Character Essay: Julian Sark
This is an essay I've written for jjverse. Took me like an hour! And because of that I'm uploading one of those Sark icons I've had on my comp for ages and never bothered adding. :D
Sark. Simply put, he is the very reason I got into fandom. Because how could I continue to lurk after seeing the episode Dead Drop? I just couldn’t!
Wasn’t that scene amazing? It encapsulated everything I would love about the character. His snark, his charm, his trying to lure our hero Sydney Bristow over to his side, his bad ass fight skills, his thinking on his feet. Perfect.
But here I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the beginning. Season one.
Season One: He literally walked onto our screens guns blazing. He was the crooked lipped ,baby faced killer, who had no qualms about taking down the FTL leadership not only in broad daylight, but right on camera. How… intriguing.
The rest of the season would hold some other very interesting scenes for the character, but my favorite, by far, was one that he wasn’t even in! Because what could beat the knowledge that the man loved fine wine so much that he took the risk to drink some (which just so happened to be laced with radioactive isotopes), but was also smart enough to get a blood transformation to throw his pursuers off his trail? Not much I say!
And that moment made the character rather unforgettable for me.
I suppose it did for other as well, because, Sark went from being a minor character to being one of the main attractions of season two. Hell, David Anders was supposed to only guest star or a few eps and he was so good that he made us fall in love with the bad guy AND stuck around until the shows end.
Side Note: As I type this I’m now realizing that my two favorite JJ characters/ JJ actors (the other being Ben Linus/Michael Emerson) were just supposed to be guest stars. Cool fact. :D
Season Two: Now season two was were I went from being intrigued by the character to being in love with the character. In it, he was everything I wanted him to be. He came across as Sydney’s dark counterpoint and her equal. He wasn’t just some bad guy that Sydney could toss aside and move on from completely unscathed. He gave her a challenge and he made things interesting. For this, Counteragent will always be my favorite Alias episode, not because of the Sydney/Vaughn shipper element that some seem to love, but because… well, Sark totally one up-ed and tricked Sydney Bristow and she so didn’t see it coming! One of my favorite moments of the show was always seeing her face when Sark walked into SD-6 after she had ‘killed’ one Arvin Sloane. And the expression Sark gave her in return? Priceless!
To me, that was good spy intrigue and man, the banter those two shared back and forth for the rest of the season made my year. I loved it. They had a total UST thing going on and I shipped it so hard! It was fun yet it was dark and angsty (which my ships tend to be)! I was willing to put myself smack dap in the middle of a shipper war and say ’You know what? I love these two! And I don’t give a damn what any of you think’. It was awful and wonderful all at once.
He was mysterious. We didn’t even know his first name! And most importantly you were never quite sure where his loyalties lay, though he seemed fiercely loyal to Irina. I loved that. Because one was left thinking that if Irina might be good what did that mean about Sark? I loved guessing, I loved coming up with theories. How, if at all, did he play into the whole spy kid thing? What about the remorse he seemed to show at times? We (people at the SD-1 message board) talked and talked and talked about it for hours! Those were some great times.
Season 3 and on: Soon, the answers started to come. We learned a bit about his past. We learned that his name was Julian (OH THE SQUEE THAT WAS HAD!) Sark got a girlfriend or two. We got to see his ‘crush’ or Sydney play out, but I admit he (and the show as a whole) was never as good as he was in those two first seasons for me.
I was left disappointed… more with the show then the character, but I wasn’t happy with what I called the ‘dumbing down of Sark.’ I was going through my first and most harsh ‘fandom breakup.’ I was left sulking and swearing up and down that I’d never watch another JJ show again…until I learned that Dominic Monaghan was going to be in that new show of his that looked pretty damn good! Then I was like: ‘Well, I’ll give it a try! Just a few eps and if I don’t like it, I’m out for good!’
The Now: But you know what? Even with that less then happily fandom ending, Sark still is my second favorite JJ character ever. That says a lot. Everything I loved about him in those first two seasons still stands and I still adore David Anders to this day and get excited to see him on basically anything (que me grinning like a babbling idiot when he popped up on heroes, etc, etc). And I could go on and on about the friends I made through loving this character and how I wouldn’t have had eight year long friendships with said really awesome people and how without making those friends, I’d likely never would have been on live journal… and would likely not being writing this essay.
.
