Last night saw the series finale of ‘Alias’ and season finale of ’24’. First, on ‘Alias’, the finale was a mix of all that’s been good and bad about that series. When it started it was an excellent “fish out of water” style of spy series that had some great acting that made up for some of the less believable instances. However, the further into the series we got the more I wished I’d never heard the name “Rambaldi”. It’s a lesson to all future aspiring TV writers that people need to be able to freely come in and out of a TV series. Even ‘Lost’, at least, offers up constant recaps, and exists entirely as a “soap-operatic” style of show. ‘Alias’ was never sold to us in that way, and it made enjoying the final two-three seasons a bit difficult.
’24’ is a different story, with isolated season storylines that will sometimes cross over mildly (as the finale did). But I found myself at the end of last night making ’24’ an easy cross-off on my list of shows I plan to watch in the future. Sadly, their efforts to shock and awe us through constant deaths this season seemed to harden me to even enjoying the program at all, and I just found myself wanting it to end. Things may change in seven months, but for now, I can’t say I’m anxiously awaiting its return.