Falling Skies Premiere Review

Steven Spielberg's alien invasion series is the first of two ambitious 2011 TV projects

As my first blog post (which I'm using as an output for practicing my writing), I figured that I'd review TV and movies as I see them. Which brings me to the 2-hour premiere episode of Steven Spielberg's Falling Skies. Created by Spielberg and his Saving Private Ryan writer Robert Rodat, the show deals with an alien invasion, but instead of showing the war itself, it takes the more interesting turn of focusing on the aftermath, which not only portrays a different side of an alien conflict than seen in prior media, but makes it far more feasible for a TV budget. First off, yes: this show does share some similarities with Frank Darabont's AMC adaptation of The Walking Dead, which also dealt with a post-apocalyptic world (zombies in that case) and the situations it caused for the humans fighting for their survival. It also is cut from the same cloth as dozens of movies and other media, with some of its ideas and themes resembling those from movies and video games such as Spielberg's own War of the Worlds and Resistance: Fall of Man. However, it manages to combine all of these cobbling ideas and throw them together into a nice cohesive package that sets it apart from its influences. The story picks up approximately 8 months after the original strike, with 80-90% of the humans eradicated, and the remaining survivors banding together to survive and kill as many of the aliens, which they call "skitters" and "mechs", as they can. The main difference from the post-apocalyptic land of The Walking Dead is that this is much further down the line (8 months vs. 4 weeks) and features a far more composite and militarized force of survivors, leaving the humans in much better shape in this story (although still on the brink of extinction). Our main characters are part of the 2nd Massachusetts unit of the resistance, with our hero being an ex-college professor named Tom Mason (played by Noah Wyle). Turns out that Tom's historical background makes him well-suited to fight the skitters, as he and his team utilize battle strategies from historical records to stay alive. Wyle is good in the role, even if they beat us over the head with his textbook knowledge a little too often. Others include his son Hal (Drew Roy), his commander Weaver (played pitch-perfect by a well cast Will Patton), and pediatrician/medic Anne (Moon Bloodgood playing against type). By far, though, the best character introduced is Pope (Colin Cunningham), a streetwise criminal who's been taking advantage of the situation for his own ends. Pope gets some of the best dialogue, and looks to become a dynamic character as the season progresses. Storylines introduced in these first two episodes include Tom's captured son, Ben (Connor Jessup), who's been equipped with a seemingly irremovable mind control device called a "harness", and a love triangle between Hal and his tough-as-nails girlfriend Karen (Jessy Schram), and the timid Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel). Written well by Rodat and Justified showrunner Graham Yost, as well as skillfully directed by Carl Franklin and Greg Beeman, this first episode of the series excited me and left me craving more. I will use a 5 star scale to rate episodes, so for the first two in the premiere of Falling Skies:

"Live and Learn" - 4.5/5
"The Armory" - 4/5