V: The Pilot Episode

This pilot is a well-made science-fiction story with a clear moral warning: people should be wary of anyone who promises salvation while asking for trust and surrender. The production quality is high, the acting is excellent, and the opening episode sets up several compelling storylines.

The episode also gives Christian viewers a young priest who resists the rush to treat apparently benevolent aliens as humanity’s saviors. Its content concerns are limited to moderate action violence, one exclamatory profanity, and the breaking of a statue of Jesus. The larger question is whether the series will keep its strong moral direction or drift into murkier territory.

For teenagers and adults, this pilot is worth watching with discernment about where the series may go.

Called “visitors,” or “Vs,” the aliens arrive above major cities in enormous hovering spaceships. Their message, delivered in local languages, is simple: “We’re here to help you.”

As people welcome the visitors, a young priest warns his congregation not to mistake grand promises for salvation. An FBI agent begins investigating hidden V activity, while her son and others are drawn toward the visitors’ cause. An underground resistance starts to push back.

Four stars means this pilot is excellent television. Its production quality is high, and the acting is excellent. The episode also does a good job of setting up several story threads that can keep audiences interested.

The opening episode has real potential to become outstanding. The limitation is uncertainty: as with many television series, it is difficult to know whether the program will remain morally focused or stray into murky waters later.

The pilot presents a strong Christian and moral worldview opposing false salvation. A young priest bucks the Vatican’s judgment that the visitors were sent by God to help humanity, and he warns people to distrust those who make grand promises. The episode’s central theme is biblically sound: apparent benevolence can conceal domination, and promises of freedom can lead to bondage.

The source review also reads the visitors’ promises of “change” and “universal healthcare” as a political warning, drawing a parallel to the Obama administration and treating the aliens as a picture of false hope that leads to tyranny and slavery. It extends that warning to big government, special rights for homosexuals, feminism, environmentalism, and humanism in government-run public schools. These are presented as ideologies claiming to save people from belief in a supposedly repressive God, while the review argues that real freedom is freedom from sin.

The pilot points toward the possibility that the series will continue in this direction, though that remains uncertain. Its warning aligns with Jesus’ words: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). The film’s true answer to false salvation is Jesus Christ, the world’s true Savior.

This is an excellent pilot with high production quality, strong acting, and a timely warning about false saviors. Its limited content concerns are manageable for its intended teenage-and-adult audience, though the series’ future direction is unknown. For a thoughtful science-fiction choice, WORTH WATCHING.