Falling Skies Season 1 Finale Review

Episode Title: Mutiny/Eight Hours
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B+

First, I am aware of how late this review is. I wasn't able to watch it until yesterday, and while that is not very good from a review stand point I hope everyone understands that real life can make it difficult to sit down and watch a two hour show and take notes. Also, for a couple reasons this review will be somewhat brief. It's helpful that the story of the two episodes is pretty simple, and I'll be discussing them as if they were one episode even though they are two separate ones.

On to the review!

While I enjoyed this season finale, and was impressed by some of the things they did I didn't think the cliffhanger was as amazing as advertised. I know I can't blame them for that, but nothing that happened in those last few minutes was all that shocking. Unexpected maybe, but not shocking. I'll get to that a little later, but when it comes to season finales the ending really is important with a show like this, and I'm not sure they delivered. I also think the main story of the 1st half with Weaver being a little nuts was overblown. He went from a decent commander to an obsessive maniac in about a day and a half, and in actuality he wasn't being an obsessive manic. Tom was correct about the 4th and 5th Mass, but no matter how many people you sent on this mission, it was most likely going to be a suicide mission.

Falling Skies 1x08 Review

Episode Title: What Hides Beneath
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B+

Another episode filled with reveals. In this episode we learn a ton about the Skitters, and about Captain Weaver. We've been getting clues that there was more going on with Weaver for a while now, and we got a good amount of those answers tonight. The reveals about the Skitters are both shocking, and mysterious. Falling Skies appears to be taking a page from Lost; answer a question, but ask many more. We also get a little more info about Rick. Last week ended on a great cliffhanger of Rick being super creepy, and seemingly controlled by a Skitter. This week, we learn not only why that might be, but also find it's having a big affect on those around him.

This episode also didn't have any of those scenes that just make me bored. Every conversation, and every scene has a purpose, and is clearly leading some place important. The fact that the new baby wasn't even mentioned makes me think I'm right that it served no purpose other than "hey look, a pregnant woman". I finally learned that the religious girl's name is Lourdes. While that name just makes me roll my eyes, she did actually have a role in this episode that was neither ridiculous, or pointless. As I said, everything is leading to next week, and the season finale. Read more in the episode recap

Falling Skies 1x07 Review

Episode Title: Sanctuary(Part 2).
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B+

It's rare for shows to have two part episodes in the middle of a season like this, and I think it was a cool idea here. Doctor Who does it all the time, so why not Falling Skies. This episode continues to show the improvement of certain characters, but also has several moments that make you scratch your head. I want to point out here, that last week I called Clayton "Clinton" by accident. The fact that no one pointed this out suggest either no one cared, or no one read the blog. Since I know the latter is not the case thank you for understanding a simply mistake.

There are a few surprises in the episode too. One of them is shocking, and really shows what the show is willing to do. This is not a nice happy show where everyone comes home at the end of the day. The other surprise was suspected beforehand, but was revealed in a very creepy way. Read on for the episode recap.

Falling Skies Episode 1x06 Review

Episode Title: Sanctuary
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: A-

This week Falling Skies upped the tension, and contained the story a better then they've been doing in the past. Now that Ben is with the Humans we can finally move on to other missions. I have no problem with that story, but when every single week had the same mission it tends to get a little stale. The rescue did make up for much of that though. This week thought, it's all about the possibility of danger, what should they do about it.

This episode also has some excellent moments. One shot of a Skitter crushing a globe in its hand was particularly entertaining, and terrifying at the same time. I also liked that they stopped focusing on things that have no bearing on the events of the show. Like religious girl always walking around in a daze, or pregnant women. They do mention her, but 5-10 min of the show are not devoted to a character no one cares about. Even Anne, who is one of the worst developed characters ever gets some great scenes, and actually acts IN character. Shocking I know.

The action looks to pick up again next week, but more on that in the spoilers. Read on for the recap.

Falling Skies Episode 1x05 Review

Episode 1x05: Silent Kill
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B

This episode had its ups and downs, but I think it achieved what it set out to do. Certain characters were fleshed out a little more, and I hope this will make me feel for them a little more. We also get more information about the Skitters, and it's very strange. I really have no idea what to think about the new info, and I like that. What made shows like Lost and BSG so much fun was they would show you something, but not explain it at all. This forces fans to speculate, and theorize. I want to be told a story yes, but with a show like this I also want to be challenged. I'll get to this more in the spoiler section, but I think it's a good move for the show.

While characters are fleshed out, some behaved outright bizarrely. It's not so much the characters themselves per say, but more their actions didn't make sense in context. This was really my only gripe with the episode, and sadly there were several of these events. I'm not sure if Anne is a favorite of anyone, but she just pisses me off in almost every episode. Her actions make almost no sense. I asked last week why they put a pediatrician in charge of learning the Skitter language, and why the show decided surgeons are heartless psychopaths.

