V (2009 TV series)/Headscratchers

• I'm a little confused by the continuity. There was earlier reference to the "first resistance", which hints at this being a more direct continuation, sooo... how did humanity forget that aliens settled on their planet? Everyone seems so surprised when they show up. I'm pretty early in the series, so this may get explained away somehow, but I'm just a little confused.
  • It's not in continuity with the original version. In this version the Visitors have been infiltrating for years, and the "first resistance" refers to the origin of the Fifth Column.
• Why do the Vs only call each other Vs even when there alone with no humans around?? Do the Vs Species have no name or are they (in their own native language) actually called Visitors?
  • 1): Translation Convention. 2): Considering that their entire culture revolves around subjugating and assimilating alien species, it is quite possible that the only name they have for themselves means "Visitor."
• Why is Anna so intent on destroying "the Soul" so much in the current story arc?. I get that Anna wants absolute control of Humanity and Vs and absolute worship of her by the ability to eliminate the need/want of emotion. And past any writer created gobbledygook/typical straw philosophy on how the soul is intangible or Beyond all knowing or reason the main drive of this plan still doesn't make any real sense. If you explain the base meaning of what a soul in purely analytical terms (or even pseudo scientific terms) the/a soul is the life force made of unknown radiation/energies that keep all beings made of organic living tissue alive and thinking. Emotions and all that other religiously/spiritually deeper stuff is just a nice bonus that comes with having one. Even if Vs or Anna aren't deeply spiritual they could access any religious Internet site or even That Other Wiki for a basic explanation of what a Soul is.
  • And that's just assuming you believe souls exist.
  • This whole scheme makes a much sense as Anna declaring to strip all bio electric charges out of every neuron in the brain to control peoples very thoughts. It wouldn't create a susceptible mind to control or even a mindless drone only a 98-200 something pound piece of dead weight (Literally). Basically if Anna succeeds in this plan all she'll end up with is several billion corspes (including Vs and possibly Undead) left to worship her (unless having a massive legion of Zombie followers is something Anna wants?). Can anyone here really answer this??.
  • She doesn't know what will happen if the soul is destroyed. Will she get zombies? Maybe. Or maybe she'll just get emotionless shells, like the uninfected Vs. She's convinced that the soul is what protects people from her Bliss, and she wants to remove that obstacle. That's really all there is to it. If she does succeed in removing the soul (doubtful) and just ends up with a corpse, I doubt she'll keep it up except as a method of torture/interrogation.
• Too Dumb to Live was one thing but Tyler has officially stepped in to Jerkass territory setting up Jack, why would do that when he saw first hand Jack stop the fight.
• Shouldn't Anna be seen conversing with the president and other world leaders? A lot? Not just in a hypothetical upcoming episode?
  • Law Of Conservation Of Detail. She probably does regularly meet with world leaders, it's just that those meetings aren't particularly interesting or plot-related.
• Why didn't FBI Agent Erica call the FBI and the press when the V assassin tried to take her out in her own home? It was a perfect opportunity to expose the Visitors: "Hey, everyone! A lizard man wearing human skin broke into my home and tried to kill me with this super-knife, and I killed him in obvious self-defense! Maybe we ought to reconsider just how 'harmless' the Vs really are?"
  • Considering how many other TV shows had instances of self-defense being mistaken for not self defense...
    • The whole "lizard man wearing human skin" thing should probably still be an issue.
  • There's also the two that came after Ryan and Valerie in their home, and the one posing as John May's son-in-law's girlfriend.
  • Ryan did warn earlier against doing something that public, as it would cause Anna to take more forceful actions. Still doesn't explain why Erica doesn't even want to take a closer look at the corpse of a Visitor.
• Just how stupid are the FBI supposed to be in this universe? A group of aliens with no legal jurisdiction shows you "evidence" that consists of a fingerprint taken off the surface of a bomb that was literally VAPORIZED, supposedly "reconstructed" using technology that is literally unfathomable by human science. And they refer to this as "solid evidence"? Even if they want to assume that this evidence was somehow believable, there's absolutely no way that any court would ever accept such evidence.
  • Considering that half the FBI force may be composed of Vs, it's likely that the humans were ignorant and went with the flow, and that the Vs kept everything quiet.
• Do the makers of this show not realize we just want to see lizards?
  • Speak for yourself.
  • They're using the same philosophy Steven Spielberg used when making the original Jaws. Show the shark (or, in this case, lizard) as little as possible. By revealing what the Vs look like slowly, and in small pieces, they become much scarier than if they had been running around from the start.
• The Fifth Column is Too Dumb to Live, especially in Pound of Flesh. The smartest thing for the Fifth Columnists caught by the empathy test to do would have been to take the damn pills. Anna would have probably questioned the effectiveness of the test, and it would have saved them the agony of death by skinning later on. Seriously, what kind of moron chooses to be skinned alive when presented with a quick and (probably) painless way out?
