Synopsis:

VWC1 V: 1.15 The Wildcats
We open in another back-roads country with a van speeding away from a Visitor jeep. Willy and Elizabeth are transporting a sick patient to a nearby local hospice camp, where we later learn Julie is treating a diphtheria outbreak. As they pass a bridge, Kyle runs up the hill and shoots out the tires of the jeep and then quickly joins Willy and Elizabeth in the van.

Back at the camp, Julie and the other doctors have run out of ampicillin. The local Visitors have it kept in a stronghold in town. But the only real resistance fighters are Kyle and Julie so there are two choices:

1. Radio Donovan back in L.A. and see if he can get some of the medicine down to them, but by then it could be too late.

2. Try to recruit a local hot rod gang called the Wildcats to join up, at least temporarily.

Kyle offers to go out with Willy and try to recruit them. They find the Wildcats who are extremely reluctant to help out, especially until Kyle proves he’s human. Kyle wins them over somewhat with the mention of the epidemic and how it would effect them too.

Philip tells Diana and Lydia of the law that if no murderer is found than all suspects would be judged guilty and sentenced to spend eternity in Charles’ sarcophagus with him. The prints on the poison bottle were found to be Marta, the ship’s pharmacist.

Kyle leads a raid on the Visitor stronghold with help from Willy and the Wildcats. The Visitors are expecting them though as the aliens set up a battalion on the rooftops, but the resistance gets away with the medicine. Unfortunately we discover later that it isn’t ampicillin at all, it’s baking soda. The resistance realize there’s a spy.

They have to radio Donovan afterall and he says he’ll get it there as quick as he can by plane, but they’ll have to find a place for him to land.

Diana and Lydia are under house arrest and each other’s guardian, meaning whatever happens to one, the other is automatically considered at fault. They hate it but they realize they have to work together and sacrifice Marta to the wolves to save their skins.

Marta goes on trial and a faked holo-video, planted by Diana, where Marta is confessing her love and threat to Charles that if she couldn’t have him, no one will. Philip finds her guilty and sentences her to go out with Charles’ body.

The resistance and Wildcats are driving back to the camp from scouting a place for Donovan to land, when they are ambushed by a batallion of Visitor troops. They get separated and have to abandon the van. An alien grabs Ellen (a Wildcat who has taken a fancy to Willy) but Willy is able to save her by barking out orders in the alien tongue confusing the trooper.

Willy and Ellen share a scene together where she tries to convince him to be with her while he tries to tell her the truth about himself. He finally gets it out, ripping off part of his skin on his wrist and she runs away upset.

Julie radios Donovan and tries to ward him off, telling him of the spy, but he’s gone too far now, they have to see it through.

Willy goes looking for Ellen and stumbles on to the rest of the Wildcats who notice his wrist. They start badgering him with regards to Ellen when Kyle, Julie, and Elizabeth show up to help Willy. After Elizabeth displays her powers she sees Ellen in a cold place. They all go looking for Ellen, but Julie forgot her medical bag and she goes back for it where she discovers Andy (a Wildcat) radioing Lt. James the latest information. She cuts his transmission and puts him under wraps. Andy pleads for forgiveness and says he did it because they have his brother infected with diphtheria and they were going to let him die slow.

The Wildcats come back and don’t believe it at first, but Andy admits it. They decide they’ll have to help Donovan land as best they can and leave Andy tied up.

Andy breaks out and drives towards the airstrip.

The aliens come full strength to get Donovan and it seems there is no way the resistance will be able to hold out until Andy comes flying out of the woods and drives his trans-am headlong into the troops destroying them.

Donovan jumps out of the plane, rather than land and parachutes with the drugs to the back-roads where he is introduced to the Wildcats.

Marta is sealed up in Charles glass sarcophagus and sent out into space.

VWC2 V: 1.15 The Wildcats

Analysis:

The plunge continues. Besides the occasionally mediocre action sequence, there’s not much to watch. At least last episode had a little view into Donovan’s character.

It seems that the city of Los Angeles has also become a victim of cost cutting. More and more we see the action take place far outside the city in these little local back roads towns. What, L.A. doesn’t need more from it’s leaders?

It’s Donovan’s turn to take most of the episode off and it’s amazing how much his absence hurts the show. It’s not like he’s enough to save a bad episode (with Tyler, maybe…) but he at least commands enough of a presence to watch. None of the remaining resistors do that. Even Julie who was so engaging in the original miniseries and the Final Battle has dwindled to nothing. And with Ham gone, they keep trying to foster this Kyle Bates as a bad-ass, especially now that his interesting storyline with his father is dead and gone. It doesn’t work. I don’t hate Kyle, I just don’t buy what they are trying to do with him…if they are even trying by this point.

There is just nothing new or exciting, it all just seems like it’s been done a thousand times before and I simply don’t care. The one positive from this episode is the always strong Robert Englund as Willy. He’s very likable and it’s great to see some of the spotlight on him as they explore his non-romance with Ellen.

In the resistance storyline, I guess the only other positive thing I can say, is that there is little glaringly wrong with it. It just evokes little emotion except the occasional wince at the cheesiness.

KYLE: Let me introduce you to the Wildcats…

ELLEN: The FIGHTING Wildcats.

Yuck.

But of course that does pale in comparison to the Philip-Diana-Lydia-Marta mess on the mothership.

Any way you cut it, Lydia is the guilty party. I’m not sure if it’s just her being obstinate or if she really thinks it’s Diana’s fault, but her protestations are simply ridiculous. But worse is Philip, the Inspector General, known for his fair, impartial, and intelligent judgment who decides that because the ship’s pharmacist’s fingerprints are on the bottle she would be selling anyways, that she is quite possibly the guilty party. I mean seriously? So If I decide to off someone and buy a bottle of arsenic, I could simply indict the clerk who sold me the bottle? Really?!?! Damn, I have to keep that in mind.

It seemed very rushed and that the writers were tired of this storyline and wanted to get to the status quo of Philip in charge and Diana and Lydia scheming again.

At this point the series is starting to get very tired and there will only be a few blips of life from here on in.