V wastes no time establishing its pivotal alien invasion. The series, which premiered on ABC on November 3, 2009, spends just a few minutes observing the goings-on of a few seemingly random civilians in New York City before a giant ship appears in the sky and changes their lives forever.
A reimagining of the two-episode miniseries of the same name from 1983 — which in turn had a three-episode sequel V: The Final Battle in 1984 and a two-season V: The Series (1984-1985), 2009’s V throws you into its world with expert guidance. We’re used to a significant buildup regarding alien invasions (Close Encounters of the Third Kind): What will the aliens look like? Will they destroy everything we know? It’s typical for aliens to be an enormous threat to civilization, even if they’re met with open arms (hello, Mars Attacks!). In “Pilot,” the first episode of V, we get the answer to the first question right away.
The bottom of the ship turns into a giant screen, where we see the face of Anna (Morena Baccarin), who introduces herself to the people of New York. She looks just like any other human, albeit especially attractive, which immediately helps put people at ease. According to Anna, their people, the Visitors, are thrilled to discover that there is other life in the universe. She comes with a peaceful proposal, offering their extraordinary technology that’s far beyond Earth’s capabilities in exchange for water. Seems like a pretty reasonable trade, no?
Most people certainly seem to think so. While there are rumblings of protest and rebellion, most are keen to embrace the Visitors, with things feeling practically utopic at first. It seems nearly impossible, but it’s happening: A peaceful merger between two different species where the possibilities of fruitful partnership seem limitless. V is so engrossing in the way the cracks in the facade are slowly sprinkled throughout the pilot. They demand complete control of a major interview, threatening to cancel if a single remotely compromising question is asked. They must look good.
And it turns out that they’re beautiful because they’re designed that way: The Visitors are actually a reptilian species determined to destroy Earth as we know it. As revealed in a clandestine underground meeting, the Visitors didn’t just miraculously arrive: They’ve been part of society for years, studying and mimicking humanity. This revelation is brilliantly cross-cut with the interview, creating a chilling comparison between the presented hope of the Visitors with the brutal reality of their intentions. If humankind wants any chance of survival, they’re going to have to band together and fight like hell.
Watching the episode today takes on another layer of meaning. While the show’s exploration of extremism is still frighteningly potent, it's hard to ignore the parallels with artificial intelligence. The Visitors present a solution — their technology — that makes everything easier. We get only a taste of what their advancements are capable of in the pilot, but they’re undeniable. They want to offer free, unlimited healthcare not only in New York but across the entire planet. And that doesn’t mean months waiting to be seen by a doctor, but beyond cutting-edge medical tech that can cure any disease. Nothing, in reality, is ever free.
Unfortunately, all the promise in the pilot fades away through the show’s two misbegotten seasons. The pilot episode was the highest viewed of the entire series, getting over 14 million viewers, while Season 2 never eclipsed 6 million. But Season 1 had problems of its own, taking a massive break after the first 4 episodes (that all aired in November 2009) before Episode 5 appeared on March 30, 2010. Most viewers never returned after that four-month gap, which resulted in a shortened second season and was a precursor to the show’s untimely cancellation, as well as a rushed second season that ends in a massive cliffhanger, one we’ll never know the resolution to.
The issue ran deeper than a lack of viewers. While the pilot sets up a futuristic yet grounded and believable vision, things go increasingly off the rails from one episode to the next. People were interested in the struggle between humans and the Visitors, less so in the awkward and stilted teen romance that took up an inordinate amount of time. And while the threat of the Visitors loomed large, and was often an intriguing mystery, the grand reveal of their intentions was essential to destroy people’s souls and strip them of their humanity. That was hugely disappointing, given that it was assumed that’s what they were trying to do from the beginning. There was no truly shocking twist, and the turns that came throughout the show felt increasingly implausible and nonsensical.
It may all come apart at the seams and the cliffhanger ending is unforgivable (if out of the creator's control), but V’s pilot episode displays a series overflowing with potential. If only it was fulfilled.
