[Hawthorn]

Episode Description

Chad reports from the Peace Ambassador Center as 100 diplomatic visas are being issued to the first wave of American Visitors, with Anna getting the 1st, but not everyone agrees with the decision. Meanwhile Erica has started tracking a death threat while paired with a V officer, as she actually has to protect the V's, and Ryan starts reaching out to his old friends to build up opposition forces and help fight-off the V's.
"A Bright New Day" was written by Diego Gutierrez & Christine Roum and directed by Fred Toye.

{full press release}


Promos:

Promo clip 1 {00:50}
Promo clip 2 {00:45}


Sneak Peeks:

Clip 1: Anna, Chad {00:54}
Clip 2: Tyler and Lisa {02:08}
Clip 3: Erica and Jack {00:33}
Clip 4: Ryan and Valerie {01:30}
Clip 5: Anna and Marcus {01:04}
Clip 6: Erica and Kendrick {01:08}
Clip 7: Anna {00:47}
Clip 8: Lisa and Tyler {00:43}


Promotional Photos:









{check out all the promo pics for this episode here and here(HQ)}

Ratings:


Reviews:

____

[GrhmLz]

I enjoyed the episode. It had action, a few good mini-reveals; I think the most surprising revelation for me was that I wasn't expecting Lisa to be Ana's daughter. I was contemplating the whole "terrorist threat" against the V's to be a hoax - a ploy to gain sympathy with the humans. I wonder what this will mean for Erica now that the V's have her in their sight (at least the V who appears to be like a second-in-command to Ana) and they believe to have her for an ally. Not to mention her son's involvement in something Ana/Lisa plan to use him for. I will say, with the hoax, I'm more supcious now than ever that Erica's FBI Superior is probably a V. I almost got the feeling like he put Erica to the test and involved her in the hoax to see where her loyalties would lie.

If the show sticks around long enough, it'll be interesting to see how the human resistance and Fifth Column members finally come together to combat/fight the V's.

Originally Posted by Hamburgo1001 (View Post) Welcome back Heather.

Thanks. It's great to run into you again.

ABC has ordered 13 episodes of V but V has had several production shutdowns since then and only completed 4 episodes so far. They are currently having another production shutdown and this one is going to go until mid-January. It seems as if ABC is testing the show with this 4 episode run and whether we're going to get the back 9 depends on the ratings of this mini-event.

The one thing I'll comment on is that at the end, the network did promote next week's fourth/last completed episode with the tag line: The Final episode of 2009. Now, that did kind of concern me because it can be taken two ways and they still come out not looking like liars if the show doesn't pick up the last remaining nine. Either a.) It means the last episode being aired for 2009 and the remaining 9 storyline arc will pick up in 2010 or b.) It's literally the final episode which happens to be airing next week in the year 2009. I would like to get more but I'm crossing my fingers that we get the full 13 episode slot at least. I thought tonight's episode was really good - it's just a shame that the ratings might not reflect it if people didn't want to give it a fair chance. Or if abc's profit expectations for the show are too high.

See, that's the only thing that sucks about being on a prime network like abc. Networks like WB/CW that are barely standing on their own will keep shows with lower ratings like 1.7 for 90210 just to keep their feet on the ground. No offense, but I gave up on that new version a few episodes into it's first season despite the fact that I did like the original from the 90s (the first 4 seasons at least). But a much better show like V can be cut just like that because it's expensive to produce and it's all about the profits exceeding the spending. Invasion, anybody? I was so ticked when abc cancelled that show some years back. I watch Fringe on Fox - not sure what the ratings are this season but I'm going to take a guess that the show can cost to produce b/c of some of the effects used for the "psuedo science" storylines that pop up just about every episode.

I've been thinking the same thing. What I am absolutely sure of is that Tyler is going to join the Visitors and knowingly go up against his mom out of love for Lisa. Then I can see it play out in 2 possible ways. Either that both Tyler and Lisa see the error of their ways and try to get out of the V community together, but they will already be soo deeply caught up in it that only Tyler comes out of it alive. Or Lisa will stay evil until the end and Tyler's wake up call comes in the form of Lisa revealing herself to him. Either way, Erica will probably be able to save her son from the Visitor's evil clutches. At the moment, I'm slightly leaning toward the first option for Tyler/Lisa because of the heavy use of slo-mos and sappy romantic music during their scenes.

After tonight's episode, I'm leaning in this direction now. I think the twist in this version is that Lisa's going to turn the other way down the road and join up in the resistence with the Fifth Column members. Especially after tonight's big reveal of the mother-daughter connection to the leader, Ana, I see a potential and eventual feud erupting there between mother/daughter which the writers can take advantage of.

I'm also wondering if Lisa's change of heart will come in the wake of a possible "star-child" being conceived between her and Tyler. I'm speculating maybe that's what Ana wanted Lisa to do (select someone for the process).

