http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lt/syd15.jpg
[[caption-width:194:Don't be fooled by the wig that she's got, she's still Jenny with a Glock...]]
->My name is Sydney Bristow. Seven years ago I was recruited by a secret branch of the CIA called SD-6. I was sworn to secrecy, but I couldn't keep it from my fiancée. And when the head of SD-6 found out, he had him killed. That's when I learned the truth: SD-6 is not part of the CIA. I've been working for the very people I thought I was fighting against.
-->--'''Sydney Bristow''', ''opening narration''

Hip SpyDrama (2001-2006) by JJAbrams about Sydney Bristow, 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 [[WesternTerrorists terrorist group]] called The Alliance; so she becomes a [[ReverseMole 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 ImpossibleMission 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 MysteriousPast.

Unusual for its willingness to embrace a fanciful StoryArc about a centuries-old prophecy. The first four seasons all featured a subtle, never explained MythArc about an [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Italian inventor with a penchant for odd drawings and fanciful words]]. Some how this 15th century prophet is still relevant today. His designs have been implemented and his writings dissected. And apparently the global intelligence community has nothing better to do than go to war over every piece of technology he might have even glanced at.

Also notable for the fact that the show was {{ReTool}}ed three separate times. Each time, character relationships and roles changed in fundamental ways.

One of the leaders in WigDressAccent.
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!!This show provides examples of:
* ATeamFiring: For the first season and a half until the fall of the Alliance. Sydney does not kill anyone until this point, apart from a rather contrived situation in which an assassin falls on a knife
* AbortedArc: Originally Irina was supposed to have more of a role in Season 4, but the actress playing the character wanted a salary the show couldn't afford; they scrapped their plans for her character and ultimately started the show down its JumpTheShark path
* ActionGirl: Mainly Sydney, but also Irina, Lauren, Nadia, Rachel, Anna Espinosa and Allison Dorren.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Averted. The suave international terrorist Sark clearly has eyes for Sydney, but she'll have none of it.
* AndIMustScream [[spoiler: Sloane's ultimate fate.]]
* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: The Covenant forces Sydney to do this as part of their brainwashing.
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: In the series finale Sloane is shot and killed by Sydney. Luckily, his body fell into a vat of special Rambaldi liquid that healed his wounds and brought him back to life.]]
** Bigger problem though. [[spoiler: He was stuck under a collapsed pillar when Jack blew himself up]].
* BadAss: A basic requirement for being a regular character on this show.
* BadGuyBar: A staple trope in ''Alias''.
* BeardOfSorrow: Jack grows one during [[spoiler: the year that he was held in solitary confinement for working with unsanctioned sources to learn the truth behind his daughter's apparent death.]]
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Sydney is TheChosenOne according to [[PropheciesAreAlwaysRight prophecies]] of Milo Rambaldi and [[RefusalOfTheCall try as she might]] [[YouCantFightFate she can't escape her destiny]]. [[ProphecyTwist Ah well, at least it's not predictable.]]
* BlackBestFriend: Sydney gets two, Francie and Dixon
* BoundAndGagged: See AttendingYourOwnFuneral.
* BoxedCrook: Inverted. [[spoiler: Sydney works for the government, but is abducted by criminals to perform certain high-risk jobs for them in Season 3.]]
* ChangelingFantasy: Nadia, who discovers her parents are actually [[spoiler: Irina and Sloane]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Everyone, mostly.
* TheChessmaster: Arvin Sloane.
* TheChrisCarterEffect
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Irina, Sloane and Sark.
* CityOfSpies: Los Angeles is home to both SD-6 and the CIA. It also attracts a few other freelancers, such as Sark.
* CliffHanger
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:"You beat death, Arvin. But you couldn't beat ''me.''"]]
* DeathByOriginStory: 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.
* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Francie.]]
* DeepCoverAgent: Sydney becomes one of these in the Pilot, after learning SD-6 is ''not'' the CIA. Also, her father.
** As well as [[spoiler: Lauren]] in season 3, a villainous example.
* DieHardOnAnX: 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.
