But wrapping up isn't the same as wrapping up well.

I'm happy to debate - not simply disagree - but Alias got freakishly repetitive in series 3, 4, and 5. And it always felt like a "diminishing returns" kind of repetition. I mean, it's so bad that I have a blog posting coming in 5 days, and it uses Alias as an example of what happens when shows start to drown themselves and their audience by doing the same things over and over...

In particular, SPOILERS there's this nifty vibe running throughout season 1 that our heroine can't trust her father. It's good for angst and generation gaps... But it's great for a spy show, to literally not know anything about your own father. Yet series 3-5 kept repeating this same plotline with some different "thing" each season.

It made our protagonist seem so emotional as to be ineffective as a spy, or pretty dumb for shouting her anger when she could've stepped back and waited. And, of course, since "dad" always turns out to be more or less innocent, it makes her look wrong/dumb/baggage-laden in a way that's very forced - and disempowering.

All that said, I think part of why I'm so harsh on "Alias" is that those first two seasons are so mind-blowingly cool and inventive and fun to watch. God, how I wish they'd kept to it.