Thoughts on new V pilot
It could be the power of nostalgia, but I didn’t find the new pilot for “V” to be as intense or as creepy as the original. ”V” is a new ABC series detailing aliens who come to earth, professing peace, but with a dark secret. Spoilers ahead as in this review of last night’s episode.
While I like Elizabeth Mitchell, her character seemed pretty clueless about her own son (Logan Huffman), who immediately supports the visitors (largely because he’s attracted to the character played by Laura Vandervoort.)
Morena Baccarin plays Anna, the leader of the Visitors, who addresses the world first via their spaceships, and then later via a very controlled interview with a TV anchor played by Scott Wolf. Joel Grestch portrays priest Father Jack Landry, who finds his small congregation growing in size once the visitors arrive, though he still doubts their intentions.
As it turns out, the aliens aren’t here for the first time – some of them have been here in disguise for years. (Though at this time, only a small group are aware of this.) The infestation of the aliens prior to their arrival was a little too similar to Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” for my taste, though that’s obviously just coincidental.
Slate points out one interpretation reads as pretty hostile towards President Obama. (The original V was an allegory about the Nazi occupation of Europe.) In the new “V,” aliens promising hope and universal health care are scaly aliens with secret plans. Meanwhile, the only people who know the truth are gun-toting conspiracy theorists.
Troy Patterson writes at Slate:
Indeed, if the show is to have the symbolic import that we expect from a science-fiction story, this is the only possible way to read V as a coherent text. The only problem with this analysis lies in its generous presupposition that the text is, in fact, coherent.
And that’s a fair point: the old “V” showcased a thoughtful allegory in the guise of a high-action sci-fi miniseries. The new show showcases better special effects and higher production values, but I’m not convinced there’s even intended to be an allegory behind it.
ABC is airing the first four episodes this fall, then holding the remainder for spring. (Perhaps somehow like the original “V” aired as a miniseries and was followed up with a season.) I’m intrigued enough to watch a few, but so far this “V” doesn’t seem to improve appreciably on the original.
- Matt Price
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[...] It could be the power of nostalgia, but I didn’t find the new pilot for “V” to be as intense or as creepy as the original. ”V” is a new ABC series detailing aliens who come to earth, professing peace, but with a dark secret. Spoilers ahead as in this review of last night’s episode. <Read the full article> [...]