“Pilot” is episode one of season one of the new V.
The episodes starts with various where were yous for important events, before finally saying this morning. An FBI agent, Erica Evans, is woken from sleep by shaking. Her son, Tyler, isn’t in bed; it turns out he’s in a clinic. A priest, Father Jack, opens a church and things shake. A newsreader, Chad Decker, is at home. A man, Ryan Nichols, is buying an engagement ring when the jeweller’s shakes.
Tyler got in a fight when he and Brandon crashed a party. Erica says she’ll come get him when things shake again and the line crackles. Tyler heads out as well. Ryan heads out into the street and sees a military jet crash. The pilot ejected, but looks either unconscious or dead. His girlfriend, Valerie, is trying to contact him. On the news, Chad announces that the first jets to encounter the spacecraft suffered a full electrical failure.
Erica can’t get through a military cordon until the soldiers are distracted by a fight. She slips through and finds Tyler as the ship’s underside reconfigures into a giant screen.
A woman appears and apologises, saying they mean no harm. Until now, they thought they were the only intelligent life. Her name is Anna and she’s the leader of her people. Her message is being broadcast from ships over many cities. Anna says they are far from home and need water and a common mineral. In exchange, they will share some tech, then leave.
Father Jack is talking with his senior priest, Father Travis; Jack doesn’t seem that happy about how the Vatican is accepting the aliens. Travis says it’s their job to minister to their congregation. Jack says their congregation isn’t much. Except now the church is full.
Erica is speaking to her partner, Dale Maddox, about the terrorist cells they are tracking. Chatter for all but one has dropped; that one has spiked. And there’s a message about a large amount of C4.
Anna is giving a speech at the UN; afterwards, Chad ends up intervening to stop the reporters picking on her. Later, on her ship, Anna tells another Visitor she wants Chad.
Chad is on the news three weeks later about the Visitors providing healing centres and she speaks to her partner. She has a lead on the cell; the NYPD impounded a truck thought to be shipping drugs. No drug trace, but traces of C4. It was on Long Island.
There’s nothing there and Dale is talking about how they’ve had something like 20 leads fall through; it seems they may have been compromised. Erica has a satellite photo showing the van next to a shack. They enter the shack and Erica finds a trapdoor. Beneath the ground is a dead man tied to a chair and a lot of C4.
A man rings Ryan wanting his help. He’s not interested. He’s out.
The Visitors are becoming quickly enmeshed in society. Tyler is obsessed but others are not. Father Jack is uncertain as are others. They should be; the Visitors are not as friendly as they make out.