That's some pretty good spec. And I agree about her FBI boss. Erica will probably doubt his genus more and more as the show goes on.

LOL- well, since he's (Dale) now officially "dead", guess he won't be popping up anywhere again anytime soon. However, he did reveal to us what I thought which is that the FBI is hiding other V's somewhere in the ranks. I wasn't expecting the twist with Joshua though, being a fifth column member who took him out. Think maybe he's the "John Mays" from the fifth column?

Hm.

Me too. I've been fangirling Erica since her first moment on-screen. She helps me get over my Lost disappointment from season 5 and what's sure to come in season 6.

Ditto. LOST is going to feel so empty without her. Hey, I thought I saw Michael Emerson (Ben) promoted on tv for some new show but I forgot which one. I was channel surfing one day and happened to catch it quickly but I forgot the show's name. Hm - is that a sign there won't be much of Ben either?

[Pearllers]

Once again I really loved the episode. I think the show is improving with each episode, just in time to go on the killer hiatus.

Normally I'm pretty good at predicting twists or at least suspecting something to be up, but not tonight. I totally didn't think the assassin was a V, the doctor was a traitor, or that Lisa was Anna's daughter. It was quite an eventful episode for me.

Anna and company are really creepy. Planting a fake assassin for sympathy? Brainwashing or whatever that was? Anna's practice speech about how sorry she was? Evil. Evil I say!

It was also nice to see Ryan have a little action tonight. Granted his old 'friends' kinda suck, what with them betraying him and trying to get him killed, but still cool that he got to be more involved. I didn't think he was that much last week. Plus I'm really excited that now he's meeting up with everyone else. Looks exciting.

My only complaints: Was I the only one that thought Scott Wolf sounded really forced and unnatural as a newscaster in the episode?

It's taken me 3 episodes to notice this, but when Erica said Jack's name tonight I cringed and thought "Oh no, not another Jack" and then I was awash in bad memories regarding some other show that shall remain nameless because I'm not on speaking terms with it. Father Jack needs a new name.

[Hamburgo1001]

Personally, I thought this was the best episode of the show so far. The pacing was perfect and I didn't see any of the reveals coming. I did not expect Lisa to be Anna's daughter, neither did I think that the doctor on the mothership would be a Fifth Column member. The poor guy is probably going to be in deep trouble when the V's find Dales corpse.

Anna is pure evil IMO. The scene where she was practicing compassion was all kinds of disturbing. And what did she do to the widow? Did she replace her with a V clone or did she brainwash her?

Originally Posted by GrhmLz (View Post) I wonder what this will mean for Erica now that the V's have her in their sight (at least the V who appears to be like a second-in-command to Ana) and they believe to have her for an ally. Not to mention her son's involvement in something Ana/Lisa plan to use him for. I will say, with the hoax, I'm more supcious now than ever that Erica's FBI Superior is probably a V. I almost got the feeling like he put Erica to the test and involved her in the hoax to see where her loyalties would lie.

I think Erica's boss is a V too because of how easily he allowed the V's to take the shooter into their custody and as soon as they revealed that it was all a hoax, I thought that he knew about it the whole time.

I think Erica's safe might benefit her for now. Due to her saving Markus they probably won't suspect her of any resistance involvement for the time being. Of course, that's probably all going to change as soon as Lisa mentions Erica's Visitor dislike to her mom. Tyler's "My mom doesn't like Visitors" will undoubtly come back into play because 3 days ago, ABC released a sneak peek of this very scene and it did not include that little line of his.

If the show sticks around long enough, it'll be interesting to see how the human resistance and Fifth Column members finally come together to combat/fight the V's.

Agreed.

The one thing I'll comment on is that at the end, the network did promote next week's fourth/last completed episode with the tag line: The Final episode of 2009. Now, that did kind of concern me because it can be taken two ways and they still come out not looking like liars if the show doesn't pick up the last remaining nine. Either a.) It means the last episode being aired for 2009 and the remaining 9 storyline arc will pick up in 2010 or b.) It's literally the final episode which happens to be airing next week in the year 2009. I would like to get more but I'm crossing my fingers that we get the full 13 episode slot at least. I thought tonight's episode was really good - it's just a shame that the ratings might not reflect it if people didn't want to give it a fair chance. Or if abc's profit expectations for the show are too high.

I think they were promoting it this way because they wanted viewers to know that it's like a fall season finale. Let's hope it won't turn out to be a series finale if the ratings don't hold up as well as they should.

See, that's the only thing that sucks about being on a prime network like abc. Networks like WB/CW that are barely standing on their own will keep shows with lower ratings like 1.7 for 90210 just to keep their feet on the ground. No offense, but I gave up on that new version a few episodes into it's first season despite the fact that I did like the original from the 90s (the first 4 seasons at least). But a much better show like V can be cut just like that because it's expensive to produce and it's all about the profits exceeding the spending. Invasion, anybody? I was so ticked when abc cancelled that show some years back. I watch Fringe on Fox - not sure what the ratings are this season but I'm going to take a guess that the show can cost to produce b/c of some of the effects used for the "psuedo science" storylines that pop up just about every episode.

