I’m finally caught up on my TiVo from all of my traveling, and I watched the Alias season finale last night.

With 5 minutes to go, I turned to Kelly and said last night that Alias had a strong ending to the season that started off horribly. I’ve talked about this enough already, and then they had to drop the cliff hanger to end the season.

Even with all the reboots, I thought this season had tightened up, with more attention to the characters in a smaller environment, better plot management, and tying up the Rambaldi plot line well. Even the plot throwbacks to the first two seasons, with the Helix Protocol and especially the Mueller device from Season 1 and tying that to the finale was well done for those that have stuck with the show all four years, and for those new to the show, it wasn’t overwhelming.

But taking Michael Vartan’s character, Vaughn, the one constant good guy through out all four years, who didn’t have an agenda, who was the steady rock in Sidney’s life, even when he was married in Season 3, and turning him into someone with an evil past – this is almost too much. Implying that he was a bad guy (a different branch of SD maybe?), and there was a reason he was made Sydney’s handler, and then the car crash to leave you hanging, what are we supposed to think? I’ve already suspended my disbelief that Vaughn made a transition from being a desk jockey, a handler, to field operations, and now the show is going to imply he’s a double agent, or at least an agent with a checkered past?

If it’s not one thing, it’s another with this show. With such a strong ending to the show this season and really getting the focus back, I’ll continue to watch. (Yeah, I’m a sucker).