A L I A S

Edward had a guest starring role in the premiere episode of Alias, an ABC TV drama / action series. The episode titled “Truth Be Told” aired on September 30, 2001 and the entire 69 minutes were shown commercial free, due to Nokia’s sponsorship. Edward played Danny Hetch, a doctor and the boyfriend / fiancee of the main character Sydney, played by Jennifer Garner.

Alias generated a great deal of interest and anticipation months before it aired; doubtless fueled by all the publicity, as well as the premise of the show, which is the action packed involvement of a young female agent in covert CIA operations. Zap2it.com’s Alias page has the promos for the show, in some of which you can see Edward.

The attention (alas!!) has exclusively been focused on the permanent cast, both on the Official Site, as well as on the ever increasing number of fan sites. Here’s however, one amazingly comprehensive and well-designed site, where you can find out all about the show:

My Edwardian Review:

"TRUTH BE TOLD"

'Danny Hetch' was a short, bittersweet role, and Edward, in only five brief scenes, managed to give the character both depth and appeal. Here’s my review of those five scenes:

Danny is a doctor and at the beginning of the episode, he is in his scrubs and white coat as he meets his girlfriend Sydney at the graduate school she’s studying. Soon comes a rather memorable Edward moment - he proposes to her, by first going down on both knees and bursting into an exuberant song at the top of his lungs, amidst the amused onlookers on the campus lawn: “Build me up, Buttercup...” The song is a reminder of their first date. Sydney of course says ‘Yes’! I thought Edward was atterly amazing in this scene; not a shred of the “reserved Englishman” here, which he can be so good at portraying.

The second scene comes as a flashback when Sydney is talking to her best friend about the engagement and the topic of her estranged relationship with her father comes up. It turns out Danny, following tradition, called her father to ask for his blessing before proposing to her. The setting is at a pay-phone at the hospital, where Danny is again in scrubs and we see his consternation and quiet, yet real frustration by her fathers terse, almost antagonistic response.

After we get to find out more about what Sydney is actually involved in - covert operations at the CIA - comes a cosy, domestic scene at her home. She’s reclining on the couch and studying a book; he is at the dining room table pouring over books and taking notes, oblivious to the fact that what she's doing is brushing up on a foreign language, in preparation for her next assignment. Their eyes meet in a lovers’ look. Soon Danny is on the couch as well, kissing and cuddling and talking about renting apartments and having babies.....

This heartwarming scene leads Sydney to make an impulsive and fateful decision. She takes his hand and leads him upstairs, asking him to get undressed while she’s taking off her own shirt (hey, no need to get excited here if you missed seeing the show - this being primetime network TV, exposed skin in a sexual content is a no-no, while violence of course, is totally OK!) Next we see them in the shower and she blurts out that she works for the CIA. Danny’s first response is light-hearted laughter, which doesn’t last long as he realizes that she’s not joking.

The next scene that Danny is in, is at a cliff top somewhere. Sydney is trying to explain to him how her involvement with SD-6, a covert branch of the CIA, came about and what her job as an Agent means to her. Danny is struggling to make sense of her revelations.

The way the fifth scene was shot had a haunting quality to it, as doubtless it was meant to; for this is the last time we get to see Danny alive. Sydney is at a black-tie reception in Taipei, where her mission is to secretly photograph a restricted research area within the building. Danny is back home, where it’s night as well. He has a drink in one hand and the telephone in the other, talking to her answering machine.... He knows she’s off someplace doing something dangerous, yet he has come to terms with the situation and wants to tell her that he accepts it, as he loves her....

The scene alternates between Danny - slightly drunk, in a sentimental mood, wearing an old T-shirt... and Sydney - alert and on the job, in a tight sequined dress, high heels and glittering jewels. While she’s busy picking locks and taking pictures with her spy camera concealed to look like a lipstick (Bond, circa ‘70’s!), we hear Danny’s voice, resonating with feeling (and in that glorious accent!) in the background......I thought the way this scene was done - contrasting Danny’s emotional message with Sydney’s cold-blooded professionalism - was powerful.

His voice meanwhile is picked-up by satellites and swift action (mercifully off-camera) is taken; so that when Sydney returns, what she finds is a ransacked apartment and Danny bloody and dead in the bathtub. Jennifer Garner, I should add, delivered a remarkably moving performance in this scene.

The show sustained the dramatic tension through the subsequent funeral scene and when Sydney is shown changing the outgoing message that had Danny’s voice on, on her answering machine. From that point on however, the episode accelerated into the realms of far-fetched fantasy, as Sydney shed her grief and angst as rapidly as she did her coed look. We got to find out what the torture scenes shown intermittently within the narrative up to that point were all about; and why some previews for the show referred to it as a “comic-book adventure” series. So perhaps, it is a good thing that Danny did not live to see that poppy-red hairdo.....