* DoubleAgent: Most of the cast, at some point
** Sydney and her father worked for the CIA, posed as SD-6 agents
** [[spoiler: Lauren]] worked for the Covenant, but posed as an NSA agent
** Sark is always claiming to work for someone or other, but is usually just out for himself
* DysfunctionJunction: There's dysfunctional and then there's the Bristow family. The dysfunctionality certainly extends past the Bristows though. Most of the characters lives a marred by the death and/or betrayal of loved ones. It certainly doesn't help when our heroes are forced to work with the bad guys and double-crossers or the people they thought were dead but actually weren't.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Goal: Take Down Sloane.
* FakeDefector: [[spoiler: Sloane]]
* FakeNationality: A lot of it
* FakeRussian: Sark is a Russian man with a [[FakeBrit fake British accent]] portrayed by American actor David Anders.
** Actually, Sark's father was Russian but he grew up in Britain, so his character's accent is legitimate. Makes him more of a FakeBrit.
* FalseGunshot
* FanNickname: Fans nicknamed the nameless recurring scientist and torturer "Suit and Glasses". Jack Bristow is also often referred to as "Spy Daddy" by fans.
** Once [[spoiler: Frannie]] was killed, and her identity assumed by an identical imposter, she went by the name [[spoiler: Evil!Francie]].
* {{Fanservice}}: 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 is many a straight example.
* FetishFuel: Sydney is a veritable FetishFuelStationAttendant.
** Don't discount Sark's effect on the ladies, either. His baby blues had many a fangirl squeeing.
* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: to the point where NothingIsTheSameAnymore after the ''pilot''.
* FlakJacket
* GoodAllAlong
* TheHandler: Vaughn entered the scene as Sydney's handler. Eventually, they become more like partners.
** Dixon often took the role of handler, too
* HeelFaceMole: Irina at first
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Sloane and Irina both qualify.
** And Sark has self-stated "flexible loyalties".
* HelloBoys: "Phase One"
* HowWeGotHere: done several times
* HoYay: Between Vaughn and Sark mostly. Though Sark also managed to get his yay on with Marshall at one point.
** Weiss and Vaughn were also a very popular pairing. Check out the below exchange for proof:
-->'''Weiss:''' Okay, whenever you want to have that talk...
-->'''Vaughn:''' What talk?
-->'''Weiss:''' About the cologne or whatever the hell you're wearing.
-->'''Vaughn:''' I'm not wearing cologne.
-->'''Weiss:''' Well, something's going on. No man naturally smells as good as you do right now.
* IHaveComeTooFar
* IHaveYourWife
* ImpossibleMission
* IncrediblyObviousBug: averted. Marshall loves to show off bugs that look like paper clips or pens, or in once case an actual cockroach
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: The show juggles with its Rambaldi devices, ancient conspiracies, modern spy dramas, and family problems. There's an overarching MythArc, but by the fifth season there are too many pieces and they don't all fit it in the same puzzle.
* JumpedTheShark: Most people think this of Season 5, by gloriously abandoning and then reviving the MythArc, replacing various integral characters with [[TheScrappy annoying alternates]], and swapping genres from a SpyDrama with slightly surreal tones to veritable SpeculativeFiction what with the zombie apocalypse in Moscow.
** A large amount of people would say Season 3 was the jump point, but after Season 5 it definitely [[ItGotWorse got worse.]]
* KilledOffForReal
** Very few people, surprisingly. Danny, in the very first episode, then later the Iceman. Being a love interest other than Vaughn seems to be deadly. But for almost everyone else, DeathIsCheap.
* KudzuPlot
* LettingHerHairDown: Sydney.
* LingerieScene: "Phase One," Notable in that this aired literally seconds after the ''Super Bowl'', but a year before the Janet Jackson incident so the MoralGuardians didn't make too much noise.
* LoveTriangle: Sydney, Vaughn and Lauren.
* TheLabRat: Marshall
* {{MacGuffin}}: What exactly was Rambaldi trying to achieve again?
* MataHari: Most of the cast
* TheManBehindTheMan: Literally named, "The Man"
* MindScrew
* TheMole: Major part of the show
* MoscowCentre: Irina Derevko was originally a KGB agent, posing as an American to gain the trust and confidence of Jack Bristow and steal secrets from the CIA
* MysteriousParent: Both of Sydney's count
* MysteriousPast
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown
* ObstacleExposition
* PapaBear: '''Do not''' mess with Sydney or you'll be dealing with Jack, and you will ''not'' be in good shape after.
