It was a morning like any other in New York this morning.
FBI Agent Erica Evans woke up to her alarm only to find that her 17-year-old son Tyler Evans had snuck out of the house with his friend Brandon to go to a party in SoHo.
Father Jack Landry opened up the church doors to find regular, Roy, waiting at the top of the steps in his wheelchair. (Okay, just going by the commercials, I bet five bucks that Roy is one of the people the Visitors heal.)
Ryan Nichols made a special early-morning stop at a jeweler's to pick up an engagement ring for his almost- fiancee, psychologist Valerie Holt. The jeweler threw in some proposal advice as a freebie - going down on one knee to propose is a classic.
Reporter Chad Decker has his rebroadcast of the country's economic shambles playing as he takes his shower.
They have a little time. Erica prepares to go pick Ty up from a clinic where he is getting patched up after getting into a fight at a house party. Father Jack brings Roy into the church. Valerie waits anxiously at home for Ryan to return. Chad pitches another news idea to a production assistant but is rebuffed again; they like his ideas but the big bosses keep passing the stories onto other reporters. And then IT happens.
If it were L.A., people would have just assumed it was a quake and moved on. But this is New York so it must be Godzilla (boy, is that close). Valerie stops trying to hold up her bookcases and gets out of the way before they come crashing down onto the desk where she was working. Father Jack races to shove Roy's wheelchair out of the way before he gets squished by a falling plaster Jesus. Ty huddles under a gurney and loses cell phone contact with his mother, who races out the door. And Ryan is on his way home when he sees a fighter plane crash into the middle of a downtown street and the pilot land not too far from the wreckage.
And then they see IT. A spacecraft, huge, round, hovering over the city. Erica sneaks past some army/national guardsmen (how did they get on site so fast?) and finds Ty in the middle of a crowd that has been barricaded outside in the middle of the street. The underside begins to tilt and whirl until it forms the biggest plasma television EVER! A woman's face appears and she says, "Don't be frightened." Her name is Anna and she gives her spiel. They want our water and an Earth mineral (hey, I've heard that before) and in return they will provide us with technology. They then return us to our regular scheduled programming. People in the street start applauding.
The Vatican says that the Visitors are God's creatures too, and Father Jack has trouble with that. Father Jack's boss (not the Big Guy, just a more senior priest, Father Travis) tells him to hold the party line, not that it's going to make a difference because their congregation pretty much consists of 2 drug addicts and Roy. They come around the corner and see a full house.
Erica has her partner Dale Maddox on the phone while Ty and Brandon watch the endless broadcasts. They are entranced by the visitor's cleavage arrival. Erica noted that all terrorist activity dropped off at the Visitor's arrival; all except the one cell they've been tracking. They were chattering about C4.
When Anna and her entourage arrive for their first meeting, some reporters get in her face about the scientific likelihood of two species ending up looking the same. Chad jumps to her defense and as a reward, gets to ask a question. He goes with "Are there any ugly visitors?', giving Anna a chance to flirt back. She decides that she wants Chad to be the Visitors' spokesman.
“He’s a lizard. He comes to and she stabs him through the heart.”
Don’t be so quick to assume. She stabbed him through the chest where a human heart would be. That is not the same as stabbing a V in the heart. :)
True enough. He closed his eyes again so I assume he’s dead but they ran away and left the body behind. You never know…
"He's a lizard. He comes to and she stabs him through the heart."
Don't be so quick to assume. She stabbed him through the chest where a human heart would be. That is not the same as stabbing a V in the heart. :)
True enough. He closed his eyes again so I assume he's dead but they ran away and left the body behind. You never know…
O/ Great recap, Featherlite! I am just watching the episode now (stupid work) and am enjoying it so far. It’s been kind of funny seeing the special FXnow compared to the original series :) I love Scott Wolf but I am not sure I am liking his character too much.
I’m hoping that he realizes what’s going on and doesn’t end up simply as a mouthpiece for the Vs. We are going to have enough characters who are like that; I want to watch the Resistance. I trust his acting; we’ll just have to wait to see what happens with the character.
