 |
V
"It's Only the Beginning"
Written by Cameron Litvack and Angela Russo Otstot
Directed by Yves Simoneau
Original air date: November 24, 2009 |
Chad does a
segment on the Visitor Healing Centers; Lisa invites Tyler to
meet her mother; the resistance makes its first move against the
Visitors.
Read the detailed episode recap at
the V Wiki
Didja Notice?
After their meeting with Erica And Jack, Ryan is upset with
Georgie about his suggestion to skin a V to show the world who
they really are. Ryan's angry reaction is probably related to a
larger concept of skinning as a torturous punishment inflicted
on Visitors by Anna, and possibly other authority figures. Later
in the episode, Anna orders Joshua to skin his unnamed medical
assistant after the
assistant confesses to being a member of the fifth column and killing
Maddox (in "A Bright New Day").
We see only the beginning of the skinning session that Joshua
reluctantly performs; at first I thought skinning meant
killing...but it may be more like how it sounds, removing the
cloned human skin, without pain-killers, from the Visitor body with a knife. If the human flesh covering them has nerve endings
which connect down into the reptilian flesh of the individual,
it would be an excruciatingly painful procedure, but probably
survivable. So, is the medical assistant actually still alive? If so, what would
Anna do with a traitor like him next? Later in the episode we
are introduced to the Visitor concept of Bliss; would he be
forgiven by taking Bliss, as Anna's words about leaving past
actions behind would imply? (Note: In the second season episode
"Laid Bare", it is revealed that
skinning is killing.)
| At 3:25 in the
episode, a holoscreen with
details of Maddox's death has
Visitor writing.
If you translate the characters
of the word below Maddox's head
from the chart presented below,
it literally spells out
"DECEASED".
At 3:28, we get
a rearview shot of the
holoscreen and, unlike in the
rearview holoscreen shot I
pointed out in
"A Bright New Day", the
symbols are reversed as they
should be. |
 |
 |
 |
According to the birth certificate Erica pulls up from the FBI
database, Ryan's cover indicates he was born in the city of
Hawaiian Gardens, CA. This is a real city in Los Angeles County. Since Ryan, as an undercover Visitor, was
presumably not born on Earth at all, I wonder if this fake birth
certificate is a bit of a joke by the producers about the real
world "birthers"
and their claim that President Barack Obama was not born in the
United States, despite his Hawaiian birth certificate.
The New York Department of Motor Vehicles gives some other
information about Ryan:
During her interview with Chad, Anna says that even the V's
haven't cured the common cold. I am reminded of Dr. McCoy's
comment in the "Plato's Stepchildren" episode of Star Trek
that modern (23rd Century) science had still not cured the
common cold!
|
Throughout the scenes at the
Visitor Healing Center, there is
a large sign with the same
Visitor symbols as seen in the
Peace Ambassador Center in the
previous episode. From the
chart it translates as "WE ARE OF PEACE". |
 |
In this episode, we see that the Visitors on Earth all carry a
suicide pill to take in the event their identities are
compromised. When taken, the pill causes their bodies to glow
brightly and disintegrate into a pile of ash, including clothing
and any items on their person. This is not so different from the
death of the aliens in the 1960s series The Invaders (which
I discussed in
"A Bright New Day").
In this episode, we learn that Father Jack has something in
common with Father Andrew of the
original V series besides
their occupation: they
both had military experience in the past in their role as priest.
Joshua's unnamed assistant says that Anna must be suspicious
that Joshua is also a fifth columnist, that's why she's made him
do the skinning.
At 23:44 in the episode, Erica, Ryan, and Jack infiltrate the Lyndhurst Shipping Company in search of the R6 stockpile. Lyndhurst appears to be a fictitious business.
At
26:54 in the episode, there is
some Visitor writing on the drug
vial of R6. The characters, as
printed, are:
PG
RE
ON
Possibly spelling "progen". The
name of the R6 solution? |
 |
 |
 |
At 30:49 in the episode, there
is some V writing on the
holoscreen as Ryan programs a
destruct sequence for the
warehouse and a message for
Anna. If you translate the
characters from the chart
presented earlier in the study,
it literally spells out "John
May Lives". |
|
There is a better view of the
message on Marcus' image flimsy
at 34:27. |
 |
In the scene at 30:54-31:47 in
the episode, we see a countdown
of what must be Visitor numbers.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
As Anna is preparing to broadcast her Bliss, she touches the
floor with her hands, and it seems to ripple like liquid and a faint
whispering voice that may be Anna's is heard at 35:37 in the
episode. The whisper sounds something like "Everything is
wonderful." There is more whispering throughout Anna's actual
sermon during the Bliss, but I can't make out most of it. Many
times it sounds like the whisper is presaging or repeating
phrases from Anna's sermon. Anna's sermon is: "No need for
regrets for mistakes made yesterday. The past is gone. No
looming fate, no uncontrollable destiny. No hunger, no sickness,
no fear, no death. Nothing ahead. Nothing behind. Just
stillness. Light. Warmth. The pain you felt, the pain you may
have caused others...it's behind you. No looking back. No fear
of what will come. Just the pulse of time. Invigorating,
soothing. Bask in my light. Take comfort knowing I am here. You
will never be alone." It sounds like a slightly more
benevolent version of the conversion process of the original
V series! Could it be
that Anna has "converted" virtually her entirely species to
embrace her point of view?
At 36:01 in the episode, during Anna's broadcast of Bliss on the
New York mothership, a Chinese monk even seems to be receiving
the Bliss (though we do not hear Anna's voiceover during this
shot). Is the monk actually a V himself? Or just somehow
spiritually attuned to what was happening? A few seconds later,
we see a woman on a city street react to it as well. Is she a V?
Near the end of the episode, Valerie announces she's pregnant.
Since her fiancé is, unknown to her, a Visitor, what does that
portend for the pregnancy? Will it be a starchild like Elizabeth
from the original series? Will it look human? Reptilian? Twins
again?
It can just barely be made out that the instant message on
Erica's computer, intended for Tyler, asking about his
invitation to come to the mothership, is from Tyler's friend,
Brandon (seen in previous episodes).
The end of the episode, as the "camera" view pulls
back from
Earth, moving further and further away through interstellar
space, is reminiscent of the opening scene of the 1997 movie
Contact.
|
At the very end of the episode,
an enormous armada of Visitor
ships is now moving through
space in the direction of Earth. |
- As we pan
over the lead
ship, the lines
and contours on
it seem to have
a pattern
reminiscent of
ancient Mayan
"mirror" glyphs.
Some people
believe that
many Mayan
glyphs are meant
to convey
extraterrestrial
knowledge.
|
 |
 |
| There are
mirror-contour images like this
all along the top of the
flagship. |
Negative
color. |
-
Notice that the
armada is
divided into
squadrons of
five ships, each
squadron flying
in the form of a
"V". Also, there
appears to be a
brown-hued
planet in the
background which
they are
leaving. Is the
brown coloration
meant to suggest
a dry, desert
world? Is it a
world the
Visitors have
previously
subjugated,
exploited, and
depleted? Or is
it the homeworld
of the Visitors?
(Later, in
"Fruition",
Marcus comments
to Anna that the
fleet she sent
for from the
"home planet" is
about to
arrive.)
|
 |
Back to Episode Studies
|
