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25 Sep

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Tv Review : Falling Skies – episodes 9 & 10 ‘Mutiny & Eight Hours’ : season finale

9 Aug

This review contains spoilers.

9 & 10. Mutiny & Eight Hours

One of the things that television networks do all the time that I hate is the special two-hour episode. I understand it for a premiere episode, because you have to give people enough to get them hooked, but I hate the two-hour season finale.

Unless you’re doing something super-awesome, it’s kind of an inconvenience for some viewers (like me). I have a set routine. I know when I have to be home, when I have to be ready to write and watch, and then boom, no such luck. I have to change everything around and make it in just barely in time, and I’m all out of sorts. All for reasons that I don’t understand (and may never understand).

In a perfect world, your show would run until it is over. Instead, there’s a double episode, aka a two-hour season finale. And boy is it a doozy. For one, the whole subplot of Weaver being a bit on the deranged side due to lack of sleep/drinking/those mystery pills he’s been sucking back all season? Well, as it turns out, it’s not quite over.

In fact, it appears that Weaver’s gone a bit mad with power. Despite losing contact with Porter and the other divisions of the Massachusetts resistance who were supposed to aid Weaver and company in a daring demolition of the skitter tower currently blighting the sky over Boston, Weaver’s bound and determined to make the strike work. That’s even if that means he splits up his bomb in four pieces, his squad into four pieces, and just crams it all down the skitters’ throat without anyone else in the unit (aside from Tom) being the wiser. Tom, being smarter than he looks when it comes to historically bad military tactics, tries to talk Weaver out of this and ends up in the brig for his troubles.

Of course, Tom can’t stay locked up, and thanks to the help of Broken Boy Soldier Jimmy and his other children, Tom gets out of jail and has a nice confrontation with Weaver and the newly-turned company man Pope, who apparently is only on Weaver’s side because he wants to blow some things up and kill cooties. Can’t say I blame him, or any of them, for wanting to bloody some alien noses. So, Tom and Weaver come to a compromise (as Weaver is coming down off his drug cocktail regimen). Take a vote.

Weaver lays out the situation and tells the 2nd Mass what they’re facing: it’s a suicide mission with a pickup full of explosives, winner takes all. Of course, there’s a lot of enthusiasm on the side of the fighters for fighting, and off they go, leaving the civilians to wait nervously and prepare for the run for freedom. Meanwhile, while they’re off planning for war, one of their own is looking to turn towards the enemy.

That’s right, Rick is getting creepier and creepier (even Ben is saying this, and he’s a fellow razorback), and people are starting to notice. More importantly, Rick is starting to notice the way everyone looks at him, and seems to feel much more comfortable in the company of his scaly brothers and sisters. So he’s going to disable the device that the humans use to possibly block skitter communications, bash Scottie the mechanic grandpa in the head, and run off.

Of course, since this is Falling Skies, nobody puts two in his back and one in his skull as he flees to betray them to the enemy. Instead, Tom goes off to find him, and does, but not until a) Rick betrays them to the skitters, and b) the skitters betray Rick by leaving him behind after he gives them the info they wanted. Just like a man… err, an alien. Give it up and they dump you in the woods and leave you for dead.

Either way, Rick comes back (again) and the eaters are sent running for the hills while the few remaining fighters get to test Pope’s mech bullets (and Scottie’s anti-skitter jammer signal).

On the good side, the bullets work, even if it does take a ton of them to knock down a mech. On the bad side, the jammer only sends the aliens fleeing back to home: it doesn’t disable the alien communications enough to allow Weaver and company to actually carry out their attack. Rather, the 2nd Mass gets routed, the attack fails, and the only positive blow for the humans is a lucky shot with an RPG covered in mech metal that causes a chain reaction inside the hangar, and blows up a good chunk of the alien ships, while the survivors limp back to safety.

