2. Alias (2002-2003)
J.J.Abrams shows often peak in Season 2. I would have included Lost in this list because I also think Lost's best season was Season 2 (also maybe was Fringe's) but I didn't want this list to become all about Lost's ending, and if you have read a few of my other posts anytime I even mention the show I end up having long debates with people about whether the ending was good, or whether it sucked. I won't say which side I am on just to avoid this argument later on. Any way, back to Alias... Alias's first season was great, but Season 2 proved what this show could become and proved it had legs beyond its initial concept. Season 2 was the season where Sydney finally brought down the criminal organization she had been working as a mole in for the CIA and although there were probably many doubters who thought that once this show brought down this organization (the whole point of season 1 and probably the selling point of the series initially) it was over, the end half of this season proved that Alias had a lot more story to tell. That said, the overarching mythology of the show turned out to make very little sense, but the show was great even in spite of this. This season also developed the romantic storyline between Sydney (Jennifer Garner) and Vaughn and was the most interesting their relationship had ever been. As with most shows season 2's, this is really where romantic interest peaks, and from then on shows like to just throw drama at the couples and break them up, only so they can get back together later on- this was no different in Alias either. Season 2 also introduced to us Sydney's criminal mother who proved to be an incredibly important character for the entire run of the show from then on. Sydney's relationship with her mother, particularly when she was still imprisoned like she was for much of this season added great emotional depth to the character and made us care for Sydney much more than we had previously. Sydney's mother made Sydney a more vulnerable character we could root for- and like Buffy in Season 2, adding vulnerability to a character (like Buffy's complicated relationship with Angel) makes the character much stronger and mature for this. Both Sydney and Buffy are super tough ass-kicking female protagonists, and without emotional depth they would be nothing more than inhuman male-fantasy figures. With this depth, they are great role models for females everywhere, and refuse to be sexual symbols for the male gaze. This season was also the last in which Bradley Cooper was a main cast member, and I personally found him much more likable in this show than I have found him in anything he has done since then. The show was better for him and suffered in his absence. This season also ended with perhaps the greatest television cliff-hanger of all time. Sydney Bristow, after having an intense and bloody battle with her arch nemesis wakes up in a strange street, only to be told by her boyfriend who is now married to another woman that two years has passed and everyone had assumed Sydney had been dead. What happened to Sydney in the last 2 years was a mystery the next season would explore.