V "The Betrayal" TV episode Written by Mark Rosner Directed by Gilbert Shilton Original air date January 18, 1985

The Resistance kidnaps a Visitor doctor when Willie is seriously injured on a mission; Kyle suspects the televised appearances of his father are faked.

Read the summary of this episode at V: The Series Interactive Website

Didja Notice?

   The Freedom Network report brings good news from Hawaii where resistance leader Chi Chi Haspay has once again escaped death; in Land's End, England a violent hit-and-run battle continues between the Robin Hood Brigade and the Visitors' Fifth Air Wing; the Chattanooga Volunteers in Tennessee were driven into rugged terrain south of Lookout Mountain three weeks ago and still no word has been heard from them since; this week's Freedom Network Medal of Valor goes to Frankie Weatherwax, a mechanic in Chapel Hill, NC who stopped the alien takeover of a junior high school.
   Land's End is the westernmost point of the mainland of England; Robin Hood is the heroic outlaw archer of English folklore known since the late 13th Century.
   Chattanooga is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Lookout Mountain mentioned in the Freedom Network report is a real mountain located at the borders of the states of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.

At 4:20 on the DVD, Willie and the fifth columnist Simon each approach each other with a hand raised to about face-level and grasp the hand of the other. Is this the Visitor equivalent of a human handshake?

As the computer-generated image of Nathan Bates makes a television announcement at 11 p.m., imploring peaceful coexistence with the Visitors, at 5:22 on the DVD he reminds viewers, "Remember, the Visitors are our friends." This is the slogan the Visitors promoted during the two mini-series. This is the first and only time it was used in the weekly series.

Seeing his father on television, Kyle says the best doctors in the world could not have put him on his feet this fast after being shot at close range. But "Nathan" did claim in "The Hero" that he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Resistance infiltrator John Langley pays Diana a visit at the embassy and accuses her of being willing to let him be executed during the hostage stand-off in "The Hero". Diana merely comments that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, as I pointed out in my study of "The Hero", Diana does seem about to say something to Charles about the situation to save John. Why doesn't she bring this up to John now, in explanation?

John tells Diana, "I didn't just slither out of the swamp yesterday." This seems to be akin to our saying "I didn't just fall off the turnip truck yesterday."

During her conversation with John, Diana burns a sheet of paper with Visitor writing printed on it. What was it? We aren't told. Was it the request for transfer John later says he has asked her for?

As this episode opened we saw that Willie was wearing a black leather jacket. But in the scene of Willie running down the street at 8:53-8:57 on the DVD, he is wearing a brown one! That is because the scene is stolen from "The Hero"!

As Elizabeth wets a towel in the sink at 9:23 on the DVD, a bottle of Joy dishwashing liquid is sitting on the sink top. The front label of the bottle has a tear through the middle though, because television producers generally don't want to advertise consumer products for free!

At 10:25 on the DVD, there is a Visitor sign above the Visitor Field Hospital in Englewood. It's hard to make out the characters from the distance, but a negative version is a bit clearer.
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At 10:59 on the DVD, another sign at the hospital features the Visitor medical symbol, as previously seen worn by medics in "The Dissident". Visitor medical student Howard is also wearing the symbol as an armband.

At 13:43 on the DVD, Charles receives a printout of a communiqué in Visitorese. Notice that some characters appear to be cut off on the right-hand edge. I suspect the prop master just cut down a larger sheet already on hand to make it "communiqué-sized"! As for the content of the message, Charles says it reports that Nathan Bates has come out of his coma.

The scene of a Visitor shuttle flying over a residential neighborhood at night at 13:56 on the DVD is stolen from the original mini-series. The house is supposed to be John's, but in the mini-series it belonged to Donovan's mother! Also notice that at 14:28, when John answers the door to admit Robin, there is a hallway outside, making it appear that he lives in an apartment! Diana even calls on him in an apartment a little later.

John and Diana's conversation in his apartment/house implies that human women are particularly attracted to him.

Howie informs Julie that morphine is poisonous to Visitors.

Donovan is at first sceptical that Howie is a member of the fifth column, saying, "I thought you were purged when Diana returned to the fleet." But Donovan himself was just saying that Willie had gone to meet one of his fifth column contacts at the beginning of the episode! Howie tells him that a bunch of fifth columnists were killed at the time, driving the rest into deeper cover.

