by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This review contains numerous spoilers.

I liked this episode of V better than the previous two, but I have to say: those were not visas. Even though we are shown Anna brandishing her brand new US visa at the beginning, it really looks like a passport with the word “visa” mistakenly emblazoned on it. As someone who had to rush to the embassy to get a visa a couple of years ago, I can prove to you that a US visa is a little plastic card with your picture and other data on it. So, judging by the colour of the item Anna holds up, she just won herself a UK passport. Nitpicking, you say? Well, I had to stand in line for five hours to get the damn visa (I wasn’t even flying to the US; it was a connection), so yes, I am nitpicking

Anyway, Anna and her friends now have visas and can wander around the country freely. This thought doesn’t sit well with Ryan, who decides to go see an old alien friend of his and former Resistance member. We learn that some guy named John May used to lead the Resistance forces, that the forces were part of the 5th Column and the friend, of course, has turned to the dark side. The friend tells Ryan that he’s been betraying former Resistance members, hoping to get “reconnected.” It’s like that scene in The Matrix, remember? A fight ensues and concludes with one dead alien and “John May lives” splashed across a door, making the evil Vs twitch a bit at the sight of that phrase. Tun-tun-tun.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Erica is summoned to the Visitors’ Centre. It seems someone may be trying to shoot aliens while protesters chant outside. Erica stops the would-be assassin (it’s super easy to spot him; he’s in slo-mo), saving the life of Anna’s aide, Marcus. I think Marcus is smitten with Erica’s rough handling of the assassin. Anyway, this paves the way for an inside connection into the higher echelons of the Vs for Erica, in the shape of Marcus, and allows her to stumble upon surveillance technology stitched onto the jackets of the aliens. See, it’s not only a fascist fashion statement; it doubles as a security camera. Why the jackets have crystal-clear images while the sphere of doom in the previous episode had grainy footage is not explained, but at least jackets are a more efficient method of surveillance than Phantasm balls any day of the week.

Anna, who is a slick PR expert, rehearses her crocodile tears before a meeting with an important anti-V demonstrator. It’s a resounding success and the Vs’ approval ratings go up. It all looks peachy for the manipulative Vs, except for the teensy-weensie fact that the resistance has fully gelled with the official addition of Ryan and George to the Erica-and-Father-Jack mini-cell. Oh, and there are some Vs with a big grudge against Anna and her friends. A feint within a feint within a feint.

The pacing of the episode, which had bugged me in the previous ones, was a lot more balanced. Yeah, there were diverging storylines and, for a moment, I was afraid they were going to branch into nowhere, but they coalesced at the end with the meeting of the Resistance, which should give a good impulse to the show

Elsewhere, there were some interesting twists, like the V shrink exploring Dale’s head and helping him recover his memories, only to reveal himself as a member of the mysterious 5th column and a resistance supporter. Bazinga!

The sore spot remains Lisa and Tyler’s budding romance. Thankfully, we were spared most of it and discovered Lisa’s big secret: Anna is her mom! Oh, come on. Did she have her when she was, what, seven? I guess lizard aliens mature a lot faster

Lisa’s cryptic comment that Tyler was “the one” at the end of the episode had me hoping he is “the one” she plans to lay her alien spawn on. Her lizard-babies will hatch and eat their way out of his body. Oh, dear heart, stop beating so fast.

OK, that’s probably not going to happen, but raise your hand if you think there’s a breeding program and genetic hanky-panky in the wings

I could definitely use some mouse-eating action from Marcus or Anna, but I was content to watch this episode. There were interesting mythological hints, such as the identity of John May. Is he Subcomandante Marcos of the reptiles? The scene with Ryan confronting an old friend played out too carbon-copy to last week’s, but the John May and 5th Column bit pulled me in enough to forgive the repetition. There was lots of back-stabbing and even though the actors playing humans tend to be annoying, there were lots of reptilian antics to make me smile. Am I bizarre for liking the aliens? I, for one, welcome our new lizard overlords. I think Chad does, too.

The last episode of V this year airs next week. It’ll go on hiatus way too early for a TV series to pick up speed, but at least it has a chance of survival now that the Resistance is budding and the aliens are moving their pieces across the chess board.

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