V (2009) (a review)

SO I didn't watch the initial four eps of V when it first aired in the fall. I didn't for a few reasons -- (1) I never watched the original, so didn't really care; (2) then I heard mixed things about it and that ABC had changed their minds from the initial series to a mini-series that they would maybe pick up -- not a vote of confidence. (3) the cast -- not that the actors are bad; it's just that the casting felt very manipulative -- Elizabeth Mitchell from LOST, Morena Baccarin from FIREFLY, Laura Vandervoort from SMALLVILLE, Scott Wolf from PARTY OF FIVE (the same show that people remembered Matthew Fox from, now the star of LOST). See? It's like casting for Comic Con! Now I'm not going to say it isn't smart -- once geeks love we love forever, so throwing in a bunch of actors from fan-fav shows make the show a draw...but there was just something about it that seemed to cynical. It was the final straw. (Plus I was probably watching something else...) So I didn't watch.

("Hey, did you have fun at Comic Con." "Oh my God, I go every year!")

So why did I watch it now? Well, funny story. I was selling off swag on eBay when I got a message from someone wanting to buy a couple posters. Turns out it was one of the actors from the show, David Richmond-Peck. He was in LA for a couple days and was going to swing by and pick them up. I figured I might as well watch the show since I was going to meet one of the actors.

So how was it? Well, it was a little uneven. The story starts in spread out fashoin as we meet all the major people right as the building start shaking. A giant ship flies over the city and the visitors announced they have arrived in peace and want to be friends. And they are all really hot. Plus, they can cure diseases (but mainly they are really hot). Now, some people don't trust them. Some people do. This sets up a lot of the early action as people struggle with their feelings about the visitors and people are set against others they are close to. Then we find out a few things -- (1) the visitors are really reptiles, but they have covered themselves in human skin and (2) they have already been on Earth for a while infiltrating us and finally (3) they apparently want to kill us all.

Overall, it was pretty good. There are a few odd questions that a show like this is always going to have that I guess you either willingly ignore or you turn the channel. Q's like -- if they have giant spaceships and advanced tech, why not just kill us all? And if they can impersonate people then why are the overt visitors acting so weird? And how did they come before without of noticing in their GIANT spaceships? Maybe they will get to those questions. Maybe not. But they are odd questions that you would think would have been addressed in the first few eps.

The bigger problem is the show doesn't really seem to know what it is about. The initial episode has an FBI agent chasing a terrorist sleeper cell . Then we realize the sleeper cell was really a cell of aliens -- so there's this parallel to the aliens and terrorism. So it's like the show is a parallel for terrorism? Except that isn't really continued. There's nothing in the later ep's that makes me feel like they are talking about terrorism and the effect it has on people or where it comes from or blah blah blah. The great thing about DISTRICT 9 was they really hit home the metaphore they wanted -- the aliens in these slums, like the way the blacks were treated in South Africa. Now eventually D-9 became more an action more, but that's fine because they strongly established the metaphore. In V (2009), everything is more scattered -- they bring up an idea then drop it, bring up something else then drop it. It just doesn't feel cohesive. In good storytelling, you want the feeling that you are being led, that the teller has a reason for telling the story and they are leading you down a path. The path might be long and dangerous, but that only makes it more exciting and we (the viewer) feel okay because we know the teller will be an excellent and sure-handed guide. Here, it feels more like kids playing in a sandbox -- they play with a toy, they drop it, play with another toy, drop it, wander around... And it isn't that the toys aren't good toys -- they have a lot of good ideas in the show -- but no one really wants to be led around by a kid week after week. Hopefully, this is just because they are in the early stages and getting their feet under them. Lots of tv shows take a bit to grow. And there is a lot of good in the show, so I'm willing to give it a bit of slack.

RECOMMEND.

(I assume the first four episodes are available to rent or on Hulu or something. The show returns for real March 30. )

--Paul