100% agreed. I actually think that except for The Vampire Diaries and America's Next Topmodel, The CW's lineup only gets demo ratings of around 1.2 these days. It's really a shame. A truly terrible show like Smallville has been on the air for 9 seasons and IMO, is most likely going to get renewed for a season 10 while we can't even be 100% sure that we're going to get the back 9 episodes for V. And even if we do get the back 9 the ratings are probably going to take a huge hit when it comes back in March, which makes a second season a real long shot. Even if it were to miraculously get high 2s in the demo it would still be on the bubble because those are the numbers FlashForward pulls in and if ABC had to make a choice between V and Flash they would definitely pick Flash. It's their own show so even if the ratings aren't as good as they were hoping for (and they aren't because advertisers had to pay $175,000 for a 30-second spot for that show) they are still getting money out of it with DVD sales and international distribution. It's frustrating.

Fringe has terrible ratings this year Heather. It's getting low 2s in the 18-49 demo, exactly like the shows Fox had in it's Thursday night lineup last year and those shows aren't on the air anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if Modern Family were to turn out to be the only show I'll still be watching on TV at this point next year.

After tonight's episode, I'm leaning in this direction now. I think the twist in this version is that Lisa's going to turn the other way down the road and join up in the resistence with the Fifth Column members. Especially after tonight's big reveal of the mother-daughter connection to the leader, Ana, I see a potential and eventual feud erupting there between mother/daughter which the writers can take advantage of.

That's a definite possibility. The only thing that makes me a little wary of it is that we already have the "child rebels against his mom" storyline in form of Erica/Tyler. It's possible that the writers would find it redundant to do it with Lisa too. I suspect the redundancy aspect was the reason why they decided to scrap the Mrs. Belker character earlier this year.

I'm also wondering if Lisa's change of heart will come in the wake of a possible "star-child" being conceived between her and Tyler. I'm speculating maybe that's what Ana wanted Lisa to do (select someone for the process).

That's what I'm thinking too. Tyler probably got chosen because of his hopeless devotion to Lisa. There are lots of guys on the earth but nobody has been shown to have fallen nearly as hard for a Visitor as Tyler has.

I wasn't expecting the twist with Joshua though, being a fifth column member who took him out. Think maybe he's the "John Mays" from the fifth column? Hm.

I'm thinking "John Mays" is someone we haven't seen yet. He's probably going to be a big gamechanger type of character whose introduction won't happen for quite a while.

Ditto. LOST is going to feel so empty without her. Hey, I thought I saw Michael Emerson (Ben) promoted on tv for some new show but I forgot which one. I was channel surfing one day and happened to catch it quickly but I forgot the show's name. Hm - is that a sign there won't be much of Ben either?

That's news to me. There's been no word that Michael Emerson's going anywhere. I think you don't have to worry about Ben's future. Sure, he's undoubtly going to die (it would be ridiculous if he didn't) but I don't think it will happen before the series finale.

[GrhmLz]

Originally Posted by Hamburgo1001 (View Post) Personally, I thought this was the best episode of the show so far. The pacing was perfect and I didn't see any of the reveals coming. I did not expect Lisa to be Anna's daughter, neither did I think that the doctor on the mothership would be a Fifth Column member. The poor guy is probably going to be in deep trouble when the V's find Dales corpse.

I agree.

And I figured that there would eventually be some Fifth Column members revealed hidden inside of the V ranks still; I just wasn't expecting it to come so soon in the form of the doctor. But I was totally surprised and elated when he turned on Dale like he did ... Dale says about Erica hitting him and seeing his true nature "She won't know what hit her" and the doctor's like "No, she won't. Because if half the stuff you've said about her is true, she could turn out to be a good ally." BAM!

Anna is pure evil IMO. The scene where she was practicing compassion was all kinds of disturbing. And what did she do to the widow? Did she replace her with a V clone or did she brainwash her?

LOL - oh boy, is she ever! And manifesting the fake tears to go along with it? Chills, anyone?

Yeah, that's a good point about the widow - I was completely trying to figure out her change of heart like that. What exactly did Anna do?

Thinking back to Ryan who met up with the traitorous fifth column member, Cyrus, who was turning in other members - they were debating back and forth about something that "reconnects" them (to what I'm not sure of yet ... their people?) - like a drug maybe? Ryan was talking about being controlled and calling him nothing but a junkie or something to that effect. Maybe it's something similar to what Anna was able to do to the widow? Just a thought.

I think Erica's boss is a V too because of how easily he allowed the V's to take the shooter into their custody and as soon as they revealed that it was all a hoax, I thought that he knew about it the whole time.

