In last night's promisingly paranoid episode of V, we learned more about the alien resistance movement - as well as what V leader Anna thinks of humanity.
Nov 11, 2009 02:56 PM
10,320
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 1:40 AM
Wed Feb 10
25 posts in the last 24 hours
In last night's promisingly paranoid episode of V, we learned more about the alien resistance movement - as well as what V leader Anna thinks of humanity.
In this terrifically creepy scene, the slick, beautiful Anna makes it obvious how she plans to exploit humanity. By playing to our natural desire to submit. Oh, and also by torturing humans using mind control, which we catch a brief glimpse of when a human prisoner of the V is made to see snakes writhing all over his body. What Anna doesn't bargain on is that humans also have a ferociously strong desire to resist submission - and it turns out that desire is catching, since some of the V agents on Earth have gone race traitor and joined the human resistance.
The episode, called "There Is No Normal Anymore," explores resistance in all its forms. FBI agent Erica, who discovered that her longtime partner Dale is actually a secret V spy, has a teenage son who disobeys her orders to stay away from the Vs. He's got a crush on teen alien Lisa, and has joined the V's version of the youth corps, trying to spread the word about the aliens' goodness. Pastor Jack, who fully committed to forming a human resistance with Anna, refuses to submit to his senior pastor, who tells him not to "upset the applecart" with his anti-V sentiments.
We also got to learn more about V defector Ryan, who has fallen in love with a human woman and is willing to risk his life (and hers) to fight whatever it is the V have planned. At one point, Ryan reconnects with an old V buddy - also a defector - who intones darkly, "Whatever they're going to do to the humans it's nothing compared to what they'll do to traitors like me and you."
Though the segments with Erica and Jack fell a little flat, Ryan's plotline was incredibly interesting. Through him, we realize that the V are as paranoid as the humans are - nobody can trust anybody, on either side of this war. It's a cool setup, which translates nicely from its Cold War origins (V first aired in the 80s) to our present "war on terror" scenario.
Chad the TV anchor also gave us a look at the darker side of the V, who call him up to the ship for a sharp talking-to after he airs a debate between pro- and anti-V pundits. He thinks that he's got the V on the defensive now, but we shall see. I'm looking forward to seeing where this show is going. Especially now that Dale has awakened, all healed up and human-looking, on the V ship.
Send an email to Annalee Newitz, the author of this post, at annalee@io9.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
Start a new discussion