Well, except for Tom. As Weaver and Tom (who now have an understanding) are heading back to where the eaters and remaining fighters are to reconvene, they run into an old friend. Remember Hal’s girlfriend Karen, who got captured many moons ago? Well, she’s back, she’s a skitter agent, and she’s standing in the middle of the road. Of course, Tom stops, and the Big Gray who gets out of the suddenly-arriving saucer gives Tom an ultimatum. Come on board and have a talk, or Ben’s going to finish alien-ing out and will turn on the humans just like Rick did.

Well, when given a choice like that, what’s Tom to do? Obviously, he’s going to walk on board an alien spacecraft, because that’s setting up a huge cliff-hanger to get people to come back to Falling Skies season 2 in the summer of 2012. What’s going to happen to Tom? Is Weaver going to flip out completely? Why does every girl in camp want to sleep with Hal? Will Pope get his girl hair cut off?

This week’s pair of episodes? While I’m not a fan of the convention of the two-parter, or the two-hour special, these two worked really well together. Weirdly, these two episodes worked better than the actual two-part episode, Sanctuary, earlier this year. It flows well from Weaver’s breakdown to Rick’s betrayal to Rick’s return and the assault on the alien tower.

I’m not sure how this all ended up working so well together, but it feels very smooth in transition. Even the awkward moments (like the long-awaited kiss) felt like they worked in the course of this episode, and I’m very glad the Tom/Anne flirtation isn’t going to be stretched out for another 10 episodes next summer.

I’m not entirely sold on the PG tactics of the resistance in this show, as I still think traitors should be shot, but I guess that wouldn’t make for as interesting of a television series. Plus I imagine Rick, if they could turn him back to the human side, he’d be a powerful weapon as shown by his spider-fu in this week’s episode. Still, is that a risk you’d take? That said, I’m sure the aliens will stop playing around now that they know the humans can hurt them, and I’m very sure the humans will stop playing around now that they know that they’re able to kill even the most dangerous alien weapon currently on earth.

It wasn’t the greatest season finale ever, but it definitely gives the fans something to look forward to next season, and unlike a lot of dystopian sci-fi shows, it gave the fans a victory to celebrate between now and then, with a promised uptick in action (from a show that already has a good deal of action).

Rating : 7/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:ron hogan

Tv Review : Falling Skies – episode 8 ‘What Hides Beneath’

1 Aug

This review contains spoilers.

8. What Hides Beneath

Of all the theories on the show, the one that most fans seem to have about the harnessed kids is simple: they slap that thing on you, it turns you into a skitter, and you go on about your business. The other main conspiracy theory about the show is that the skitters and mechs are just servants of another, more powerful alien race. Well, as it turns out, fans have had the right idea all along.

Normally, I’d consider it a spoiler to reveal such big information in the first paragraph of a review, but people have been saying it all along, some even in review comments (and the reviews are marked with spoiler warnings, in case you haven’t seen the episode yet), so it’s unsurprising when a skitter autopsy reveals a collar, or when the big bads of the alien world (some giant gray style aliens) show up.

Are the giant aliens impressive? Meh. I like the skitter look much better, but I like the giganti-grays better than the mechs. I’m not sure where they’re going with the master race of alien controller, except to explain why the kids are so important, and perhaps why they have to steal kids in the first place. Still, why the recycling of Earth materials to make their giant fortress thing? Especially if mechs are essentially bullet-proof when it comes to Earth metals. It seems a bit weak, doesn’t it?

Speaking of weak, I continue to wonder just why Weaver and company ignore the double agent(s) in their midst. Namely, Sonia (Blair Brown), the woman who gets the drop on three seasoned fighters, then invites them in for tea and conversation. If you know she’s turning folks over to aliens and getting them killed, why would you let her live? The same goes, and I hate to say it, for Rick. That’s right, the kid they worked so hard to get back just isn’t quite coming back to himself, and he’s becoming more and more of a security risk with every passing week as he makes it clear that his loyalties aren’t exactly with Team Human anymore. While the other kids seem to be reintegrated, Rick’s just not having it. Maybe there’s hope for him yet, but his recent actions suggest that he’s pretty far gone.