I was suspicious of some type of hoax but hadn't completely concluded that the "terrorist" was actually a V himself. I thought he was being taken into the V's custody to be eliminated from their end of things. At first, I was thinking maybe some guy was set-up to be used by the V's but then the revelation came at the end that he was actually a V himself involved in the whole setup.

Her boss has to be one of them unless something similar has occurred to him like it did with the widow - some kind of forced acceptance of the V's or mind control that binds their loyalities and support to the Visitors.

I think Erica's safe might benefit her for now. Due to her saving Markus they probably won't suspect her of any resistance involvement for the time being. Of course, that's probably all going to change as soon as Lisa mentions Erica's Visitor dislike to her mom. Tyler's "My mom doesn't like Visitors" will undoubtly come back into play because 3 days ago, ABC released a sneak peek of this very scene and it did not include that little line of his.

Yeah, I was thinking she'd be safe for awhile too until Tyler slipped up with that comment to Lisa. They're definitely going to be keeping an eye on her after that becomes known and I wouldn't be surprised that if/when Lisa mentions it to her mother (possibly by the next episode), it's part of what makes Anna decide to agree to have Tyler used in the selection process for whatever she's having done on the ship. Leverage that could possibly be used against Erica if she steps out of line? Her son. Having Tyler on the ship/involved in whatever she has Lisa doing would keep Tyler within Anna's reach/grasp.

100% agreed. I actually think that except for The Vampire Diaries and America's Next Topmodel, The CW's lineup only gets demo ratings of around 1.2 these days. It's really a shame. A truly terrible show like Smallville has been on the air for 9 seasons and IMO, is most likely going to get renewed for a season 10 while we can't even be 100% sure that we're going to get the back 9 episodes for V. And even if we do get the back 9 the ratings are probably going to take a huge hit when it comes back in March, which makes a second season a real long shot. Even if it were to miraculously get high 2s in the demo it would still be on the bubble because those are the numbers FlashForward pulls in and if ABC had to make a choice between V and Flash they would definitely pick Flash. It's their own show so even if the ratings aren't as good as they were hoping for (and they aren't because advertisers had to pay $175,000 for a 30-second spot for that show) they are still getting money out of it with DVD sales and international distribution. It's frustrating.

Vampire Diaries is the only show I happen to watch on CW.

March? Yeah, that really is a long stretch of time to allow people to just lose interest. My sister watches Flashforward - I don't. But V certainly intrigues me much more than that show does.

Fringe has terrible ratings this year Heather. It's getting low 2s in the 18-49 demo, exactly like the shows Fox had in it's Thursday night lineup last year and those shows aren't on the air anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if Modern Family were to turn out to be the only show I'll still be watching on TV at this point next year.

To be honest, I'm not surprised by the news.

My biggest complaint about this season from the last is that the storylines feel way too scattered, it jumps around too much - nothing feels like it's connecting like it did in the first season. In the first season, we had a bunch of events connecting into a bigger story but now it just seems like alot of random episodes that aren't taking us anywhere and they're not trying to tie up the storylines from the last season. Like the big reveal about Peter in the finale? They haven't even touched the information or the consequences of him really being the "Peter" belonging to the parallel universe. The concept of Massive Dynamic has taken a backseat and I'm not connecting who's responsible for what anymore (what groups and why they're doing what they're doing with the biological warefare assaults/public experiments).

Ah well. I guess if it goes it goes. What can I do. But I'll be more upset about V going because V actually has worthwhile material to work with that will be wasted upon a cancellation.

That's a definite possibility. The only thing that makes me a little wary of it is that we already have the "child rebels against his mom" storyline in form of Erica/Tyler. It's possible that the writers would find it redundant to do it with Lisa too. I suspect the redundancy aspect was the reason why they decided to scrap the Mrs. Belker character earlier this year.

Hm. You could be right about the redundancy aspect. However, maybe the similarity/theme will be exploited as a common bond that's suppose to eventually unite Tyler and Lisa together in their struggles except with Tyler and his mom (Erica) eventually resolving their differences when Tyler comes around to accepting his mom was right all along. I kind of see the Tyler/Erica conflict as temporary whereas the Lisa/Anna clash would be more long term/final. It would also give the writers a chance to showcase how it really isn't "redundant" at all because we're seeing how parent-child rebellion is different within the two communites and how it resolves itself within humanity unlike how it is probably dealt with in the life of the V's - which I suspect is death or something more unfeeling and final. Lisa might be exposed to this later on when she sees how Erica deals with Tyler's betrayal against her in the form of love and forgiveness. After all, Ana is the leader of the V's and her daughter turning "traitor" would have far-reaching consequences that might even lead to her own daughter's death by Anna's own hand/order and a battle for control over a possible "star-child" conceived down the road. I obviously suspect that human feelings and emotion are foreign concepts to the V's - ideas that they have to "fake" outwardly in order to personify it correctly to the humans (much like Anna's performance this episode in preparation to meet with the widow).

