I got the fifth and final season of Alias on DVD, and watched the special features.
I missed most of the season because I just got behind and didn't watch the episodes. The story writing got a little weird in the fourth season, and I think with J.J. Abrams working almost entirely on Lost, I think the overall direction of the story was not as strong as it could have been. But they do apparently tie everything together and bring back a lot of characters. With all of the quasi-archeology surrounding the Rambaldi character, there are a lot of loose ends. I look forward to watching.
The fifth season introduced two new characters that I started to grow fond of, and I thought maybe they were setting up new leads in case Jennifer Garner decided to bail as she started doing more movies. I think they might have been to carry the show, but the story got so complex and weird and I suspect they lost a lot of people. Not only that, but I think the only reason a fantastic spy show did as well as it did, for as long as it did, was Jennifer Garner. She's hard to take your eyes off of because her screen presence is so amazing. For someone who is so goofy in interviews and outtakes, she conveyed sadness and despair the way few actresses can. She's doing three movies so far for 2007, a comedy, a drama and an action movie.
One of the things I always liked about the show was that each one was like a movie in terms of its production value and scale. The only other show that could compare was 24. The twists from one episode and season to the next were insane. Honestly, watching the show reminds me how disappointing TV is these days.