V Series Episode 8 “Uneasy Lies The Head” Additional Perspective

Heyla, V Series fans,

And welcome to my review of V Series episode eight, entitled “Uneasy Lies the Head”. I will admit to not quite understanding this title. Generally, I am pretty good at figuring out how the title fits in, but I went into this episode hoping for a beheading of some kind. *giggles* Oh well! It was still a terrific episode that left me wanting more. 

Okay, so we see a female live aboard being tortured in Anna Visitor’s (Morena Baccarin) needle machine. The needle machine’s purpose is to extract one unique strain of DNA from every carefully selected specimen. This particular strain is the finest genetic material mankind has to offer!

Visitor Joshua, (Mark Hildreth), was supervising the DNA extraction along with Anna. Once the DNA is extracted the two of them follow a technician across the hall to a new super cool looking V techochine that they are using to mix and store, all of the DNA they are stealing. Joshua tells Anna that the final batch of DNA material will arrive tomorrow. Joshua actually said that the final batch of live aboards would arrive tomorrow, but I am sure that is what Anna heard.

Next we see team Erica’s fabulous five all together for a meeting in Kyle Hobbes (Charles Mesure) home sweet bunker home. FBI agent, Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell)) arrives and quickly takes the reins. WNT News anchorman, Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) is there, former priest Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch)), who is still staying with Hobbes, is present, and so is Dr Sidney Miller (Brett Harrison).

Erica Evans, acting like any boss asks if their internet connection with their out of town comrades-at-arms is secure. Dr. Sidney Miller replies, “Nah, I thought I would run this little pow-wow through Facebook.” I love his jokes; he and Hobbes are both so funny! Kyle Hobbes, who is playing with a camera (Like I said last week that guy cannot sit still), informs Erica that it is one thing to get hired as the replacement leader of deceased Eli Cohan’s fifth column network, but it is another to prove herself with them. Erica thinks Kyle Hobbes is being overly dramatic.

Then Jack Landry and Chad Decker feel left out, so they chime in and say that Hobbes is right, she has a lot of new responsibility for a global network of people. As if Erica didn’t already know that? I am sure she was just playing it low key because if she really thought about what her new position meant she would freak out. At least that is what I would do.

They assemble Eli Cohan’s surviving lieutenants on the line and then Erica and the gang explain to them their plan which involves corrupting the DNA of some of the participants from Anna’s final batch with DNA bombs. (Awesome name!)

Chad is going to compile a master list with the names of every participant to distribute to Eli’s lieutenants because they want a DNA bomb inside of at least one live aboard participant on every ship in the world. The bomb will destroy the reproductive functions of any DNA it encounters, meaning that the DNA cannot be reproduced. What they hope will happen is that the corrupted DNA will mix in with the rest of the DNA Anna has collected and that it will ruin all of it. I think that this is a great plan; it is very bold and imaginative.

Eli’s lieutenants love her plan, but they tell her that it will let Anna know she has not destroyed the fifth column like she thinks she did by killing their leader. This attack will tell Anna that there is a new leader, which means that Anna will again be going after them with a vengeance. She will also likely want to go after the leader before anyone else, and so they ask her if she is ready to carry this burden.

Erica says that she is prepared to do whatever it takes. Dr. Sidney Miller tells everyone that the closest place to get the virus they need is at Jameson Labs, which they keep under lock and key. Jack asks how they are going to get the virus, and Erica replies that they will steal it. Naturally Hobbes is impressed.

Switch up to the mother ship, where Joshua is telling Anna that there is a situation with the twenty-nine breeding candidates. That morning in Beijing, one of the boys collapsed and died, and then a short time later another one died in Johannesburg. It seems to be some sort of deadly virus that the Visitors have not yet been able to identify. Anna wants to know how the other boys are; Joshua says they are fine as far as he knows. She then asks worriedly about Tyler. Joshua assures her that Tyler has shown no signs of illness during pilot training. “Take every precaution, determine the cause, and find a cure,” Anna urges Joshua.