Of course, this is all pure speculation on my part. We'll just have to wait and see what the writers have in store for us.

Just curious. Who was the Mrs. Belker character suppose to be and who/what was her similarity going to be to? I didn't know about her, lol.

That's what I'm thinking too. Tyler probably got chosen because of his hopeless devotion to Lisa. There are lots of guys on the earth but nobody has been shown to have fallen nearly as hard for a Visitor as Tyler has.

Definitely. His unrefuted loyality definitely makes him more vulnerable and a more malleable "test subject."

I'm thinking "John Mays" is someone we haven't seen yet. He's probably going to be a big gamechanger type of character whose introduction won't happen for quite a while.

That's definitely possible too. I wonder how/when he'll pop up and how he's been able to remain in hiding like he has. They talk about him like he's this legend that might not even exist - kind of like, not many fifth column members have had contact or have ever seen him. That's why I was taking a guess about Joshua, the doctor, because I was thinking maybe the reason he's perceived as such a "legend/myth" is because he's buried so deep in the ranks of the V's so that the Fifth Column remains viable and alive. Hm. Lol, I love speculating about it though. So many possibilities.

That's news to me. There's been no word that Michael Emerson's going anywhere. I think you don't have to worry about Ben's future. Sure, he's undoubtly going to die (it would be ridiculous if he didn't) but I don't think it will happen before the series finale.

Yeah, I didn't hear anything about him leaving but I did see him promoted for something I just wish I could remember what. I agree though, his death is most likely inevitable for the final season.

My only complaints: Was I the only one that thought Scott Wolf sounded really forced and unnatural as a newscaster in the episode?

You know, his character actually hasn't grown on me at all yet so I've been indifferent to him? I really don't know what to think of him - is he weary of the V's and playing along, is he trying to just find a way to advance his career in all of this by being a nosey journalist, or is he fickle enough to do what the V's want whenever they ask?

Don't have a handle on him yet.

[irulan]

Amazing episode!
They introduce many stuff: the fifth column, Anna's daughter, what V's done to Georgie…
And finally Erica, Jack, Ryan and Georgie meet each other!!

"The Fifth Column says hello": best line of the episode!
I was really surprised by the doctor!

Thinking back to Ryan who met up with the traitorous fifth column member, Cyrus, who was turning in other members - they were debating back and forth about something that "reconnects" them (to what I'm not sure of yet ... their people?) - like a drug maybe? Ryan was talking about being controlled and calling him nothing but a junkie or something to that effect. Maybe it's something similar to what Anna was able to do to the widow? Just a thought.

I didn't understand the "reconnected" thing too...

Looking at the promo pics…they deleted a lot of scenes!

[Hamburgo1001]

Originally Posted by GrhmLz (View Post) LOL - oh boy, is she ever! And manifesting the fake tears to go along with it? Chills, anyone?

She is such an evil btch but I love it.

Yeah, that's a good point about the widow - I was completely trying to figure out her change of heart like that. What exactly did Anna do? Thinking back to Ryan who met up with the traitorous fifth column member, Cyrus, who was turning in other members - they were debating back and forth about something that "reconnects" them (to what I'm not sure of yet ... their people?) - like a drug maybe? Ryan was talking about being controlled and calling him nothing but a junkie or something to that effect. Maybe it's something similar to what Anna was able to do to the widow? Just a thought.

That's what I'm thinking. They probably injected her with a serum or something. Whatever it was, I hope we'll find out soon.

Her boss has to be one of them unless something similar has occurred to him like it did with the widow - some kind of forced acceptance of the V's or mind control that binds their loyalities and support to the Visitors.

And did you notice his weird looks all throughout the episode? He's so a V it's not even funny. I think he's way more likely to be a V than Father Travis because while he acts suspiciously, it's not the in your face kind of stuff. Father Travis is so obviously a V that he simply has to be a fool for a human being who's completely blinded by his devotion to religion and to the V's also because their arrival drove the humans back into his church.

Yeah, I was thinking she'd be safe for awhile too until Tyler slipped up with that comment to Lisa. They're definitely going to be keeping an eye on her after that becomes known and I wouldn't be surprised that if/when Lisa mentions it to her mother (possibly by the next episode), it's part of what makes Anna decide to agree to have Tyler used in the selection process for whatever she's having done on the ship. Leverage that could possibly be used against Erica if she steps out of line? Her son. Having Tyler on the ship/involved in whatever she has Lisa doing would keep Tyler within Anna's reach/grasp.

Good spec.

March? Yeah, that really is a long stretch of time to allow people to just lose interest. My sister watches Flashforward - I don't. But V certainly intrigues me much more than that show does.

