What I’m Watching: V

V: Season 2, Episode 2 “Serpent’s Tooth” (C)

I still can’t comprehend why this show isn’t proving to be compelling or exciting. It joins “Heroes” this week as another series that sets itself in New York City but doesn’t even try to capture the spirit of the city (that probably has to do with the fact that the show doesn’t actually film in the city). That’s hardly its worst offense, of course. The presence of Anna’s mother is perplexing and not at all helpful to the main plot at hand. The dual discussions about finding and eradicating the soul between Anna and Marcus and Ryan and Jack weren’t nearly as effective as they seemed to think they were. I don’t quite buy the idea of the human skin infecting the Vs with human emotion, and Anna digesting a rat and tormenting Ryan’s baby seem rather over-the-top, even for an emotionless extraterrestrial. The notion of a rival terrorist group fighting back against the Vs is intriguing to an extent, but it just serves to expand the continuously evolving collection of characters whose presence doesn’t actually enhance the show in any way (Kyle Hobbes, for instance, who hasn’t done much of interest in a while). If we’re going to have more characters, I’d like to see a bigger showcase for someone like Bret Harrison, who I guess we’re supposed to believe is a highly intelligent doctor. I’ve enjoyed Harrison in his more comic roles on “Reaper” and “The Loop.” I’m also curious who will play this mysterious Israeli now involved in the resistance.