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'''Jack Bristow:''' As I expected.|'''Alias,''' ''The Counteragent''}}
 
''Alias'' is a [[Cliché Storm]] / [[Troperiffic]] [[Spy Drama]] (2001-2006) by [[JJJ.J. Abrams]] about Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner), an agent for SD-6, black-ops division of the CIA, who discovers that, whoops, it wasn't a black-ops division of the CIA so much as a faction of a powerful [[Western Terrorists|terrorist group]] called The Alliance; so she becomes a [[Reverse Mole|double agent]]. She then discovers her father, a supposed salesman, is also a double agent for the CIA. Sydney then has to divide her loyalties between a team of good men at SD-6 who simply don't know their boss is the devil, and a team of mostly good men and a few pricks at the real CIA.
 
Pretty much a show full of [[Impossible Mission]] episodes, with a twist -- Sydney must perform her mission for the CIA, while appearing to be performing her mission for SD-6. There's also a large element of soap opera though, as she learns all kinds of secrets about her parents and their [[Mysterious Past]].
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* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Basically describes the direction of Sydney's character development between Seasons 1 and 2 and onwards.
* [[Deadly Rotary Fan]]: One episode ended on a [[Cliff Hanger|cliffhanger]] with Sydney struggling not to get pulled upwards through an [[Air Vent Passageway|air vent]] into a huge fan.
* [[Death Byby Materialism]]: {{spoiler|Irina}} had the option of being saved {{spoiler|by her daughter}}, or grabbing the Horizon. She grabs the Horizon, completely ignoring the fact that ''she's on an unstable and steadily cracking glass pane''. It subsequently breaks, [[Disney Villain Death|and she falls to her death]].
* [[Death By Origin Story]]: Syd was perfectly happy with her job(s) and life and had no interest in digging up dirt on SD-6 -- until she told her fiance she was a spy for the CIA. He lived maybe 5 microseconds after that.
** He was fine until he left a message on her answering machine using a wiretapped line. If he'd only paid attention...
* [[Death Byby Sex]]: {{spoiler|Francie}}.
* [[Deep-Cover Agent]]: Sydney becomes one of these in the Pilot, after learning SD-6 is ''not'' the CIA. Also, ''both'' her parents - Jack as a heroic example, Irina as a villainous.
** As well as {{spoiler|Lauren}} in season 3, a villainous example.
* [[Die Hard Onon an X]]: The season one two-parter, "The Box" featured spooks taking over SD-6 while Sydney and her father were just arriving. They immediately start a Die Hard plan to eliminate the enemy spies.
* [[Disney Villain Death]]: {{spoiler|Irina}}. She easily could've avoided it though...
* [[Double Agent]]: Most of the cast, at some point
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* [[Fan Service]]: Done, very much with a wink, in "Phase One"- the opening shot of the episode is Sydney in her red underwear and holding a whip. This episode, by the way, was right after the Super Bowl. However, there are many a straight example.
* [[Final Season Casting]]
* [[Finger in Thethe Mail]]: Sloane receives his wife's ring finger through the post as proof she's alive and being held hostage. {{spoiler|Turns out to be a [[Xanatos Gambit]] by Sloane himself and as part of it, his wife cut off her own finger and posted it to him.}}
* [[First Episode Spoiler]]: To the point where [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore]] after the ''pilot''.
* [[Flak Jacket]]
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** And Sark has self-stated "flexible loyalties".
* [[Hello Boys]]: "Phase One"
* ~Hey, It's That Guy!~: More like "Hey It's That Bunch of Guys": Weiss became [[Heroes (TV series)|Matt Parkman]] and was in [[BAS Eketball|BASEketballBaseketball]]! Also, Sark became [[Heroes (TV series)|Adam Munroe]], [[Twenty Four24|Josef Bazhaev]], and [[Vampire Diaries|Uncle John Gilbert]]!
** One of the biggest has been Bradley Cooper, who played Will Tippin and is now a bonafide "movie star" (''Wedding Crashers'', ''The Hangover'', and the remake of ''[[The a A-Team (Filmfilm)|The a Team]]'').
** Jack Bristow was [[Titanic|sorry he couldn't build a better ship]] for [[Kate Winslet]], and was [[Godspell|Clown Superman in suspenders]].
