Customer Reviews
An up hill struggle for the final season - By: O. Southwood, 10 Nov 2008 
Having been addicted to the brilliant Alias on DVD since picking up S1 a few months ago, I was both saddened & excited to begin my journey into the final season.
Season 5 is plagued by some major production problems, all of which are obvious from the moment you start watching: (1) Jennifer Garner is pregnant, & thus doesn't get so many fight scenes. The story was very obviously rewritten around her pregnancy, but to their credit the writers didn't try to hide her baby-tummy, instead they made Sydney Bristow pregnant as part of the story. But they also were forced to shoe-hornin two new agents to take up the slack. (2) Some of the actors weren't around to partakein the final series very much, & were very awkwardly written out for large chunks, coming back for occasional episodes. (3) The special fx budget was clearly reduced for this series, & some of the scenery was laughably fake-looking. (4) The biggest problem plaguing this season: The network cancelled the show, forcing a hurried rewrite of its conclusion within half the original number of episodes. There are only 16 episodesin this final series.
Alias largely overcame ALL these problems & rather than giving up & limping over the finish line, Season 5 (eventually) triumphs with a wonderfully dramatic climax which has you gripped to the very last scene.
As a whole, Alias has been possibly the most fun I've ever had with my DVD player. I will miss it!
it tries very hard - By: S. J. Pinder, 22 Jul 2008 
season five unfortunately was the finale season of the show...and after the dissappointing 4th season of the show this season does struggle a lot...but it is a fair shot at getting back to how it was.
but shamefully it isnt as great as it wasin season 2 & 3,but it is pretty decent.
and a lot more improved on when compared to season 4(ugh!).
prophet five-3/5
...1...-2/5
the shed-3/5
mickingbird-2/5
out og the box-3/5
solo-4/5
fait accompli-3/5
Bob-4/5
the horizon-4/5
s.o.s-4/5
maternal instinct-5/5
theres only one sydney bristow-5/5-the 100th episode:)
30 seconds-4/5
i see dead people-4/5
no hrd feelings-4/5
reprisal-5/5
all the timein the world-4/5-a decent final episode but not as astounding as i expected...feels rushed but it is very good.
buy to finish if not...then stick with the 1st three seasons:).
Big red balls - By: Gareth White, 22 Apr 2008 I've watched all 5 seasons back to back on DVD & that says something. Alias is solid entertainment that keeps you watching. That said, the series never lives up to the promise of Seasons One & Two, eventually succumbing to serious repetition (too many fight scenes, people who are meant to be dead not really being dead, people being doubled, people who are not really who they say they are, secret organisations, Sloan: is he really still a bad guy etc etc) & blatantly contrived plot devices to fit around the actors real life circumstances (JG's pregnancy, other players conflicting work schedules).
Most disappointingly, the Rambaldi theme driftsin & out of the episodes incoherently, when it should have been the backbone of the franchise. It's evident that the writers did not have a clear plan where to take the Rambaldi idea - excuses that the series was cut short & they had to rush wrapping it up don't wash since the rot had setin by series 3.
By the end of the (very weak) last episode, all we really know is that it's something to do with red balls materialised out of thin air that have various unexciting functions, like making people turn into mad zombies (oh dear) & giving eternal life (how original). The first time I saw the other worldly floating sphere atop a Rambaldi device all those episodes ago, I thought, interesting, I wonder what THAT does. Sadly, it looks like the writers did too.
I should be clear though, Alias is well worth a watch, it's just a shame it did not achieve its potential.
bye bye sydney - By: Paul Tapner, 09 Apr 2008 fifth & final season of alias, american tv drama about lady spy sydney bristow who works for the cia. This dvd contains the seventeen episodes of the season spread over five discs.
If you haven't seen the show before then go & get season one instead. because the first episode of this season starts right where the cliffhanger ending to season four left off - sydney & her fianceein peril just as he's revealing a few secrets to her - & the first episode of the season then changes the format of the showin the course of a speedy forty minutes. even as someone who'd seen all previous seasons I found it a bit much to take in, so I wouldn't think you could pick the show up from this if you're new to it.
However, after that episode, things do settle down. sydney & her colleagues are up against a mysterious group who are after something that's been lurkingin the background of the show's mythos for a while. A well paced first twelve episodes follow, the villains being gradually investigated. but as a result of the network deciding to run the season short, to seventeen rather than twenty two episodes, the last five episodes rather compress the plot drastically.
This does move things on a great pace, butin the middle of this there's so much going on - including a double bluff & some villainy that will either surprise or annoy you - that some of the characters do get a bit lost, & certain plot elements don't come together.
But you've come this far with alias, so you might as well judge the finale for yourself. I shall make no comment as it's all a matter of opinion.
Character wise agent weiss is rather perfunctorily written outin episode two [as actor greg grunberg went to a role on another show that ended up not lasting. this was a year before heroes] &in come rachel nichols as inxperienced agent rachel gibson & balthazar getty as loner agent thomas grace. the former is very appealing as a character but gets less to do once she gets the hang of her job. & a subplot involving an attraction between the two is all the decent material they getin later episodes.
regular character dixon is underusedin this season, which is a shame.
On the discs:
the first four contain four episodes each, with commentaries from a writer a producer & one of the cast on episode one, two of the cast & two writers on episode eight, & production staff on episodes nine & twelve.
the last disc contain four documentaries about the show, from it's one hundredth episode celebration to the writing of the music for the show. these all run no more than ten minutes but all are good & interesting. theres also the usual blooper reel which has it's moments but see one of these & you've pretty much seen them all. & some of the bloopers are obviously staged.
the discs offer subtitles & language tracksin engligh italian spain swiss finnish norwegian icelandic & danish.
Not a bad end for a great show. & a decent dvd package for it
The end of an era - By: K. Goalby, 01 Oct 2007 
Although this final series of the spectacular Alias was limited to only 17 episodes it didn't fall as foul of that decision by ABC as it could have done. It is obvious that it had plot planned out for 22 episodes & that a quite hasty re-write had to be done but the style & feel of Alias is kept up throughout and, as a complete Alias addict, I feel satisfied after watching all 5 series to conclusion.
As many other reviewers have mentioned the appearances of a number of guest starsin this series were fantastic. The acting was up to its usual standard (making me scream, cry, gasp at the screen) all bar Amy Ackerin my opinion.
If you have watched the rest of the series you really do have to watch this one, to see how it ends, &in my opinion you won't be disappointed.
If you are new to Alias please, if only for sanity's sake, start at the beginning.
