The “visitors” are dropping by again. They put on a show of goodwill, but what’s their deal — besides being hot?
ABC has been doling out “V-caps,” updating us on the first four episodes of “V,” in advance of Tuesday’s return, locally at 9 p.m. on KMGH- Channel 7.
“V” has the potential to be a fun, not-too-heavy escape for fans of sci-fi mystery serials, laced with a multitude of current references and social touchstones.
Thankfully neither as dense nor as self-important as “FlashForward,” now playing Thursdays on ABC, “V” shows signs of being an enjoyable, sometimes even funny, special- effects-laden alien-invasion thriller. But it should respect its B-movie roots and resist highbrow aspirations. The series will fail if it veers too heavily into editorial commentary on real-world problems.
Let’s acknowledge that the show’s strength is its avowed cheesiness. We’re talking lizards, people! If they try to get too seriously deep, too fast, (“Lost” envy perhaps?), they’re going to wreck the fun.
A host of modern concerns competes with the beautiful-on-the-outside, reptiles-on-the-inside visitors for our attention. There’s talk of terrorists, sleeper cells, counterinsurgents, fifth column, political propaganda, even universal health care. The allegories are clear.
Religion, specifically zealotry, is a key undercurrent. We are encouraged to ask: Where does unthinking devotion lead? And when the writers knock do-gooders making bold promises, are they talking about President Barack Obama or Jesus? (Strong cases have been made for each.)
The series won’t decide any of this for you. It holds itself out as a Rorschach test, reflecting a host of modern anxieties with a spaceship gloss.
This update on the 1983 miniseries benefits from a pretty cast — Elizabeth Mitchell (“Lost”) as the FBI agent suspicious of the aliens’ motives; Morena Baccarin (“Firefly”) as the peace-promising V leader, Anna; Joel Gretsch (“The 4400”) as skeptical priest Father Jack; Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”) as TV anchorman Chad Decker, at least initially a pawn in the V’s’ PR game.
Not a comic book like “Heroes,” not a philosophical meditation like “Lost,” the appeal of “V” is somewhere in between.
And that’s going to be the tough part. It’s tricky finding a balance between goofiness and highfalutin political allusions. In this sort of serial, we like little nods to big, provocative thoughts, then . . . Bring on the reptiles!
Soap opera fills the voids on “V.” Erica’s son Tyler (Logan Huffman) has a thing for Anna’s daughter Lisa (Laura Vandervoort of “Smallville”), who wears her V uniform unzipped to the navel. Boy, would Mom be mad if she knew.
Meanwhile, Erica is aware that the Vs are hip to the psychological tics of humanity: “They know exactly how to play us.” And worse, they have surveillance tools sewn into their uniforms. Sneaky alien-cams.
“Why don’t they annihilate us and get it over with?” a human asks. Clearly, the visitors need Earth’s human population for something. But what?
They have a gnawing hunger that will be addressed in upcoming episodes.
And so, having found that a secret alien drug is being slipped into the humans’ flu vaccine, a growing group of fifth-column members has been meeting to organize resistance.
Back on the mother ship, Anna offers the Vs a kind of communion called “bliss.” And her followers are hooked.
“The pain is behind you. . . . Bask in my light. . . . Take comfort knowing I am here.” She gets naked; they find the whole thing intoxicating. The cheese factor spikes, and the show hits a sweet spot.
If it sticks mostly to this sort of slick alien fun, we all may find “V” intoxicating too.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
