A really outstanding series that started slowly but steadily built momentum over the season, finally rushing to a stunnning Season Finale climax complete with cliffhanger. It SHOULD have been renewed, and evidently was GOING to be until the last moment, when its cast, crew and audience were left shocked by its demise. Production values, writing, and acting are all first-rate, and I love the strong subtext of "family" -- broken families, blended families, families whose members have resentments and fights but still care for each other. Sheriff Tom Underlay makes a great, ambiguous central character who can be favorably compared to Shaun Cassidy's Sheriff Buck from his previous show, "American Gothic." (My feelings about Tom did a complete shift from suspicion to love during the the run of the season, thanks to the clever writers!) Hopefully this series can be saved by the grassroots movement currently gaining momentum, or a new network can be found for its home, but regardless of what happens, Mr. Cassidy deserves praise for this amazing series. At least we have the opportunity to obtain this first season on DVD, for which I'm grateful! Invasion - The Complete Series
Of the several shows that have tried to launch off of the LOST lead-in, this one was probably the best. Only just barely related to INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (in the sense of human bodies being replaced by alien replicas), the series revolved around a small Florida town in which a segment of the population had turned alien during a hurricane. This premise allowed for alot of promising drama as families and friends had to deal with certain of their members being turned while others remained human. To add suspense to the mix, the sheriff of the town was revealed from the get-go to be one of the lead aliens, along with his wife, while her EX-husband and family (including two children) remained human. Furthermore, as the series unfolded, we learned that there were competing factions among the aliens, some peaceful and concerned for their safety from other aliens AND the military, while the other segment was violent and bent on world-domination (usually resulting in self-destructive behavior). As for the rest of the drama and the many plot-points that arose along the way, you'll just have to watch to see for yourself. Just bear in mind that this is the one and ONLY season the show will ever have (unless another network picks it up, which is unlikely).
INVASION sadly got off to a slow start but by the time the mid-season finale was reached, everything was moving along nicely and the actors were beginning to fill their roles very nicely. Early on, the sheriff and his wife established themselves as the anchor-actors and characters of the show, and they were the reason I came back and stayed faithful to the show for its second half. But by the time the finale came, I had grown fond of ALL the actors and the characters they played. It's just too bad that they won't get a second chance to carry on the story, because they had sown many seeds for a promising second season.
What did the show in was not being able to capture the audience right away. I myself didn't get past the first episode, but tuned in at about episode 10, and by then things had gotten VERY exciting - but most people never gave the show a second chance. Let that be a lesson - taking your time with a story is a wonderful thing (despite what UK Ramsey said below in his anti-USA TV rant) - but you have to kick things off with enough of a bang to lock viewers in BEFORE you slow things down. What Ramsey's comments reveal is a sad truth about today's viewing audience - people are just too scatter-brained to give a story time to unfold. But hopefully, shows like LOST and INVASION will open the door for more series of the like that take their time and slow people down a bit.
By the way - if you liked the show and are interested in trying to get it renewed on ABC or another network, buy the DVD set. In fact, pre-order it and show the suits that there is a large audience for this show that is willing to spend money on it! $$$ is the only language the suits speak!!
Shaun Cassidy's INVASION is prepared to wrap up its first (perhaps only?) season with a 1 hour finale tonight at 10 pm on ABC. This is the 22nd episode in a season full of brilliant, intelligent, fun and fierce pseudo-science fiction. It's more than that...
INVASION is as much about family and the ever changing dynamic within two families as it is about the alien invasion that comes down in a hurricane in the form of lights and gradually takes over the small town of Homestead, Florida.
The show stars William Fichtner as creepy but effective Sheriff Tom Underlay, a man who seems to know what is going on, but may not be as "in the loop" as he thinks. His wife is Dr. Mariel Underlay (Kari Matchett), a family woman and town physician suddenly thrust seemingly overnight into a cold, detached disillusionment. She doesn't know what's happened with those lights in the sky, but her kids don't recognize her anymore (not "inside," anyway)...
Eddie Cibrian is Mariel's former husband Russell Varon, a park ranger who has two kids with his ex-wife and is currently married to Larkin Groves (Lisa Sheridan), a local news reporter with whom Russ is expecting a third child...
Those first two kids would be high-school-age Jesse (Evan Peters) and cute as a button 1st grader Rose (Ariel Gade). While Rose is wide-eyed with wonder over the events during and after the hurricane, concerned for her mother, confused by her sudden frequency of being missing, Jesse is growing increasingly paranoid - enough so to match his new uncle Dave (Tyler Labine), a conspiracy-theory-spouting blogger who is convinced (correctly) that some sort of alien force has come out of the sky in the cover of a hurricane and is plotting something...
Whether Sheriff Tom (who Rose calls "Daddy/Uncle Tom") is behind this "invasion" is up for debate, but the shifting dynamic between the two families is only magnified by the increasingly erratic behavior of Tom's own daughter, Kira (Alexis Dziena from "Broken Flowers"). She has never quite felt like she belonged, and the sudden "invasion" of her parents makes her feel less and less like she fits in...
The season took a real turn when it was revealed that a man named Eli Szura (special guest star James Frain of "Where the Heart Is..." fame) was behind the impending alien invasion, knew more than anyone could've about the hurricane, the lights in the sky, etc., and that he had been working with Tom, only to go behind his back and take things way too far...
Where it ends up is anybody's guess. Tonight is the season (series?) finale of "INVASION" entitled "The Last Wave Goodbye" (not a good sign), and yet it appears to end on a cliffhanger...
INVASION is a huge hit with critics like TV Guide and seems to be the best-received new show of the season critically. I hope ABC renews it, but that appears to have fallen through. Rumor has it that the new hybrid network the C/W (UPN/WB) will join forces to bring the show over to the new joint venture and that would be fantastic! What better way to watch a show about hybrids than on a hybrid network?!?'
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