* ParentalAbandonment: During the first season we learn that Sydney's mother apparently died in a car accident when she was six. However, at the end of the Season 1 finale, we learn that [[spoiler: she faked her own death and now leads a criminal organisation. Upon meeting Sydney for the first time as an adult, she proclaims, "You must have known this day would come. I could have prevented all this, of course. You were so small when you were born. It would have been so easy."]].
* PartTimeHero: Sydney tries this for a few seasons, but over the course of the show all of her non-Spy friends have either also become spies/gone into witness protection, or they are murdered, cloned, or cloned and then murdered, so she's pretty much forced to go all-in.
* PluckyComicRelief: Marshall
* PrettyInMink: In a few undercover missions
* RansackedRoom: Sydney comes home to one of these after she tells her fiancé what she does for a living. Turns out SD-6 staged a break-in and had him killed.
* TheRashomon
* SeasonalRot: Some say this of Season 3, 4 and/or 5.
* SheFu
* ShellShockedSenior: Jack
* {{Shipping}}: Sydney/Vaughn was prominent, followed closely by Sydney/Sark and Vaughn/Sark
** Sydney/Vaughn was INTENSE on the internet. When Vaughn showed up with a wife after the three-year TimeSkip between S2 and S3, she was immediately [[FanNickname branded COW (Contrived Odious Wife)]]. She was almost forced to make a FaceHeelTurn to placate them.
* SinisterSurveillance
* SpotTheImposter (via Project Helix)
* SpottingTheThread: Happens several times, given the villains' tendency to clone people close to Sydney and send them in as spies.
* SpyDrama: Kind of self-explanatory
* SpyFromWeightsAndMeasures: While working for SD-6, Sydney and associates ostensibly work for Credit Dauphin Bank.
* SpyVersusSpy: This show is one of the few, non (intentionally) uses of the trope. In the beginning, it was CIA versus SD-6. And SD-6 also had enemies in K-Directorate. Then it became CIA versus the Covenant. And then CIA versus...well, that's when it started getting complicated.
* StormingTheCastle: Bringing Down SD-6
* StoryArc
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Danny, her fiancè, in the pilot. Kind of subverted, because it actually ''is'' her fault.
* TakingYouWithMe
* TearJerker
* TerroristsWithoutACause: Sark routinely changes his alliances, and his true allegiance seems to be only to himself.
* TheTeaser
* TheGenericGuy: Rachel Gibson and Thomas Grace were two characters added in the 5th season who would have done okay as guest stars, but really had no purpose outside of being another pair of agents for the main characters to throw at the bad guys. They seem to succeed, although this is probably due to VillainDecay or LoweredMonsterDifficulty.
* TechnoWizard: Marshall
* TimeForPlanB
* TimeSkip: Almost three years between seasons 2 and 3
* TrashTheSet
* {{Trickster}}
* TriggerPhrase: In season one, there was a ManchurianAgent who could be activated by reading a specific poem. He turned from sweet, mild mental patient to master-assassin upon completion of the piece
* WesternTerrorists: Sark
* WhamEpisode
* WigDressAccent: Sydney's favorite method of disguise, occasionally used by other agents.
* WTHCastingAgency: Wait, is that ''[[TheOffice Ricky Gervais]]'' playing an Irish terrorist?!
* WhatTheHellHero: Sydney felt that since Danny was going to become her husband, she just 'had' to tell him 'everything' about herself; [[TooDumbToLive even the things she had 'sworn' to keep ''secret'' and been told '''repeatedly''' that her failure to maintain secrecy would mean death for her and everyone around her...]] How to destroy a lead character's credibility in the pilot.
* XanatosGambit: Many, throughout the series. Arguably the best was Sloane's throughout Season 1 and 2, [[spoiler: in which he got Sydney, her father, and the CIA to take down the Alliance so he could found his own terrorist network]].
** Sloane is the master of these in general. Whatever you think he's planning, he's probably got another plan under that, and maybe a few more for good measure.
* YouCantFightFate: The prophecies Rambaldi dreamed up cannot be averted, but they can be [[ProphecyTwist misinterpreted]].
* YouCantGoHomeAgain
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