Visitor Joshua (Mark Hildreth) says that fortunately the Johannesburg boy was touring the Johannesburg ship when he collapsed. His corpse is being sent to Joshua so that can conduct an autopsy. Anna tells him they need to keep every breeding option for Lisa open, and then Joshua reminds her that Rafael is the most viable backup in case her precious Tyler’s phosphorus does not get up to speed, but Lisa rejected him. Anna says it is okay, her breeding egg is nearing maturity so if Lisa will not put out then she will be dealt with like any other traitor.

Anna calls Lisa Visitor (Laura Vandervoort) to her, shows her the recording of her sending Rafael away. She tells her that she will be fertile soon, and that a lot is going to be expected of her. Anna needs to be reassured that when the time comes Lisa will make the right choices. Lisa, doing a good job of showing no emotion, tells her mother she has made plans with Rafael and that this time she will perform all of her duties.

Thomas Visitor (Martin Cummins) enters and asks for a private audience, he informs Anna that a complication has arisen with one of the new “Live Aboards”, a tiny little girl by the name of Jennifer Hartswell (Kennedi Clements). She has a uniquely high immune system that they have never seen in any other human. Her mother, Melissa, has been invited to live aboard (of course, there is no way any sane mother would allow her four-year-old child to go live alone on an alien ship). the mother Melissa Hartswell (Miranda Frigon) is apparently reluctant to move up. Anna instructs Thomas to do whatever it takes to alleviate Melissa’s concerns. Thomas says that Melissa wants to meet her, and Anna quickly agrees. She will handle her mother-to-mother.

Melissa Hartswell (Miranda Frigon) and Jennifer (Kennedi Clements) are brought up to the ship, where Anna does her best imitation of a kind and caring individual. I love the camera angles here, where we have a chance to see Anna from Jennifer’s perspective. If I had been Jennifer Anna would have scared me too.

Melissa is under the false assumption, that she herself is the invitee, and that the Visitors are only inviting Jennifer along to be nice, so she tells Anna that she does not want her living aboard the ship because there are no other children for her to play with. Anna, who is basically willing to do anything at this point to get this child’s DNA, tells Melissa that she herself has a daughter, who is the same age as Jennifer.

I thought Anna should have said that she had another daughter she was keeping secret from the public, because in season one, episode ten “Fruition” Anna announced to the world that Lisa was her daughter. But maybe Melissa was not watching the news that day, and she did not hear the announcement. Since we learned last week that Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut) cover had been blown, and Anna had lost her hold over him with his daughter (Cassia Mae Brown) she had no more use for him.

So in this week’s episode Ryan is given one final visit with his daughter, when they come to take her back one of the guards tries to shoot him with a really cool laser gun. Ryan fights back and ends up shooting the guard, who goes up in flames.

Erica and her gang break into the Jameson Labs building, wearing black ski masks and carrying Taser guns. Erica tasers a security guard and they steal his Identification card, which they use for entering through locked doors. Hobbes takes out another guard. They enter the correct laboratory where Sid finds the virus they need, but then a third guard enters with a gun.

The guard shoots Hobbes, Jack tackles him to the floor, the guard is trying to reach for his gun again and then Erica shoots him with the gun that they took off the first guard she shot. Jack freaks out, but then discovers that the guard is wearing a bullet proof vest. Then they grab the virus and leave.

They go back to Hobbes place; Jack takes care of Kyle’s bullet wound. I would like to know when Jack received his medical training. I find it interesting that he has these skills, yet he chose to become a priest. Was he forced to learn them while serving in Iraq? Because he has such a helper’s heart I could easily see him joining in the fray and setting to work tending the wounded while he was doing his priestly duties.

Dr. Sidney Miller is set up in in a bio-hazard suit and tent so that he can prepare the virus to destroy the reproductive functions of any DNA it encounters. Erica tells him to hurry it up because John Fierro (Zak Santiago) has a jet waiting to transport the virus throughout the world. Jack compliments Erica on her shooting abilities, but he does not really mean it. He is upset with her for shooting the guard.

