Episode 2: There Is No Normal AnymoreAs promised, I'm keeping tabs on the new V, and I must say that with its second episode, it comes more into its own. Gone was the déjà vu, to be replaced with the New V's own breed of story. And that breed is PARANOIA. The V sleeper agents is the new element here, and it's making me suspect about half the ancillary characters of being Visitors. So that's kinda cool, and the motor for the show's suspense.
I don't know if it's on purpose, but fitting that theme, a number of things made me think of The Prisoner. You don't know who's who, what's what and who's listening to your calls as you get chased by a floating ball. And then there's the Hitler Youth "Peace Ambassador" jacket that reminds me of Patrick McGoohan's.
One thing that does bother me a little bit now is the casting. The show is populated by a bunch of pretty boys and girls, like so much of American television these days, and that somehow feels wrong. I don't just mean that it turns the program into a glossy, starlet-filled V 90210, but that it doesn't fit the premise. If the Visitors are universally good-looking (except maybe some sleepers), then having humans that are a little less pretty would tend to highlight that fact. But no, the priest is just as cute as the Vs and everyone else (as an example of a character who needn't have been).
Also, a large portion of the cast seems to come from other cult shows - Lost, Firefly, The 4400, Smallville... Are they trying to bring followers of each cult to create another cult? Could be. After all, Morena Baccarin got ME to watch it.
I'm not discussing the plot much, I know. It's not too late to get caught up via the Internets, so I guess I don't want to spoil anything. I do enjoy the media games Decker is playing with Anna. The Vs having bad photo resolution is a bit of twit bit. Rather convenient. And is Ryan's girl tapped to give birth to the first alien baby? Cuz who doesn't fondly remember that moment in the original series? Am I right? Right?! Anyone? Hellooooo?
Comments
Well, if by "new" you mean "lifted wholesale from Battlestar Galactica V2", I guess... I suppose it's deep inside todays Zeitgeist, though...
I find myself really needing to hear exactly how the Vs are explaining why they look just like humans. (Or, at the very least, seeing the original series' anti-scientist pogrom shout down the question
Obviously I don't think it's "new" in the sense of original (DS9's changelings, playing "spot the mole" on 24, etc.), but new to the Visitor mythos.
It's not the idea, but who it plays out that I find engaging at this point.