Roberto Orci Movies

With the Alliance in tatters and Sloane (Ron Rifkin) still MIA, new college graduate Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is more determined than ever to give up the spy game. But CIA director Kendall (Terry O'Quinn) insists that Sydney tackle a case which seems to prove that the Alliance is still a force to reckon with. Cal Tech mathematician Neil Caplan (Christian Slater) and his family have been kidnapped and whisked off to Switzerland, where the fugitive Sloane demands that Caplan help him assemble the Rambaldi artifacts, which when completed will morph into a deadly WMD, capable of destroying a large city. Elsewhere, Dixon (Carl Lumbly) may have to choose between the love of his wife and his dedication to his espionage duties; while Marshall (Kevin Weisman) cheerfully enlists his photographic memory in the good fight. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having learned that assassin Martin Shepard (John Hannah) is linked to her past and her mother's death, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) helps Shepard escape from a Bucharest mental asylum. Meanwhile, sinister SD-6 chieftain Sloane (Ron Rifkin) angrily vows to "make an example" of the as-yet-unknown mole in his organization, and Will (Bradley Cooper) discovers the true identity of the elusive "Kate Jones" -- too late to do him, or her, any good. On the brighter side, Charlie (Evan Dexter Parke) tries to make amends to his fiancée, Francie (Merrin Dungey), with a Thanksgiving dinner to end all Thanksgiving dinners. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Vienna on the trail of "The Man," who may or may not have information pertaining to her late mother, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is unexpectedly reunited with her ex-lover, fellow SD-6 agent Noah Hicks (Peter Berg). Meanwhile, Syd's father, Jack (Victor Garber), consults with CIA psychiatrist Judy Barnett (Patricia Wettig) about his nagging premonition that his wife (and Syd's mom) may still be alive. And what of the Rambaldi Prophecy -- and who will crack the secret behind that prophecy first? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Pleading guilty to her crimes, Syd's mother, Irina (Lena Olin), is sentenced to death. Though there is little love lost between mother and daughter, Syd (Jennifer Garner) nonetheless tries to prevent her mother's execution by writing a letter to CIA director Devlin (James Handy), revealing her father Jack's (Victor Garber) involvement in Project Christmas, an insidious method of indoctrinating future secret agents at an early age -- and one for which Jack used the young Syd as a guinea pig. Meanwhile, Sloane (Ron Rifkin) comes closer to a reunion with his "dead" wife, Emily; and Vaughn (Michael Vartan) is shocked upon discerning the contents of Khasinau's so-called Red Ball. This episode was originally scheduled to air on November 3, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cunningly presaged by the cliffhanger at the end of season one, the first episode of Alias' second season confirmed what heroine Sydney A. Bristow (Jennifer Garner) -- college student by day, counterespionage agent the rest of the time -- had feared most: that "The Man," the evil leader of a vast criminal cartel, was no man at all, but instead Sydney's supposedly dead mother, former KGB agent Irina Derevko (played by new series regular Lena Olin). Though Irina would eventually claim to have reformed and insisted that she was looking out for Sydney's best interests, her actions -- which included innumerable double-crosses, sellouts, and betrayals -- would seem to indicate otherwise. Even so, nothing that was ever "indicated" on Alias was ever quite what it appeared on the surface. Meanwhile, both of the spy organizations for which Sydney worked, the CIA and the more sinister SD-6, were dedicated to destroying the cartel formerly run by Irina and now in the hands of her mercurial lieutenant, Sark (played by another new series regular, David Anders). The two rival agencies also continued their search for the missing Rambaldi fragments, which when assembled would become a terrifying weapon of mass destruction, as well as "The Bible," the operations manual used by Irina's old criminal empire.

Still embittered by the knowledge that she had been used all her life by SD-6, Syd persisted in covertly working against the organization by throwing in with the CIA, under the supervision of agent Michael C. Vaughn (Michael Vartan), who by the time season two rolled around, was making no secret of his love for Syd. Two other SD-6 operatives, computer genius Marshall Flinkman (Kevin Weisman) and agent Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly), likewise crossed over to the CIA, with tragic results for at least one of them. Syd was given even more reason to despise the espionage business when she learned that, as a child, she had been a guinea pig for a program designed to indoctrinate spies at an early age -- a program developed by her own father, Jack Bristow (Victor Garber). There was another "father figure" in Syd's life in the form of her SD-6 boss, Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), who despite his cruel cunning and ruthlessness was genuinely fond of both Bristows. Sloane would launch a second career as a solo villain when, disillusioned by the SD-6, he bolted the organization and set about to harness the awesome power of the Rambaldi device for his own purposes. His replacement at SD-6 was the no-nonsense Geiger (Rutger Hauer), who, shall we say, harbored no great love for either Syd or Jack. In addition to Rutger Hauer, season two of Alias would feature guest-star turns by Faye Dunaway as the duplicitous head of SD-6 counterintelligence; Richard Lewis as a CIA counterintelligence analyst investigating Vaughn; and Christian Slater as a scientist who was kidnapped by the renegade Sloane -- and whose past life experiences bore striking resemblances to those of the Bristow family.

