History is shaped by our hands.

So I watched the last, final, it's-all-over-now episode of Alias last night.  It originally aired on Monday night, but it was on against the finale of 24.  When I first noticed that, I immediately thought to myself, "Do they want no one to watch it?"  I think they did.

First... the good.

1.  The Rambaldi mythology had an actual resolution.
2.  It was the best episode of the year.
3.  A major good-guy character died.

And now the rebuttals to those three good things.

1.  They had to fix the Rambaldi mess.  The series-long Rambaldi story arc was supposed to end last season with that zombie-making red ball in the sky.  Yes, it was as stupid as it sounded.  In a horror flick, it would have made sense, but this was a CIA action spy show.  Zombies?  Uh, no.  Despite the fact that we got a real ending to the Rambaldi arc, it was too little, too late.  They ruined it last year with the red ball in the sky mess.  It also didn't help that a  mini red ball floating above the Rambaldi symbol brought back painful memories of last season's mess.  If you are trying to make us forget the past, don't give us an easy way to remember it.

2.  Yes, it was the best episode of the year, but in a year of crap, this was not hard to accomplish.  I know it sounds like I'm really down on this season, and for the most part I am, but there were some good parts.  Amy Acker was simply brilliant as the evil Peyton.  She owned that role.  Oh, wait... this is where I'm supposed to rip on things.  Sorry, Ms. Acker, but I have work to do.  This was the best episode of the year only because it was a terrible year.  It still didn't run as good as most of the episodes in the first season.  And the ending.  Damn, did we need a walking on the beach, off into the sunset happy ending?  It felt so fake.  I groaned, and not because my stomach is still recovering from food-poisoning, but because the television I was watching was groan-making.

3.  Only ONE major good-guy character died.  I'm sorry, but Tom, who died in the first hour, doesn't count.  Yes, he was a lead character with his name in the opening credits, but he's only been on the show for this season.  Of the original cast members in the opening credits, only one died.  I'm not morbid, but this is the series-ending finale.  It's time to clean house and give you the feeling that no one is safe.  What happened to the time when we found Francie's dead body in the bathroom?  None of that.  They even killed Sloane, the main villian of the past 5 years, only to have him come back to life 5 minutes later!  WTF?  Dixon needed to die.  That would have been a doozy.  Or Marshall.  Marshall would have been perfect to kill because I really, really didn't want him to die.  That should have been a clue to the writers.  If fans really love someone, they are your prime target.  There were former Buffy/Angel writers on Alias' staff this year.  I expect that from them.  And they should have really killed off Vaughn.  Sark should have ended him.  It was just stupid how they killed him off earlier in the year only to bring him back just fine later on.  Why is this show so protective of it's leads?

As much as I liked Alias, I'm glad it's over.