  • Depending on how hardcore the V Columnists are, they may have opted against it out of spite. Anna's too much of a crazy bitch to back down if they all took the pills in unison, so this is their way of spitting in her face. She'll kill (based on the ship sample) nearly 100 innocent Vs to rat out just as many traitors. At least this way she knows these people are willing to die for their cause, rather than thinking she's killed nothing but loyalists.
    • The best way to spite Anna would be to take the damn pills and make her think the test doesn't really work that well after all. It would be better than giving her any reason to believe her test was at all effective.
      • Anna had proof the test didn't really work. Half of the people killed themselves on command and she still wanted the tests done. They'd be dead one way or the other. At least this way she knows they are taking a stand.
  • This troper wonders if maybe they did take the pills and Anna drew the wrong conclusion, skinning alive her loyal officers.
  • Have you ever talked to anyone who believed in a cause so much that they wouldn't deny it even if their life depended on it? Because I have. It is probably seen as being far more honourable to be skinned by Anna for the cause than to immolate yourself to save yourself the torture.
    • It might be more honorable, in fact generally speaking I would agree, but I'm with the above troper who reckons it's a stupid decision tactically speaking. Currently, Anna sees the test as being a tool with acceptable collateral, i.e. it works at a price she's willing to pay. If it seemed that every single person it found was actually a loyalist, she'd have much more reason to question its efficacy, i.e. it appears not to work at all.
      • Honor Before Reason? Belief (whether it's a cause or just "I CAN DO IT!") can override tactical sense.
  • I generally agree that all the good guys on this show are morons, but my reading of the scene was a little different--it wasn't clear to me that the Vs who failed the empathy test were even Fifth Column, just that they'd started developing human emotions, so it's possible they didn't even know what they were getting into. I don't know that anyone knew, beforehand, that the choice was between instant immolation and getting skinned alive, either.
• If the Vs are so heavily infiltrated into every part of humanity... haven't they already taken over the world and so why do they need to take over the world?
  • The higher up one goes, the harder it would be to pull off such a ruse even with cloned human flesh. They're probably just high enough to manipulate government agencies, but not so high as to outright control them.
  • Plus its still unclear what exactly they want. If the president told us to march onto the V's ships to get eaten or whatever, I don't think many people would obey.
  • Also, putting Vs in positions of point would mean that a lot of attention is going to be on that V. For instance, look at the US President. He has a lot of eyes on him every day, he has to get his health checked every once in awhile, he needs to have a family to appeal to people, and in the case of the current President enjoys sports that can leave him bloodied. So imagine what would happen if there was a freak accident (or an assassination attempt) and he gets cut open on live TV? Uh oh, plan revealed. Thus the Vs would be a lot safer taking over a lot of behind the scenes roles, out of the spotlight and preferably not in a situation to get shot at or anything like that.
• Neither the FBI nor the V can manage to intercept and listen in on simple cellphone conversations? Seriously??
• Erica spends the majority of the fifth episode worried because her son Tyler is on a Visitor ship and she can't get him out of there. He's still legally a minor, and the Visitors openly admit that Tyler is on their ship. Wouldn't it be within her legal rights to demand that they deliver him to her, with the help of human law enforcement if necessary?
  • Because that would make it more obvious that she doesn't trust the Vs, which could lead to them investigating her. At the very least, she wouldn't be given as much free reign when dealing with them.
• Why do the Visitors use suicide pills instead of something more automatic to cover things up? That doesn't help anything if a V dies instantly or is incapacitated. For instance, if a Visitor agent had been involved in a bad car accident on a busy street, you might have had dozens of independent witnesses all seeing gaping reptile skin.
  • Come to think of it, that may be how Georgie and people like him caught wind of everything; witnessed a car accident or something involving a V, saw the reptile beneath, etc.
• Was anyone else bothered by Father Jack telling Chad leave the church and he was not welcome there. Granted, Chad has caused trouble, but you could argue that he was duped by the visitors, particurlarly since the senior priest is arguably duped as well, as is a large part of the human race. It certainly seemed inappropriate for a priest to tell someone to leave the Lord's house.
  • To be fair, Chad has caused much more damage then any other human has and caused they're main ally on the V ship to get killed. I'd want him as far away from any place I work as well.
• When the Fifth Column tells the humans not to trust the V's and that they're not really here for the reasons they said, NOT ONE of them asks the natural question, "What are they here for, then?" It's implied from the plot of the first miniseries that they want to eat us, but only the audience would guess that. The humans don't seem to be a terribly curious lot in this universe.
• The Fifth Column 'Are You Human' test, which leaves a V-shaped scar near the ear that sticks out like a sore thumb. If Anna or any of the other Visitors had any sense, they'd notice this on some captured / dead humans and use their own test against them to find even more human Fifth Columnists. Anna would just have to brush Erica's hair aside and glance for a second, and she would be done for. Father Jack could also be quite easily identified this way as well (and yet, none of the V-doctors even noticed it when they were healing him from his stabbing).
