Overall: 8 (Hindsight Revision: 7)
Things are starting to get more interesting - and terrifying. Here, the writers hit upon one of our major weaknesses as a society.
Spoilers below the cut.
Plot Synopsis:
As the Visitors begin applying for diplomatic visas, some New Yorkers step up their protests at the New York Peace Ambassador Center, while others begin to question their faith. Father Jack is uncertain how to respond to his confused parishioners and pays a visit to Erica in the hopes of finding a way to channel his frustration into something productive. Erica has been losing sleep searching through the long list she snatched from the FBI task force last week, but she has come across no promising leads. She tells Jack they have to be circumspect in their resistance, as they don't know just yet what the V's need humanity for. She then gets a phone call from work: the V's have received a death threat. She agrees to join the force assigned to protect the V's in the hopes that she can uncover some inside information on the aliens. Jack, meanwhile, stays behind to continue looking through the FBI list.
After walking his fiance to work, Ryan makes contact with Georgie. Georgie seems to have lost hope, but Ryan tells him of a legendary V rebel, John May, who he believes is capable of reassembling the V Fifth Column and mounting a resistance. We then shift to the New York mothership, where a V named Joshua is assigned to debrief Dale. Joshua calls Dale a hero and promises that he will help Dale remember what happened to him. Meanwhile, Chad reports that the leader of the protest in New York is a woman by the name of Mary Faulkner, whose husband died when his plane crashed on the day of the Visitors' arrival. Anna requests more information on Faulkner; she hopes to neutralize this new threat.
Erica arrives at the Peace Ambassador Center with her fellow agents and is dismayed to be partnered with a V. Erica and her V partner apprehend the aspiring assassin thanks to Erica's instincts, and the man is turned over to the V's for "questioning." Father Jack, meanwhile, finally gets a hit on the FBI list: Georgie. Jack visits Georgie's home and learns from the woman keeping watch over the property that Georgie's entire family was likely murdered by Visitor infiltrators. Later, when Georgie confronts Jack regarding his intrusion, Jack tells Georgie that they should stick together.
Ryan continues to look for other members of the V Fifth Column. He visits his old friend Cyrus, but Cyrus is revealed to be a double agent who has turned V rebels over to their leaders in the hopes that he will be "reconnected" in return for his cooperation. Ryan tells Cyrus that this connection is the means by which Anna holds the V's in thrall, but Cyrus doesn't care - he's still desperate to return to that state of bliss. Ryan is forced to kill Cyrus to escape. He leaves a message for Anna's V's: "John May Lives!"
Before leaving the Visitors' building, Erica takes a free moment to break into one of the center's secure rooms. There, she finds thousands of surveillance screens and figures out the V's are using their uniform jackets to keep watch on humankind. In the meantime, Joshua brings Dale into a virtual construct of the FBI office where he worked for the last several years. With enough prodding, Dale finally remembers that it was Erica who slashed and stabbed him. Joshua then injects Dale with a medication to knock him out, but not before revealing that he is a Fifth Columnist looking for allies among the humans.
According to Chad's reports, Mary Faulkner is scheduled to speak to the protesters shortly. But Anna, always mindful of her public image, waylays Faulkner before she makes her potentially damaging address and feigns sympathy for Faulkner's loss. When Faulkner comes to the podium later, she is a converted woman; she praises Anna for her compassion and urges her followers to embrace the V's. This is a massive PR win for Anna. Later, as Anna watches Chad's news report on the events of the day, she is visited by Marcus' ersatz assassin, whom she praises for his good work. Thus, it is revealed that the death threat was also orchestrated by Anna to drum up public sympathy for the V's.
Lisa and Tyler, meanwhile, meet at Tyler's favorite pizza parlor and eventually end up in Tyler's bedroom. Erica catches the two of them together, but not before Lisa strips off her uniform on the theory that Erica would be less disturbed to find her son making out with a barely dressed girl than she would be if she found her son consorting with a Visitor. Lisa turns out to be right; a bemused Erica merely tells Tyler to take Lisa home. When Lisa returns to the mothership, she reports to Anna that she believes Tyler is "the one." Anna tells Lisa she is proud of her, and Lisa thanks Anna, calling her "mother."
Writing: 8
A Bright New Day seems more cohesive than its two predecessors, perhaps because this time around, a considerable amount of attention is paid to one plot element (instead of six): Anna's manipulation of public opinion. The phony assassination attempt and the conversion of Mary Faulkner both reveal that Anna is a frighteningly brilliant lizard indeed - a villain who, in my view, embodies precisely what we should fear most in the digital age.
Allow me to explain: In the print and radio era, it mattered little whether a leader was telegenic; what mattered was the substance. This is illustrated by the Kennedy/Nixon debate in 1960, which took place at the very start of our current age. Those who watched the 1960 debate on television were influenced by the appearance of the candidates - Kennedy seemed self-assured, whereas Nixon looked haggard - and concluded from the visuals that Kennedy had won the debate. Those who listened to the debate on the radio, however, could only judge the candidates on their words; these listeners believed Nixon had won. Visuals changed the playing field. Since 1960, image has become far more important, to the point that it is often remarked that our Founding Fathers would not have been elected if they had been compelled to compete according to today's rules. This shift in our political process has made us uniquely vulnerable to individuals like Anna - people who are masters at crafting a positive - and deceptive - public image. Being conscious of this vulnerability, I consequently find Anna a marvelously chilling antagonist, particularly in this episode, in which her political gifts are displayed at center stage.
Acting: 8
Morena Baccarin is great here. The scene in which she rehearses her "sympathy" for Mary Faulkner is a real standout. Others in the cast, meanwhile, recover from the strange flatness of last week's installment and put in respectable performances. The flickers of dismay that come over Elizabeth Mitchell's face as her character is forced to acquiesce to the various demands of the V's are particularly worthy of note.
Message: 8
Father Jack's evolution raises no red flags this time around. I think it's perfectly acceptable for him to be at a loss as to how to speak to his parishioners about recent events; indeed, I even think it is acceptable for him to experience a "dark night of the soul," as it were, as a consequence of the Visitors' arrival. Momentary doubt is a healthy part of a mature faith, particularly in the face of looming catastrophe. So long as this period of searching leads to a reaffirmation rather than a rejection of faith, this has the potential to be a fine arc indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment