Шпионка Truth Be Told (2001–2006) Online

Apparently, the plot of Alias began as a joke: while working on another show, Felicity, writer J.J. Abrams thought that it would be a fun idea to do a show about a young woman who goes to college by day and works as a spy by night (or something like that, anyway). After some polishing, that concept morphed into Alias, arguably the finest spy show to have ever aired on television (well, at least during its first two seasons), not to mention what made Abrams American TV's new god, leading to Lost and Mission: Impossible III (yes, the last one is a movie, but based on a TV show, so it counts). And this episode is where it all began.

The funny thing is, in retrospect, it's easy to notice how Mission: Impossible III's plot structure blatantly apes Alias' first hour (then again, Tom Cruise insisted on Abrams as director for the spy movie after seeing this episode): as a woman is about to be brutally tortured by an unidentified Chinese villain (the name given in the credits is the highly original Suit and Glasses), a lengthy flashback reveals how she ended up there.

The woman is Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner), a typical American twenty-something: college student, not getting along with her old man Jack (Victor Garber), earning a little extra by working for a bank, Credit Dauphine. Actually, that last part is all a lie, as Syd reveals to her boyfriend after he asks her to marry him: for the past seven years, she's been working for SD-6, a secret branch of the CIA run by the charismatic Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin). The only real rule surrounding SD-6 is that no one outside the agency can know it exists, which is why even Sydney's roommate Francie (Merrin Dungey) and best friend Will (Bradley Cooper) have no idea of what really happens when she goes abroad with her colleague Dixon (Carl Lumbly). And Sydney pays the biggest price possible for breaking that one rule when Danny (that would be the boyfriend) is found dead, his murder leading her to find out that SD-6 isn't really what she thought it was, and neither is her dad.

Abrams, who directs as well as writing the episode, thinks big right off the bat, with the ambitious storytelling, cunning camera-work and excellent location choice. If one weren't aware of the fact this is a TV show, it could easily be mistaken for a shorter-than-usual big-screen thriller, much in the same way as 2001's other groundbreaking series, 24. The comparison isn't accidental, as Abrams uses the 40 minutes of programming at his disposal to concoct a story that might as well end here, but is much more satisfying when seen as the beginning of something more complex and exciting (kind of like the pilot of The X-Files).

Furthermore, as befits most of America's small-screen output, the cast is amazing: Garner is of course the show's queen, oozing charm and soul from the first moment we see her (and she deservedly won a Golden Globe for the first season), while Lumbly, Dungey and Cooper (plus the hilarious Kevin Weisman) offer terrific support. And then we have the shadowy father figures, Rifkin and Garber - whenever they're around, the show gains a little extra something.

Long story short: the first episode of Alias is, by all standards, a piece of television history. There's absolutely no excuse for missing it.

"Truth Be Told" is marvellously glossy, stylish and sexy escapist fun from writer / director J.J. Abrams.

Jennifer Garner is splendid as the lead, Sydney Bristow - college girl by day, super-spy by night. Garner is a convincing action figure and the scenes later in the show where she's bloodied and seeking payback are memorable. Sydney in a brightly coloured wig, beating baddies to a pulp, is definitely a sight to behold!

The rest of the cast are equally impressive, notably her fellow agent, Marcus Dixon (played by Carl Lumbly) and bad guy Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin).

"Phantasm" fans will be delighted to see Angus Scrimm play the chilling lie-detector expert, Agent McCullough.

This is top drawer television entertainment and the music from Michael Giacchino is equally impressive.

9 out of 10 for this pilot episode. The soundtrack is packed with great music from familiar bands and artists including The Cranberries, Peter Gabriel and Sinead O'Connor.

The first episode of "Alias" does everything a good TV series Pilot is supposed to do: it grips you from the first few seconds; it introduces multiple characters; it sets up a complicated plot; and it also can stand on its own as a 65-minute little movie. At the same time, it's an innovative piece of television, both for the way it is structured like a puzzle, with flashbacks, flashforwards and constant twists, and for presenting a new type of female sex symbol for the 2000s, a super smart, capable, brave and yet sensitive woman as the main lead. Jennifer Garner has just the right lean physique for the part, and her fight scene with an assassin in a parking lot is simply awesome (especially the way she uses a car antenna to get out of a tight spot). J.J. Abrams directs in a cinematic style, and the music score drives the action forward. A good job all around. My favorite line: "I've got nothing to lose" - "That's not quite true. You have teeth". *** out of 4.

The story opens with a girl with bright read hair being interrogated; the next moment we see her in a class at college and after the class is over her boyfriend proposes to her. Her name is Sydney Bristow; part time student full time CIA agent; life is good for her... until she tells her fiancé about her work for the CIA. Her world is then turned upside down when she returns from a mission and finds he has been murdered and when she doesn't return to work an attempt is made on her life. She is rather surprised when she is rescued by her father. It turns out that unbeknownst to her he works for the same organisation she does. What she didn't know until then though is that that organisation, DS-6, is not a covert division of the CIA as she believed but part of a group known as 'The Alliance of Twelve' which is in fact an enemy of the United States. He gives her the means to get out of the country so she can go into hiding but instead she goes to Taipei to get a device wanted by SD-6; she isn't planning to become a knowing traitor though; after handing the device over the her boss at SD-6 she pays a visit to CIA headquarters in Langley with the intention of becoming a double agent. He she learns that she isn't the only CIA agent working inside SD-6... her father is too!

