So, I just watched the first episode of V, courtesy of Hulu. It was definitely exciting, I'll give it that. And, the cast seems solid. What bothers me is that the first episode has…everything. Absolutely everything. What other shows take seasons (or at least a season) this show has revealed on its first episode. The show itself is reminiscent of Earth Final Conflict, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and any number of other hidden agenda conspiracy movies. The first episode plants the show firmly in conservative territory. The badguys give universal health care and have a single world government, and they're very pretty. They also seem to have a touch of that capitalistic drive in them. So, it's big brother meets big corporation meets socialism. Scary. Then our good guys are a woman who searches for terrorists (fbi?), a priest, a conspiracy guy, and a not-so-bad alien. See, conservative. Did I mention that the not-so-bad alien thinks that family is very important? This show doesn't lack violence either, and the adults are portrayed as the intelligent ones.
Being a conservative myself, I'd be all for this if I didn't think that the story is planning to do a big ol' switch on us. To reveal this much this early in the story either nothing is as it seems or this show isn't going to last very long. The Creative Writing major in me doesn't trust this story. I feel like a poker player who just got a look at the other guy's cards. Why not wait to reveal the good aliens? Why show us in the first episode that the human form the aliens don isn't their natural one? Why basically prove their out for blood in the first episode? Why introduce the love interest for the boy in the first episode? All these things could have easily waited until later episodes without detracting much from the action. Even something as simple as not having the actual aliens break in on the secret meeting, but only their technology, would leave room for question (and curiosity that would bring the viewers back next week).
So, I'm going to predict what's going to happen, and we can see how right I am. Well, the son of the cop/FBI agent/devorce is going to continue to support the Vs, despite evidence that tells him to stay away. He's going to create a bond with the alien girl and either be her dupe or try to save her when he realizes her people are evil SOBs. The Priest is going to find out that some of his superiors are aliens and he'll question his faith. If he doesn't leave his faith, there's a good chance he'll leave the cloth. If nothing, he'll become a really bad priest because he's poised for romantic tension with the FBI lady. Said lady is going to be torn between the loyalty her son has for the aliens, a desire to save him, a desire to destroy the aliens, and a desire for the priest. The alien who is not a bad guy will help people get inside information. He will be the one who reveals some information about the aliens, though considering what they've already shown us of the mother ship I don't see his necessity as a disseminator of info. He'll try to leave his fiancé and she will either a. follow him b. follow him and die c. be heart-broken. The alien leader dude is either and the leader lady (Anna) are like Da'an and Zo'or in Earth Final Conflict. They're both bad guys, though one may be less evil than the other. Chunky friend of the boy will be used to get him to do stupid things, and may eventually rat him out, or die. Alien girl is either as evil as her leader or as heart-led as her human boyfriend. She can go either way, though I suspect she may be used as proof that even evil aliens can turn good with the right motivation. Conspiracy guy will also be a disseminator of information, as well as a device to bring the characters together. He will probably die eventually since we don't really know anything about him at all except that he sucks at being secret. Hmmm, themes? Terrorism (obviously), religion, genetic manipulation, control, the nature of evil…and possibly slavery. I'd bet money that the fixes they do at their health centers are more than just fixes.
That being said, I'll watch the previews and read the reviews for the next couple of weeks, and if it turns out that the writers have a better imagination than me than I'll go back to watching.
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