# V: 1.03, "A Bright New Day" (Open Spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994 "2009-11-18T03:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/21 "2009-11-18T14:47:02Z")
It was so hard for the VBI agent to remember what happened to him, if ONLY he had at tiny camera he could have been wearing to record his every moment. Too bad the Vs couldn’t think of THAT! ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/22 "2009-11-18T14:48:22Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > That’s a bold statement, considering the first 10 minutes or so of the first episode. 😉 You know, I can understand certain complaining, but not others. Want to complain about VWash getting married as part of his cover, but he found it disgusting and so it’s totally implausible that he would do it? Umm…maybe he was ordered to? You know, the whole reason he was there dealing with those stinky humans in the first place? And I’m curious, in a real-worldy kind of way, if I were to go to an embassy, actually get inside, and then get arrested for trying to kill a diplomat, would I be immediately returned to US authorities, or would I end up in V custody since I had an attempted murder on V soil? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/23 "2009-11-18T15:12:04Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > You know, I can understand certain complaining, but not others. > > Want to complain about VWash getting married as part of his cover, but he found it disgusting and so it’s totally implausible that he would do it? > > Umm…maybe he was ordered to? You know, the whole reason he was there dealing with those stinky humans in the first place? > > And I’m curious, in a real-worldy kind of way, if I were to go to an embassy, actually get inside, and then get arrested for trying to kill a diplomat, would I be immediately returned to US authorities, or would I end up in V custody since I had an attempted murder on V soil? > > -Joe Why would he be ordered to marry? What possible gain could there be, unless the wife was in some way a source of important info to the aliens? There’s been nothing to suggest that she was important in any way. In a real-worldy kind of way, no ETs involved, I think there’d be a hell of an extradition battle, either way, particularly if the embassy was of a country known to use measures of which, until this past administration, the US did not approve. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/24 "2009-11-18T15:17:15Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > Why would he be ordered to marry? What possible gain could there be, unless the wife was in some way a source of important info to the aliens? There’s been nothing to suggest that she was important in any way. I don’t know, but lots of other questions seem to be getting answered by people asking, “Why don’t they do this?”. So, I’ll be nice enough to let them go for now. [/QUOTE] > [@Oy](#): > > In a real-worldy kind of way, no ETs involved, I think there’d be a hell of an extradition battle, either way, particularly if the embassy was of a country known to use measures of which, until this past administration, the US did not approve. And in the meantime they’d be held…? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/25 "2009-11-18T16:03:40Z")
I was thinking “reconnected” = Borg hive mentality, and Cyrus was booted out when he turned traitor. I’m thinking they replaced the soldier’s wife with a V, and that she’s screaming and beating on the cell door somewhere on the mothership. And the “assassin” turned out to be a V plant. 😃 It’s cheese, but it’s _good_ cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/26 "2009-11-18T16:06:06Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I was thinking “reconnected” = Borg hive mentality, and Cyrus was booted out when he turned traitor. It can’t be too strong - if it was, Ana wouldn’t have had to have her little videoconference. I think it’s more like a combination of DirecTV (your code can be deactivated) and Soma (Brave New World). -Joe ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/27 "2009-11-18T17:53:09Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > …Also, I thought it was strange that Dale ranted about how disgusting it was to lie beside his wife every night, but never said anything about more intimate interactions…I hate how the Vs refer to their own species as Vs when speaking to one another in private. I mean, I assume we’re hearing “translations” of their own language… I assumed “lie beside his wife” included sex. He simply didn’t want to describe in detail for Joshua because it was so disgusting. If the new Vs are as totalitarian a society as they were in the original then it is believable they the sleepers would be subject to conditioning and surpress their disgust out of duty. Having the Visitors refer to themselves as “Vs” in private with eachother bothers me too. I wouldn’t be so sure about us hearing a “translation” of the Vs speaking in their own language though. In the original when we heard them speaking English to eachother on their ships they were actually speaking English, not Sirian. They may not be able to properly speak their own language wearing the skinsuits (remeber their “masks” extend down their throats) and they’d surely want to stay as immersed in their “false identities” to avoid slip ups in front of humans. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/28 "2009-11-18T18:07:22Z")
