Falling Skies Season Finale Review

Annnnnnnd........ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!!!!!

So, after only an eight-week run (two hour premiere, six one-offs, two hour finale), the first of at least two seasons of Falling Skies has now come to an end, with a finale that was........not quite brilliant. Great moments, for sure, but not quite up to par with the last few preceding episodes. It had some rather glaring weaknesses, such as the continued mental instability of Weaver. At the end of "What Hides Beneath", I felt like they had wrapped up his story for the time being, yet they inexplicably brought it back in this episode, and let it take up a good portion of "Mutiny", the first hour of the finale. Couple that with too much focus on "Lt. Danner", a previously unseen character thrust into the spotlight as an overly loyal soldier to the clearly destabilizing Weaver, and the first hour of the finale was uneven and spotty at best, possibly the worst episode of the season. Also, hearing Porter was killed off but not seeing it onscreen was a little bit of a shortchange for the character, and most of the episode was spent retreading previously covered ground. Thankfully, the second half of the finale, "Eight Hours", was a far superior effort, if also a little inconsistent. It started off with a bang, with Scott being attacked by Rick on skitter-steroids, followed by Rick fleeing in an attempt to rejoin the skitters, with Tom in pursuit. Rick finally learned the hard truth about the skitters after revealing the secrets of the 2nd Mass, which led to mechs attacking the school. Thankfully, Scott and Ben had managed to discover a signal that set off pain in Ben, as well as completely bamboozling the mechs, allowing the 2nd Mass to win the day. We also saw the long-hinted romance between Tom and Anne come to fruition, and kudos to the writers for making it happen at a realistic pace. However, the finest moments of the finale came toward the end, after Pope gives Tom a rocket launcher and he finds Weaver in the crashed truck. The rocket damaging the alien ship was a surprisingly good bit of CG for a TV show, and was immensely satisfying to watch after seeing that tower hover over the series for the entire season. Then came the final minutes of the season, where a harnessed Karen spoke for the alien leaders, apparently willing to negotiate after being impressed by the level of resistance from the humans. The moment where Tom enters the ship, despite Weaver's protests, to save Ben was also a surprisingly poignant moment for this series, which has been more like B-movie sci-fi, a la Independence Day or War of the Worlds, to this point. The cliffhanger felt less like those and more like exec Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, only with a darker edge. I wasn't entirely pleased with the lack of closure, as it will now be almost be an entire year until the next episode airs, but it definitely was an intriguing way to go. Falling Skies returns Summer 2012, and despite my reservations with this show, it still feels like there is great potential under its surface.

"Mutiny" - 3/5 stars
"Eight Hours" - 4/5 stars

Falling Skies- "Sanctuary" / "What Hides Beneath" Review

MORE MECHS MORE MECHS

After the airing of "Sanctuary, Part 1" a few weeks back, due to the simultaneous airing of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage on HBO, I began to fall behind on Falling Skies. However, I'm going to begin catching up now, and will watch the season finale after it airs, and am now ready to review the two-part episode "Sanctuary". And it was definitely a successful two-part storyline, more so than the season premiere (mainly because this was crafted as a two-parter, and the first two episodes were different stories spliced together). This should have been the first two-part episode. Anyways, in Part 1, the sudden appearance of one of the leaders of the 7th Mass, Terry Clayton, led to the kids departing from the adults in an attempt to prevent them from being captured, so as soon as Ben returned, he was gone again. It's still not entirely clear whether Ben is OK, as he remembers his identity unlike Rick, but seems to be very halfhearted about being back, and the skitters continue to have a profound effect on their former hosts. However, the first big twists of the story came out the end of Part 1, when it was revealed that Clayton, in fact, was handing kids over to the skitters, in an attempt to make peace with them, and saw the 2nd Mass as a veritable gold mine. This, in turn, was followed by the return of Pope, who was forced to supply Clayton the location in order for his life. Then came Part 2, which brought with it some of the most action of the series thus far, along with some real stakes not quite present until this point. Once Mike discovered that Clayton was planning to trade the kids, he managed to get everyone out, at the cost of his life, thus killing off the first character we actually care about (as opposed to the doctor, who was a jackass). Pope's escape was welcome, as was him siding with Hal to fight against Clayton's men. Tom's plan to lead Clayton's men back to the eponymous sanctuary was well-thought out, only to be overwhelmed by Weaver's forces. Clayton's character ended up becoming a tragic figure, a symbol of how far humanity could fall in a harsh world. Pope being back can only be a good thing, while Mike's funeral was a strong capper to the episode, especially in regards to Rick's words to Ben. There's definitely still more to the skitters and those harnessed kids than meets the eye, and with the end of the season fast approaching, it's good to know that more Falling Skies is on its way next year.


"Sanctuary, Part 1" - 4/5 stars
"Sanctuary, Part 2" - 4.5/5 stars

The Masons make a shocking new discovery.