Am I just brutal to suggest that collaborators deserve punishment for collaborating? Maybe I lack the very humanity that the show wants to establish that Tom, Weaver, and company are fighting for. Or maybe, I’m too much like Pope and too little a fan of strategic misdirection via feeding the plant false information.

The big theme this week was the past. Namely, Weaver’s got a lot of baggage he’s been dealing with, much like Rick. And much like Rick, Weaver’s having some trouble with his past. He’s drinking a lot, eating mystery pills, not sleeping and behaving erratically. Rick is being increasingly distant and creepy, which is making it harder for the other rescued kids to fit into camp.

Meanwhile, Pope is trying to ingratiate his way back into the good graces of the camp after betraying 2nd Mass so long ago. In doing so, he proves that he’s probably the smartest person on the show, Mason family included. He comes up with a brilliant idea (thanks to a tip from the littlest Mason). That is, what can bust through the current composite armor used by the M1 Abrams tank? Depleted uranium. What can punch through super-dense mech armor when normal FMJ rounds fail? Bullets made from super-dense mech metal. Why they’re just now figuring this out makes no sense to me, but I guess it’s easier to use the conventional weapons at hand than think outside the box.

That seems to be Pope’s role in this show. Even more so than Mason, Pope is an outside the box kind of guy, which is why he’s the resident bad ass on Falling Skies. He’s a little unorthodox, and that makes him both a pain to Weaver and the other straight-laced types, and their best weapon against the skitters and mechs. He’s also the most interesting character on the show, by far, and I can only hope that Pope’s importance in recent episodes means he’s going to become a more important character in next season.

If anyone can keep this show interesting even in the face of Mason’s refusal to exact justice on someone who’s sent dozens of survivors to their deaths (or who may just have capped the old lady on principle), it’s Pope. He’s the wild card, he’s got the charisma, and he’s got the edge of danger that the show desperately needs. He also might epitomize the best and worst of humanity, and that might make him our only hope.

Rating: 6/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:Ron Hogan

Tv Review : Falling Skies – episode 7 ‘Sanctuary: Part 2′

1 Aug

This review contains spoilers.

7. Sanctuary: Part 2

Every war has more than two sides. Every war has collaborators. From the Vichy French to the Viet Cong to the Loyalists of the American Revolution, wherever there’s war, there’s someone willing to cut a deal with the other side, just in case.

You’d think that when the choice is to become a slave for a giant space spider, or kill said space spiders and defend the human race, the choice would be easy to make. Turns out, it’s not, as the collaborator Terry Clayton (Henry Czerny) has been occasionally handing kids over to a group of skitters in exchange for freedom and continued living. In order to get those kids, Terry and the remainder of his troops went to Second Mass, gave poor Weaver a line about Porter telling them to turn over the kids, and off they went. It was quick, and of course, entirely too easy.

I have to confess that the B plot on this week’s episode did absolutely nothing for me. I couldn’t care less about the pregnant woman or her baby, and it just seems like a throw-in to give Moon Bloodgood some screen time, and to humanize Weaver a little bit by giving him children and breech birth experience. I’m glad it’s over, and I hope to never see it again, as it was a complete waste of space.

However, I’m enjoying what they’re doing with Rick. The fact that he’s freed from his harness, but not exactly back to normal is a great touch. Surely something like that would have lasting damage to someone mentally, and it’s obvious that there’s something wrong with Rick. Also, I’m glad that a) Mike (Martin Roach) got to actually have some screen time, and b) he’s out of the way. The Mexican stand-offs in this episode were wonderful, and I quite enjoyed the quick way they tended to end. Rather than having one big stand-off, there were multiple this week, and that’s great.

