"V" is for Vagina

Morena Baccarin (Anna) and Jane Badler (Diana)

When the re-imagined/reboot of "V" first aired, I was there. I enjoyed the first half of the first season, but like most dark sci-fi shows about alien invasions, if you don't inject something new into it, you lose me. I've seen any and every plausible version of every invasion story Hollywood has to offer and I expected something refreshing and new from "V".

So I let it go. I figured it wouldn't last long. It would be cancelled soon. 

It wasn't.

In fact, it has grown in story and perhaps in scope, as far as the loyal viewers are concerned. I didn't come back to the show on the expectation that the story was expanding. I came back for a smaller, yet nostalgic reason. 

The original "V" aired in 1983. I was five and even then I was aware of the magnitude of the series. Reptilian aliens perpetrating as humans. The idea was already infiltrating some circles and solidifying for some, the belief that reptilian aliens were in fact trying to take over the world.

The paranoia made the series a success. Not a success in the scale of, say, The X-Files (as far as Alien invaders are concerned), but it became a cult hit nonetheless. Fast forward more than 20 years later and  some people have made a name in Esoteric circles, discussing what they believe to be an inevitable plot by low-lying reptilian aliens to invade Earth.

Honestly, this resurgence started with Ron Moore's re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. The original Battlestar had reptilians. The success of Ron Moore's show ushered in the idea that "V" could make it with today's audience. So far, it is. Albeit slowly. 

Which brings me to why I have suddenly returned to the show. I decided to watch again simply because Jane Badler is back as Diana. No longer the "Queen V" thanks to Morena Baccarin's chilly turn as Anna, but you still have no idea what "Grandma V" has up her sleeves.

Her granddaughter Lisa (Laura Vandervoort of Smallville fame) has fallen in love with a human and is experiencing human emotions. Her mother is using her as a tool to get what she needs in order to make the V's even more superior before taking over the Earth for good. Humans be damned.

There's the FIFTH COLUMN whose focus is to take Anna down at all costs and it seems like all the odds are against her, but what makes it all the more interesting is that her own mother and her daughter are willing to take her out too.

"V" is more of a 'Drama with your Mama' show with Science Fiction thrown in for flavor. It's about an alien Matriarchy that is more powerful than any male dominated power the world has ever seen? Alexander the Great who? Attila the what? The three generations of Queen V's are far scarier than any army of men coming over some unnameable hill in some undiscovered country of yore.

This is what has drawn me back to the show. The rarity of such female power in Science Fiction has left a hunger... a thirst even, for strong female leaders in Science Fiction. I can no longer look forward to Dana Scully, Laura Roslin, Kara Thrace or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer delivering some much needed Girl Power. 

Even cooler still, the Fifth Column has lost its male leader and now Erica Evans (the lone Agent on a mission to get her son back from the manipulative clutches of Anna and save the world), is leading the rebel "V"s. More girl power. And with the super-advanced growth of Ryan's daughter, another power may soon loom over and threaten to consume Anna's pride. Could it get any more bitchier than that?

You can check out recaps and older episodes of "V" here. 

Tune in every Tuesday @ 9/8c on ABC.