I could go on and gush and gush, but I’ll stop here before I make a fool of myself. I’ll get say that Sark is an awesome character and in way, a life changing one for me.
Sark. Simply put, he is the very reason I got into fandom. Because how could I continue to lurk after seeing the episode Dead Drop? I just couldn’t!
Wasn’t that scene amazing? It encapsulated everything I would love about the character. His snark, his charm, his trying to lure our hero Sydney Bristow over to his side, his bad ass fight skills, his thinking on his feet. Perfect.
But here I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the beginning. Season one.
Season One: He literally walked onto our screens guns blazing. He was the crooked lipped ,baby faced killer, who had no qualms about taking down the FTL leadership not only in broad daylight, but right on camera. How… intriguing.
The rest of the season would hold some other very interesting scenes for the character, but my favorite, by far, was one that he wasn’t even in! Because what could beat the knowledge that the man loved fine wine so much that he took the risk to drink some (which just so happened to be laced with radioactive isotopes), but was also smart enough to get a blood transformation to throw his pursuers off his trail? Not much I say!
And that moment made the character rather unforgettable for me.
I suppose it did for other as well, because, Sark went from being a minor character to being one of the main attractions of season two. Hell, David Anders was supposed to only guest star or a few eps and he was so good that he made us fall in love with the bad guy AND stuck around until the shows end.
Side Note: As I type this I’m now realizing that my two favorite JJ characters/ JJ actors (the other being Ben Linus/Michael Emerson) were just supposed to be guest stars. Cool fact. :D
Season Two: Now season two was were I went from being intrigued by the character to being in love with the character. In it, he was everything I wanted him to be. He came across as Sydney’s dark counterpoint and her equal. He wasn’t just some bad guy that Sydney could toss aside and move on from completely unscathed. He gave her a challenge and he made things interesting. For this, Counteragent will always be my favorite Alias episode, not because of the Sydney/Vaughn shipper element that some seem to love, but because… well, Sark totally one up-ed and tricked Sydney Bristow and she so didn’t see it coming! One of my favorite moments of the show was always seeing her face when Sark walked into SD-6 after she had ‘killed’ one Arvin Sloane. And the expression Sark gave her in return? Priceless!
To me, that was good spy intrigue and man, the banter those two shared back and forth for the rest of the season made my year. I loved it. They had a total UST thing going on and I shipped it so hard! It was fun yet it was dark and angsty (which my ships tend to be)! I was willing to put myself smack dap in the middle of a shipper war and say ’You know what? I love these two! And I don’t give a damn what any of you think’. It was awful and wonderful all at once.
He was mysterious. We didn’t even know his first name! And most importantly you were never quite sure where his loyalties lay, though he seemed fiercely loyal to Irina. I loved that. Because one was left thinking that if Irina might be good what did that mean about Sark? I loved guessing, I loved coming up with theories. How, if at all, did he play into the whole spy kid thing? What about the remorse he seemed to show at times? We (people at the SD-1 message board) talked and talked and talked about it for hours! Those were some great times.
Season 3 and on: Soon, the answers started to come. We learned a bit about his past. We learned that his name was Julian (OH THE SQUEE THAT WAS HAD!) Sark got a girlfriend or two. We got to see his ‘crush’ or Sydney play out, but I admit he (and the show as a whole) was never as good as he was in those two first seasons for me.
I was left disappointed… more with the show then the character, but I wasn’t happy with what I called the ‘dumbing down of Sark.’ I was going through my first and most harsh ‘fandom breakup.’ I was left sulking and swearing up and down that I’d never watch another JJ show again…until I learned that Dominic Monaghan was going to be in that new show of his that looked pretty damn good! Then I was like: ‘Well, I’ll give it a try! Just a few eps and if I don’t like it, I’m out for good!’
The Now: But you know what? Even with that less then happily fandom ending, Sark still is my second favorite JJ character ever. That says a lot. Everything I loved about him in those first two seasons still stands and I still adore David Anders to this day and get excited to see him on basically anything (que me grinning like a babbling idiot when he popped up on heroes, etc, etc). And I could go on and on about the friends I made through loving this character and how I wouldn’t have had eight year long friendships with said really awesome people and how without making those friends, I’d likely never would have been on live journal… and would likely not being writing this essay.
.
I could go on and gush and gush, but I’ll stop here before I make a fool of myself. I’ll get say that Sark is an awesome character and in way, a life changing one for me.