Aside from Rick, the return of Pope, and the sheer amount of shooting this week, Falling Skies didn’t grab me. After such a good set-up last week, the conclusion (all the kids come back safely, evil is punished, etc.) was a big let-down. I didn’t want a happy ending. I wanted something bad to happen to more important players. Or, perhaps better, I wanted all the kids to get taken, which would leave the Second Mass with two sets of enemies to fight off.

Still, an average episode is better than a bad episode. While it was a let-down, it was still very well done. Director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan is a talented guy with a lot of TV credits, and it shows because he constructs the episode well. Still, it’s a bit flawed in that it requires us to invest so much in some kids we hardly know (Ben, Jimmy) and a pregnant woman who literally just showed up last week. Bonus points for handling the combat scenes so well, and I can’t completely discount this episode, as we’ve still got that skitter mouthpiece girl and her child-collecting group out there somewhere.

Weaver should’ve just executed all the collaborators. I know they were just trying to save themselves and their families, but if the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then the friend of my enemy is my enemy, and a human who turns his or her back on his fellows once will do it again. I know these are the good guys, but Pope would’ve organized a firing squad. I just hope this doesn’t come back to bite them in the next three episodes.

Rating : 7/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:Ron Hogan

Tv Review : Falling Skies episode 6 – Sanctuary: Part 1

20 Jul

This review contains spoilers.

6. Sanctuary: Part 1

Tensions are starting to flare up in the survivor camp of the Second Mass, and that means bad things for the people in charge. Members are defecting (and attempting to take a share of camp supplies in the process), and when a straggling survivor from Seventh Mass (Terry Clayton, played by Henry Czerny) approaches with bad news that the skitters are coming and they’re getting new tricks, there appears to be only one option. The civilians can either send their kids away to safety, or they can be killed and then have their kids taken anyway. The lady or the tiger, survivors.

One thing you can say about an alien invasion, it changes people, and not always for the better. Change seems to be the theme to the episode this week, with Weaver (Will Patton) acting positively fatherly towards Jimmy (Dylan Authors, AKA the gun-toting kid from the first couple of episodes).

Meanwhile, Rick and Ben Mason (Connor Jessup) have changed since their encounter with the skitters and their harnesses. Dr. Anne is changing as the civilians start to become more panicky and aggressive in their fear and urge to escape from the looming threat of all-out war.

Pretty much everyone is changing now, as the situation with the skitters grows more hopeless and humans continue to run from safe house to safe house. As one of the survivors yells tonight, “Safe is over!” Of course, as the teaser for next week’s episode and the end of this week’s episode has shown us, just because you call something a safe house doesn’t mean it’s actually safe.

Color me far from shocked at this twist, which I saw coming from the very first mention of the harebrained plan to move the kids to a ranch somewhere to keep them ahead of the skitter assault. From the very moment Terry showed up, I figured he had some kind of horrible thing going, and as it turns out, I was right. Color me frustrated at how predictable the turn was. I’d take incompetence of characters over predictable scriptwriting any day.

Yes, I’m well aware that things were going too good for the survivors. (As I commented last week, there needs to be a little more menace.) I further acknowledge that the idea of turncoats is a good one, considering the response the harnessed kids have had since their release. Yes, Ben and Hal and the other Masons will be able to have adventures separate from their father, while Tom and company get to have a full-on assault of skitters and mechs to shoot their way through. But just because it’s a logical move for the TV series doesn’t mean it’s the best move, or the most interesting.

That said, there was a lot to like about the writing in this week’s episode, with Joel Anderson Thompson behind the typewriter. For one, he filled in a lot of information about life with the harnesses without actually smacking the audience in the face with it. First, Rick’s cystic fibrosis clears up, and now Ben is doing a hundred push-ups effortlessly? It’s obvious these skitter devices do more than simply correct potentially fatal flaws.

Also interesting is the use of the term “razorback” as an insult to the rescued kids. It’s great to see that the other survivors, who never lost kids or haven’t gotten theirs back yet, aren’t ready to completely trust the creepy new additions in their midst, who may or may not be suffering from residual after-effects of alien mind control.