O/ Great recap, Featherlite! I am just watching the episode now (stupid work) and am enjoying it so far. It's been kind of funny seeing the special FXnow compared to the original series :) I love Scott Wolf but I am not sure I am liking his character too much.
I'm hoping that he realizes what's going on and doesn't end up simply as a mouthpiece for the Vs. We are going to have enough characters who are like that; I want to watch the Resistance. I trust his acting; we'll just have to wait to see what happens with the character.
This. Show. Is. Amazing.
…
So. Far.
I knew I was going into it with a problem because I was such a fan of the original series. Some of it was hit and miss to me, but the resistance scenes (and the Georgie character) were all hits!
This. Show. Is. Amazing.
…
So. Far.
I knew I was going into it with a problem because I was such a fan of the original series. Some of it was hit and miss to me, but the resistance scenes (and the Georgie character) were all hits!
Featherlite, this recap kicked ass and calmed my nerves today because it was such a damn good read. I don’t like how the Father Jack character was introduced. His message was so misconstrued even though he was right about the Vs. I felt that he would be the last person I would go to for faith before the last scene of the show where he kicked ass. I say that because for some reason I couldn’t help but ponder the scenario if the Vs weren’t evil reptilian aliens or if there was some other type of figure in the world that approached us, would Father Jack be singing the same tune. I agree with Father Jack that we shouldn’t start becoming completely enthralled idiots to the Vs like Tyler and Brandon did on sight, but I would have preached the sermon more in a “be careful and ask questions” motif than in a “don’t trust those damn things at all and they have to answer to us” mumbo jumbo, because if the Vs have traitors that can help, Father Jack has to put his prejudice to the side. Plus it only pushes more churchgoers into the Vs hands. Just my opinion.
Thanks very much. I don’t know how people like the style – I tend to write more like I’m talking to my computer as I watch the episode (thus the constant asides) rather than a completely objective view after the fact. Glad you liked it.
I liked Father Jack’s introduction, so it’s interesting to see such an opposite point of view. I got the impression that he was very disillusioned – not with God but with humanity. He knows that we are failing and the frustration was killing him. I think that he would have sung the same tune in his sermon (and at this point he didn’t know the Vs are reptilian) because he wants the world to smarten up and for us to fix ourselves; he doesn’t want ANYONE else to come in and “save” us. You do make a good point about his overwhelming prejudices when it comes to traitors; that will make for some good drama between him and Ryan.
I hope we can have more character conversations in future episodes.
Featherlite, this recap kicked ass and calmed my nerves today because it was such a damn good read. I don't like how the Father Jack character was introduced. His message was so misconstrued even though he was right about the Vs. I felt that he would be the last person I would go to for faith before the last scene of the show where he kicked ass. I say that because for some reason I couldn't help but ponder the scenario if the Vs weren't evil reptilian aliens or if there was some other type of figure in the world that approached us, would Father Jack be singing the same tune. I agree with Father Jack that we shouldn't start becoming completely enthralled idiots to the Vs like Tyler and Brandon did on sight, but I would have preached the sermon more in a "be careful and ask questions" motif than in a "don't trust those damn things at all and they have to answer to us" mumbo jumbo, because if the Vs have traitors that can help, Father Jack has to put his prejudice to the side. Plus it only pushes more churchgoers into the Vs hands. Just my opinion.
Thanks very much. I don't know how people like the style – I tend to write more like I'm talking to my computer as I watch the episode (thus the constant asides) rather than a completely objective view after the fact. Glad you liked it.
I liked Father Jack's introduction, so it's interesting to see such an opposite point of view. I got the impression that he was very disillusioned – not with God but with humanity. He knows that we are failing and the frustration was killing him. I think that he would have sung the same tune in his sermon (and at this point he didn't know the Vs are reptilian) because he wants the world to smarten up and for us to fix ourselves; he doesn't want ANYONE else to come in and "save" us. You do make a good point about his overwhelming prejudices when it comes to traitors; that will make for some good drama between him and Ryan.
I hope we can have more character conversations in future episodes.