Sunday, March 13, 2011

NEW!: V (2009) 2:9 - Devil in a Blue Dress

Overall: 6.7

Unfortunately, the writers still haven't figured out how to use their human characters in an interesting way.



Plot Synopsis:

ABC.com has a recap here.

The Skinny:

In general, I think the writers are pulling their punches when it comes to portraying the human resistance. As I noted last week, it's naive to insist upon zero collateral damage in a battle this important to humanity's survival -- yet the writers appear to believe that the humans will somehow lose their standing as "the good guys" if they do launch an attack that results in human civilian casualties. Here, I think the writers are being hamstrung by a post-modern mentality that favors phony moral equivalence over clear thinking.

Should Erica and the others have allowed that blue energy reactor to go critical? And would they have lost their moral standing as well as their lives if they had? My answer to the first question is no and yes. I personally would've been very uncomfortable with the resultant loss of millions of innocent human lives; as you may have noticed, I don't particularly care for the Eli Cohn approach. On the other hand, from the story-telling perspective, wiping out your entire human cast in an act that morally grey would've been an unquestionably bold move. And no, I don't think Erica and the others would've lost their moral standing completely in the process. Would it have been tarnished? Yes. I'd prefer the humans not target civilians deliberately, and I like that we have Jack around to openly oppose injuring innocents. But given a choice between a lizard queen who wishes to use and discard the entire human race and a group of human rebels who kill millions of people in order to save billions from the aforementioned lizard queen, I'm going to choose the latter, and I will do so without reluctance.

I think the brewing V Civil War is still interesting, and I continue to hold out hope that the season finale next week will be excellent. But I believe the series as a whole is failing to make waves because the writers aren't taking any real chances. When all is said and done, I think I'm going to attempt a rewrite.

Writing: 6.5

This script is not altogether horrid, but it lacks guts. See above.

Acting: 7.5

No performance is earth-shattering, but everyone does a decent job with the material they're given.

Message: 6.0

Thematically, nothing here stands out. The potential of this series remains largely untapped.

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