Had I not immediately seen what was coming up, I would’ve liked this week’s episode a whole lot more. Even knowing how it was going to work out, there was a lot of positives. For example, I’m loving the grizzled commander Weaver taking Jimmy the Combat Tot under his wing. It’s humanizing Weaver and it’s giving Jimmy a chance to be an actual kid, in addition to a gun-toting skitter ridder. Rather than simply dismissing Weaver (as I have been), he’s growing on me greatly, thanks to a few simple things over the last couple of episodes.

I also like the way the skitters have been handled lately. Last week’s skitter in the hallway was stellarly creepy, and this week’s altercation between Jimmy and the schoolhouse skitter is also very impressively creepy. I like the use of the mech as a distraction for the fighters while the skitter tries to sneak into the school to set a secondary trap of some sort. And I also like the way that Weaver saved the day. (I didn’t like the horribly cheesy shot of the skitter smashing the globe in its claw-hand, but I can live with it.)

My opinion of this week’s episode will be influenced heavily by where the second half of the episode goes next week. If they handle this right and really bring some pain to Second Mass (or just do something with the returning Pope), I’ll be happy. Otherwise? Not so much.

Rating 6/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:Ron Hogan

Tv Review : Falling Skies episode 5 – Silent Kill

11 Jul

This review contains spoilers.

5. Silent Kill

Well, this is episode 5 of Falling Skies, and we’re on our fifth attempt to rescue Ben from the clutches of the skitters and their evil mech robot over(or under)lords. I had a good feeling about tonight’s episode when it came to resolving the Ben situation, and as it turns out? I was right. The situation was resolved.

Once more, Tom and company are going to get back Ben, because, apparently, Tom has done his last good deed for the group and now gets to once more endanger the lives of five of the group’s most accomplished fighters to regain custody of his middle son. He brings a lot to the table, and it’s best to keep him happy, so naturally, he’s given the go-ahead to recover his son, if (that’s a big if) he comes up with a good plan.

Tom’s first attempt at planning isn’t so good, but it’s Hal who comes up with the genius plan to wear a skitter collar, sneak into the hospital where the kids are hanging out, grab Ben, and scram.

Apparently, the kids are allowed to roam free while hooked into their controllers, which plays into Ben’s last, best hope of rescue. It also allows Tom to discreetly sneak into the school where his brother is being held captive for a little bit of skitter snuggling, in what is a very disturbing scene, especially considering just what happened to the skitter once Tom felt confident enough to make his move and put the killing technique that Anne taught him to good use. (Yes, skitters have a weakness. No, it’s not easy to exploit in the slightest.)

One of the more interesting developments of tonight’s episode, aside from the inglorious end of Steven Weber’s arc on the series? Well, it was learning about life in the skitter encampment, and just what it’s like to wear one of those evil-looking alien harnesses. As it turns out, things are quite a bit different there, and for whatever reason, Rick (Daniel Gordon) seems to have been permanently changed by his experience, and not just in the sense that the harness cured his cystic fibrosis. Weirdly, the skitter seems to have kind of a paternal relationship with Rick and the other captured kids, in that the skitter nests with the children at night.

Why? I’m not sure why. There’s obviously some kind of symbiosis going on, given the way the skitter used Rick to talk in last week’s episode. But why the friendly bedding? Could it factor into the previous scene from a few weeks ago when the skitters were sleeping under the bridge together? I guess (hopefully) we’ll find out more details from the newly rescued Ben.

The Ben situation was dragging out a bit, and I knew the writers wouldn’t be able to get much out of it if they continued to drag it out. Fortunately, that whole thing has been wrapped up, or at least fundamentally changed, so that’s a positive thing for the show and will allow Hal, Tom, and the rest of the Masons to move on and explore different territory.

