If “V” (7 p.m. Central Tuesdays on ABC) was just another alien invasion show, we could dismiss it out of hand. After all, there are only two alien invasion stories: 1, the aliens are evil, and we get punished for being too trusting (see “Independence Day”), or 2, the aliens are friendly, and we get punished for not being more welcoming (see “E.T.”).
It all boils down to a bunch of pointless finger wagging and nonsense, especially since we are unlikely to be visited by aliens anytime soon. (Of course, that’s also why alien invasion yarns are commercially successful. Writers can give the illusion that they’re exploring important territory, when in actuality, the pro-alien/anti-alien debate is completely academic, not controversial, and therefore safe for mainstream TV.)
Luckily, “V” is not really about aliens (although ABC promotes it like it’s about aliens). The pilot episode skims through the visitation — gigantic, mysteriously hovering spaceships park over big cities, as usual — and the meet-and-greet — alien leader Anna (Morena Baccarin) looks a lot like Inara from “Firefly,” but she’s somehow not quite as companionable. When Anna tells a TV news interviewer (Scott Wolf), “We only request that you not ask anything that would paint us in a negative light,” it’s clear that “V” is actually a blunt parable about American politics.
What lesson “V” is imparting depends entirely on your biases. The way I see it, the Visitors — with their promises of how they’ll make our lives better — stand in for Republicans and Democrats. The resistance fighters stand in for those rare Americans who care about voting for the best candidate, not the lesser of the two evils with an “R” or “D” after their name. And the alien traitors, who don’t go with the “taking over the world” party line, stand in for third-party candidates.
That the Visitors are being manipulative of the human race — with the “nothing in a negative light” demand of the newsman — shows that they didn’t do their research very well. Americans are a lot easier to manipulate than the aliens know. Anna could’ve simply answered problematic questions with a lie and been just fine politically. Here’s how it would work:
Newsman: “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask this question: Do you plan to take over the Earth and kill all humans?”
Anna (smiling warmly and chuckling): “No, not at all. We simply want to share our technology in exchange for a few of your natural resources that you won’t even miss. As they say in so many of your movies, ‘We come in peace.'”
(Newsman and Anna share a friendly laugh.)
Or the Visitors — who wear completely convincing human disguises — could simply run for office and take over America (I know the aliens are actually visiting the whole planet, but I’ll focus this blog post on the U.S., since the show certainly does). As long as there is one Visitor running as a Republican and one as a Democrat, we would almost certainly elect one of them. They could even announce, “You have to vote for one of us. Either way you’re doomed. Doomed!,” like that “Citizen Kang” episode of “The Simpsons,” and most Americans would indeed vote for one of them. (I think the successful spreading of the myth that selecting a third-party candidate is “throwing your vote away” is the worst thing that’s happened to American democracy, but I’ll set that rant aside for now.)
If the Visitors are George Washingtonesque and unable to tell a lie, Anna could blatantly say, “In exchange for this technology, we’re going to take over the Earth,” and most people would be OK with that. Sure, a few people would complain about the loss of certain freedoms, but as long as we’re employed and have a good health care plan (an incredible one, actually: the aliens can cure the sick and handicapped), we’d be totally fine with aliens running the show. In fact, if that’s all there is to it, I would be in the pro-alien camp myself. But of course, that’s not all there is to it; the Visitors almost certainly intend to systematically exterminate the human race.
By the way, I see no reason why the Visitors couldn’t lie, or at least tell untruths. Anna’s second-in-command tells the newsman that there’s no shame in compromising your principles for the good of the human race. But, as the Visitor knows (unless this story is more convoluted than it seems), the newsman isn’t helping the human race, he’s hurting it. The newsman clearly compromises his principles for the good of his career; if he put the human race first, he would’ve told his viewers about Anna’s “nothing in a negative light” demand.
If “V” were to keep going with this political angle, it could be a funny, biting piece of satire. I’m almost positive that the series will not go in that direction, though; I think the allegory is merely a broad framework from which the writers can attach fight scenes and epic sci-fi imagery.
More germane to my liking of the show, I didn’t particularly connect with any of the characters in the pilot. Elizabeth Mitchell, as the audience surrogate, is more accessible here than as an Other on “Lost,” but there’s something about her that’s a little too polished, like I can tell she’s practicing the craft of acting. For jaded viewers, you gotta give us something a little bit new, but mostly, you gotta make us care about the people (or aliens, as the case may be).
What are your thoughts on the first episode of “V”? Was one episode enough, or are you going to stick with it awhile?