V S2E10: Mother's Day

Not with a bang but a whimper.

Wow! Our favorite episode of V ever! Also, our last episode of V ever, sadly. There's always a chance ABC will, well, take a chance, but given the nature of television and the many squandered opportunities over the history of this series, it doesn't seem likely we'll be sitting down next fall to eagerly see what blood-streaked Anna is going to do next.

And besides, a favorite episode of V only means it was better than all the other episodes of V. It doesn't necessarily make it an excellent hour of TV. Oh sure, the tension was high and for at least the first 15 minutes or so, we were really into it. But Erica's grand plan all rested on Lisa killing her own mother? Seriously? What on earth (no pun intended) would make her think it was a good idea to rest the entire Anti-V strategy on a V? Especially one as emotionally compromised as Lisa is, a point Erica would know better than anyone else. And once again, the result of Erica's so-called brilliant leadership accrues no benefit whatsoever to the 5th Column, and plays directly into Anna's hands. Even better, Erica blew her cover and essentially blew her resistance cell all to hell. You guys, much as we love Elizabeth Mitchell, Erica pretty well sucks as a so-called leader.

We understand that a "season" finale has to end on a cliffhanger or two, and that usually means things are bad for the good guys and good for the bad guys. It's television drama 101. The problem is, that's pretty much been the basis of every other episode of V. Rare are the moments when Erica and her team actually accomplish anything of real value. It's mostly been a lot of dicking around, waiting for the invasion to begin. It's made it impossible to really root for the protagonists. And besides, treating this as a season finale, as if they have a chance to address all of this next season, while somewhat admirable as a demonstration of faith, was perhaps a bit disrespectful to the audience who are never going to get a payoff for the time they put into watching this show. We're not saying they should have wrapped up the story, but even ending on a slightly hopeful note would have been an improvement.

Granted, TYLER IS DEAD, Y'ALL, which is a HUGE step in the right direction, partially because he's an awful character who's been written into a corner and partially because the only way to salvage Erica's character is to give her a defining function. Also, a hearty farewell to Ryan, who turned out to be such a wimp his infant daughter was able to strangle him to death. Speaking of which, we like the direction they took the hybrid baby and the ability to "bliss" humans both makes a strange sort of sense and pushes the story - hard - into a more urgent direction.

And to go with the newfound urgency - Hey, these aliens who we've known for ages are planning to invade us, are invading us! - we have an introduction to a top secret underground (literally) organization of military minds and scientists who have been secretly anti-V for ... well, for however long. We're not sure that was really addressed and who cares anyway? It's not like we're going to get to see more of Marc Singer and his astonishingly bad hairstyle in Season 3 of V. Incidentally, what was the point of bringing him in now? Why didn't they utilize their stunt casting much, much earlier in the season and actually done something with Jane Badler and him? We're not suggesting it would make for award-winning drama, but the buzz alone could have energized the show at a time when it really needed it. Then again, it's really needed it from day one, non-stop.

So yeah. Enjoyable in a tense, who-dies-next kind of way, but this honestly should have been episode 1 of the season. How totally unsurprising that the finale of this season is almost exactly the same as the finale of last season. Substitute baby hybrid bliss for red rain and move the secret invasion force a little closer than they were last year. A fun hour, but just another in a long line of wasted opportunities with this show.

[Picture credit: ABC TV]

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Labels: Television, V Season 2, V Series