While it’s great to move things along, something seems as though this rescue mission went a little too easily. Surely things have to be tougher than that, right? I know they struck at night and used subterfuge to their advantage, but surely the aliens have to be a little bit smarter than this, don’t they? Or, I guess, they will be smarter than this once they figure out just how the humans were able to rescue their captives and free them from their alien work camps.

I can’t help but think this little attack just might be the cause for next week’s teased removal of the civilian children from the Second Mass’ encampment. Of course, whether or not that comes to fruition is a different story, but they’ve definitely teased it hard. Here’s hoping they get the kids gone and increase the fighting! Drama is all well and good (and I like a lot of the things they’ve been doing to flesh out characters), but I’d love to see a few more explosions.

Rating 7/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:Ron Hogan

‘Falling Skies’ renewed for 2nd season

8 Jul

TNT has renewed the Steven Spielberg-produced series for a second season of 10 episodes, which will air next summer.

“Falling Skies is a true standout series, from its ambitious storytelling, high-profile cast and production team to its phenomenal success when it comes to international and time-shifted viewing,” said executive vice president of TNT programming Michael Wright. “We’re reaching new audiences with Falling Skies and look forward to seeing where this fascinating and exciting series takes us next.”

Falling Skies, which stars Noah Wyle, has been a big hit for TNT so far, claiming the title of cable’s number-one new series and averaging more than 6.4 million total viewers during its first three episodes. And the news gets even better when it comes to the coveted young-adult crowd. The premiere drew 3.8 million adults 18-48 and 4.5 million adults 25-54. It’s also done very well in international markets, drawing strong to record audience numbers in the U.K., Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico and Venezuela.

Here’s the TNT press release:

TNT Orders Second Wave of “Falling Skies,” Cable’s #1 New Series

Epic Series from DreamWorks Television and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, Starring Noah Wyle, Scores as Major Hit in U.S. and Abroad

TNT has renewed Falling Skies, cable’s #1 new series, for a second season. The epic saga about the aftermath of an all-out invasion by an alien military force has been a tremendous hit both domestically and internationally. Falling Skies, which airs Sundays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), stars Noah Wyle and comes to TNT from DreamWorks Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg. TNT has ordered 10 episodes for the second season, which is slated to air in summer 2012.

“Falling Skies is a true standout series, from its ambitious storytelling, high-profile cast and production team to its phenomenal success when it comes to international and time-shifted viewing,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “We’re reaching new audiences with Falling Skies and look forward to seeing where this fascinating and exciting series takes us next.”

Falling Skies takes place in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. Tom Mason (Wyle), a Boston history professor and the father of three sons, must put his extensive knowledge of military history to the test as second in command of a regiment of resistance fighters protecting a large group of civilian survivors. Falling Skies also stars Moon Bloodgood, Will Patton and Drew Roy.

Falling Skies premiered in the U.S. on TNT Sunday, June 19, drawing an extraordinary Live + 7 audience of 8 million viewers and ranking it as cable’s top series launch of 2011. The premiere also garnered an impressive 3.8 million adults 18-49 and 4.5 million adults 25-54. Through its first three installments, Falling Skies has averaged more than 6.4 million viewers through a blend of live and time-shifted viewing.

Falling Skies is quickly becoming a global television sensation. In the opening stages of its rollout in more than 75 international markets, it has already drawn strong – and in some cases record – audience deliveries for networks airing it in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

In addition to Spielberg, the first season of Falling Skies has been executive-produced by DreamWorks Television heads Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank, Graham Yost and screenwriter Robert Rodat, who wrote the pilot from an idea he co-conceived with Spielberg. Mark Verheiden and Greg Beeman have served as co-executive producers.

Tv Review : Falling Skies – episode 4 ‘Grace’

6 Jul

This review contains spoilers.

4. Grace

Well, this week’s adventure sees Tom and his team out in the world, with their new ‘friend’ Pope (Colin Cunningham) in tow, to find a storehouse of motorcycles that Pope seems to know about, due to his criminal past. We know what motivates Tom. He wants to help the resistance, but mostly he wants to get his son back, and the Second Mass leadership gets its greatest bargaining chip. They keep Tom working with the hope that, after he does (fill in the job), he’ll get to go rescue his son.