When Robin shows up back at John's door, he has to dispose of two white mice in his hands that he was preparing to eat. He shoves the one in his left hand in his mouth and swallows it, but what happened to the one in the right? We see his hand dip down below the counter and when it comes back up the mouse is gone!

In probably the most powerful feat we ever see her perform, Elizabeth brings Willie back to life after he dies of his gunshot wound.

At 28:43 on the DVD, the elevator up/down buttons at Science Frontiers are in the shape of the Science Frontiers symbol.

Howie says that liquid xenon is used as a power source for the Visitors' laser cannons. Xenon is an actual element on the periodic chart.

Gee, it sure is convenient that when Tyler is skeptical of Howie's claims that Charles is smuggling weapons into the open city, the Visitors they're observing at the loading dock just happen to drop a large crate that falls open, revealing a laser cannon.

Nathan Bates dies in this episode, yet the tanks of red dust he set up to blow if the pulseometer he wears should cease to detect a pulse do not explode. No explanation is given in the episode. However, there was a scene in the script in which Kyle slips the pulseometer off his father's wrist and onto his own (though we never see him wearing it in any subsequent scenes). The scene was shot but cut for time. I haven't seen the script, so I don't know how much detail was written into that scene. Presumably, the pulseometer could not have been slipped off of Nathan's wrist at just any time, that wouldn't have been a very foolproof plan on Nathan's part. Nathan may have been able to disable the device long enough to let Kyle put it on and reactivate it. But then what happened after Kyle's escape from Science Frontiers? Does he wear it for the rest of the series? Did the Visitors later find a way to disable the explosives on the tanks?

At 33:41 on the DVD, Diana receives a printed message from John Langley.

At 34:20 on the DVD, we see Visitor writing on the security booth at the hospital parking entrance. Also note there is a red and white X decal on the ambulance door. Is this the Visitor equivalent of a medical red cross?

At 35:19 on the DVD, there is Visitor writing on the weapons crates stored at the hospital.

At 36:52 on the DVD, there is a Visitor sign in the corridor of the hospital. It may be on a fire hose cabinet.

At 37:00 on the DVD, Julie is carrying a clear clipboard with a Visitor page of writing on it.

At 37:06 on the DVD, more Visitor writing on crates of "medical supplies". It appears that the broken crate we saw earlier containing a laser cannon is being stored in this room.

At 38:41 on the DVD, there is a Visitor sign in the background of the scene at the hospital. It's too blurry to make out the characters very well.

At 39:15 on the DVD, the gauge has the Visitor symbol on it!

At 39:29 on the DVD, a production microphone suddenly pops up in the lower right corner of the screen.

At 40:33 on the DVD, there are Visitor symbols on the control panel of the xenon storage tanks.

At 41:06 on the DVD, there is a Visitor sign outside the hospital.

The ambulance with CA license plate 2054124 used throughout this episode appears to be a Dodgehas the word "ambulance" decaled on crookedly on the side!

At 37:24 on the DVD, Tyler pulls his trusty MAC-10 on the the Visitor receptionist and Donovan his M1911A1 handgun.

At 38:06 on the DVD, a Stavros packing barrel is seen in the medical storeroom behind John. One of these also appeared in "The Hero".

The Visitor Cadillac limousine carrying Diana that rolls up at 42:01 on the DVD has no front license plate. This would tend to indicate it is the same one seen in "The Hero".

As Robin is packing a suitcase full of clothes to head to Chicago at 42:59 on the DVD, notice that Julie hands her an army helmet as well!

Julie comments to Robin that at least she's not pregnant, a reference to Robin's previous romance with a Visitor, Brian, in the original mini-series.

Chris is missing from this and the previous episode. As he prepares to take Robin to Chicago, Tyler comments they're going to have to move it if they're going to meet Chris at the Mojave pickup. In "Reflections in Terror", we learned that Chris had been spending time with a resistance group in the desert. Perhaps he has gone back to them. Mojave is a city in the desert northeast of Los Angeles.

Amusingly, Julie and Robin joke that with Ham and Chris escorting her to Chicago, Robin will be in constant danger!

As Tyler leaves for Chicago, Donovan calls him "Hard Rock". What happened to "Fixer"?

Referring to Tyler, Chris, and Robin, Julie asks Donovan if he thinks they'll ever see them again. Donovan doesn't have an answer. I do: nope! The series was canceled shortly after! (However we will see them again in issue #8 of the V comic book, "Printer's Devil", a tale of the trip to Chicago and then in issue #15, "Blood on the Wind", a tale of Ham and Chris in Chicago.)