  • They haven't captured very many Fifth Column yet--they've mostly got the V members, who obviously wouldn't have the scar. Not to mention that its unlikely all members have this; Hobbes and Sid almost certainly don't. They might notice eventually, but right now they don't have enough to go on.
• Why hasn't Erica told Tyler the truth about the Vs yet? At this point, it's a lot more dangerous for him to be ignorant. He could actually be helpful, too. Erica is bending over backwards to keep him safe, but he could help take care of himself if he just knew!
  • Perhaps because even she realizes that her son is Too Dumb to Live.
• The Fifth Column's tactics. Not the radicals who use suicide bombers (stupid as hell on its own), but the main characters. Gee, Erica, its a great idea for an FBI agent to run around with a known terrorist. Also, there is nothing wrong with keeping an enemy prisoner in you one-room hideout, where they can see and hear everything.
• Why does all of the Vs interaction with humanity seem to be PR? I mean, Conservation of Detail can only suspend my disbelief up to a point beyond which we're still left with the question: why doesn't their reticence about providing any information about themselves - their history, their biology (not necessarily their own bodies but at least samples of alien flora and fauna that the terran scientists in the V Verse must be salivating over the prospect of acquiring), any actual science or technology with can be used by humans - ring any alarm bells?
• The secondary plan to assassinate Marcus (instead of Anna, who had been informed of a possible attempt and did not take the stage at the gala) was a huge What an Idiot! moment for Hobbes, Eli and Erica. Sure, he is her 'right hand' and a prime target for the Fifth Column, but ultimately replaceable. They should have aborted the plan instead of revealing their hand to Anna, so to speak, who will more than likely retaliate fast and hard against the Fifth Column. Public support for the Vs will rise even more, which will speed up Concordia's completion. Erica calling after Tyler and making an impromptu appearance on the stage with him didn't go unnoticed by Anna either, and seems to now suspect her (given the look she gave her as she left).
• Where are the Glenn Becks of this world, seeing conspiracies in every single thing? Is the entire Fox News viewership nonexistent in this universe? They're not known to be a particularly trusting lot that takes foreigners at their word. This is especially noticeable since it's been suggested that the Vs are supposed to be a metaphor for the Obama administration. They're charismatic, promise change, offer universal healthcare, but are sinister and have agents infiltrating our society and have secret death panels on the mothership. There ought to be a lot more people suspicious of the Vs than it's implied there are.
  • My personal theory to that is that the Glenn Becks of the world are really V's in disguise, sowing disorder and paranoia in the population.
  • My personal theory is that the show is written by people who suckle at Glenn Beck's teat, and they certainly aren't going to make an unflattering Captain Ersatz of their hero. Hasn't anyone else noticed that this series is basically conspiracy porn?
• Was anyone else bothered by the sheer stupidity of the fifth column in the season 2 finale. First, Erica asks Lisa to kill Anna, her mother. Erica would have to know full well how hard that would be for Lisa to do especially since Lisa now has emotions. Then, she had no back up plan and didn't even seem to consider that something might go wrong. However, this pales in comparison to the idiocy showed by Diana. Diana insisted on taking the throne back in a very public way even AFTER learning that the attempt to assassinate Anna failed. Anna had threatened to kill her mother once before, with an immolation pill, what made Diana think she was so safe?
  • Diana probably didn't think Anna would murder her in public like that, or at the very least believed she had enough time to secure her position as queen before Anna got back. Erica's stupidity is not so forgivable, but it's not like she had much of a choice in the matter beyond rigging the building to explode. What bugs me is that Lisa, knowing damn well her mother is a Manipulative Bitch, believes her sob story without so much as a thought. Hell, there was a mirror right there. Put two and two together, you fool.
    • That looked more like a windowpane to me, and it's entirely possible she didn't know that her mother saw her with the immolation gun. Knowing how proud Anna is, if she starts going on about how she was wrong about human emotion then I can see why she could be tricked that easily.
      • I guess the best way to describe this, then, is poor planning on every member of the fifth column's part, and Anna being a master Manipulative Bitch taking advantage of it!
      • Just face it, everyone was playing a giant game of Catch The Idiot Ball .
• Now, I like Project Ares in general--it explains a lot (the humans weren't rolling over, they were avoiding provoking the lion before they were prepared), but I do have one small problem: Where the hell did that little surveillance globe...camera thing in Erica's house come from? Did I miss the scene where they put it there?
  • It might be a bit of a reach, but it may be (somewhat) reasonable to deduce that the Visitor worker/assassin that tracked her from the warehouse to her home in "Welcome to the War" may have planted it. Due to this series having a persistingly wonky / bad case of Rule of Perception-itis ((Your Mileage May Vary, of course)), it's remotely likely that the Visitor had been appropriately cautious, or even momentarily Genre Savvy. That would give him more than enough time to discretely plant one and wait to off her with those improbably sharp blades male V's inexplicably carry around.