ORBzine - V (2009) TV Review

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V (2009)

Season 1
V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 1] Pilot
Shown 03/Nov/09

This is the long-feared remake of the classic 1980s show. What took hours of suspense in the original series is now reduced to 42 minutes of exposition.

FBI Agent Elizabeth Mitchell and her partner (Alan Tudyk - Firefly ) investigate secret goings-on. It seems that there is a dirty little undercover war going on, with human vigilantes against aliens-disguised-as-humans.

Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) had his faith tested when giant flying saucers park themselves in orbit around the globe. Yes, enormous alien spacecraft hover over 29 major cities around Earth, sparking much comment. At least they have the decency to point out that Independence Day ripped off numerous other Sci-Fi works!

The Aliens offer Free Universal Health-care, possibly a vicious slander on Obama's Health-care Bill. But then, since most countries feel that health-care is just another part of government infrastructure (like the police, military, etc) we probably should not make a big deal out of it.

Visitor leader Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) tries to gain the trust of the Earth Media through unsubtle manipulation. Tyler, the Feebie woman's son, wants to befriend hot alien babe Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ).

Some people are naturally distrustful of the aliens. The Feebies investigate domestic terrorists, and uncover the First Wave . Yes, the Visitors have been walking among us for some time, using cloned human tissue instead of rubber masks.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 2] There Is No Normal Anymore
Shown 10/Nov/09

Aliens have landed, but the FBI is too busy looking for missing agent Alan Tudyk ( Serenity ). His wife ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) may be the key to finding out what happened to him.

The Lady Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) and the priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) evade capture. But who can they trust?

The Vees have a seemingly benign agenda, like the Taelons in Season One of Earth: Final Conflict . They want passports so they can legally visit Earth ...

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 3] A Bright New Day
Shown 17/Nov/09

The Fed's Visitor Partner is still alive. He is on the mothership, having his memories harvested. The Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) and the priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) try to find the other Resistance survivors.

The Fed's son, Tyler, brings Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) the Hitler Youth babe home. She has to take her uniform off before the Fed sees it.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 4] It's Only the Beginning
Shown 24/Nov/09

The Visitors open Healing Centres. Their plan, typical of this kind of thing, is to spread an alien poison among the humans who visit it.

The Resistance Cell locate the Visitor warehouse, to blow it up.

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) is closing in on the Fifth Column leader, John May. Tyler meets Ana, and sees her give the Visitors Bliss.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 5] Welcome to the War
Shown 30/Mar/10

The Visitor warehouse guard sniffs out the Resistance cell, although he does not bother to tell his boss where they live! The Visitors frame a super-mercenary for the warehouse bombing. Their target is an Aussie Merc with the real Ham Tyler's resume, although the Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) regards him as a terrorist-for-hire. However, he would be an ideal recruit to their cell. This is a far cry from the FDR substitute that Kenneth Johnston intended in the original show!

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) decides to create her own army. She breeds with the best soldier she can find - but not in a glamourous Jane Badler kind of way.

The Fifth Columnist's human wife ( Lourdes Benedicto ) is pregnant too. And she also has cravings for live food ...

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 6] Pound of Flesh
Shown 06/Apr/10

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) is going to make another broadcast. The Resistance decide to send the Fifth Columnist aboard the Mother-ship to hack the communications system and upload a message of their own.

The Fifth Columnist's pregnant wife ( Lourdes Benedicto ) needs phosphorus supplements. Instead of suggesting she eat more bananas or whatever, the doctor ( Lexa Doig ) suggests he steal supplements from the Mother-ship.

The Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) takes her son to see his dad (Nicholas Lea - X-Files ) in an effort to subtly dissuade him from hanging around with the Visitors. Will this be enough to keep him away from Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort )?

The priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) contacts the journalist fellow. He subtly reinforces the hack's hunch that something is wrong.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 7] John May
Shown 13/Apr/10

One of the Resistance is a prisoner aboard the mother-ship. The others need the Fifth column to help rescue him, so they go looking for John May's communication device. They recruit his son. However, the Visitor has flashbacks to his murky past with John May.

Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) visits Tyler at his dad's place. She stirs things up with great subtlety, driving the two men apart by revealing a hidden secret.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 8] We Can't Win
Shown 20/Apr/10

Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) takes the Empathy test ... and fails. Tyler runs away from his own home so he can meet up with her.

The Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) is called in when a Resistance cell is wiped out by a Visitor assassin. She has to track down the only survivor, then set a trap for the killers before the entire network is destroyed.

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) offers free energy to the United Nations. They are sceptical, because the influx of new technology is destroying the human economies. She tries to manipulate the politicians.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 9] Heretic's Fork
Shown 27/Apr/10

The Visitors seem to be the good guys. They seem to help people, after all, while the human Fifth Column (not called the Resistance yet) enjoy using torture on their victims.

