V- Building an Army

Erica Evans- "She has my son. If I have to cross a line to blow that bitch out of the sky, I will."

ABC would really like one of its two new sci-fi action series to fill the void left by LOST next season. I don't think that Flash Forward will be back for a second season, let alone be able to fill that niche hole they thought it could. What gives V a much better chance at doing it? The same thing gravitated people towards LOST in the early going. There wasn't all of this massive plot twists and mythology when LOST began. It was about a bunch of characters stuck on an island that the audience grew to care about.

While watching tonight's return of V I realized that they were able to get me to care much more about Erica, Ryan, etc. in only four episodes than Flash Forward could get me to give a flying cuss about that main guy, his wife or that other dude. Sure some of the character development of V has been of the negative variety (wussy Tyler Evans and Father Jack) but at least they're making me have feelings for them. I could care less what happens to pregnant lesbian or beardy on Flash.

Maybe it's because of my affinity for Juliet from LOST, but I really want to see Erica do well. And if that means saving her terrible son from the clutches of the V spaceship than so be it. Her "She has my son. If I have to cross a line to blow that bitch out of the sky, I will" was a fantastic moment and I love seeing her get after it.

Now all this isn't without plenty of plot and action by these great characters. Erica is after all an FBI agent with a gang of resisters out to dismantle these pseudo friendly aliens inhabiting the Earth. Between the underground Fifth Column movement that has been set in stone years beforehand and the V's R6 DNA tagging system now put into place, there are plenty of story lines put into place to make you wonder what will happen next.

An added bonus? You get completely awesome scenes like Ryan rolling his eye back into his head, revealing that he has an evil snake like eye ball and admitting, "Yeah I'm one of them...but I'm not with them." Oh and when Anna decides she needs an army to combat the rebellion building on Earth, she simply finds the best physical specimen she can, consummates with him for about 20 seconds and then releases her teeth to devour the dude whole. Ridiculous.

Poolies Watch- Samantha Marquez Award

The Samantha Marquez Award is given each year to the Best Female Character in an Action Series. Last year's top three finishers in the inaugural Poolie Awards are all top nominees heading into the second half of the television season. Last year's champ, Sarah Walker of Chuck, along with Juliet Burke and Chloe O'Brian of Lost and 24, have yet to hit the airwaves this season. All three shows will return in 2010. The only top contender that we have already seen this season is True Blood's Maryann Forrester. As the evil and conniving maenad, she wreaked havoc on Bon Temps before meeting her doom at the end of the second season.

Top Contenders
Chloe O’Brian- 24
Juliet Burke- Lost
Maryann Forrester- True Blood
Sarah Walker- Chuck

Next we have an eclectic group of ladies hanging on to nominations at this point in time. I have no idea why Claire Bennett is still on this list, but for some reason I can't leave her off. Elizabeth Mitchell could make history if both her Juliet of Lost and Erica of V finish with good seasons in 2010. Two characters by the same actress nominated in one category. Unprecedented. Having said that, The Poolies have only been around for one year, so it's not that big of a deal. I've only seen two eps of Sons of Anarchy, but Tara has me interested thus far. Maybe it was Maggie Siff's role as Rachel Menken on Mad Men that has my early interest.

In For Now
Claire Bennett- Heroes
Ellie Bartowski- Chuck
Erica Evans- V
Grace Van Pelt- The Mentalist
Remy Hadley- House, MD
Tara Knowles- Sons of Anarchy

And then we have a few more vying for the coveted Poolie nomination. Cameron didn't show much on the little time she had left on House, and Olivia and Anna of Flash and V, respectively, haven't been on long enough to get a good feel for them. I'll be interested to see how large a role Claire Littleton will play on Lost in this the final season. After all, she is dead. She is supposed to be back in the fold though, so that might give a few clues as to where the plot is heading. Either way, she had been up and down in my opinion before she died. She had her good moments, but she also was terrible at times in the earlier seasons. I have a good feeling about her this year though.

Outside Looking In
Allison Cameron- House, MD
Anna- V
Claire Littleton- Lost
Olivia Benford- Flash Forward
Renee Walker- 24