V is for Vexing

I was seven years old when the second V miniseries aired on NBC and I can remember going to school the next day not being able to get the image of an alien lizard baby out of my head. That kind of nostalgia had me particularly excited for ABC’s remake of this seminal sci-fi event. It is with a heavy heart that I report that the new series, which is airing four episodes during the November sweep before returning to finish its first season in the spring, is leaden, ultra-serious, and borderline dull.

Now, I’m not quite ready to write the show off just yet, but if things don’t pick up by the end of this four-episode introductory period, the likelihood of my coming back later on will be minuscule. For the uninitiated, V starts with the appearance of a series of spaceships hovering over major cities across the globe, from Paris to Rio de Janiero to Los Angeles to New York, which is where most of the action takes place. Or rather doesn’t, because so far there’s been very little action (more on that later). On board these vessels are Visitors, or Vs, a human-looking alien species with a hidden lizard core who claim to want a fair exchange: we give them some of our water and minerals, they share with us their advanced technology.

The Vs’ duplicitous mantra—“We are of peace, always”—charms some, while others simply aren’t willing to buy into their message, and herein lies one of the show’s biggest problems. Too many people are way too accepting of this sudden unearthly manifestation. The general population doesn’t seem all that concerned by the fact that giant spaceships have arrived. There are a few protests here and there, people carrying picket signs and whatnot, but nobody looks to be overly unnerved or scared by the Vs presence. Hell, the Visitors are even offering tours of their ships and people are more than willing to go, no questions asked. With no indication of brainwashing, this just doesn’t seem all that plausible, especially in post-9/11 New York (and, yes, I realize I just chided the plausibility of an alien invasion story).

Perhaps the whole enterprise would be less quizzical if the actors were capable of selling it better. Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell is FBI agent Erica Evans, who has just discovered that her partner of seven years is really a V, meaning they’ve actually been living among us for some time. Mitchell is unconvincing at playing FBI, but at least she’s able to display some emotion. That’s more than can be said for the rest of the cast, which also includes The Nine’s Lourdes Benedicto, and Joel Gretsch from The 4400, many of whom are too stiff to evoke any real feeling. While this makes sense for the Vs, who are only pretending to be human—their leader is Firefly’s Morena Baccarin—why are so many others walking around listless and sapped of energy? Scott Wolf (Party of Five) is a saving grace as a slick TV newsman interested in using the Vs to advance his career; if only the show spent more time on his quandary between moral obligation and journalistic necessity.

In general, I don’t have much patience for sci-fi product that is nothing more than a series of action pieces strung together without a story. Yet I find myself longing for some of that in this new version of V. The excitement that should be inherent in this kind of story is being superseded by a talky, almost cheesy show that does nothing to replace my affection for the ‘80s original. Judging from the second week’s ratings, I’m not alone in this assessment; the show lost nearly four million viewers from its premiere, still enough to be considered an early success but an alarming dropoff, especially for a show that’s going to be taking a three-month hiatus. Only time will tell whether these Visitors are here to stay.