The V Strategy Guide: How Dinner Parties Go Bad

In V's season finale, Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) proved a very ungrateful guest when she seized Anna's conciliatory dinner party invitation as an opportunity to blow up the super soldier eggs Anna's been so eagerly tending to for the past couple weeks. But this wouldn't be V if a lot of things didn't go horribly, irreconcilably wrong, now would it? Read on for a breakdown of the dueling species tactics in last night's Red Sky.

Strategy: The resistance uses an otherwise genial dinner to destroy Anna's about-to-be hatchlings.

Execution: 5 of 10. This is a multi-part plan with a lot of shifty fault lines. Bear with me.

Stage One: Erica will use a magic explosive stashed away in her purse that, according to the resident British man with questionable loyalties, alien technology can't even detect because it gives off no signature. We will ignore the improbability of this, because Erica's clutch is confiscated as soon as she walks in the door.

Stage Two: Father Jack uses Chad Decker to deliver a message to Joshua, the Fifth Column mole aboard the ship. For some reason, Jack thinks that just because he gets the message past Anna, someone will be able to receive it without suspicion. Joshua, of course, refuses the message and ends up imprisoned, but since Erica's already aboard the ship, it's really kind of irrelevant. So... nice try, Jack.

Stage Three: After Joshua and Erica convince Lisa to turn against Anna, she gives Erica a blue energy grenade, solving the bomb issue. "Here's to your future children, Anna," she hilariously deadpans as the throws the grenade in the center of the nest before narrowly escaping the explosion.

Strategy: Anna must deal with the Valerie-Ryan-baby situation.

Execution: 4 of 10. Anna has one of her super soldiers abduct Valerie and bring her back to the mother ship. After she gives birth Anna kills her (and then Anna goes back to her dinner). It's very sad. Then, instead of killing Ryan, she doses him with her Bliss rays, reasoning that "if we can turn him back to us, we can turn anyone." Why, considering her prior mercilessness, does she choose to spare Ryan? Even if she just wants to test out her bliss, what's the point in keeping him around?

Strategy: Finding her eggs destroyed, Anna experiences a moment of human emotion, wails loudly, then initiates "the sequence," which turns the sky red as all our main characters look out their windows.

Execution: N/A. It's too soon to remark about the fallout of this event, but it's safe to say Anna's reaction to the destruction of her eggs -- angrily and thoughtlessly seeking vengeance by moving up the timetable of whatever plans the Visitors have for Earth -- was the highlight of the episode.

How'd you feel about V's first season finale? And now that it's been renewed, how would you characterize your hopes for next season? Can I get a "meh?"