in on the heels of one of the most jaw-dropping season finales of any TV series in recent memory. Where had Syd (Jennifer Garner) been the past two years? Vaughan (Michael Vartan), married? Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), in JAIL?! (The sight of the perpetually perfectly-shaven Jack Bristow wearing a beard was priceless, by the way!) Talk about starting a season with a bang!

And then things got a little iffy. Lauren Reed (Melissa George) chewed up entirely too much scenery throughout the season. Arvin Sloan's (Ron Rifkin's) character, the quintessence of badguyness the first two campaigns, was flattened. The short-lived Syd-Weiss (Greg Grunberg) romance that went for like an episode or two early on, didn't work out, and Weiss ended up as almost a side character. (And if Greg Grunberg takes a walk next season after that, I don't blame him.) While we're on walkouts, Irina Darevko (Lena Olin) staying offscreen the whole season (after getting an EMMY NOMINATION? Lena, what were you THINKING?) did not help the story.

A couple of pleasant surprises did offset that, however. The under-utilized Dr. Barnett (Patricia Wettig) having a multi-episode run-in with Sloan was a good point. Watching Vaughn totally lose it when he found out what his wife was up to was also good storytelling. Mr. Sark (David Anders) did make a few refreshing appearances, although too many of them involved Lauren. Marshall Flinkman (Kevin Weissman) becoming a father was absolutely priceless.

Overall, though, Season 3 was a bit of a letdown from the stellar Season 2. Something about the whole season just felt less "there." It's still the best show on TV, no question, but I hope Season 4 packs more of a punch.

So when does January get here, again?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Third Season strike out
Review: I'm so disappointed with S3. Sydney has no spine. The best characters are regulated to the deep background. Victor Garbor is amazing. I'd rather see that than Lauren preening around half naked her only skills as a bad guy being that she wears 5 inches of eyeliner on her face.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I have to stick up for my show here
Review: Okay, does anyone remember back to the beginning of the season when sydney blew up the corvette with the flame gun in the hot red dress VROOM!! I love Jennifer Garner.

People say that season 3 did not live up to season 2...well when u have a great dynmic presence like Lena Olin that we got used to reduced to an instant message u are gonna suffer a little , and they are at least being creative keeping her there: her sister, the passenger, the rambaldi box....

Okay, lauren is annoying and a *itch but at least now we have a better reason to hate her aside from the fact that she stole Vaughn. I also love the fact that she is the new Irina, sabotaging her dumb trusting CIA husband...can we say season 1 please....?

I think it is good that sometimes we have to go bad all the way to season 1 to understnad things, and what about "Blowback" where first we see from Sydney and Vaughn and then Lauren and Sark.

At least Sloane is still bad and did not do a total "DR. Evil in Goldmember" thing

I detest some people who have said that some characters are gone Allison (Francie's clone) has been back and will be back before the season is over and Will is funny and handsome as ever in wisconsin. They even brought back McKenas Cole. The only character never fully resolved is Lazerey (At first Syd said he was shot, and then just dead, are wefor sure here) and especially ANNA ESPINOSA. Do you people even watch from week to week? I'll give you that there were lose ends in the beginning and in the middine and still now because of the covenant and the 2 years, and sometimes the writers just kinda fly by the seats of their pants , but that is why we watch.

Merrin Dungey has been filming again and lets not for get the key between sydney in the white jumpsuit and in the black.
Also great guest stars like Isabella Rosillini and Ricky Gervais from "The Office"

Just keep in mind that we went from family triangle to love triangle and dont forget that there is a little flinkman now. Altho I do wish Syd would get with weiss, they are beach neighbors :)

The last 5 episodes are always the best, remember the last ep of season one where syd was almost exposed by dixon and they had to get sloane to say the certain words...just please hold out to see what the future will bring and then see if it really deserves only 1 or 2 stars

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: For completists only...
Review: Really, season 3 of Alias should've been a breeze. They'd gotten over the hiccups of setting up the show, they'd had two whole years of plot arcs and characters at their disposal.... where did it all go wrong?

Season 3 has turned a lot of fans against Alias. The central love triangle of Sydney, Vaughn, and new character Lauren is easily the worst component of the season - it's lazy writing on the part of JJ and crew, to construct a love triangle, which is the easiest way to create tension where none existed before. It's the cheat's way out. On top of that, new characters like Lauren are Robert Lindsay, are thoroughly unlikeable, and the odd new character who *does* inspire good thoughts about the show - Simon, Bomani - are played out with little fanfare.

But no, it doesn't stop there. Character assassinations abound, with Sark at the top of the list. Where once stood a cocky, ice-cool, badass, now stands a prissy, dominated, arrogant little p***ant. Sloane suffers from intolerable storylines, not in the least helped by the return of the dreaded Dr Barnett. The return of characters from season 2 becomes a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo-style performance, while SpyDaddy barely gets an occasion to shine - when he does, though, it's oh-so-worth it.

Underusage of certain series regulars also prevails, with Sloane often sidelined, alongside Dixon, Marshall, and Weiss, who joins the regular cast this season... and doesn't really do anything.

