What I’m Watching: V

V: Season 1, Episode 10 “Hearts and Minds” (B)

This show is still doing okay, but I have some serious qualms with some of the action in this episode. Telling it all in reverse every episode by starting at the end kills some of the suspense, and this show has already employed that device too many times. It’s time to go through a straight chronology, with no flashbacks of any kind. That’s especially true when it comes to revealing something – if you’re not giving any new information and the flashback only shows exactly what happened and what has just been described, there’s no need. The big shock that Agent Malik is actually a V makes enough sense once she tells Anna “hello, my queen” and explains that she deleted the information – no need for a stupid flashback. I am far more impressed with the development of Lisa’s character; it’s just a shame that her mother was watching her the whole time she was doing it. Her own exploration of the V ship to see what they were up to was interesting, but trying to help save Tyler by telling him she no longer cares for him was a huge step. Anna punching her in the face and ordering her legs to be broken is quite a scary progression of events. I liked Kyle’s pep talk to the group after their plan to kill the V trackers resulted in human deaths: “Which do you want to be – the guy who gets knocked down or the guy who gets back up?” Hopefully Father Jack and crew will use their knowledge that Chad is reporting to Anna to hurt her where it counts.