I did watch the first 3 episodes of FlashForward but I gave up sometime in episode 4. It's too much of a Lost rip off and the writers have turned what could have been a bloody awesome premise into a boring procedural show where Mark and his FBI colleague's chase after a new lead in every fresh episode. I only feel sorry for Joseph Finnes. He's getting so much flack for his portrayal of Mark Benford that I'm worried that his career will take the same kind of nosedive like Michelle Ryan's did after the Bionic Woman flop. IMO, no actor could ever make Mark into a likeable character.

To be honest, I'm not surprised by the news. My biggest complaint about this season from the last is that the storylines feel way too scattered, it jumps around too much - nothing feels like it's connecting like it did in the first season. In the first season, we had a bunch of events connecting into a bigger story but now it just seems like alot of random episodes that aren't taking us anywhere and they're not trying to tie up the storylines from the last season. Like the big reveal about Peter in the finale? They haven't even touched the information or the consequences of him really being the "Peter" belonging to the parallel universe. The concept of Massive Dynamic has taken a backseat and I'm not connecting who's responsible for what anymore (what groups and why they're doing what they're doing with the biological warefare assaults/public experiments).

I can't comment on the quality of Fringe's second season because I'm watching it on German TV and they won't show it until early next year over here. But this is certainly disappointing to hear.

Hm. You could be right about the redundancy aspect. However, maybe the similarity/theme will be exploited as a common bond that's suppose to eventually unite Tyler and Lisa together in their struggles except with Tyler and his mom (Erica) eventually resolving their differences when Tyler comes around to accepting his mom was right all along. I kind of see the Tyler/Erica conflict as temporary whereas the Lisa/Anna clash would be more long term/final. It would also give the writers a chance to showcase how it really isn't "redundant" at all because we're seeing how parent-child rebellion is different within the two communites and how it resolves itself within humanity unlike how it is probably dealt with in the life of the V's - which I suspect is death or something more unfeeling and final. Lisa might be exposed to this later on when she sees how Erica deals with Tyler's betrayal against her in the form of love and forgiveness. After all, Ana is the leader of the V's and her daughter turning "traitor" would have far-reaching consequences that might even lead to her own daughter's death by Anna's own hand/order and a battle for control over a possible "star-child" conceived down the road. I obviously suspect that human feelings and emotion are foreign concepts to the V's - ideas that they have to "fake" outwardly in order to personify it correctly to the humans (much like Anna's performance this episode in preparation to meet with the widow).

What I would hate about Lisa coming around in the end is that it would validate Tyler in his devotion and love for her and I don't want that under any circumstances. I know this probably sounds mean but I want this kid to suffer and I want him to suffer a lot.

Just curious. Who was the Mrs. Belker character suppose to be and who/what was her similarity going to be to? I didn't know about her, lol.

She was a blind elderly woman of faith and due to the Visitors' arrival she was going to experience a crisis of faith. Like Father Jack.

That's definitely possible too. I wonder how/when he'll pop up and how he's been able to remain in hiding like he has. They talk about him like he's this legend that might not even exist - kind of like, not many fifth column members have had contact or have ever seen him. That's why I was taking a guess about Joshua, the doctor, because I was thinking maybe the reason he's perceived as such a "legend/myth" is because he's buried so deep in the ranks of the V's so that the Fifth Column remains viable and alive. Hm. Lol, I love speculating about it though. So many possibilities.

That would be very interesting but I'm thinking if he's still "with" the V's then he's probably someone who's working underground on earth like Dale did.

You know, his character actually hasn't grown on me at all yet so I've been indifferent to him? I really don't know what to think of him - is he weary of the V's and playing along, is he trying to just find a way to advance his career in all of this by being a nosey journalist, or is he fickle enough to do what the V's want whenever they ask? Don't have a handle on him yet.

Whatever they do with Chad I'll keep on hoping that they won't force an Anna/Chad romance on us. I can't even picture them that way. Just no.

Looking at the promo pics…they deleted a lot of scenes!

They did. There was no Erica/Brandon scene. There was no attack by one of the Visitor security guards against a human protestor. There was no mop Erica had to seperate etc. I'm thinking the uncut version of this episode is at least 47 minutes long.

[Hawthorn]

I really liked episode 3. Much, much stronger than episode two. Although, I still think the show has to work on some serious improvement of the dialogues, and try to give fresher lines to the characters. (for instance, as much as Anna's peace & serenity messages are purposely kept simple and straight to the point - considering the character she is I'd expect more from her lines).

I was expecting Lisa to be the daughter of someone important in the visitors' hierarchy, but my money was on either Marcus or a character we hadn't met yet - Anna was a surprise.
Another surprise was Joshua's real loyalty - very well played. I'm liking how they've introduced and slowly expanded the idea of that part of the visitors rebelling to the master plan.

