WRITERS: Charles Murray & Natalie Chaidez[SPOILERS] One criticism of V has been its thin characterizations, so "Pound Of Flesh" felt like a real attempt to bolster some of the personalities and the inter-relationships, with mixed results. "Pound Of Flesh" was a little dull at times, but I appreciated what it was trying to do, and the outcome of the episode was worthwhile.
DIRECTOR: Dean White
GUEST CAST: Charles Mesure, Nicholas Lea, David Richmond-Peck, Lourdes Benedicto, Christopher Shyer, Mark Hildreth, Erica Carroll, Brett Dier, Lexa Doig & Jessica Parker Kennedy
This week, Anna (Morena Baccarin) started a program that allowed selected humans to come aboard their motherships to live amongst the V's for awhile. She also became aware the rebellious Fifth Column are growing in strength, after a suicide bombing inside their Sydney ship, so had trusted scientist (and Fifth Columnist) Joshua (Mark Hildreth) create a test to detect the elevated emotional responses that Fifth Columnists will have acquired. Joshua's test involves sitting in a chair and being played horrific images, Clockwork Orange-style, which any normal V should be desensitized to.I guess it makes sense that the Fifth Columnists operating on Earth, like Ryan (Morris Chestnut), will have become more sympathetic to humans, and now we know that the V rebels within the motherships are immune to Anna's "Bliss" (that state of euphoria she transmits as a kind of psychic narcotic to her people.) I'm not quite sure why the Fifth Column are specifically immune to it, though: have they taken a drug to combat its brainwashing effects, or does "Bliss" just rely on people accepting Anna's psychic link?
Anyway, surely the key to winning this war is to disable the Bliss process, so that all the V's can go cold turkey and start to empathize with humans -- if, indeed, Bliss is responsible for keeping the V's emotions so regulated.
Elsewhere, Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) was worried her son Tyler's (Logan Huffman) been spending too much time visiting the New York mothership, so she took him to see his absent father Joe (Nicholas Lea), with the intention of leaving him there for some father-son bonding. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Erica, Tyler's sexy alien girlfriend Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) appeared on Joe's doorstep after she'd returned to the city, so her plan to get her son away from the V's influence is an immediate fail.
So why are the Visitors so interested in Tyler, anyway? We don't know yet, but I'm guessing he's biologically compatible for something they need. It springs to mind that he could be the only known human male that could successfully mate with a V, and Anna's daughter Lisa will soon need a partner? Considering last week's climax, where it was shown that Anna kills and eats her mates, does a similar fate await Tyler when Lisa's ready to spawn? What a way to go!
Speaking of potential alien-human hybrids, Valerie's (Lourdes Benedicto) pregnancy is still continuing at an accelerated rate, with her boyfriend Ryan still opting to keep quiet about the fact their baby's going to have scales, and getting help with his deception thanks to Dr. Leah Pearlman (Lexa Doig), a fellow V who fakes Valerie's ultrasound results. However, after warning him that Valerie's sickness is being caused by a lack of phosphorous in her body (a common mineral in V's that's vital to carry their babies to term), Ryan realizes he'll have to board the NYC mothership and steal some phosphorous to ensure Valerie's survival.
This need ties in with the rebellion's latest plan, courtesy of new recruit Hobbes (Charles Mesure), who wants to unite the disparate Fifth Column members with a "call to arms" message hidden within one of Anna's broadcasts to the world. Ryan accepts the dangerous mission, as he's the only person able to get past the V's security bio-scans, but is still keeping his true motivation with the phosphorous a secret from his colleagues.
So where did we end up? Well, Ryan managed to get his phosphorous and, despite being detained and subjected to Anna's test, this only resulted in him meeting Joshua (a new comrade); Hobbes sent Georgie (David Richmond-Peck) to the mothership to fulfill their mission, suspecting Ryan had been captured, which led to Georgie being captured by the V's and interrogated; the slogan "JOHN MAY LIVES" was successfully broadcast inside Anna's latest message, which she appeared happy about because it's more likely the Fifth Column will come into the open now; and Father Jack (Joel Gretsch) approached the V's human mouthpiece, news anchor Chad (Scott Wolf), with his concerns about the safety of the V's health clinics, and appears to have made another ally because Chad also suspects the V's have ulterior motives. too. He'll certainly be a valuable asset if Chad joins the rebellion, as he's in a position of trust with the aliens.Overall, "Pound Of Flesh" was a piece-moving episode with an emphasis on character for Erica, Joe, Tyler and Ryan, and it moved a few things along quite nicely. I still don't feel excited or surprised by anything going on, as the whole notion of a furtive alien invasion TV series feels very predictable to me. If you've seen anything from this genre before, there's nothing here that feels fresh and different. It's just snazzier to look at. I'm waiting for a shock move that knocks me sideways (perhaps with Tyler's relevance?), and gets me anxious to watch the next episode, but we're not there yet. It's just quietly going about its business.
Asides
- I promise not to hark on about this every single week, but the greenscreen really is terrible. It was even worse this episode, because it was used so extensively with lots of wide shots. I'd rather the V's ships were less "impressive" inside (i.e big), in exchange for a sense of reality.
- Does anyone else think Scott Wolf looks like a cross between Tom Cruise and Michael J. Fox?
- If Joshua's in charge of the testing, why doesn't he just save Fifth Columnists who fail it by claiming they didn't? Nobody's looking over his shoulder. Come on, you'd at least test the experimenter first, wouldn't you? That's what they did on Battlestar Galactica with Gaius.
- Is anyone else noting some similarities between V and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? Erica is Sarah (the tough mom), Tyler is John (the whiny son), Joe is Charlie (the earthy, absent father), Ryan is Agent Ellison (well, they look similar), Anna is Catherine (stern, non-human villain). Interestingly, this episode's co-author was T:tSCC refugee Natalie Chaidez.
- We were given a half-decent reason for why Erica doesn't just tell Tyler the truth about the V's malevolent intentions (the resistance's cover might be compromised if the V's notice Tyler's change in behaviour.) Well, I guess that'll do. You have to suspend your disbelief with shows like this, and I can't think of a better reason to keep the kid in the dark.
- Recognize the face? Guest-star Nicholas Lea obviously played Krychek in The X Files.
- Okay, if you add the phrase "JOHN MAY LIVES" to Anna's latest global broadcast, wouldn't every single person on the planet wonder what the hell that was all about? If the next episode doesn't mention that everyone on the planet's now asking "who's John May?" then I'll scream.
