Season 2 of ABC’s V premiered last night.  I’m still fascinated with the show, even if you can argue lack of quality.

The premiere hit on a lot of nostalgia buttons, perhaps in an attempt to cue all the visceral pleasures of the 1980’s original.  Not the least of these was the appearance of Jane Badler, originally the chief She-Lizard of the S.S., as Anna’s mother.  But we also got to see a skin peel reveal, and of course, the precious little Lizard Baby!

A note on Lizard Baby: isn’t he cute? Whether the 80’s or 2011 version, don’t you just love them? I always thought 80’s Lizard Baby was much cuter than his creepy, human-looking twin:

We also have a return to the classics in a broader manner: the classics of alien abduction.  Disguised reptiles in and of themselves are a tin-foil nutcase trope, but now, we get to the kinks of alien abduction and reproduction.  At least, the people on the show get to be tortured and prodded by hot aliens, rather than those of our popular contemporary whack-job myths.

Anna again offers salvation to humankind, this time in the form of a badly timed and announced environmental all-purpose industrial cleaner called the “Red Rain.”  Her first PR mishap! Nonetheless, Morena Baccarin continues to ace her role as the reptilian sociopath commander. Or is she a sociopath? 

Back to 80’s to current comparisons: little new insights into Visitor society this time around, but I did notice – none of the rest of the ship commanders are female.  1980’s V, if you recall, had prominent female Visitor - and Resistance - leadership.  I know Anna is “the Queen”, implying some kind of species-specific hive mating.  But might there be a Smurfette Syndrome at play here?

I’m going to keep watching for sure.  I still find the Resistance/Fifth Column very leaden and boring, but interesting developments are occurring with Chad Decker, Father Thorn Bird and the return of fan-favorite Fifth Columnist, Joshua.  Plus next week, we see Anna deliver more mother/daughter bitch-slapping, from the other end!