Erica does not feel sorry, and she tells him so. They had a tight schedule with 28 jets waiting on them to transport the virus before the “Live Aboards” go up to the ships. She says she took the shot because she could not risk failure. Jack is still upset though, and watching Hobbes and Erica flirting with each other does not make him feel any better.

Thomas tells Anna that Ryan is not dead she tells him to send out guards to search for him. She is not too concerned because she does not believe that he has anywhere to run to. Lisa meets with Rafael (Charlie Carrick)
) she is kissing him when Tyler Evans ((Logan Huffman)) walks in on them. He and Rafael get into a tussle, and then Rafael starts bleeding from the eyes, and this disgusting pink gloppy stuff comes out of his mouth before he collapses to the floor. Rafael has been affected by the same illness that is affecting the other boys with the missing DNA.

Back at resistance headquarters, Chad has brought them the list of all the people moving on board the next day, he has already sent copies out to the other twenty-eight cities. Erica has to choose someone quickly from this city to infect. Sid walks in, announces that the virus is on its way out and remarks that he hopes the virus will remain stable when it finally interacts with its victims. Jack wants to know what he is talking about. Sid explains the virus is untested, and that there is a chance of serious side effects ……. Even death. Jack does not like this.

He accuses Erica of lying to him about the virus having no side effects. She told him it would not hurt anyone. Erica replies that if she told him the truth he would not have gone with them that far. Jack says, she is right, that he would not have. He does not want to help her any further, so Erica says that helping them is an order. They decide on a man named Will Lerner (Michael Karl Richards) to be their target. They track him down at his daily coffee shop. Erica flirts with him and slips the virus into his cup. She has to wait around for a while to give the virus time to work into his bloodstream. I believe that they are doing this on the morning that Will is moving onto the New York Mother ship.

Joshua tells Anna that Rafael is on life support, but is still alive. He explains that the stripped ladders in the boys DNA is collapsing, which is what is making them sick. Anna orders him to fix it, but Joshua says he cannot. The DNA mixture is the only solution. Until they acquire the last of the DNA from the “Live Aboards” they could lose all of the boys.

The Virus gets distributed throughout the world, and is successfully injected into one live aboard per twenty-nine ships. Will Lerner arrives on the New York mother ship; he is just standing in line being processed for entry when one of those possible side effects Sid talked about hits him, and he collapses. He is taken to the medical bay where Joshua informs Anna and Thomas that a virus has been introduced into his system, a virus that is altering his DNA.

Anna got really lucky with the timing here. If Mr. Lerner had not fallen ill when he did then Erica’s plan would have worked, his altered DNA would have gone into the mix, and it would all have been destroyed. Once Anna discovers that this is the plan, she orders every live aboard on every ship to be screened again, when the infected one is discovered they are to be healed, their DNA abstracted, and then they are to be killed. Anna says her only plausible explanation for these deaths is to say that they were fifth column terrorists who died doing terrorist stuff. Thomas points out that this action will draw the public’s attention back to the fifth column, and that it will effectively announce to the world that they are still active.

Anna growls that she does not have any other choice. She then threatens the unconscious Lerner, saying that if he wants to die for his cause then she shall grant him his wish. Poor Will! I doubt that Anna’s orders would have changed any even if she did know he was not fifth column.

Ryan finds Lisa, asks her to help him, she takes him to Queen Diana Visitor (Jane Badler) Diana remembers him, and agrees to help if he agrees to help her at some later date. She says she built these secret escape pods that are undetectable by both human and Visitor radar. She was imprisoned before she had a chance to use one. Ryan mentions his daughter; Diana wants to know what he is talking about. He says her mother was human, that she is a hybrid. Diana thought this was impossible. She is excited by the possibilities. Ryan says that Anna made her sick, and that only her bliss can cure her. Diana says that she has bliss, and that she can use it to help.

