The Setup

The episode began like any typical day on Earth.

Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) awakes to find that her son, Tyler (Logan Huffman), is not in his room. A phone call reveals that Tyler is in the emergency room being stitched up from a fight he got into at a party that he and his friend, Brandon, snuck out to in the middle of the night. Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch) arrives to his parish and is greeted by a homeless looking man in a wheelchair named Roy. It seems that Roy is a regular at the church. Reporter Chad Decker vainly watches a rebroadcast of himself as he takes a shower. Lastly, Ryan Nichols is picking out an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Valerie Stevens, and the jeweler gives Ryan the advice of proposing on one knee, the classical and most romanticizing way of doing it.

Then all Hell breaks loose.

What could’ve been perceived as a global earthquake is in fact a global phenomenon of epic proportions as 29 ships appear in 29 cities across the globe. On the bottom part of these ships, a beautiful woman appears and promises peace for the Earth’s water and minerals in exchange for new technology and cures for diseases. The woman name is Anna (Morena Baccarin) and her species are the “Visitors”. Everyone is captivated, but that’s where the similarities end. There are skeptics (Landry and Erica), there are hostiles, there are welcoming folk (Chad and somewhat Val), and there are eager fanatics (Tyler and his friend Brandon). The eager acceptors are in the majority.

3 Weeks Later

Erica

Erica contacts her FBI partner Dale (Alan Tudyk), with who she figures out that a terrorist cell’s activity spiked with the arrival of the Visitors. While she and Dale look into the cells, they come across tons of fake passports, a dead body and enough C4 to make Michael Bay clap with joy. Erica then gets disturbed to see that Tyler has totally fell into V mania, as he records himself and Brandon spray painting the letter “V” in red spray paint everywhere. She asks him to not get involved until things become apparent about the Visitors. During another bust on the terrorist cell, they come up empty handed except for an address for a meeting. Erica takes the address, but feels that there is a leak in their unit since the cell is always one step ahead of them.

Father Jack Landry

Father Landry is not a V supporter as he fears that people will start worshipping them instead of God. Father Travis, Landry’s superior, thinks otherwise and has Roy’s newfound ability to walk and the congregation being filled to capacity as his reasoning for thinking the Visitors are good people. Father Landry still voices his opinion, albeit during church service, when people are looking for a way to deal with this change of events. Father Travis displays his disappointment in Landry. Later, a man who is revealed to be wounded tells Landry that he is right in his views about the Visitors and gives Landry a note, which has the same address on it that Erica’s did, names of aliens and other info before dying in one of the pews.

Ryan and Valerie

Ryan constantly receives calls from someone wanting to meet up with Ryan, but he doesn’t want to have anything to do with them, claiming “he’s not that same guy anymore.” Meanwhile, Valerie thinks that the calls and sudden secretive actions of late means that Ryan is having an affair. But it turns out that the guy contacting Ryan is a man who has built a resistance group (25 and counting) against the Visitors and need Ryan’s help. The guy name is Georgie and it seems that he and Ryan go way back. Ryan still refuses, because he doesn’t want to drag Valerie into anything.

Tyler

Tyler thinks that the Visitors are a good thing and, against his mother’s wishes, sneaks onto the Visitor’s mothership with Brandon and the two are in awe. The first person they run into is the drop dead gorgeous Lisa, who invites the two teens to join the V Young Peace Ambassadors Program. The application calls for a parent to sign if the applicant is under 18. Lisa stresses for Tyler to talk to his mother. Instead, he signs the application himself.

Anna and Chad

Anna picks Chad to be the voice of the Visitors, because he saved her from the bombardment of his fellow press colleagues. She tells Chad that she wants him to give the first interview of the Visitors. Chad’s clout rises overnight and he plans on using the Visitors to get the upper hand. When Anna tells Chad that he has to promise not to say anything that will show the Visitors in a bad light. He refuses at first, but change his mind when Anna was ready to cancel the interview. During the taping, Anna shows clearly that she played Chad and he doesn’t like it one bit.

The Twists

Once Erica and Father Landry make it to the secret meeting, they are told by Georgie is the leader of the resistance movement. Georgie has someone numb the back area of everyone’s ears and slices some flesh to see if they reveal a skull and not anything else. When things are legit, Georgie reveals that the Visitors have been here for along time and that they are planning on something sinister. While the meeting is getting crucial, a orb flies into the meeting takes pictures of everybody and then shoots darts, killing or injuring half of the people in the room. Erica and Father Landry are not hurt, but fight for their lives as Visitor sleeper agents enter the room and start slaughtering survivors. One of these men just happens to be Dale. Erica fights with him until she hits upside the head with a bar that reveals his true green, reptilian face. She kills him immediately. Meanwhile, Georgie is about to be slaughtered but is saved by Ryan, who gets a deep nasty cut from one the Visitors before he takes them out.

Only a handful escape, including Erica, Father Landry, Ryan, and Georgie, but they two groups don’t know about each other. Ryan reveals to Georgie that he is in fact a Visitor, but he is rogue and that there are more out there like him. They can help the humans fight and Georgie accepts. Meanwhile, Father Landry and Erica discuss starting a resistance.

Meanwhile, Tyler is accepted into the Peace Ambassadors program and while the humans and Visitors celebrate in one room, Anna stares outside her quarters with a coy and knowing smile on her face.