This pilot episode did the job perfectly; grabbing the viewer with a scene showing the heroine in peril then showing us how she got to be there. It was surprising just how much was packed into this one hour episode; all the main characters were introduced and there was still time for more action than appears in some films of the same genre. Jenifer Garner does a great job as Sydney; presenting her as a believable character and being brilliant in the action scenes. The support cast are fine too; most notably Victor Garber as her father and Kevin Weisman who brings some humour to the situation as Marshall Flinkman; SD-6's answer to James Bond's Q. J.J. Abrams did a fine job as both writer and director; it is of no surprise that he has gone on to direct some major Hollywood movies. When I first saw this it got me hooked and I couldn't wait to see what happened in the rest of the series and even though I've now seen it several times it seems as exciting as ever.

"Truth Be Told" has all the qualities that good Pilot should have. What's striking about it can be explained (put) in two different groups.

In the first "group" I can (and will) talk only about "visual" things. The thing I liked the most is that we are introduced to the plot and the characters right from the beginning so, for those impatient among us, we don't have to watch the second and the third episode to decide whether will you watch the show or not. Cards are on the table with this show : there are no hidden secrets, what Sydney knows we know and we are experiencing these things with her. One of the things I especially liked is the script because it doesn't have any stupid, sleazy, tacky and completely bad-fanfiction-like lines that no one in real life uses.

Second group is all about "thouchable" things. Hands down, actors did a great job. None of the characters were too shallow or too deep, they let us find out who and what they really are for ourselves which is awesome because it leaves room for further development. All the scenes seemed real, and, thank God, there were no weird camera angles. And once again, big plus for the script.

Long story short: 10 out of 10 stars for this episode, I dare you to find a mistake in it.

When you read all of the previous comments about this show you'll note one hell of a truth; half of the comments is saying that this series is bad!, and the other half saying that this series is good !! Not only this, you'll find another strikingly strange thing; every comment had (people found it useful) which also - almost every time - the half of the showing number! Which means simply that the other half of the people found it unhelpful !! So what is it with all of that fifty/fifty kind of thing?? I'll tell you..

This show continued for 5 Seasons, I think the first 2 of them were excellent, strong and well-written. And sadly the other half had gone boring, predictable and turned out to be waste of time. That is the truth like it shows from the various, very divergent comments. So the interpretation of the strange HALF case is that the lovers and the haters are here together and they are equal ! like the very case of our show (half good, half bad!) and that is the rare beauty of the "IMDB" the site which gives you the pure thing by putting all the contradictions of the viewers /the users to see in all of it a possible image of the truth.

And for my own copy of it : I see that the first 2 seasons of ALIAS were like this episode; so original as an espionage TV show (Absolutely no comparison or what so ever to shows like "She Spies" or "La Femme Nikita"). The ideas were new, the action was too good, and there was wonderful adventures, drama, sci-fi. Truly I've had quiet a thrilling time to the extent that I could not watch it some times to save my nerves calm because its very well-done thrill ! ..Can you believe this ?!

This show had some distinct valuable elements such as the love story between (Sydney Bristow) and (Michael Vaughn) which I think it's one of the most complicated love stories ever in the history of the TV drama, and so is that family of spies; it's not spy kids for sure, because spy kids was a family which hadn't that kind of issues that alias's family had, and they were never ever work as double agents.

As for the music I loved the main theme by the creator himself (J.J. Abrams) but I hated it when whenever there is a romantic scene they put immediately a slow pop song.. That was corny !. About the acting you'll have the most significant performance from (Jennifer Garner) actually she could make some rare stuff by her eyes (fakes a smile, demonstrates suppressing her feeling) but the most worst was coming from (Michael Vartan) and his ever lasting one troubled face.

And for all the ones who are saying that this show is so imaginary, not that realistic, BLA BLA BLA...Don't listen to them, it's that kind of shows which you can have fun watching it only by shutting down your brain first.

By the way there is more than one comment saying that (Jennifer Garner) is not sexy !!.. Well I'll tell you my friends; she is obviously beautiful girl but she is not THAT sexy. But any way that's my own truth, because it differs from each others by every one's definition for sexy. So I do see that she had an athletic body, so cute face, with a very childish smile (so she did her movie "13 Going on 30 – 2004") but she is no Geri Halliwell the ultimate sexy for me.

One last strange thing I wouldn't be embarrassed to declare : I was big fan of "Arvin Sloane" the head of SD-6! His cold ice face, his Intelligence, even his sensitivity (you'll watch it believe me !). The writers did a genius job which made him such one of a kind villain who's so unforgettable just like the series itself, which clearly had its own bad days. Yet despite of anything, enjoy this pilot. It's as the first 2 seasons : powerful, catchy, and real great but the producers wanted that same formula again and again and again.. whatever the result would be. Therefore that formula was the success of that show & its crisis too !!

P.S : I wrote a review about episode (#4.7 : Detente) which you can find at that episode's user comments page (or easily by entering my own pages) as an example for this show's quality and condition after season 2. And I wrote also reviews about those episodes as well : (#3.15), (#4.4), (#4.5), (#4.7), (#4.9), (#4.10), (#4.11), (#4.12), (#4.13), (#4.15), (#4.18), (#4.19), (#4.21), (#5.1), (#5.3), (#5.4), (#5.16), (#5.17), and (#5.12) about Alias's X File or (The Silliest 15 Events !).