TV REVIEW: Invasion: "Fish Story"

It may just be me, and the fact that Invasion's latest episode, "Fish Story," reflected aspects of a personal trauma my wife and I suffered exactly one week ago today, but this was one humdinger of an episode. I found it harrowing, in more ways than one.

No, not merely harrowing, but actually almost horror movie harrowing. In this episode, expectant mother-to-be Larkin (Lisa Sheridan) experiences a terrible car accident, gets lost in the Everglades, is kidnapped, and then nearly miscarries. This poor woman! The distrubing, extended (and graphic...) sequence wherein she finds a rotting hurricane victim in a parked station wagon - impaled on a tree branch - is something I never thought I'd see on TV.

So here is this poor pregnant woman who -- after cutting herself on glass and nearly drowning in her overturned SUV --tries desperately to pull an overweight corpse out of his vehicle so she can drive away to safety. When she can't lift him out of his seat, Larkin climbs on top of the car's hood and pulls out the branch pinning his chest and holding him in place. Yuck. Normally I love this kind of stuff - and indeed, this was a great sequence - but I must admit, it disturbed me. Again, in just a word...harrowing. Maybe I'm just sensitive this week.

Otherwise, I knew that the mysterious and twitchy pick-up truck driver who runs into Larkin "by accient" was in on the conspiracy. His job was to scare the wits out of Larkin and make her believe that the mystery of Homestead involved not aliens, but actually a giant squid. It was a cunning (but obvious, if you watch much TV...) kind of diversion. Terrorize a woman seemingly by random, then showing her just what she needs to see to clear up the whole mystery. I guess if I lived on a TV show, I'd fall for it too...

Overall, Invasion has suffered, I think, from being a little slow-paced. So much so, in fact, that Surface has almost (but not quite...) overtaken this fine Shaun Cassidy series in my affections. But last night's episode was suspenseful from start to finish (and after Lost, I don't know how much more I can take!), and was probably one of the best Invasion episodes of the season.

I guess it really is November sweeps time after all!