Written by Samantha
November 15, 2010
When I was a kid, I loved V. Alien lizards, alien lizard babies, rat eating... what's not to love, right? While the concept is the same, this V is not that V. It's a slightly watered down version of the original V. Think of it as V-lite.
That doesn't mean that it's not good, because it is... sort of. Granted, it took about 10 episodes for the show to get good, but that's okay. When you're dealing with a reimagined series, things are pretty hit (Battlestar Galactica) and miss (Bionic Woman). This show walks the fine line between the two.
We all know the story, right? Aliens who call themselves Visitors invade Earth, promising Great Things. The Visitors have a hidden agenda that only a handful of people known as the Fifth Column seem to be aware of. The Visitors continue to impress the humans with Shiny Things, and the Fifth Column attempt to take down the Big Bad Aliens.
This V has a couple things going for it. Take Elizabeth Mitchell as FBI agent Erica EVans, for instance. I don't think that I've ever not liked Elizabeth Mitchell in a role. I like her in this role, even if her character is a tad annoying at times (see any and all interaction with her son, Tyler (Logan Huffman)). She gets many ass-kicking opportunities, and who doesn't like that?
Firefly's Morena Baccarin does a fair job at playing the 'villain,' as the Visitor's High Commander, Anna. Anna has the humans fooled into believing that she is "of peace, always," yet she displays no qualms when beating up a family member to prove a point. She is so decidedly evil that you can't help but love her just a little bit.
There are also a few things that the show could probably do without. Erica's son Tyler is kind of a brat. He essentially does what he wants because, as he says, his mother has never been there for him - even though she's a single mom trying to raise a self-important child. He (of course) falls in love with a Visitor (played by Laura Vandervoort), and we learn that Anna has big things planned for him.
Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) is a journalist that becomes a tool that Anna uses to manipulate the humans. He is one of the show's main characters that you're never really able to figure out. Is he on Anna's side? Does he believe the Fifth Column? Does he have a side other than his own? Maybe it's just me, but I think that Chad Decker is seriously lacking in character development.
All in all, V appears to be on the right track. I'll probably stick with it, assuming I don't forget about it before the season two premiere in January.
