Alias

Before Alias, Jennifer Garner was a relatively unknown actress. After Alias, she was a force to be reckoned with. J.J. Abrams’ slick, high-octane spy drama catapulted her to stardom, thanks to a breakout role that demanded a dizzying range—from emotional depth to bone-crunching action—all while wearing one of the many disguises that came with life as double (and sometimes triple) agent Sydney Bristow.

The premise is gripping from the outset. Recruited during her first year of university by SD-6—a supposed black-ops arm of the CIA—Sydney trains as a field agent and soon finds herself criss-crossing the globe on daring missions. But when she learns, to her horror, that SD-6 is in fact a front for a criminal organisation known as The Alliance of Twelve, her world is upended. Her decision to come clean to her fiancé leads to his immediate murder, and Sydney is left with no choice but to turn to the real CIA. Thus begins her new life as a double agent, covertly dismantling the very agency that once trained her.

What follows is a tightly wound series of high-stakes espionage, emotional betrayals, labyrinthine plots, and adrenaline-fuelled missions. The show thrives on dualities: truth and deception, loyalty and betrayal, identity and disguise. At its heart is Sydney—a heroine who must juggle layers of subterfuge, a complex relationship with her enigmatic father (himself a double agent), and the everyday challenges of trying to maintain a façade of normalcy with her unsuspecting friends.

J.J. Abrams, who would later go on to create Lost and direct big-screen blockbusters like Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek, brought to Alias his signature mix of suspense, character-driven drama, and cinematic flair. It’s a show that rarely lets up on tension, but also gives its characters room to breathe and develop. The mythology surrounding mysterious artefacts, shadowy organisations, and cryptic prophecies occasionally veers into the outlandish, but it never stops being entertaining.

While the series became increasingly complex over its five-season run, it maintained a steady core of emotional resonance, with Garner’s performance grounding even the most implausible twists. Stylish, unpredictable and emotionally engaging, Alias was more than just a spy show—it was a genre-defining blend of action, mystery, and drama that set the stage for the television epics that followed.

For fans of espionage thrillers, Alias remains a standout—fast-paced, tightly scripted, and anchored by one of the most compelling female leads in TV history.