Of course, right at the top of the misdemeanours of season 3 is the continued push on behalf of the writers of the "great love" shared by Sydney and Vaughn, who are, in my opinion, wholly unlikeable. It really isn't their fault - rarely does the central figure (the hero/ine) in a TV show win over the audience. Buffy and Clark Kent are two obvious examples of this. As it is, Sydney manages to alienate the few remaining fans of her character by gurning her way through the episodes. As for Vaughn... well, if it wasn't for the completely shameless "look at them, all shippy and normal!" latter half of season 2, which seemed to consist of nothing but Sydney/Vaughn scenes strung together in a coherent format, which apparently constituted a "plot". This made me, and quite a few others, detest the presence of this character. The sterm-und-drang of the Syd/Vaughn ship fails to captivate anymore, it's tired.

JJ professes this season to be one of "deconstruction" for the main characters. So far, this seems to include running the show into the ground.

Really, if you're only a sometime viewer of Alias, don't bother with this set. The special features aren't enough to warrant getting the entire set. Only invested fans of Alias should get this set.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another good season
Review: The season starts off where it left off with Sydney waking up in Asia and finds out from Vaughn that she was missing for 2 years. On top of that she notices a wedding ring on him. She was assumed dead so he eventually moved on and married Lauren Reed who also works for the CIA.

He still loves Sydney but he also loves his wife and doesn't want to hurt her. Anyway a lot goes down in this season. Sydney trys to find out where she was for 2 years. She also finds out that she has a sister . Sloane had an affair with her mom and her sister is Sloane's daughter. On top of things Lauren is really bad and is a spy for the covident. Jack realizes it first and tells Vaugn. Vaughn finds the idea crazy and doesn't believe it until he finds things of hers to convince him otherwise. Vaughn becomes obsessed with getting revenge on his wife especially after he's captured and tortured by her and Sark.

Anyway this season is full of action and surprises and it's always un-predictible just like the other seasons. The ending of this season might be the most shocking yet. Sydney finds something about her father that obviously hurts her emotionally. I'm not exactly sure what she found though but Jack shows up there as she's reading the documents and says "I was hoping you'd never find that". Then it just ends making us wanting to know what happens next.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not quite as good, but still a decent season
Review: The third season of Alias picks up right where the second left off with Sydney waking up in Asia two years after the events in season 2, with no memory of how or why she got there. When Sydney makes it safely into CIA custody, she learns that fellow CIA agent and boyfriend Michael Vaughn( Michael Vartan)thought Sydney was dead,and moved on to marry another woman named Lauren Reed(Melissa George), her father Jack Bristow( Victor Garber) is in prison, Dixon( Carl Lumbly) is now the director of the CIA office she worked for, and her greatest enemy Sloan ( Ron Rifkin)is now a changed man who is running one of the most respected charity organizations in the world. Sydney manages to get Jack released, only to discover through videotape evidence from Jack that Sydney murdered a man in cold blood during the mysterious two years of her life that she went missing. This would begin the chain reaction of events for the rest of season 3 which include Sydney finding out who took the two years from her life and what happened during that time, as well as fighting her feelings for Vaughn.

I have been a huge fan of Alias for the last three years, and I have never missed a single episode. The first season of Alias provided for an original, sexy, and fresh spy thriller that was packed full of great action and dialogue. The second season of Alias managed to somehow be even better, and had an outstanding cliffhanger that left fans of the show feeling anxious to find out what happens. Season 3 did have a lot of momentum going in. But with Vaughn being married to the unlikeable Lauren Reed, and Sloan offering no suspense as a changed man, season 3 could not seem to find the same rythm as the previous two seasons. However, after the initial speedbump in the beginning of the season, season 3 still manages to offer plenty of twists, action, suspense, great cliffhangers, and the sexy Jennifer Garner. Overall, fans of the show will still be satisfied for the most part. The only problem, is that the first two seasons set the bar so high, that season 3 could just not go any higher.

The DVD package itself still manages to live up to its predecessors however. The extras are first rate with commentary from cast and crew, deleted scenes, and two featurettes. However, the blooper reel is what I am looking forward to the most. The blooper reels in the last two sets have been hilarious, and I have no doubt that the one for season 3 will be just as good. With great DVD features and a good overall season, the season 3 DVD set is definately worth owning.

A solid 4 stars...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A bad day fishing
Review: There's an expression tht a bad day fishing is still better than the best day at the office. That's Season 3 in a nutshell. While it doesn't nearly live up to the glory of Seasons 1 and 2 (wherefore art thou, Lena ???), its still pretty darn good. How could it not be ?

Sydney has new and exciting personal challenges - such as Vaughn's wife, not to mention missions. As a mystery woman, Lauren is hardly a replacement for Syd's missing mom. But on that front we do meet Syd's aunt and sister during S3. Sloan is as creepy as ever. Marshall is as zany as ever. Jack is full of surprises and its great to see more of Weiss this season.

For the Alias faithful, there's plenty of plot twists and disguises - including one with Syd taking her turn as Marshall. Extras are fairly standard faire, including comentaries, gag reel, and deleted scenes. There is also a brief "animated Alias" which is unique, in its own way. If you've been drawn in by this JJ Abrams creation, don't hesitate to pick up Season 3.


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