*Spoiler Warning*

ABC’s remake of V has got to be one of the best pilots of the last few years. It’s not brilliant or anything– it’s your basic alien invasion premise with a few twists– but it’s extremely competent television storytelling. The trap most pilots fall in is contriving a cookie cutter plot in order to force character development for the main characters. V uses those characters in very effective ways to tell real story.

Aliens land on Earth and they look just like humans, except they’re all very attractive humans. They claim to be peaceful and try to start improving the world, sharing technology and curing people of various illnesses. But by the end of the episode, we find out that the aliens are actually reptillian creatures who clone human skin and wear it to hide their true appearence. We also find that this isn’t the first time they’ve come to Earth, and that they have infiltrated every facet of society– revealing themselves is the beginning of the final phase of their plan to destroy us. The mystery we’re left with is why exactly they want humanity dead, and why they’re keeping us alive for now.

A lot of really interesting questions and ideas are raised when the aliens show up. One scene toward the beginning shows two priests talking about whether it’s possible for God and aliens to exist in the same universe and what this means for Catholocism. The younger priest, despite the Church’s official viewpoint that the aliens are peaceful creatures sent by God, tells his congregation not to blindly trust the Vs (everyone calls them V’s, as it’s short for “visitor”). That’s good advice– another interesting subplot involves a TV reporter who is chosen by the Vs the interview Anna, their leader. The catch is, she won’t allow him to ask her any questions that paint the Vs in a negative light. He resists this, but finally agrees when she reminds him what this will do for his career– he ultimately agrees to be Anna’s voice to the people of Earth. And there’s an excellent reveal about a man who, though we’re told he has a dark past, when that past is finally revealed, I never saw it coming.

The show has a great cast of recognizable sci-fi alumn, including two Firefly crossovers, Morena Baccarin (Anara from Firefly, who plays the very creepy Anna here) and Alan Tudyk (Wash). The female lead is Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost, and one of the Vs is played by Laura Vandervoort, who was Supergirl in season 7 of Smallville.

After so many shows that string the audience on, just trying to stretch an arc for 22 episodes, it’s refreshing to see a pilot that gets so much done in one episode. It’s thought-provoking and entertaining without beating you over the head every few minutes with some overbearing message or constantly reminding you about things you’ve aleady been told, just in case you’re too stupid not to remember (as Flash Forward has a tendancy to do). The characters here feel like real people, and there’s also real intrigue and social commentary. I don’t know if it can keep up this level of story-telling, or if it will even be popular enough to stay on the air, but so far, I’m sold.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

Tags: ABC, Elizabeth Mitchell, flash forward, Laura Vandervoort, Morena Baccarin, Review, Sci-Fi, Television, V

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under Capt Logan, Movies, Sci-Fi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.