Tonight, the Visitors return and we finally see what became of Anna’s burst of human emotion in the season 2 premiere of V.
When we last left the world, Erica had taken it upon herself (with the help of Joshua and Lisa) to do one thing you probably shouldn’t even do to a dictator alien that wears human skin – kill her children. Of course, that lizard-headed figure of fallacy deserved it – considering her intentions to take over the planet Earth.
That being said, not everyone made it out of the first season finale of V intact. Following Anna’s capture of Valerie and her unborn baby, Ryan had to watch as both his alien child was taken from him and his fiancé was murdered. Unfortunately things became even more complicated when Joshua revealed himself as being one of the Fifth Column. Even though Anna killed and then, er, unkilled Erica’s main alien contact, I’m sure that Joshua will never be the same freedom fighting reptile that he used to be.
As for Lisa and Tyler, these two love birds need to sit down and have a discussion. With Lisa forming an alliance with Erica to take down Anna, and Tyler becoming completely engulfed in Anna’s rhetoric, it’s only a matter of time before things take a turn for the worse.
With Red Sky unleashed on the planet, the world is on the brink of war and there is chaos all around. Ryan is being kept in isolation on the mothership since Anna wants to experiment on his hybrid baby. Seeking redemption for being used by Anna, Chad wants to fight with the Fifth Column. Erica goes on a journey to find a scientist who can give her the answers to what Red Sky is and it’s there she learns the horrifying secret of what the Visitors are planning to do.
With the revelation of “red sky” at the hands Anna’s burst of human emotion, the second season of V begins with a more angry tone. Gone is the general acceptance from the public that highlighted much of the first season. Something such as this is an interesting and welcoming move that certainly sets the feeling and pace as the series ventures into what might be its final season.
Of course, the aggressive focus is one that could not last, as it would prematurely progress the series story-arc beyond the central focus, so that element is quickly removed. While the proverbial “pep-talk” from Anna to cover her underlying intentions with “red sky” was a little simplistic, it felt well within the character’s obvious traits.
Unfortunately, this was not the only thing that felt simplistic. In the first season’s series finale, many of the main characters went through intense emotional hardship. When we visit them in the second season premiere, those elemental references are somewhat touched upon, but generally not given the focus that they needed.
Instead of dedicating a specific amount of time to highlight any of the personal struggles that Erica, Ryan, Joshua, Lisa, Tyler, Chad or Anna are currently dealing with or attempting to overcome, each character was given their own minute scene to provide some kind of personal perspective and halfhearted progression. After that, the focus returned to the general “bigger picture” storylines, with multiple characters in each scene and their personal struggles highlighted, but mostly hidden.
With that, one cannot mention “bigger picture” storylines without touching upon the highly anticipated reveal of what the adult Visitors look like beneath their skin covering (not to mention a Visitor skeleton). On both accounts, the long-awaited reveal was everything that fans of the series could hope for. They revealed more than enough to satisfy all those interested, all while providing the skeletal base to help fans completely picture the actual reptile-based Visitor in their mind.
At first glance, the use of a much younger actor to portray the lab-rat Tripp Donovan (who found the Visitor skeleton) seemed a bit odd compared to the general make-up of our familiar Fifth Column segment. Fortunately after a few interesting scenes and copious amounts of scientific dialogue with the word “phosphorus” in it, the character felt like one of the team.
Unfortunately, the continual references to this sage chemical element is still one of the weakest elements of the entire series. Despite the fact that the series completely explains the reasoning and purpose behind it, there’s still something odd about aliens relying solely on something that is part of household baking powder.
Despite rattling off numerous faults of the season 2 premiere of V, the episode was actually a great start to the second season. Sure, certain elements were missing, but that can happen with any series. What’s important is that what made it to the screen is not only entertaining and intriguing, but also provides the audience a bit of uneasy anticipation about what’s to come and a touch of excitement about actually seeing it when it does.
In that respect, V delivers completely… they just had best not do this every week. (Which they don’t. The subsequent episodes that I’ve seen are completely enjoyable and have few faults.)
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V airs Tuesdays @9pm, on ABC
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