They continue to abuse this privilege this week, which makes me wonder just how much more of this Tom will take before he says, “Screw the resistance. I’m getting my son back one way or another.” After the events of last week, in which one of Tom’s own team loses his cool and blows Tom’s chance at getting his son back, even the most mild-mannered of history professor has a breaking point, right? That’s not this week, but I get the feeling it’ll be soon, and that Pope will be involved somehow.

Speaking of Pope, one of the things that bothered me about this week’s episode is that they telegraphed what happened with Pope and the away team miles in advance. When Pope and Dai (Peter Shinkoda) wander off together to gather fuel and scrounge for motorcycle parts, well, you know what happens. It’s not a spoiler when the obvious happens, is it? Even though Dai is a fighter, Pope is a dirty fighter, and Dai’s the one distracted by looking for useful stuff, while Pope gets to just plan his escape. It’s obvious, and the military makes several stupid mistakes this week, which I blame on screenwriter, Melinda Hsu Taylor.

Meanwhile, Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and Harris (Steven Weber) are having a little debate vis-à-vis the skitters. Do you try to be peaceful and talk to them (Anne’s take), or do you simply torture them until they somehow magically communicate with you? As it turns out, the secret to interspecies communication might lie in the humble radio, either the one Uncle Scott (Bruce Gray) is working on, or the one that allows the skitters to control their harnessed slave children via what I can only assume is telepathy.

Enter Mike (Martin Roach) and his son, who’s the collared boy they rescued last week. As it turns out, Harris’ solution to the harness removal issue is to drug the children with massive amounts of morphine to kind of ease the pain of returning to the real world. There’s one problem with that, aside from the fact that you’re hooking children on enough opiates to knock out Charlie Sheen, and that problem might be that the kids are better off with the harnesses on. As it turns out, Mike’s son had cystic fibrosis, until his robot/alien spine bracelet cured it.

Are the aliens all bad, or are they just creepy? Well, it depends on your philosophy, I guess. The same questions could be asked about the purpose of the skitters, the reasoning behind the two-legged mechs and whether or not they’re skitters in suits or robots, and (of course) why they have kids collecting scrap metal? There’s no telling what’s going on here, and so far, the show isn’t letting on. The clues we’ve gotten mostly concern the spine harnesses and the potential way the skitters communicate.

The episode moves well enough, and director Fred Toye (Alias, Fringe) knows his stuff behind the camera. The shots are framed well, especially the POW skitter torture scenes, which are both affecting in the sense that we feel bad for the skitter, and impressive, in that the skitter itself looks great and is wonderfully Giger-y in terms of its creepiness.

While they’re spending all the special effects budget on the captured skitter, they’ve found other ways to use the slaves as weapons under the supervision of skitters, kind of like how the Mongol hordes used to have an army of conscripts, or how the ancient Roman legions used auxiliary forces for the stuff that the citizens didn’t want to do (or just as cannon fodder). They’re pushing the humans into direct combat with the very children they keep trying to save, and sooner or later the Second Mass is going to have to make a decision as to just how far they’re willing to go, and how many losses they’re willing to endure to get their children back safe and sound and free them from the clutches of the aliens.

I like where the show is going, but it seems like they’re holding back a little too much. This should be bleaker, even downbeat at times, but it seems like it’s a very optimistic show, in spite of all the horrible things that keep happening. We need less cute kid, more disturbing moments like the armed slave kids surrounding the motorcycle shop.

Rating 6/10

Source:denofgeek.com
by:Ron Hogan

‘Falling Skies’ boss ‘planning second season’

6 Jul


© TNT

Falling Skies producer Mark Verheiden has revealed that he has plans for a second season.

It was reported back in May that the alien-invasion drama was close to being picked up for another run.