 I decided, after watching "What Hides Beneath", that I would combine it with the review for "Sanctuary", leaving the review for the season finale standalone. "What Hides Beneath", in contrast to the sprawling nature of "Sanctuary" that let everyone get a little time in onscreen, was a episode centering on one of the shows most mysterious characters: Weaver. Will Patton is a great actor who should really be given his due here, as he goes from hopeful and confident to an emotional wreck with believable skill. We finally learn Weaver's origins in the war, and boy, are they dark. His reveal that he lost his wife and one daughter, then killed his second daughter while trying to remove her harness, was a dark path that this show had been unwilling to take thus far, and, coupled with Weaver's new motivation, made him a far more compelling character. Another interesting tidbit was Rick's assertion that the skitters "love" him and Ben, and will return to save them, showing where Rick's loyalties still lie and making Ben question his own. Karen finally returned as well, predictably harnessed, but from previews, it looks like she will have a pivotal role in the season finale. Other stuff includes Pope befriending Matt, and his find that by using skitter-modified bullets, mechs can be beaten, perfect for their counterstrike plan looming in the finale. However, by far, the best things about these episodes were both skitter-centric, and may be directly tied to each other. One is the fact that the skitters were discovered, through an autopsy by Anne, to have been beings mutated into skitters by harnesses, which may or may not be caused by the second new discovery, as Tom and Hal discovered in the second picture above. And that is that the skitters are actually henchmen to a completely different race of aliens. They look nothing like the Xenomorph-like skitters, being more like a hybrid of the heads of the aliens from Independence Day, merged with the head color and body structure of the Kaminoans from the Star Wars prequels. These aliens may have been the ones who harnessed the skitters, and the same thing may eventually happen to kids like Ben and Rick. And as Rick takes off during Pope's demonstration during the finale, Ben follows him. And on this note the set-up for the finale ends. All in all, a darker, quiet but compelling episode that perfectly sets up the events for the finale. I will have a review up for that tomorrow.

"What Hides Beneath" - 4.5/5 stars

Falling Skies "Silent Kill" Review

The true mystery: Why is every chick in this turned on by Hal?

I must say, this was a pleasant surprise. "Silent Kill" was definitely the best episode of Falling Skies since the "Live and Learn" pilot, and resolved the main drive of the story thus far, that being Tom and Hal's goal of rescuing Ben. That Rick kid continues to be extremely creepy, and is definitely going to play some role in the future storyline. As for the captured skitter, he's still alive, but is being treated with even more extreme caution than before after the events of "Grace", and this is only amplified by the shocking death of Dr. Harris. This development allowed Moon Bloodgood's Anne to be given more backstory, and she officially took down her first skitter by demonstrating how knock out the captive at close range. And as stated in my caption above, WHY IS HAL, A 16-YEAR-OLD WHO MAY NOT EVEN TECHNICALLY BE LEGAL, GETTING ATTENTION FROM EVERY SINGLE WOMAN WITHIN TEN YEARS OF HIS AGE??!! Karen was his girlfriend, Lourdes had a crush on him, okay, yada yada. Karen's gone, and now Margaret's moving in? But she's gotta have at least 5-6 years on Hal, which wouldn't be weird if they were both adults. But Hal, for all his moments this week and his clever but risky plan, is still a kid, and it's just plain bizarre to see him get all this female attention. He's not the Alpha Male. But anyway, this was a remarkable episode, and as it turns out, despite all the reasons not to, I'm getting invested in Falling Skies. We're already halfway through the season, and I'm starting to care about these character's ultimate fates (What is strange, though, is that my favorite episodes so far both lacked my favorite character, Pope). When Ben reunited with his father and brothers, my eyes welled up.

"Silent Kill" - 4.5/5 stars

Falling Skies- "Grace" Review

We didn't have clickers, we used a device called a KNOB.

In "Grace", the fourth episode of Falling Skies, we learned a few new interesting tidbits about the skitters, such as that they sleep in a bat-like form, as well as that they psychologically condition the harness-wearing kids to not only use human weaponry so they can become human shields, but that they also brainwash the kids of their memories and apparently make them desire wearing the harnesses. This is all due to our favorite Prisoner of War, as the previous episode's title suggests. I also wonder what Pope's plans for the future are, as he just sort of runs off after rather humorously and dramatically kills the sleeping skitters. "Grace" was about on par with "Prisoner of War", and I still look forward to developments in the coming weeks.

"Grace"- 3.5/5

Falling Skies- "Prisoner of War" Review

OK, Someone tell me that WASN'T like ID4.

The third episode of Falling Skies, "Prisoner of War", did feature some interesting new developments, such as a more in-depth explanation of how harnesses work, as well as a better look in general at the skitters themselves. Hal's girlfriend Karen was also captured, while Pope discovered his new calling as the 2nd Mass' smartass but lovable cook. Ben, Tom's son, was seen multiple times, but was never actually acquired for experimentation by the new doctor, played by Steven Weber. The doctor and Tom apparently had a history, as the doc abandoned Tom's wife Rebecca in the first waves of the invasion in order to fend for himself. By far, the most harrowing scene of the episode is when the harnessed kids were executed by a mech in front of Hal, showing that these skitters are a methodical, vindictive bunch who use similar tactics to the ultimate historical evil, the Nazis. This episode belongs to Noah Wyle, as he carries the story with his intense and heartfelt performance. However, one particular scene annoyed me, that being the episode's title's namesake. When Tom brings in that skitter as a prisoner, it is more than a little reminiscent of Will Smith in Independence Day. While this show has many brilliant moments, at times it feels a tiny bit too derivative. I was entertained by "Prisoner of War", but I would argue that it is not the best episode of Falling Skies. Though the cliffhanger definitely excited me, as the skitters seem to have some sort of telepathic connection with the captured kids. I look forward to next week.

"Prisoner of War" - 3.5/5 stars

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