Marshall Flinkman

Marshall J. Flinkman, is a fictional character on the television series, Alias. Flinkman, played by Kevin Weisman, is the tech geek at SD-6 and then later the CIA. When a field agent is sent on a mission, Marshall serves in a function similar to Q from the James Bond films: as a creator and proprietor of seemingly eccentric but incredibly useful gadgets.

Bio

Marshall has an equally eccentric personality to go along with his work. He is also socially inept, having a tendency to speak very rapidly, often babbling about tangential subjects in the middle of technical briefings (before someone impatiently brings Marshall back on to the topic at hand). He has a fondness for unnecessary visual aids when giving a presentation, once even playing a full drum set to make a point (actor Weisman is in a Rock band). However, his expertise in almost any subject imaginable is unparalleled, being well-versed in robotics, chemistry, acoustics, electronics, biometrics, explosives, computer networks and many other subjects.

Starting in the second season, Marshall met his love interest, an NSA agent with similar geekish tendencies, Carrie Bowman. Eventually the two got married and had a child, Mitchell.

During the third season, Marshall experiences great character growth, realizing that most people do not understand quantum entanglement, understanding how he appears to others and offering suggestions for operations (which are implemented without comment). At the conclusion of the third season, Marshall is shot and seriously wounded by Lauren Reed. By the start of the fourth season (several months later in the timeframe of the series), he has fully recovered from his injuries and is recruited into the new Authorized Personnel Only (APO) black ops offshoot of the CIA.

Marshall serves as comic relief for the Alias series, but has some serious moments when he is worried about those he cares about, including Sydney, but mostly revolving around Carrie and Mitchell. Marshall has also discovered how hard it is to lie to those he loves, having to keep his job at APO a secret even from his wife (who appears to no longer be working for the NSA by the fourth season).

Marshall rarely works as a field operative, and then only when his expertise in computers is required. In the fourth season episode "Tuesday", he is forced to go on a solo mission to rescue Sydney, who has been buried alive somewhere in Cuba, after the rest of APO is incapacitated when a biological agent released by an enemy forces a lockdown of headquarters. Marshall, delayed in arriving at HQ due to a problem with his baby, avoids being caught in the lockdown and becomes the only APO agent able to save Sydney. Later in the mission, he accidentally shoots and kills an enemy agent; it is not made clear whether this is the first time he has killed anyone before.

Carrie Bowman

Carrie Bowman, played by Amanda Foreman, is an NSA agent and wife of Marshall Flinkman.

Carrie is introduced in Season 3, where she worked at the CIA headquarters in Los Angeles with Marshall. Eventually the two formed a relationship that resulted in marriage and the birth of their son, Mitchell. This, of course, happened in typical Marshall fashion. The two decided that they were to be wed before the birth of the baby, but Carrie began to go into labor in the middle of an important mission. Marshall quickly enlists Eric Weiss to become legally ordained online (through the "United Church of Mammals") so that he can marry the two (while Marshall continues to guide Sydney and Vaughn through their mission), bolting at the last second to take his wife to the hospital.

Carrie is strong-willed and tends to get her way in disputes with her husband, and though she tries to keep him in check with her quick wit and sarcasm, they ultimately balance each other out and love one another deeply.

As of Season 4, Carrie seems to have given up her NSA job to take care of Mitchell. She is currently unaware that Marshall still works for the CIA since APO is Black-Ops and he is under orders to keep it secret. She has, thus far, only appeared in one fourth season episode, "Tuesday".

External links

• ABC: Marshall Flinkman Profile (http://abc.go.com/primetime/alias/profiles/cia_flinkman.html)