** Vaughn gave [[Never Been Kissed|Drew Barrymore her first kiss]]
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** Edward Poole, head of SD-9 once had a [[James Bond|license to kill]] (yep, Roger Moore)
** Martin Shepard, an amnesiac assassin [[The Mummy Trilogy|once fought Mummies with Brendan Fraser]]
** F.B.I. Assistant Director Kendall would end up [[Lost (TV)|on a wheelchair and stranded on an Island]]. (He was also the [[The West Wing (TV)|Chairman of the Joint Chiefs]].)
** And Kelly Peyton [[Angel (TV)|once worked for a badass vampire with a soul and became the vessel]] for an [[Eldritch Abomination]].
** Arvin Sloane turned into a [[Brothers and Sisters|winery owner]].
** [[Quentin Tarantino (Creator)|McKenas Cole]] and [[David Cronenberg|Dr. Brezzel]] moonlight directing movies.
** [[Castle (TV)|Kate Beckett]] worked as a stewardess briefly.
* [[Hilarious Outtakes]]
* [[Homage]]: There's one to the famous fight scene from ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark (Film)|Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' in "A Free Agent", complete with a fistfight on an airfield and a [[Mook]] going into the propeller of a plane.
* [[How We Got Here]]: Done several times, by necessity.
* [[I Have Come Too Far]]
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** There are [[Cloning Blues|doubles of characters]] running around.
* [[Latex Perfection]]: Twice in one episode.
* [[Layman's Terms]]: [[Two Words: Obvious Trope|Three Words]]: "IN ENGLISH, MARSHALL!"
* [[Letting Her Hair Down]]: Sydney.
* [[Lingerie Scene]]: "Phase One," Notable in that this aired literally seconds after the ''Super Bowl'', but a year before the Janet Jackson incident so the [[Moral Guardians]] didn't make too much noise.
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* [[Mysterious Past]]: Pretty much everyone's got one.
* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]
* [[Not Even Bothering Withwith the Accent]]: Melissa George as Lauren Reed. They wrote the character as American, cast an Australian who can do a serviceable American accent, and make her an American raised in England. The result was an Australian accent jumbled in with vague attempts at sounding American and English at different points. Inexplicably her parents, played by Raymond J. Barry and Peggy Lipton, Americans who were supposed to be doing American accents, would randomly use British inflections for no apparent reason. ''Even by the standards of a show where the accents were questionable much of the time'', the Reeds' accents were awful.
* [[Obstacle Exposition]]
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: [[Quentin Tarantino (Creator)|Quentin Tarantino]], visibly enjoying himself as McKenas Cole. In Season 1 he's more of a Two Episode Wonder, but when he pops up again in Season 3 he fits the trope perfectly.
* [[Opening a Can of Clones]]: Rule of thumb on ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' - even if we've seen a body, they're probably [[Not Quite Dead|not dead]].
* [[Pair the Spares]]: Will Tippin and Francie. Also, much later, Weiss and Sydney's [[Dead Little Sister]], Nadia.
* [[Papa Wolf]]: '''Do not''' mess with Sydney or you'll be dealing with Jack, and you will '''not''' be in good shape after.
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* [[Stuffed Into the Fridge]]: Danny, her fiance in the pilot. Kind of subverted, because it actually ''is'' her fault.
* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Katya Derevko for Irina, because they could get Isabella Rosselini and couldn't afford Lena Olin. Katya has all of Irina's attributes and was rather obviously interchangeable. Extra cool because {{spoiler|Jack gets to hook up with her}}.
* [[Taking You Withwith Me]]: Jack Bristow's final [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] in a long line of them.
* [[The Teaser]]: at times long enough to have their own commercial breaks.
* [[Terrorists Without a Cause]]: Sark routinely changes his alliances, and his true allegiance seems to be only to himself.
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* [[Wig, Dress, Accent]]: Sydney's favorite method of disguise, occasionally used by other agents.
** Lampshaded by the TWOP [[Fan Nickname|nickname]] for her - "Spy Barbie".
* [[World of Snark]]: This is a [[JJJ.J. Abrams]] show. 'Nuff said.
* [[You Can't Fight Fate]]: The prophecies Rambaldi dreamed up cannot be averted, but they can be [[Prophecy Twist|misinterpreted]].
** But they can change in fundamental ways for no obvious reason and with nobody noticing. See Season Four.
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