“Everybody’s fingers are crossed that if it gets a good audience, it gets renewed and it’ll come back for season two and be really fun,” Verheiden confirmed to SFX.

“When you get to the end of the first season you’ll see that we’ve just scratched the surface about what’s going on, so there are definitely long-term plans.”

Verheiden added that production on the show’s first 10-part season had been “the usual headlong rush into chaos”.

“At the end of [that chaos] you hope you have a great show, which is true of every show I’ve worked on,” he explained. “What we did have, though, was enough time to do the CGI effects and the various creature effects. Those didn’t have to be rushed.”

Falling Skies begins tonight at 9pm on FX in the UK. The first season continues on Sundays on TNT in the US.

Tv Review : Falling Skies – episode 3 ‘Prisoner Of War’

29 Jun

This review contains major spoilers.

Falling Skies steps out into the daylight, with a solid episode.

3. Prisoner Of War

I’ve been wondering just why the aliens would use their entrapment devices on teenage kids, versus full-grown adults, and I believe I may have come up with some reasons.

1) Teenagers are stronger than children, but not as dangerous as adults. 2) If you get them harnessed young, as they grow into adulthood they stay easily maintained. 3) Aliens need the manpower for their scavenging missions.

Okay, the third one isn’t something I came up with, it’s something they overtly showed in the latest episode of Falling Skies, but you have to wonder why aliens came to earth to start a recycling program. Seems to me like teenagers would be the ideal recruitment force, as they’re ready to work now, but still have a long life of slave labor ahead of them.

Or rather, the kids will be slave laborers unless Tom Mason and his band of freedom fighters can intervene. Granted, that’s easier said than done when the kids are under armed guard all day, every day, but it’s worth a shot, right? Well, except for the fact that once you free the kids, you still have to get the harness off them and thus far, removing the harness removed the life from the wearing slave.

Still, progress is being made, or so it seems, both on the slave spine front and on the resistance front. There’s an unorganized resistance group, with various cells active across the country, and Doctor Michael Harris (Steven Weber), who comes into camp, and who may have a clue as to the extraction of the harnesses. However, they need a volunteer, and that means Tom’s one-man crusade to save his son might serve a larger purpose. (Harris and Mason are also old friends, if that helps make him more likable.) They’re not successful in grabbing Ben, but they do manage to grab Anthony (Mpho Koaho)’s son

Meanwhile, speaking of larger purposes, Tom’s POW from the debut episode, John Pope (Colin Cunningham), has problems with the food. Namely, the food sucks, so it’s up to Pope (with the approval of the others) to take over as the guy behind the warming trays. Apparently, in addition to being a hunter, looter, and skitter-killer, he’s also an accomplished, trained cook with experience when it comes to feeding a few hundred prison inmates.

Here’s one thing for the show: this time, we saw the skitters and the mechs in full sunlight, and they actually looked pretty good. The skitters are a bit dodgier, but the mechs look very good, and remind me a bit of ED-209 from Robocop. Say what you want to about the alien buildings or the night-fighting from the debut episode, but at least they’re willing to spend their SFX budgets on daytime effects and aren’t taking the cheap way out all the time. They even let Tom get into it with one of the alien skitterers, up close and personally.

I also like the way Pope is slowly proving his worth to the group, thanks to his variety of skills. He’ll eventually be running around with a gun, but it won’t be for awhile. Of course, he seems a bit too good to be true at the moment, but I guess every group needs a hard-nosed survivalist, just ask Merle from The Walking Dead). The group didn’t need adding-to, but the development of Tom’s group of squad mates is always nice to see.

All in all, it was a good second official episode for Falling Skies, following the opening double; there were some good action scenes, and a nice recurring guest star spot for Steven Weber, who is always welcome on my network television. All they need is to get Helen Hunt, Kelsey Grammer, and some of the cast of Friends involved, and it’s a NBC must-see TV reunion!

Rating : 6/10

source:denofgeek
by:Ron Hogan

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