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) discovers the hybrid pregnancy, and sends a Soldier to retrieve the foetus. The Soldier is predictably unkillable, and the Fifth Column now realises that Ana has thousands of eggs.

This is the end of the baby arc, but the Reporter arc is just starting to kick off.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 10] Hearts and Minds
Shown 04/May/10

The ep starts with the Resistance accidentally killing a group of humans. Then we get an extended flashback to the start of the story, a day earlier.

The Fifth Column gets word out that Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) is sending a Tracker team. The Resistance decide to hit it with a shoulder-launched SAM, with a bit of techno-babble to modify it. The priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) has a crisis of conscience. The FBI launch an investigation - and as we know from the first ep, any one of them might be a Visitor sleeper agent.

Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) realises the nature of the medical experiments the stay-aboard humans are subjected to. Her human emotions have been growing, and she wants to protect Tyler. But Ana is willing to go to extreme lengths to get Tyler to stay aboard the Mothership.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 11] Fruition
Shown 11/May/10

Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) is hospitalised, the apparent victim of a beating by the Fifth Column. She identifies the only two photos the FBI show her - the Aussie Merc, and a Pentagon scientist (the Doctor from Stargate: Atlantis ). This is completely opposed to real FBI procedure because it taints the witness's identification, but accuracy in police procedure is the least of this show's problems.

The Aussie Merc sets out to track down the scientist who was framed. It turns out that the scientist accidentaly developed an anti-Visitor weapon (red dust?), Of course, the Aussie Merc has an agenda of his own!

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) pushes the reporter's psychological buttons. She wants him to reveal his source on the Fifth Column ...

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 12] Red Sky
Shown 18/May/10

The rebels must destroy the Visitor army before it hatches. Luckily, Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) invites the lady Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) up for dinner.

The priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) gives the reporter a message for Joshua. Unfortunately, despite knowing that Ana must have every suspect under surveillance the idiots expose their entire network!

The Aussie merc stages a meeting with Ana's sidekick as a distraction. He learns how much the Visitors know about him - which is both good and bad.

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V (2009)
V (2009) V (2009) [Season 1, Episode 10]
Shown th October 2010 [Wednesday]

V (2009)

Season 2
V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 1] Red Rain
Shown 04/Jan/11

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) uses Visitor science to turn the skies red. The humans protest, and the FBI woman's son Tyler is injured in a riot. Instead of taking him to a human hospital, she takes him to Ana's mothership! This leaves him vulnerable to Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ).

The TV Journalist begs forgiveness of the priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ). He tells what he saw on the Mothership, of the experiments being done on the live-aboards. The Rebels go to the local Uni, and conscript Grad-student Reaper . He fills in the blanks about the V agenda.

The Visitors have surveillance agents called trackers - free-runners who burst into flames when they die. But Reaper has a Visitor skeleton on display. Yes, apparently some of them DON'T burn up like in The Invaders !

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 2] Serpent's Tooth
Shown 11/Jan/11

The lady Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) follows up on her suspicions that the Visitors tampered with Tyler while he was still unborn.

Someone has set up a network of suicide bombers - one cell in every city the Visitors have a Mothership over! But unlike Fifth Column (four pretty people in a basement) they have made an impact. And like the rebels in Battlestar Galactica , they target human collaborators! The priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) is shocked to learn that his anti-Visitor rants have inspired at least one of the bombers. He tries to make amends by teaching Token Black Guy about the human soul.

Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) sets her FBI mole on the case, and blackmails her double agent (Token Black Guy) into helping. She also talks to her Oracle of wisdom - Diana ( Jane Badler ), whom she imprisoned after rebelling sixteen years previously. Diana was apparently infected with human emotion by her human skin. This makes her a liability as a leader, but also gives Ana access to someone with some actual expertise and experience.

With a Visitor spy and a Fifth Columnist working as partners in the FBI, who will blow their cover first?

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 3] Laid Bare
Shown 18/Jan/11

Our heroine discovers a mole in the FBI. She manages to save herself, but the Visitors start to investigate. They have a second Mole - one within the Fifth Column themselves.

On the Mothership, Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) is showing signs of ovulation. Her mother Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) is the only person she can go to for advice. But Mommy Dearest is secretly keeping grandma Diana ( Jane Badler ) prisoner, and uses her for advice.

Ana wants to dissect the human soul. She arranges for her undercover minions in NYC to abduct suitable human test subjects.

Ana sends her TV reporter minion to interview the priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ). Yes, he is now on her radar - and that is not a good thing. Worse, Tyler wants to help Ana against the priest.

V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 4] Unholy Alliance
Shown 01/Feb/11

Eli Cohen (Oded Fehr - The Mummy ) has his goons kill a trio of teenage collaborators. Everyone seems to blame the priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ) for preaching sermons that are perceived as anti-Visitor.

They all take a different approach.

