The story of the half human / half alien baby quickly growing inside of Lourdes Benedicto’s Valerie is really starting to amp up the excitement as V hurdles towards the end of its first season.  On tonight’s all new episode, Chad deals with his aneurysm on the mothership, Ryan has some news for Val, and the team continue to protect the Fifth Column.  I had the chance to talk to Lourdes about what’s coming tonight for Val, why she loves this show, and what’s a little bit different about this character she’s playing!

What drew you originally to being a part of this show?
I actually got thrown into it.  It was very quick.  I believe I was the last cast member to be cast, so it was just one of those situations where I went in and I read for it, and all of a sudden I was testing for it, so it kind of just happened, so I got kind of thrown into it more than drawn in.

Was there something about Val, is there a favorite part of her?
I like her authenticity.  I like her realness for lack of a better word.  I think she’s a genuine person, and I think she’s got a very big heart.

So we’ve kind of had a very explosive last couple of episode, revealing what’s going on inside of your body, with this half human, half alien baby – where do we go from here?  What comes next?
Well, wow, [laughs] that’s a great question.  What I can tell you comes next is quite a wild ride.  There’s a lot of reveals in tomorrow’s night’s episode.  Val’s going to learn the truth about Ryan, and that’s going to be a very big moment.  And then she’s going to have to make some major major life decisions about her and the baby and her relationship with Ryan.  It will be a lot to tune into and follow for the next four episodes.

Is it difficult to be on a show like V where you can answer with “it’s going to be a wild ride,” because you don’t want to give anything away?
Yeah, it is! [laughs].  It definitely is.  It’s one of those, I always have to check, “What is it again that I’m allowed to talk about, what am I not?”

The character is a bit different than we’ve seen you play before.  How is this character different from what you typically play?
I think what’s different is the SciFi aspect.  For me, up until [tonight’s] episode, it’s been very similar from what I’ve had to play, only in the sense that really what she’s been dealing with, well, maybe last week’s episode, there started to be a little bit of a reveal, like what’s he doing with a safe full of money and guns and pictures of my ultrasound, but besides that, up until then, she’s pretty much a professional woman who’s in love and has a fiance and is working on this relationship and building a family, and there’s a real authenticity to that.  I’ve done a lot of shows that are very reality based, you know, NYPD BLUE, and things like that that don’t tend to stray from what we know in real life, and this being Sci Fi there’s a whole other aspect of it.  In [tonight’s] episode, it’s her first dip, if you will, into that world, and then, she starts being put into this whole different ride.  I mean, other than the fact that at the beginning of the pilot, she found out that there were aliens.  I think moreso than any other character on the show, she’s sort of lead her normal life, after that, after Vs have come.  Everyone else has sort of been put onto the rebellion side or attracted to the Vs in one way or another, or pulled in a very polarized way, and she’s remained neutral up until this point.  And now, she can no longer be neutral.  She’s definitely going to be forced to make a decision one way or another.  In [tonight’s] episode, we start to see that, and I think for me, that’s when I started to have to stretch a little bit, with my acting and my beliefs and what I’m playing.

I’d imagine there’s not much research that can be done into alien encounters.
No, exactly!  It’s where the imagination has to come in full force!

Why do you think these last few episodes are a good time for people to come in and get hooked on the show?
I mean, the storylines, are, I think the characters and the storylines are great.  You’ve got a fantastic cast, each who are doing a fantastic job with their characters and hopefully the story lines are really allowing the audience to see into these people and begin to care about them, and I think that will sort of mend the gap, if you will, between the Sci Fi and the real world and have people really invest in these characters for who they are, alien or not.

You know, it takes a strong actor to get you to fall for their evil alien side, and I think that the whole cast is hitting it out of the park!
Oh, for sure!  Morena, plays a V, the ultimate V, and she’s not hiding any part of it, and there are still so many interesting things to watch about her and her character, and the decisions she makes, and really none of it should be relateable to us, because she’s coming from a whole other species’ point of view, but it’s a testament to her work that in some ways it is, and I think you root for her anyway sometimes.

What else do you have coming up besides V?
Uh, not much.  V took up a lot of my time.  I have a two year old, so she takes up a lot of my time.  [laughs]  Not a whole lot.  I just finished the final episode of the season last week, and now I’m just back home and with my family.

Do you get to watch other shows on TV a lot?
Well, kind of.  After I put my 2 year old in bed, I have an hour or two window before I completely fall asleep myself.  So I have trouble staying up for V, ever since they moved it to 10 o’clock, I have trouble staying up!  but I do, I hang in there.  I’m a fan of shows like LOST and unfortunately, I’m a fan of some reality television.

Everybody always whispers that, Oh and I’m a fan of reality TV.
Oh it’s such a faux pas!  Exactly!  You don’t really want to talk about that, especially if you’re an actor.  It’s like sleeping with the enemy!