Elsewhere, it was business as usual for crusading journalist Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper), who doggedly continued his crusade to expose and destroy SD-6 and all the other agencies in the Alliance of Twelve. The basic through line of Alias took off on a radical and wholly unanticipated new direction with its January 26, 2003, episode "Phase One." In this truly shocking entry, Syd's roommate, Francie (Merrin Dungey), was murdered and replaced by an exact double, thereby further blurring the series' distinction between its heroes and its villains. Also in that episode, the CIA put an end to SD-6, thus freeing Sydney from her double-agent balancing act and allowing her and Vaughn to finally express their feelings for each other. But even those developments paled in comparison with Alias' second-season cliffhanger finale, in which after being rendered unconscious in a fight with the "bad" Francie, Syd awoke to discover that two whole years had passed -- and her erstwhile lover Michael Vaughn was now beyond her reach! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is forced to work side by side with former enemy Sark (David Anders) on their latest SD-6 mission: to steal a vital component of the Echelon Satellite System, which keeps the nation alerted to security threats. Syd's countermission on behalf of the CIA is to destroy the component's hard-drive so that it cannot be used by SD-6; even so, the information must be retained somehow -- and thus, the photographic memory of computer wonk Marshall Flinkman (Kevin Weisman) come into play. Alas, the mild-mannered Marshall is hardly the most competent of spies, and his first mission goes disastrously awry. Faye Dunaway makes her first series appearance as Ariana Kane, head of Alliance counterintelligence, who will stop at nothing to find out who is blackmailing Sloane (Ron Rifkin). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Vaughn's (Michael Vartan) security clearance is downgraded pending investigation of accusations that he has been double-crossing the CIA. This, however is only one of two emotional crosses for Sydney (Jennifer Garner) to bear: the other is the escape of her double-agent mother, Irina (Lena Olin), who has betrayed her in the process. Meanwhile, Irina has apparently linked up with the sinister Sloane (Ron Rifkin) to steal files from a genetic database in Germany. This places Sydney in the unenviable position of having to hunt down and possibly kill her own mother -- but the embittered Syd doesn't seem to have a problem with this. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan star in Disturbia director D.J. Caruso's race-against-time thriller concerning two strangers thrust together by a mysterious telephone call, and their frantic efforts to discover why they have inexplicably become the nation's most wanted fugitives. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) were complete strangers at the beginning of the day, but that changed the instant a strange woman called to threaten both their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Suddenly forced into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, Jerry and Rachel must now take orders from a woman who's using everyday technology to track and control their every move. As the situation intensifies and the hapless duo are deemed the country's most wanted fugitives, they must work together in order to discover who it was that turned their lives upside down, and what they can do to thwart the criminal mastermind's cunning yet diabolical plan. Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis, and Anthony Mackie co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The lines between science fiction and reality blur as J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, the team behind Star Trek and Alias, regroup to craft this mind-bending series that begins as an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport with everyone of the passengers and crew members brutally murdered. When FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and her partner Special Agent John Scott (Mark Valley) are called in to investigate, a mysterious, near fatal mishap prompts Special Agent Dunham to seek out the assistance of famed genius Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble). Dr. Bishop has a reputation as our generation's Einstein, but due to the fact that he's been institutionalized for the past twenty years, the only way of contacting him is by going through his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson). Later, Special Agent Dunham's investigation leads her into the lair of unscrupulous corporate schemer Nina Sharp (Blair Brown, who may hold the key that reveals the incident on Flight 627 as a small piece in a much larger, and frighteningly sinister, conspiracy. Only with the assistance of fellow FBI agents Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick), Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo), and Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) will Agent Dunham and her partner have any hope of uncovering the twisted truth behind the crime that seemed too strange to be true. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

It's Strictly Ballroom Olympian style when Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) enters the annual Panathea dance contest with the klutzy Althea (Willa O'Neill). In order to best her beautiful, snobbish lifelong rival Ocea (Jay Saussey), Althea takes dance lessons from flamboyant instructor Widow Twankey (played by "Edith Sidebottom" -- actually, series regular Kevin Hurst [Iolaus] in drag!) With Onea's evil town magistrate, uncle Asterius (Stuart Devenie), willing to kill any competitors of his darling niece, Hercules and Althea are obliged to literally dance for their lives. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi