V: pilot review
So I caught Tuesday’s episode of the new ABC remake of V, the 1983-ish series (depending on where this falls in the original story, which Wikipedia isn’t really making too clear.) I missed it on TV and attempted to watch it on ABC’s website last night, but was stunned to find that their strategy in the age of Hulu and Surf the Channel is to make you wait five days after the broadcast for the streaming version. Screwing that, I found the episode in its entirety from CTV and set to work trying to like this version.
Set in a city populated entirely by models which turns out to be New York, V follows the lives of several somewhat relatable characters: a mother and son who have drifted out of touch following a divorce, a disenchanted, young Catholic priest, a businessman with a shady past and his soon-to-be fiancée and an anchorman with hopes of being more than a newsreader. Nothing particularly groundbreaking here and any tensions being faced by each character has been so thoroughly dumbed down as to be nearly laughable. I mean, when the Visitors arrive, Father Jack is nearly crushed while saving a man from a giant falling crucifix in his church! Thanks for making that metaphor painfully obvious, ABC!
Anyway, so the Visitors pull up in their spaceships (zing! we think!) and immediately awe all of the world with the short-haired beauty of Anna (the always lovely but now lovelier, Morena Baccarin.) This part was rather cool and a very modern take on a first encounter, especially with the entourage and press release-y-ness of it all. Frankly, the Visitors get snaps for being sharply dressed and on-point, on message – and, as it turns out – on time. I can get behind this kind of alien takeover.
Then, blah, blah. The V aren’t what they seem. A resistance is brewing. The only black guy is a V! Alan Tudyk goes from most likable to dead, just like always. All with too-quick pacing that might be attributable to this being a 45 minute pilot that could have benefited from an extra 45 minutes? There’s probably a reason why this was a miniseries in 1983, friends. I will have to see if the pacing continues at such a frenzied, soap opera gallop, but I’m not thrilled with it right now.
And that’s my overall verdict on V: why so fast? Why so frantic? I know production was troubled by thoughts of early cancellation, but this isn’t helping. You got off to a good start with 10s of millions of viewers, so perhaps we can slow it down and make it more complex with the extra time? Science fiction continues to be a hard sell in network primetime, but it doesn’t have to be this clipped to be successful.
My real question with V is, and always will be, why it strays so far into the realm of Reptilian lore in the first place. I’m always suspicious of anything that comments on the fictional motivations of the global elite by calling attention to the rumors about the actual global elite. Is someone trying to tell us something that we should know? Especially with the Obama connections so plainly laid out?