So I know I haven’t posted in a while and I apologize. It’s been crazy with school stuff the last few months. I will be posting more regularly once Body of Proof starts at the end of March. But, right now I’ve got a little post about one of ABC’s sophomore dramas, “V”. Warning: spoilers up through “Birth Pangs”.
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I will preface this by saying that V isn’t the best thing since sliced bread. But it’s not horrible either. I think ABC made the right decision at the end of last season to renew this over FlashForward. Plus, I don’t mind seeing Morena on my screen on a weekly basis (though I prefer her a la Inara with the longer hair).
Anyway, at the end of season 1, Joshua, the Fifth Column’s (resistance movement) key asset aboard Anna’s ship was killed by fellow Fifth Column member Erica Evans (to keep her cover). We thought that was the last of Joshua until the very end and we see V doctors reviving him. Needless to say, I was excited to see Joshua’s fate come season 2. I was very disappointed in what we got. For some reason, when they brought Joshua back to life, he lost all memory of being Fifth Column including having any sort of personality. Now he is just a pretty face doing Anna’s bidding. And with only a few episodes left in the season (and possibly the series depending on whether ABC decides to give it a third chance), it appears we will never see the old Joshua again.
I found season 1 Joshua to be cool and daring. It took guts for him to betray Anna right under her nose. And he was a damn good actor (and no I don’t mean Mark Hildreth). He fooled pretty much everyone. I don’t think I’d be wrong in characterizing him as a bad ass subversive rebel. And now he’s a blank slate pretty face. And I’m sorry, but that’s just not enough for me. What Anna has planned, there needs to be someone to back the Fifth Column on the ship when shit hits the fan.
For those of you saying, what about Lisa, I’m getting to her. We saw her slowly being pulled into Fifth Column by the end of last season. She exhibited emotions and Joshua lied to Anna for her. So there was a little quid pro quo for her to help him later on. And in the end, Lisa helps Erica destroy Ann’s soldier eggs. Thus Lisa finds herself aligned with the resistance. I guess the writers decided to give her Joshua’s job. I have to say though; she’s not nearly as compelling as rebel spy. I think one major difference is she has sort of always been afraid of her mother. Anna is one scary lizard lady. Joshua had a better chance of standing up to her and I think maybe he even liked the danger of potentially getting caught. Lisa has far more at stake in her personal relationship with Anna. That is what is interesting about her this season. She’s preparing to be Queen eventually and she’s starting to challenge her mother. She’s found Diana (her grandmother) and they’re working to subvert Anna’s plans. Very well can’t interbreed without the Queen agreeing to it. She seems to be accepting and embracing human emotion which will ultimately help her I believe in beating Anna.
So in summation, Joshua is now a wasted character. He could have been so much more interesting. There are so many questions that will be left unanswered. Why did he specifically want to join the resistance? What was his back story? Mark Hildreth is a great actor and I think he could handle so much more than just looking cute and doing whatever Anna tells him. And Lisa needs to just give up the role of spy because she’s boring as Erica’s conduit of information. I mean, even Joshua had cool gadgets for communicating! Lisa needs to focus all of her energies on working with Diana to usurp Anna’s power.
