TV: The Alias timeline

So on last night's Alias (and I'll be coy about this so as not to spoil anything for you lazy bums who haven't watched it yet), toward the end of the second hour we see a headstone with the dates "1950-2004". We know from context that it marks a fairly recent burial -- within the last few months, at most. So that would mean the episode takes place during what we would consider present day, or as close to it as is possible in TV Land.

Well, wait a minute there. What the hell happened to the two years they skipped when Sydney went missing? You have to account for them somehow.

All last year, I had been assuming that after Sydney's return, the show had jumped forward two years into our future. But if that's not so, then that means everything prior to Sydney's disappearance happened two years in the past (relative to our present day when the episodes first aired... oh, you know what I mean). Which, check me if I'm wrong, those of you with DVDs of the first two seasons, clearly is not the case.

The show seems to have disregarded those two years entirely. Which is pretty sloppy, I have to say. If you're going to pull a stunt like that, then commit to it, damn your eyes!

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Also: how about those new opening credits? Personally, I don't care for the change to the music. And if I were any actor in the cast other than Jennifer Garner, I'd be pretty pissed. Their names don't even register, you're so absorbed in the "many faces of Sydney" slideshow. (A slideshow which I enjoyed greatly, because I am not one of the other actors on the show. Not even Greg Grunberg.)