"Alias"
The Orphan (2005)

Director:

Ken Olin

Writers:

J.J. Abrams (creator)
Jeffrey Bell (written by) ...

TV Series:

"Alias" (2001)

Original Air Date:

23 March 2005 (Season 4, Episode 12)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Nadia puts her own life (as well Sydney's and Weiss's) in danger after failing to unveil her past about her involvement with a dangerous criminal...

Plot Keywords:

Memories | Past | Scientist | CIA | Power

Cast

Jennifer Garner	...	Sydney Bristow
Ron Rifkin	...	Arvin Sloane
Michael Vartan	...	Michael Vaughn
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Dixon
Kevin Weisman	...	Marshall Flinkman
Mía Maestro	...	Nadia Santos
Greg Grunberg	...	Eric Weiss
Victor Garber	...	Jack Bristow
Sonia Braga	...	Sophia Vargas
Kevin Alejandro	...	Cesar Marquez
José Zúñiga	...	Roberto Fox
Adrian R'Mante	...	Diego
Alejandro Furth	...	Owner
Ivan Saric	...	Architect
Gisselle Castellanos	...	Young Nadia

Runtime:

Germany:42 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Russian

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-14

Company:

Bad Robot

Quotes:

Sydney: My father used to encrypt my crossword puzzles when I was a kid.

(Mission Impossible) meets (Lost) !

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Yes.. this is an episode which had been made to tell us the real history of (Nadia) , yes.. that was the golden formula of that very time and after , and finally yes .. that was not by any chance the very good days of (Alias) !.

that formula of good action thriller with the emotional yet deep looking to the human self through reviewing one's past by one's own self (by flash backs or else) still one hell of a successful ruler formula in the American TV during the 2000s .. you can see it somehow in (Alias) and of course at its next (Lost) for the same creator , and now in (The Unit) but by carrying out the social life of the heroes in parallel line to the main line of action .. , so in (Alias) it was all about good thriller time (like modern action copy of the cult Mission Impossible) with some emotional time by the melodramatic relationships (as any soap opera you've watched ..only better) but here in that episode in particular it was more close to the strong sense of (Lost) as we watch the past of one person (Nadia) and learn about her most psychological problems in too many parallel flashbacks to the main line .. However to tell you the truth .. the whole thing was not as good as any of the previous shows !

For instance .. the flashbacks were good written , edited , performed and directed BUT they put The entire history of Nadia in one package and along with one of the impossible missions of Alias too ! .. that already made some distraction especially with the long numerous flashbacks plus some complexity of its story and speaking about that I mustn't forget also how idiot it was when we discover that (Nadia) has been recruited by the Argentinean intelligence (like her half sister Sydney) , she was one of the most talented agents as for example in bomb's deactivation (just like her sister Sydney !) , one of her colleagues had been killed to uncover an ugly truth (like the murder of Sydney's fiancé !) , and the big massive surprise in Nadia's life so in this episode's script that Nadia was working for the other side .. for the very enemy that she fights (exactly like .. you know who !!) and that last one really made all of us as viewers saying in the same time : "HA HA HAAAA !".

I've seen a lot of weird stories of similar sisters but not like this one ! simply because (Alias) at that bad time was the right place to see such crap along with any Indian movie !. Well .. as I said before .. it's some new good formula for sure but as you see clearly .. not in that one !

Eventually.. when (Nadia) kills her impostor boss at the end we've learned that she is less rationality than her sister whom didn't kill or take revenge on her fetal same enemy (Sloane) till now .. she strived for not killing the monster only but killing its arms before !! However dear friends she cut all the arms though now she is working with the monster himself and to hell with the old revenge because the real ugly ones wanted this to be on air whatever happen .. and I mean the ones whom more dangerous than (Sloane) as makers for good shows then the destroyers of them : THE PRODUCERS !