The pilot opens with the lines of “Where were you when JFK was assassinated? Where were you on 9/11? Where were you this morning?” Based off the 1980s miniseries (which I haven’t seen, so I wont compare to it), the show focuses on FBI agent Erica Evans, played by “Lost” alumni, Elizabeth Mitchell. The script slowly introduces each character: Erica’s son, Tyler Evans (Logan Huffman), Father Jack Landry (“The 4400’s” Joel Gretsch) , Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut), Valerie Stevens (Lourdes Benedicto) and Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) as they go about their everyday lives until one morning when they all start to feel slight tremors and then things get worse. Ryan sees an F-16 fighter jet drop from the sky and explode into a building, Erica gets trapped under rubble, and a large dark shadow begins to cover the
city, where “a single massive spaceship – two miles wide – has to rest, now parked over the majestic skyscrapers of downtown L.A.” And the ship is not just in Los Angeles, but there are a reported 29 ships, hovering all over major cities of the world. Then a phenomenon happens simultaneously to all of the ships world wide, and as people
look up at these ships, scared, and worried, they see the face of Anna (“Firefly’s” Morena Baccarin), the Visitor Leader, and the first act ends.
A lot happens in the pilot; Tyler and his friend, Bryce, become obsessed with “The Visitors,” especially to his mother’s displeasure. Many people see them as “hope” as they heal the sick (of course there’s the guy who couldn’t walk and now he can) and at the end of the pilot, Erica says that “they’re arming themselves with the most powerful weapon out there… devotion” (“The Visitors” start allowing humans to take trips to their spaceships, which becomes awe-inspiring
for those who go). The Visitors claim that they are far from home and require water and a mineral that is common on Earth to sustain themselves and in return, they will give them Earth technological advances… but of course this isn’t true. “The Visitors” have been on Earth for years and they plan is to kill every single man, woman, and
child. These aliens cannot be trusted and their stunning human beauty is just a cover up for the fact that they are reptilian underneath.
By the end of the pilot, there’s a small group of characters that want to take “The Visitors” down and the show sets up the show to what could be a promising series. Elizabeth Mitchell is perfect casting as the lead, but other than that, while I think the show has potential, I was still not that impressed. I found most of what happened to be
predictable (at least one of the main character’s is a “Visitor;” I didn’t find it very surprising, but others might) and as I mentioned earlier, I never saw the original “V” series. Also, it’s going to have to take very talented writers in order to give a series like this longevity, but that could be why ABC ordered a limited amount of episodes. Maybe I would have enjoyed the pilot more had it been two hours or maybe if the following episodes really improve. But as for
now, ABC has two high concept shows this season, “V” and “Flash Forward,” and I’m definitely much more excited for the latter.
Grade: B