I had a huge viewing breakthrough as I watched last night's V, cringing while I cataloged the Fifth Column missteps that I've come to expect. And actually, only a slight change of perception helped draw the alien-invasion drama out of its unique mash-up of Battlestar Galactica-style ethical dilemmas and, frankly, wholly original studies in idiotic characters (whose decisions fly in the face of everything logical on Earth): Maybe this show would make a better comedy. Let me explain.
To begin, a summary: This week, our four-person branch of the Fifth Column decided to raise the stakes a bit and blow up a ship full of Visitors. But sneaky, shiftily aligned Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) told Anna, who filled the ship with a bunch of human skeletons, thus taking the Fifth Column's approval rating down a few pegs. And then Anna went ahead and punched Lisa so Tyler would join Live Aboard. "There's no greater incentive than a damsel in distress," said Anna, clearly a student of the Stephenie Meyer School of Melodrama and ... I don't know, Economics?
But back to the point, about which I'm totally kidding (I'm not, though):
Stock characters? Well, our story centers on a priest, a single mother who occasionally works for the FBI, a snarky British dude, and a token black dude. Check.
Needlessly dramatic revelations despite prior blatancy? At the end of the episode, Erica learns that she and Sarita Malik (Battlestar Galactica's Rekha Sharma) will be heading up the FBI effort to rain destruction down upon the Fifth Column, a task which Malik is perfectly suited for because it turns out she's a secret cyl- ... oh, erm ... Visitor. Oh snap. Blindsided me there. The Fifth Column is having enough trouble making discernible headway in the fight against the Vs. Another zany wrench in the machine? It's just funny at this point, isn't it?
Simple solutions to serious ethical complications? This week, Erica and Co. go through about half the episode thinking they've killed a lot of innocent humans. Then, surprise! Relief! It turns out those people were already dead. Father Jack, who is skeptical about the whole plan to blow up the ship, is unfortunately robbed of his "I told you so" moment, which is a shame because it would have only bolstered my sitcom thesis. Still, though -- it's overwrought anxiety devolved into melodramatic fluff. It's the stuff of sitcoms, or at least something that should take itself far less seriously than V seems to.
Any other examples of laughable plot lines? Let's hear them!