TVSquad

Alright, alright, so it was a Wednesday night show that I'm now writing about Thursday night. Let's just say I had a good reason. In some ways, I was ruing the moment that I'd have to publish this, because even though my gut was telling me I was spot on in how I considered this show quality-wise, you never know what the peoples are thinking - and considering the ratings, that might just be the case here. Anyway - last night's episode of Invasion, "Lights Out," didn't add much value to the show's street credibility, and it certainly appears that its positioning after ABC's hit drama Lost was a smart one - because the meat just ain't there.

It's very frustrating to me, but I keep waiting for Russell (Eddie Cibrian) to go all-in or try and sell some hair-care products whenever he strolls onto the screen - and I'm always disappointed that he doesn't. This week, he's surprised to find a shivering scuba diver in his ranger shack, who's unconscious and ultimately turns out to have the same strange wounds that Russell's brother-in-law Dave received in the last episode. And conveniently, the skeletal remains in the trunk of Dave's car have mysteriously vanished - whodunit? The unhappy looking military guys cruising by in their personnel carrier, or evil-looking Sheriff Tom Underlay?

I dunno who it is who's snagged the body, but I do know that this makes me feel like I'm watching an alienified version of Clue, sans a conservatory or candlestick. It's almost laughable that the scuba diver turns out to be a military man who was supposed to be well offshore of Florida. And Russell's wife, Larkin, just so happens to be the investigative reporter for the local television station. It's funny how things work out when you start scriptwriting, huh?

The major clue given out in this episode is the discovery of a wedding band in the murky water in Dave's trunk - and the delivery of a new ring to Underlay's wife, Mariel. Yep, that Mariel who is the mother to Russell's children, a local doctor at the hospital, and one of those who appears to have had her body snatched. Is she the skeleton that was in the trunk, snagged by the spiky remains of the alien or whatever the heck is behind the lights in the water? All I know is that she "smells different" and forgot to come home to her kids the night before - man, if that's not a sign of being an alien, then what is?

Is it possible that I'm jaded because I've become a fan of CBS' Threshold (that Carla Gugino - rowwr!) and NBC's Surface? Perhaps. Or it could be the fact that this show was thrown together with some random plotlines that were left out on the countertop or in the Dumpster outside a writer's apartment building. Ratings be damned, I'll be surprised if we get to see the end of this show's season.