Chad gets the news about their plan failing, first, and then he announces it on his show. I think it is sweet that Erica, and Jack, and Hobbes all got together to show their love and support to Chad by watching his news broadcast live. Eli’s lieutenants are watching too, through the computer, and they are not pleased because they think that Erica’s plan failed. But Erica responds optimistically that although the plan seemed to fail on the surface, that in reality they did win a small victory by forcing Anna to admit to the world that the fifth column was still out there. She says, “We still have to stop Anna’s breeding problem, and we will! “ When the lieutenants ask what their next move will be she replies, “We stay on the offensive, and we don’t stop until we have won. “

Jack is still sad, so Erica asks Hobbes to take Sid out so she and Jack can be alone. He comments that 29 innocent people died, and he asks Erica why she will not acknowledge that. Erica explains that they are in a war and that in a war people die. She tells Jack that if she had this to do again she would. She attempts to leave; Jack grabs her arm, and says he refuses to believe that there is not a part of her that does not see the tragedy in this. Erica coldly looks him in the eye and says that the only tragedy here is that the DNA bombs failed. Jack gives her a look of sadness and confusion, as if he no longer recognizes the person she has become.

From my perspective it appears that, of course Erica is no longer the person she once was, she has changed, has been forced to by the circumstances around her, by the responsibility that has been placed upon her shoulders. In the beginning she tried to hold on, tried to protect the innocent, to harm only the guilty. But then she lost Joe and she lost Tyler, and now she knows that the only way to win this war is to do anything they can no matter who gets hurt, because now she recognizes that people will, but If she lets the Visitors win then the entire world will be lost.

Apparently Diana’s secret escape pods are located in the ceiling of Anna’s office. Lisa distracts Anna in another room while Ryan uses the pod to escape. Poor little Jennifer Hartswell is the last human to have her DNA extracted (at least they put her to sleep before they did it), once this is completed Anna orders Joshua to begin injecting all of the ”missing ladder boys” immediately, beginning with Tyler Evans. I think that because Anna has extended so much time and effort into that boy it makes letting go of him difficult. Not that she would hesitate to kill him, if it became apparent that he truly was useless.

Lisa goes down to visit with Diana. She thanks her for helping Ryan, Diana talks about emotions and how those Visitors who embrace them are stronger than those without them. Lisa does not understand, Diana says she will. And then she sends Lisa to a secret ally aboard ship. Lisa heads straight for the medical bay where she sends the technicians away so that she can speak to him alone. She tells him that Diana is alive. Who is he? He is Marcus Marcus Visitor (Christopher Shyer)!

Erica is home alone, thinking about stuff. She calls Jack, but Jack does not answer his phone. Erica was totally reaching out to him, and he missed his opportunity. Oh well, Erica and Hobbes are a better couple, anyway, since they are on the same side of the anti-ideological fence now.

Kyle Hobbes shows up at Erica’s door with a bottle. He tells her that a leader’s nights can get lonely with all of the second guessing, but he just wanted to tell her that she did good today! (Awe! Hobbes, you are so sweet!) Erica thinks so too, and invites him in. They have a drink from whatever is inside that bottle, scotch maybe? Hobbes asks Erica how she is holding up and she says she does not know, but is trying to stay tough. Hobbes tells her he understands and then tells her about Sarah, sort of, he says that he was in love once, but then she died. He looks so vulnerable and adorable here.

He promises that they are going to get Tyler back. I am sure Sarah must also be in the back of his mind, and I bet there is a plan lurking back there that includes rescuing her too. But it is likely pretty far back there because I am certain that during this moment of time he is thinking of one woman and one woman alone. Hobbes kisses that woman, a beautiful moment that leads to other fun beautiful things. I personally was very happy because I had been waiting all season for it to happen.

The episode ends with a very creepy scene where Anna undresses Tyler (she unbuttons his coat and takes it off for him) and then personally gives him the shot of the added DNA. She tells him it is to prepare his body for deep space flight, and that she would never harm him, or any other human being. (That line made me laugh for a while. In between shivers of terror because of the creepy look she has on her face when she says it!)

V Series returns with “Devil in a Blue Dress” Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 9 PM EST / PST on ABC

I hope you have enjoyed this review. As always thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

Please feel free to share this news article by clicking one of the social media icons below. You may also leave a comment here, or feel free to visit WHR on Twitter by clicking the avatar or text links above.