  • Tyler and his V-loving buddies smash up the church, and spray "V" on the walls in red paint. Oh, the irony!
  • Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) visits the Vatican, where she attempts to strong-arm the Pope into endorsing the alien invasion and condemning any priest who speaks freely according to his conscience. The Cardinals will also have to disavow the preacher, and anyone else accused of anti-Visitor rhetoric. One of the priests plays office politics, blocking Ana's plans. It turns out he is a Visitor infiltrator, and his loyalty is to Diana ( Jane Badler ) rather than Ana.
  • The new FBI agent takes Erica Evans ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) to interrogate the priest, Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch - Taken, The 4400 ). Her new partner is an old buddy played by Jay Karnes, familiar as an LAPD Detective in The Shield, a CIA goon in Burn Notice and a BATF Agent in Sons of Anarchy.
  • Eli Cohen reaches out to make contact with the Father, since everyone assumes he supports Eli Cohen's methods. This leads to an invite to join forces. Yes, while the Vatican makes an Unholy Alliance with Ana the Resistance can make one with a killer.
    • V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 5] Concordia
    Shown 08/Feb/11

    Token black guy decides to assassinate Ana ( Morena Baccarin ), and gets Eli Cohen (Oded Fehr - The Mummy ) in to help. But something is bound to go wrong. Which member of the conspiracy is the weak link?

    Luckily, when Ana makes her next public appearance in NYC it is the FBI who are in charge of security. The good news is that Erica Evans ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) and her new partner (Jay Karnes - Sons of Anarchy) are in charge of security. The bad news is that Erica's son Tyler is loyal to the Visitors so she calls in her ex-husband (Nicholas Lea - X-Files ) to help out with the parenting stuff.

    V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 6] Siege
    Shown 15/Feb/11

    Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) sends her best agent after Eli Cohen (Oded Fehr - The Mummy ). This ends up in a siege situation, with Eli and his men cornered. Rather than deploy her Visitor forces, Ana chooses to use expendable assets - humans!

    What sets this ep aside is the real sense of jeopardy. We all know the regular cast will be unharmed, but guest-star characters like Eli Cohen and the FBI woman's ex-husband (Nicholas Lea - X-Files ) are a different matter.

    V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 7] Birth Pangs
    Shown 22/Feb/11

    Tyler is prepped for his first space-flight. But Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) has a backup plan in case he does not meet her standards. Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) is unhappy with this, secretly turning to Grandma for help. As always with the Visitors, they all have their own secret agenda.

    The heroes link up with the other Human Fifth Column cells. Can the Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) win the confidence of the other cell-leaders? They get a lead on the Gynie who worked on Tyler before he was born. She gets a spectacular set-piece, but this is overshadowed by the revelation of the Visitor plot.

    V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 8] Uneasy Lies the Head
    Shown 01/Mar/11

    Ana's pet project, the 29 selected human males, start to die off from a mysterious ailment. Only Tyler seems unaffected - for the moment, anyway. Can Joshua save him? And if Tyler or Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) have to be gotten rid of, then the Starchild is the only fallback for Ana ( Morena Baccarin ).

    The Resistance know what Ana's end-game is. With the help of a nerd (the lead from Reaper ), they plan to infect the selected males with a retrovirus. But they have to resort to extreme measures to get the virus. The rebels decide to use germ warfare, infecting some of the live-aboards in the hope that their infected DNA will contaminate everything Ana's techs have already harvested.

    Ryan tries to rescue his daughter. But he discovers something very interesting - he still has allies on the Mothership!

    V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 9] Devil in a Blue Dress
    Shown 08/Mar/11

    Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) plans to build a Blue Energy reactor at each of the 539 Concordia sites. Since there are only supposed to be 29 motherships, this ought to be suspicious. The rebels decide to blow up the NYC Concordia site, using Visitor tech so it looks like an accident. But even their helpful nerd ( Reaper ) has no idea of how to handle Blue Energy. Will he accidentally cause a Chernobyl-scale event, wiping out NYC itself?

    Diana ( Jane Badler ) has a couple of pawns of her own - Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) and Ryan. She tries to recruit Joshua, Ana's now-recovered aide. He begins to realise that Ana is emotional, and thus unstable. But can any of the Visitors be trusted?

    V (2009) V (2009) [Season 2, Episode 10] Mother's Day
    Shown 15/Mar/11

    Diana ( Jane Badler ) plans her coup. But will Lisa ( Laura Vandervoort ) mess it up?

    Ana ( Morena Baccarin ) is great at comebacks. She is an expert at public relations, and the rebels always underestimate her skill at spinning a bad situation to her advantage.

    Marc Singer ( Beastmaster ) appears, just in time to explain what the PROPER Resistance forces were doing for the last year. Yes, it made no sense that the only people suspicious of the Visitors were a low-level Fed ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) and her motley crew. Well, it turns out that some Top Brass were on the ball as well.

    Everything is set up for Season Three. Unfortunately the show was cancelled, leaving multiple cliff-hangers.