I loved the scene with Anna rehearsing her speech and gestures towards the dead pilot's wife, but it got me thinking - if visitors can't really experience/deeply understand human emotions on their own, what about Ryan..? Is the "bliss" what keeps you void of emotions/prevents your brain from dealing with anything altering some kind of calm or control?

And about the show and its future - I think we'll get all the 13 episodes of the ideal first season (I wonder if V will be paired with Lost, I've just seen they've moved the show from Wednesday to Tuesday), but I'm not confident in a second season. The ratings have been slipping, and the hiatus will probably make that worse. But who knows.

[GrhmLz]

Originally Posted by Hamburgo1001 She is such an evil btch but I love it.

Yeah, she's the kind that looks sweet and innocent on the surface but underneath that exterior is defintiely "a devil lurking!" Haha. Can't wait to watch her inward persona/true nature reveal itself to the outside world in due time.

And did you notice his weird looks all throughout the episode? He's so a V it's not even funny. I think he's way more likely to be a V than Father Travis because while he acts suspiciously, it's not the in your face kind of stuff.

I definitely suspect/expect Erica's boss to turn out to be a V more than I do Father Travis. But, gosh, wouldn't it be a freaking twist if it got switched around? Father Travis just comes across a bit naive to me about the V's intentions on the planet -and definitely, he's looking at "church membership" jumping and the people returning to the pews. However, it wouldn't surprise me if they decide to make them both V's who have invaded different walks of human life. Father Travis will be preaching the "V message" from the pulpit while Erica's FBI boss has invaded a sect of government to oversee V control.

I did watch the first 3 episodes of FlashForward but I gave up sometime in episode 4. It's too much of a Lost rip off and the writers have turned what could have been a bloody awesome premise into a boring procedural show where Mark and his FBI colleague's chase after a new lead in every fresh episode.

Lol, my main reason for not watching is that it airs on the same day and time as Vampire Diaries and I already began watching that show first. However, I did catch one episode of Flashforward with my sister on an off-week when I think Vampire Diaries had like a one or two week hiatus. I was kind of like ... whatever, but I also was probably just lost, too, since I don't watch it every week. My sister tried explaining some of it to me.

I can't comment on the quality of Fringe's second season because I'm watching it on German TV and they won't show it until early next year over here. But this is certainly disappointing to hear.

Well, when you do get to watch, you let me know what you think. Maybe I was just missing something and you can explain it to me. But yeah, last night's episode touched upon something introduced from the first season (the Observer) but I'm still not clear on who they are or where they're suppose to come from. I mean, the season opener this year did address Olivia coming back and the effects of traveling to the parallel universe and William Bell has been dropped here and there since the premiere. But like I said - it all feels very scattered at this point. I'm not sure where the show is trying to go with everything or why everything has happened up until this point. I mean, I thought they were going to take everything they gave us in season one and do something bigger with it. Now, some of the random episodes are just feeling redundant - more psuedo-science experiments/attacks but what's the bigger picture? (*sighs*)

What I would hate about Lisa coming around in the end is that it would validate Tyler in his devotion and love for her and I don't want that under any circumstances. I know this probably sounds mean but I want this kid to suffer and I want him to suffer a lot.

Lol. I wouldn't mind if it eventually leads there because I definitely think it's going to be made clear that Lisa started out as a V supporter of her mother's plans for Earth. So it's not like Erica's concerns/instincts regarding the V's or Lisa will be made invalid just because Lisa might turn around down the road and I don't think it's going to detract from the "suffering" that will be inflicted upon Tyler, as you put it, lol. I think he's in for a rough road - especially if his character is being slotted for a possible "star-child" storyline. But I wouldn't want his suffering to last indefinitely. I want him to see the error of his ways and make up with his mom. And if Lisa can see the light too, then I think it'll be a bonus.

If Lisa/Tyler conceive a "star-child" - I'm not opposed to Lisa being redeemed down the road at all. In fact, I'd actually prefer it where there is a child involved in the story. I'll be honest, it was a small bone of contention for me in the original for Robin Maxwell. It kind of bothered me that she was "used" and not really cared about by the star-child's father. I mean, even if the Visitor father still died down the road, I think it would have been nice had the two "parents" had some kind of real foundation with each other also with the Visitor maybe coming around to see things differently in the end. Elizabeth Maxwell turned out to just be Diana's project in the end of it all. I mean, she had a purpose/destiny in bringing peace between the humans and Visitors. And she did get to have some kind of relationship with her mom for the limited amount of time she did. But it was still all kind of sad.

My suspicion is that in order to do both, to add angst for Tyler and to redeem Lisa somewhere down the road at the same time - is that Lisa will eventually die when she comes around to seeing things differently and then Tyler will be in mourning. Just a guess.

That would be very interesting but I'm thinking if he's still "with" the V's then he's probably someone who's working underground on earth like Dale did.

