SDuke said:
So far season 4 is pretty lame and predictable, the same mission, infiltrate the bad guys base and let Sydney do her thing.
Perhaps it's to attract more audience, but so far it's a let down...hopefully it will get better
That's exactly what they're doing - too many people bitched about Alias being 'too difficult' for them to start watching and so in an attempt to get more viewers they've changed the format around. Also, they're understandably running out of ways to involve agencies of terrorists [K-Directorate, Covenant, Alliance] that they used to, and having the 'old gang' take them down.
It's different, but I don't think it is necessarily bad. Rather than being a show that entertains you and makes you question things, it's just the 40 minutes of entertainment and then you're ready to move on to the next episode.
Some of the differences could also come from the different writers they're using this season; although a lot of people have been pleased with the fact that the new writers are using links to things characters have said or done in past episodes, which is a technique the regular writers rarely used.
What you'll see with this season is that they've moved around episodes - Ice was meant to air after WTLibertyVillage, and the episodes with Sark have been moved too. The new format allows them to do that, and I suppose it works okay.
I definitely do like the minor character development. When it starts to become 'The Sydney and Vaughn Show' it alienates parts of the audience, so I think for every S/V moment there needs to be something from the other characters to balance it out.
The scenes with Marshall, Nadia, Weiss and even Dixon give people like me back a part of the reason why they enjoy the show.
I'll make sure I take my camera along to the convention, hopefully I can get some good pictures.