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V 2009: A Pale Imitator
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To this point, my opinion regarding this sci-fi remake is in the critical minority. While I don’t think V is terrible, I’m far from blown away. The ratings for weeks 2 & 3, compared to the ratings for the pilot, suggest I’m not alone in being underwhelmed.
According to Nielsen Media, the V pilot attracted 14.3 million viewers; although week 2 remained strong in the 18-49 demographic, viewership dropped to 10.6 million. In week 3, viewership dropped to 9.26 million. Despite the dramatic declines (especially between the pilot and week 2), the numbers remain solid to this point. With only one episode remaining in 2009, barring some major ratings catastrophe in week 4, it’s probably safe to assume V will return in 2010. I’ll be extremely interested to see the numbers for week 4 though and I can’t help wondering if V’s slide will continue when the series resumes in 2010.
Admittedly, the story gained considerable momentum beginning in week 2. FBI Agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch) barely escaped with their lives as week 2 opened. The secret, supposed terrorist-cell meeting they attended in the pilot (which was, in actuality, a meeting of the visitor-resistance movement) ended with an ambush by the alien visitors; in a cruel twist, Erica’s partner of seven years, Dale Maddox (Alan Tudyk), proved to be a visitor in disguise and is among the aliens who launched the surprise raid.
At the end of the pilot, Erica and Jack found themselves trapped in their own lives, suddenly aware the visitors have been on Earth far longer than previously guessed, slowly infiltrating human institutions. Virtually anyone could be an alien sleeper agent and, to this point, Erica and Jack don’t know who to trust.
Erica returns to the Bureau and finds herself in the middle of the investigation into Dale’s disappearance by a special team—an especially precarious circumstance since she herself killed him during the alien raid. Or did she?
In week 3 we learn that Dale in fact survived Erica’s attack and is recuperating aboard one of the alien motherships currently hovering over earth. He suffers temporary amnesia though and spends episode 3 recalling his undercover life among humans and who attacked him.
In the end, Dale’s able to recall everything; however, in a nice twist, the alien guiding his recovery is a secret agent for a group called the fifth column. The fifth column is a group of alien rebels working to thwart the visitors’ plans for Earth; beyond that, nothing else is known about them. The secret agent working with Dale gleans Dale’s information and then kills him.
Meanwhile, Father Jack, after returning to his parish, struggles with a crisis of faith among his parishioners caused by the visitors’ god-like ability to heal human-beings of previously hopeless illness and disease. Regardless, he continues working to find allies against the visitors using Erica’s stolen FBI task-force list. In episode 3 he successfully makes contact with one of the fifth column’s leaders. By the end of week 3, through an alliance with the fifth column, it seems as if Erica and Father Jack will eventually cobble together a successful resistance movement.
V’s strength lies in its integration of current, real-world concerns regarding terrorism, religion and globalization. The disguised aliens are easily analogous to Al Qaeda sleeper agents. This is the kind of real-world parallel frequently employed in good sci-fi; V abounds with that potential throughout its various plot threads.
Tyler Evans (Logan Huffman), for example—Erica's son—has promised to stay away from the visitors. He’s secretly working behind his mother’s back though, to become an alien ‘peace ambassador,’ unaware of the visitors’ true intentions. A flash of temper and an assault on an anti-visitor protestor near the visitors’ compound leave his status in the program in doubt in week 2.
Beautiful visitor Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) speaks on his behalf though and gets him back into the program in week 3. Lisa was a deep mystery in week 2. In week 3 however, we learn she’s actually the daughter of Anna—the visitor ambassador to Earth—which puts a new perspective on her relationship with Tyler. Her attraction to him is almost certainly a ruse. She and her mother will likely use Tyler to gain the trust of as many humans as possible.
The only hope for Tyler is that Lisa’s feelings could grow into genuine affection; in that event, one could envision a kind of Romeo-and-Juliet scenario where both are torn between loyalty to species and loyalty to each other. And how will Tyler’s relationship with Lisa ultimately affect Erica’s plans?
Despite V’s potential though, at this point, it feels sterile and packaged compared to the original; it certainly lacks the epic quality and horror-genre vibe of the 80s version and often plays like the adaptation of some mediocre young-adult novel. Though it makes for an interesting Tuesday-night diversion, I could easily live without the new V; I’m doubtful this series could ever generate the kind of devotion for me a show like Lost has engendered.
The writing will tell. In many ways, this update is competing against the original ’80s version. Unless the writers can come up fresh and novel updates to the story that continuously take viewers in new, unexpected directions compared to the original, the new V will, in the end, likely come off like a pale, unnecessary imitator.
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