That's very likely because we know the V's have been on earth for quite some time. It's possible that over time, all of the Fifth Column, including this John Mays just lost touch with each other. But I'm anticipating/speculating that much like the V's from the original, the Fifth Column is an oppositional force that sprang up inside the V community over time and prior to their invasion of earth. What the V's plan to do with Earth/Humans is probably something that is just added to why the Fifth Column opposes the ways of their own people. That's why I think it's possible he still could have remained with the V's before the big revelation with the ships over earth and has just remained hidden in the heirarchy. However, if not that, it's also possible that he did drop to earth with all the V's that defected from their own people who were implanted on Earth. He could be hiding in the ranks of humans somewhere like Ryan and others did.

Whatever they do with Chad I'll keep on hoping that they won't force an Anna/Chad romance on us. I can't even picture them that way. Just no.

Yeah, I'm not feeling it. At all. For me, it's easier to see Tyler/Lisa before Anna/Chad. I don't know why.

Originally Posted by Hawthorn I loved the scene with Anna rehearsing her speech and gestures towards the dead pilot's wife, but it got me thinking - if visitors can't really experience/deeply understand human emotions on their own, what about Ryan..? Is the "bliss" what keeps you void of emotions/prevents your brain from dealing with anything altering some kind of calm or control?

That's actually a good question.

I guess it comes down to whether emotions/feelings are purely physiological, psychological, environmental (learned) spiritual etc? Is it a combination of factors on where they come from? That's all up for speculation and debate depending on how we see things and how we perceive life.

First: If it's physiological in nature and we look at the brain, perhaps it has to do with what part of the brain gets accessed in both humans and Visitors? It's possible that the Visitors have a part of their brain that allows them to access such feelings; however, they know with it comes consequences - thoughts that can lead to conscientious objections, issues on morality (right and wrong). Maybe that's what Ryan/Cyrus were referring to about the "reconnecting." It's possible that reconnecting takes away free-will/feelings/emotions by isolating a part of the brain that controls it. "Connecting" could quite possibly be some form of tyrannical "forced" phenomena taking place that might have to do with blocking feelings/emotions. This can possibly explain Ryan and other Fifth Column members that are different.

Option Two: Also, we don't know what "beliefs" the Visitors prescibe to. Maybe it's not physiological at all (having nothing directly to do with the brain). Is everything about them purely "scientific/technological" or do they suscribe to a belief in a higher power (a God) and a soul? Is there something more internally abstract - an energy connected to a higher source that stimulates a conscious that leads to deciphering between right and wrong (moral conduct)? That could quite possibly explain Ryan and the others like him who pull away from the Visitor fold and whatever this "reconnecting" implies (most likely a loss of their own free will like Ryan hinted at).

Third: Or how about some external factors, like environment, that can lead to evolution? I guess it's possible that exposure to humans for such a prolonged period of time could have ignited learned behavior which, in turn, jump started some kind of evolutionary process - a physiological change in their brains that allows them to access feelings/emotions on their own now. Something that use to be a foreign concept to them but no longer is.

Lastly: Maybe in the Vistor's evolutionary path - closing off that part of the brain responsible for transmitting feelings was essential in getting to where they are now? Emotions/feelings could have been perceived as a weakness that only got in the way of significant advancement. Therefore, since Ryan and the others would now be disconnected, they've regained use of feelings/emotions. So maybe instead of "connection" being forced like speculated inside of my first theory, "connection" was some type of evolution amongst the Visitors that blocked emotions/feelings being accessed from the brain. However, that's not to say Anna and other Visitors (Fifth Column members) haven't uncovered scientific/technological means to monkey around with it (forced/mind control connection or disconnection techniques). All theory since we still don't know for sure what Ryan meant by "reconnection." We only have drops of information that could imply it has the effect of something equivalent to a drug (referring to Cyrus as a junkie - like it's almost eliciting mind control over the person).

Of course, I've always been taught "Love" is way more than a feeling. It's a conscious choice of the will - actions. Perhaps "Love" is a unversial theme that bridges the gap between Visitors and humans alike and the actions of Ryan and the others really isn't based on "emotions/feelings" at all. Like with human beings, there could just be some Visitors who choose not to love and others who do when it comes to humans.

Just throwing some speculation/ideas out there.

And about the show and its future - I think we'll get all the 13 episodes of the ideal first season (I wonder if V will be paired with Lost, I've just seen they've moved the show from Wednesday to Tuesday), but I'm not confident in a second season. The ratings have been slipping, and the hiatus will probably make that worse. But who knows.

Hm - interesting. So LOST has been moved to Tuesday night for it's final season? I didn't know that.

I definitely want the 13 episodes in total but it'll be great if we can slide into a second season too.

[Hamburgo1001]

V had a DVR increase of 950000 viewers and a full rating point in the 18-49 demographic for this episode. It was the 7th most DVR-ed show of the week.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/12/07...est-week/35485