> [@BKReporter](#): > > So, did the visitors convert the fighter pilot’s wife? I think she’s a Visitor in a “pilot’s wife” skinsuit. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/29 "2009-11-18T18:14:13Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I assumed “lie beside his wife” included sex. He simply didn’t want to describe in detail for Joshua because it was so disgusting. I took it as simple asshattery, like when certain guys get together and talk shit about their wives, despite actually having fairly happy marriages. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/30 "2009-11-18T18:20:49Z")
Isn’t one of the FBI agents the actress that played one of the five cylons from Battlestar Galactica? I bet she’s a V. She made good evil. If they extend it beyond a mini series, it’s ratings will drop fast. I have no interest in long dragged out drama that never resolves. If they give it a definite limited number of seasons, I’ll wait till the end and watch, but if they drag it on season after season no way. I don’t want to be into the series when suddenly it gets canceled with a patchwork conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/31 "2009-11-18T18:40:43Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > …And I’m curious, in a real-worldy kind of way, if I were to go to an embassy, actually get inside, and then get arrested for trying to kill a diplomat, would I be immediately returned to US authorities, or would I end up in V custody since I had an attempted murder on V soil? You would be immediately returned to U.S. custody. Contrary to popular belief, diplomatic missions are not sovereign territory of the represented state. They are sovereign territory of the host state, which has jurisdiction for any crimes committed within the embassy. The embassy is afforded special privileges (such as immunity from most local laws), but the ambassador can waive this. The ambassador could try to protect someone accused of a crime within the embassy, but they could not try them themselves. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy#Extraterritoriality) Also, from [here](http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070110055033AArqDLB): > [@](#): > > Question: Is an embassy on foreign soil the sovereign territory of the host country or the embassy’s country? Thus, if, for example, you are in the British embassy in Beijing, are you in China or the UK? Are you subject to British or Chinese law? > > Answer: Contrary to popular perception and a lot of careless news reporting, embassies are the sovereign territory of the country in which they are located, NOT of the country whose diplomatic mission is housed there. > > …Imagine, if a person should enter the British embassy and kill someone, who do you think will arrest him? Correct answer: the Chinese police. They cannot enter the embassy without the Ambassador’s permission, but with that permission they will go in, take away the miscreant, and then try him in Chinese court under Chinese law. Or else the embassies security officers will deliver him to them outside the embassy gate. > [@Oy](#): > > …Speaking of which, can you imagine ANY circumstance under which a supposed human who attempted to assassinate a Visitor would be turned over to the Visitors for justice? If the Vs have penetrated the government that deeply, why are they bothering with all the rest of this? The whole thing is ridiculously over-engineered. You want an assassination attempt for propaganda value? Recruit a human crazy and turn him over to human justice after he’s caught. It’s not like there’s any lack of human crazy to work with. I agree. This was totally unrealistic. It makes me think that the head FBI agent is a “V”, or is receiving orders from higher-ups who knew that the whole thing was a hoax. I mean, how does the U.S. government know that “V”'s aren’t just going to summarily execute the accused “human”? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/32 "2009-11-18T19:28:25Z")
> [@Glory](#): > > It was so hard for the VBI agent to remember what happened to him, if ONLY he had at tiny camera he could have been wearing to record his every moment. Too bad the Vs couldn’t think of THAT! No way they’d do that. The guy was a deep cover agent. The Vs aren’t going to take a chance on him getting caught with alien technology and blowing the whole covert op. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/33 "2009-11-18T19:35:57Z")
