I agree, a great episode and opening to the season.  I was worried that they wouldn't be able to capture the same feel as the first season, but they started it off right.  However, it has very similar aspects to ALIAS in how it has evolved, but I loved ALIAS so this doesn't bother me.

I'm a huuuuuuuuuge fan of Alias. But you do realize that a loooooooot of the story arcs and characters were cribbed from the La Femme Nikita right? Even though there are a ton of blatant rip-offs, it really didn't bother me because it was still a fun show to watch.