First Episode of “V” Reboot Is Creepy and Intriguing

Moody , weird , and genuinely scary , the premiere episode of new ABC serial “ V ” has us convinced that there ’s liveliness after Battlestar Galactica . We saw the whole thing at Comic - Con and have a raider - destitute news report .

Based on an early-1980s miniseries , “ V ” is about what occur when dozens of gigantic alien ship arrive on Earth , oscillate over major metropolis . A beautiful woman alien called Anna , bring by Morena “ Firefly ” Baccarin , broadcasts the visitors ’ message from an enormous concealment build into the bodies of the ships . She assures the people of Earth that the aliens want only to harvest chemicals from our waste products , which she order are valuable to them . In telephone exchange , they ’ll share technology with humans – especially medical technology , which they ’ll correct up in thousands of free clinics across the globe .

The only ones who doubt the well intentions of these preternaturally beautiful unknown are DHS agent Erica Evans and Catholic priest Jack Landry ( played by 4400 alum Joel Gretsch ) . Erica and her partner Dale ( the excellent Alan Tudyk ) immediately start inquire them , and Jack give a cautionary spoken communication to his congregation about how humans should await to pronounce the unknown by their enactment rather than their words .

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We see now that the aliens are sea captain of propaganda , using viral videos on YouTube to enliven teenagers ( including Erica ’s son Tyler ) to spraypaint “ Phoebe ” on walls and giving cunning TV interviews on the consideration that no critical interrogation are asked . Chad Decker ( Scott Wolf ) play a boob tube newsperson who gets breastfeed into the aliens ’ propaganda machine because he wants to score the ultimate interview with Anna – and cave when she says she ’ll check the interview if he necessitate probing questions . So at least in the first installment , the conflict lines are draw this way : DHS and church oppugn the vistors ; media - munch stripling and reporter absorb up to the visitors . Eventually , Tyler is draw to conjoin the youth outreach corps of the visitors , against the wishes of his mother .

Things heat up when Erica and Dale realize that the visitors seem to be connected with terrorist cell who are stockpiling C-4 in massive amount . It seems the visitors have been among humans for years , and we ’re not sure what their goal are . We ’re also introduced to some underground V - fighters via another main character , salaryman Morris Chestnut , who has some unexplained connexion with these anti - V groups .

Especially in the first one-half , the premiere was gripping and eery . The ships wait great , and Morina Baccarin makes Anna improbably menacing – mainly because she is always smile so sweet .

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What this does , at least in the curtain raising installment , is subtly shift the aliens from being superpowered , top - down authoritarians ala Hitler , to being diffuse , sleeper - cell style menaces who strike out from among the general population . This fits with the idea that the aliens hide their true , reptilian nature beneath human masks . But it also does n’t quite crop , because it seems obvious the visitor are so incredibly powerful that they should n’t need terrorist cells to take over the major planet . They can just brandish their mega - ship and uber - technology to control all governments .

I think this trouble is part of what makes the 2d one-half of the premier instalment a short jerky and perplexing . A lot of plot developments happen really quickly and somewhat inexplicably , although you ’ll be leave wanting to see more . This is a pilot , after all , so some slapdashery can be forgive in the table service of setting up what looks like it will be an exciting , confederacy - drive actioner . It ’s also quite possible that we ’ll find out why the visitors necessitate to be sneaky . Maybe their power are n’t quite as vast as they seem .

“ V ” drops midseason this winter on ABC with a 13 - episode ravel , which imply it will last longer than the two miniseries it ’s based on . I ’m looking forward to determine the plot unfold .

Lesdilley