If Elizabeth Mitchell’s boss FBI guy turns out to be a V, I’ll be pretty annoyed. They’re telegraphing that one so much that IMO they have no choice but to NOT make him a V. And I thought the “re-connected” thing was some sort of drug that they use for control. BLG seemed to back this up while accusing Cyrus of being an addict. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/34 "2009-11-18T19:52:25Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > No way they’d do that. The guy was a deep cover agent. The Vs aren’t going to take a chance on him getting caught with alien technology and blowing the whole covert op. Speaking of the tiny cameras, didn’t Erica’s face show up briefly on the holograms she was looking at? She tried to hide it by walking backward and waving her hands, but if V security reviews the footage they can tell it’s her. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/35 "2009-11-18T19:54:46Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Speaking of the tiny cameras, didn’t Erica’s face show up briefly on the holograms she was looking at? Yes. Quite plainly, actually, so those patchcams are clearly higher res than whatever their remotes can transmit. > [@](#): > > She tried to hide it by walking backward and waving her hands, but if V security reviews the footage they can tell it’s her. I think the walking backward and waving her hands was her trying to find the camera that was seeing her, not trying to hide her face. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/36 "2009-11-18T19:59:12Z")
She seemed pretty brazen about it. She was trying to locate where the camera was, but how the heck was she going to explain how she got into the room if she got caught? I did like the archaic surveillance room they tried to pass off, but I missed their reasoning for not “upgrading.” ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/37 "2009-11-18T20:04:52Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > If Elizabeth Mitchell’s boss FBI guy turns out to be a V, I’ll be pretty annoyed. They’re telegraphing that one so much that IMO they have no choice but to NOT make him a V. I think he may be 5th Column. Just a hunch. He could have fired Erica and/or had her charged with making a false official statement and obstruction of justice when she lied about being in the warehouse. Instead, he covered for her. The V would have no interest in protecting a known resistance sympathizer, but the 5C might. ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/38 "2009-11-18T20:19:54Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > It can’t be too strong - if it was, Ana wouldn’t have had to have her little videoconference. I think it’s more like a combination of DirecTV (your code can be deactivated) and Soma (Brave New World). > > -Joe well “Bliss” was mentioned. seems as though Bliss is either a Soma like additive or a hive mind high. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/39 "2009-11-19T09:41:23Z")
**The fighter pilot’s wife:** Before their meeting, they showed Anna rehearsing a nice little speech about loss and family and so on, trying out different variations of her lines, with the one teardrop at the end. This implies that FPW is neither a V in a skinsuit nor was she just zapped with some kind of mind-control ray; she was just given a successful snow job by the wily and manipulative Anna. **Dale being married:** A bit of a stretcher, to be sure. One thing, though–my impression of the FBI is that it’s kind of a conservative culture; I don’t know, but an unmarried guy _might_ stand out enough in the FBI to make the V’s consider it worth ordering their deep cover agent to Lie Back and Think of Sirius and sleep with the disgusting smelly mammal in order to blend in. Of course, Erica herself is now a single mom, and they could have just had Dale be a convenient widower or something–but he was in for almost 20 years. Having a wife could really be an asset in terms of not standing out, so long as she doesn’t notice the whole forked tongue thing. **Ryan apparently actually being into the whole “sex with mammals” thing:** Maybe the Fifth Column members are the V equivalent of furries. That would be kind of weird; on the one hand, we, the human race, need them. They’re our allies, essential to our struggle for survival. On the other hand, jeeze, they’re frakking _furries_. **The phrase “Fifth Column”:** The [original Fifth Column](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_column) were the bad guys; fascists in point of fact, and I’ve never heard the phrase used in a positive sense–fifth columnists are always evil subversives, boring from within on behalf of some external enemy, usually an evil ideology like Fascism or Communism. Interesting that the F.C. here is more along the lines of what would normally be termed [“La Resistance”](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LaResistance). I don’t know if there’s any significance to that, or if the writers are just maybe a little historically ignorant. (Or I guess you could fanwank it by claiming the V turncoats simply don’t quite have a 100% grasp of human idioms.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994/40 "2009-11-19T10:33:26Z")
What makes you think they’re talking about a human Fifth Column? For all we know, groups known by “the resistance” are historically the evil subversives on Sirius. As Counselor Troi mentioned in the episode, “Darmok”, if you say “Juliet on the balcony”, it doesn’t have meaning without context. So the Sirius version of “Juliet on the balcony” could be very unromantic, indeed. Maybe their Juliet killed and ate Romeo. As for the point on furries, I think as a group they are unfairly judged. Social mores change over time. Gays were ostracized in the past, but now they are more or less accepted by society. I think an interesting take on the V saga would be to have the “invaders” look human instead of reptilian and the “humans” look like ridiculous mascots (but completely biological). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-03-a-bright-new-day-open-spoilers/517994.md?page=3)