['V' - 'Concordia']

Happy Birthday to Tyler Evans. Now that he's 18, he can join the army and die for his country, but still can't legally partake of an alcoholic beverage. That is the extent of my legal criticism in this review.

This episode was interesting in that it somewhat wrapped up some plot lines (and did move the story along), but left enough room to return to those ideas if the writers so desire. While Tyler may currently no longer be a cog in Anna's plot to rape all the women on Earth (an issue I'll return to in a moment), he could be again later on. It's also unlikely we've seen the last of Marcus.

We now know straight from Anna that the Visitors want to impregnate the women of Earth. The writers need to better explain the subtle nature of the invasion. Why not just carpet bomb the Earth with a disease that would kill anyone with a "Y" chromosome? Is the mating process so complex for the V's that the recipient needs to be willing? Do they just need the men for slave labor?

The fact that Anna waited for Tyler to turn 18 before carrying out whatever plans she had for his DNA is very "Harry Potter." Tyler himself seems woefully naive, almost unrealistically so. Someone has to wake him up to the nature of the Visitors soon. Or just give him a serious beating.

While I'm sure Joe is trustworthy, a sure-fire way of losing cover is by letting more and more people know about your identity as a secret terrorist. Since all signs point to Erica as being outed as Fifth Column, that's probably not what's going to happen. There will likely be some eleventh hour save with regards to her job. Unless, of course, the twist of her being revealed is being saved for the end of the season to use in the less-likely-with-each-episode third season.



I'm surprised it took Erica so long in the episode to decide to make an attempt on Anna's life. Doesn't she know that all wars have innocent casualties?

Given that Morena Baccarin is still under contract, it didn't seem likely that the assassination attempt would succeed. It's actually somewhat disappointing that Marcus didn't die. You just know that he'll return later on. It would have been a good shock to the narrative to get rid of someone who has been around since the first episode. On the other hand, it would be another actor out of work and nobody wants that.

Anna must suspect Erica at this stage, particularly given how she was staring knives at our intrepid heroine near the end. Now the Fifth Column is responsible for the death of her children and the near-death of her closest "friend." It's getting even more personal.

It seems that everything the Visitors create has a "true purpose" outside of whatever story is used. The Red Rain made women on Earth more fertile to Visitor impregnation and the Concordia buildings are actually landing sites for the fleet at the edge of our solar system that we haven't seen or heard of since last season. Next they'll introduce a floor wax that's also a dessert topping.

While the show remains interesting, there is still definitely room for improvement. The changes in the status quo are moving along a little too slowly. At the end of this episode, the only major thing that has changed (along with the injury to Marcus) is that Eli Cohen and Hobbes are now aware of Ryan's betrayal. Erica is still an FBI agent (so far) and Father Landry hasn't been defrocked (yet).

So what did you think of the episode?

'V' airs Tuesdays at 9PM ET on ABC.