TV episodes review
US airdate 11 January 2011; 18 January 2011; 1 February 2011; 8 February 2011 (ABC)

The Visitors are troubled by the human soul, get religion and play parents with other people’s children…

Anna’s spaceship seems to have a rather damp dungeon where she keeps her mother (Jane Badler) — as you do.

It appears the alien invaders can be infected by human emotion as a result of their spray-on human skins. Their plan is to interbreed with humans to save their species, and the welcome deepening of relationships makes for better drama. One thing the aliens can’t figure out, though, is the human soul. More important than all that in ‘Serpent’s Tooth’ is the long-awaited rodent-eating scene, just as cheesy as the 1980s original.

‘Laid Bare’ features a rather laboured parents-and-children theme, with Anna and Erica swapping Lisa and Kyle, while alien abductions are explained away as Visitors needing human subjects to try out in their soul-extracting orgasmatron device. Oh, and there’s a V skinning and a rather laughable de-tailing. And things were looking up for a while...

There’s been much speculation about how various religions might respond to the arrival on Earth of real aliens. Bet they never thought they’d be blackmailed into co-operating, as happens in ‘Unholy Alliance’. Anna has no sooner flown into the Vatican than she’s uncovering long-lost alien operatives and bending the Cardinals to her will.

Elsewhere, the fractured fifth column seems to be coming together while warnings about real world ‘radicalisation’ of youth fall flat. Again, there’s an attempt at thematic unity in this episode with a science-magic-faith-and-miracles thread that at least shows some thought. Shame about Diana’s terrible CGI fangs, though.

‘Concordia’ reveals a weapon disguised as a mega-city, while an assassination attempt on Anna exposes further splits in the fifth column. There’s new energy in the storytelling on V across these episodes, but while things are moving (Erica is now under investigation while Father Landry has disobeyed his faith), the big picture is still a bit too fuzzy. Brian J. Robb

VERDICT
Episode 2: Serpent’s Tooth: 7/10
Episode 3: Laid Bare: 6/10
Episode 4: Unholy Alliance: 6/10
Episode 5: Concordia: 6/10