ABC, you big tease! How dare you lure us in to the high-octane human-vs-alien conflict of V through the month of November, only to rip it away from us at a critical juncture, merely four weeks into the story. Knowing it won’t be returning until March (to keep it out of the way of the Winter Olympics juggernaut in February) is not the sort of absence that makes the heart grow fonder. Anxious, maybe.

This week’s cliffhanger is almost on par with the spectacular pilot episode, which I described at the time of its premiere as having “a juicy, immediate urgency to the interpersonal and intergalactic melodrama, with plenty of action and surprising reveals.” Same goes for this episode, whose title is also the last line of portentous dialogue, uttered by (who else) the deliciously sinister V leader Anna (Morena Baccarin): “It’s only the beginning.”

Is that a promise?

Some of the pivotal events that occur this week stem directly from the twists of the third episode, which was a big improvement from the second. Uneven story flow is hardly uncommon for new shows finding their way—FlashForward, anyone?—and V will continue to evolve in the new year under a new show runner. No real cause for alarm, yet. The foundation has already been laid for a terrifically entertaining series.

Among the recent reveals: We now know that members of the “Fifth Column” alien resistance movement are operating aboard the ship as well as on Earth, and were directly responsible for the shipboard death of “sleeper agent” Dale Maddox (Alan Tudyk in a strong cameo), formerly the trusted partner of FBI heroine Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell, every bit Baccarin’s equal). We also learned that Lisa, the attractive V recruiter who has taken a shine to Erica’s teenage son Tyler (and vice versa), is Anna’s daughter.

So much intrigue, so little TV time. As this opening “arc” draws to a close, Erica and her clandestine resistance group (including Father Jack and secret-V Ryan) work to unearth the Visitors’ schemes, one of which is fiendishly well timed to current health concerns. Meanwhile, young Tyler is further drawn into the V fold, and compromised TV reporter Chad (a very appealing Scott Wolf) gets a closer look at the healing centers that provide such effective propaganda cover. What he discovers is yet another unexpected twist.

Anna, so far the show’s most fascinating (and promotable) character, is center stage on every front: the V’s public-relations campaign, the seduction of Tyler and the investigation into Dale’s murder. Setbacks do not amuse her, and her order to make an example of an exposed traitor is one of the show’s most chilling moments to date. Don’t believe it when a character is told, upon first meeting her, “Don’t worry. She doesn’t bite.”

V’s bite doesn’t go especially deep. We’re not being asked to question our humanity here, like on the Battlestar Galactica remake, just to defend it. It rarely gets more profound than someone challenging Father Jack, a former Army chaplain, to decide if his first priority in this fight is as priest or soldier.

V is good old-fashioned fun, and episodes like this cliffhanger deliver enough punch to make me hopeful that interest will be high again when it returns in the spring. I wouldn’t go so far as to say resistance is futile, but why resist when succumbing is this enjoyable?