Ten years ago a little show called Alias ended its first season with a shocking cliffhanger. After dealing with a mysterious Big Bad simply referred to as "the Man" all season long, Sydney Bristow finally came face-to-face with her foe, only to utter that now classic final line: "Mom?"

The finale of that brilliant J.J. Abrams series one decade ago is fresh in my mind today because lately that's turned out to be a very popular trend. In the past two weeks, ABC's Revenge and CBS' Hawaii Five-0 have ended with virtually the same cliffhanger.

Hawaii Five-0 took an almost identical approach to Alias, right down to the final scene of Steve McGarrett looking at the mysterious Shellburne (off camera, of course) and saying "Mom?"

Meanwhile, Revenge's first season ended with a number of cliffhangers. Charlotte ODed on pills, Victoria and Lydia's plane crashed (but everyone who saw the Veronica Mars season 2 finale knows Victoria probably got off the plane at the last minute), Amanda Clarke returned carrying Jack's baby (allegedly, on both the pregnancy and paternity fronts), Daniel seemingly considered hooking up with Ashley and, in the big final moment, Nolan revealed to Emily that her mother is still alive.

I must admit that "Let it play" was the kind of bad-ass final line I've come to expect from Revenge, but now the mystery is: What is the deal with Emily's mom? The woman who we thought was dead is clearly tied up in the big Americon Initiative conspiracy. Is the show going to mirror Alias that specifically and have Emily's mom turn out to be the person in charge of the plot against Emily's dad?

Whether Revenge follows the Alias roadmap for returning mystery mommies won't be clear for some time, but what we do know is that both Revenge and Hawaii Five-0 now have the exciting task of casting two very big roles. Surely playing the mother to both of these lead characters is something many actresses of a certain age will want to do.

Obviously Lena Olin, the original Spy Mommy from Alias, would be the coolest choice. For Revenge, another brilliant TV homage would be Patricia Wettig, who played star Emily VanCamp's mom on Brothers and Sisters. While the fanboy inside of me would love either of those casting choices, they might be a little too meta.

Whoever they get, bringing Emily's mother into the fold is a great way for Revenge to amp up its Revenge-y goodness in season 2. What actress would you cast in the role?


(Image courtesy of ABC)