Overall an improvement from last week, and it is starting to embrace my large hopes for the series.

Spoilers below the fold.

Falling Skies Episode 1x04 Review

Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B-

Tonight's episode was titled "Grace", and the moral was  "prayer makes everything okay".  Yes, that's right, religion has shoved it's way into an otherwise very well done science fiction survival story. More on this later in the spoiler section. Other than religion, this episode gives us more information about the Skidders. I'm liking the way they're revealing things about them. Instead of some cliche'd exposition we are learning who they are through experience. To put it another way, we are learning about them just as our characters learn. This keeps the tension and the mystery exciting. The dark nature of the show continued as well, and like I've said this will be the strength of the show.

I also continue to be impressed with the special effects. We get a very close up view of a Skidder throughout this episode, and for a cable TV show it looked excellent. There are some negative aspects though. For one, the show seems to be falling into old troupes and devices used in these types of stories. The battle over how you learn more about the Skidders would be much more interesting I think if the characters involved were more developed. Since it's only the fourth hour we know very little about them, making their arguments seem completely one-dimensional. For the most part I think the acting has been good, but we can't have a deep argument about morality when we don't have enough information to know the motivations for these people.

Another good episode, but certain events lead me to believe they may not have the guts I hoped they did.

Spoilers below the fold

Falling Skies Episode 1x03 Review

Overall Season Rating: B
Episode 1x01/02: B+
Episode 1x03: B

Ok, two things before this review starts. You'll notice there is a new rating system with TV shows. Up until now I have thought that rating the shows on a per episode basis was not a good idea. That was until I got a very nice e-mail with a great suggestion. That suggestion is what you see above. Two sets of ratings. The Overall Season Rating will be a sliding scale based on the average of scores I give each episode. For those like me that were not great at math, that means if there are two episodes and one gets an A, and the other gets a C, the Overall rating is B. The second thing is to admit that I'm an idiot. But it's not all my fault. Last week I said I didn't know the name of the actor who plays their leader, but he looked familiar. That's because he's been in a ton of movies, and his name is WILL PATTON! His name in the show also is NOT Clayton, but Weaver. I blame IMDb totally for this since as I said he wasn't listed. I apologize to you, to Mr. Patton, and anyone else who likes facts.

Spoilers Below

This episode was called "Prisoner of War" and with good reason . Sad to say while watching the cable skipped a couple times and I missed some important bits, but I think I understand what I missed. The first of these moments was right at the beginning. We see Tom and his crew doing recon on the Skidders and try to see Ben. This is where it skipped and I missed a bit cause next thing I saw they were running away. I don't think I missed anything huge, but we learn he saw a lot of the kids, and plans to go back to get Ben, again. We then get a very BSG style moment of people asking if he saw their kids, and they start putting pictures up on the wall. On the same wall we saw very brief newspaper clippings of the alien arrival. I would like to go back and see if there is a better image of that. Last week I talked about flashbacks, but maybe we won't get that. We'll get very brief looks at newspapers to give us the info we need. That would be bold, and a wonderful usage of the realism of the world to give us that info.

Falling Skies Pilot Review

Well the 2-hour premiere of Falling Skies is over. What's the verdict? It's a good show, but not great. It has a lot of potential if they focus on the struggle of humanity to survive, and fight back, and less on the cliched archetypes that appear in every single post-apocalyptic vision. Since this was the pilot episode I thought I would do this review by simply talking about what I liked, and what I didn't like. That way I avoid assuming things, or theorizing about things we simply don't have enough information about. After that, I'll talk about where I hope the show goes. I plan to review this show every week whether I enjoy it or not.

Before I get into the like/dislike section I want give a brief description of the show for those who don't know. In the first few moments we learn that an alien race we call the "skidders" attacked Earth. At first humans allowed them to place ships around the planet to avoid starting a war ID4 Style. This quickly turned bad as the aliens destroyed all the electronics, then all the military bases, and finally started eliminating cities. The show is about the aftermath of this destruction. Imagine the movie Independence Day, but instead of a rousing speech, and an impossibly stupid winning solution, we don't beat the aliens within a couple days. The aliens won, and now only a few humans survive, and begin to slowly fight back.

Spoilers below the fold.

What's new for June?

It's almost June and that means 2 things. It gets very hot here in New Jersey, and there's new content for us to geek out about.

Here are some of the things we will be covering during the month of June. We will try to post reviews of these TV shows, and movies so check those out.

TV Shows:
Falling Skies on TNT starts June 19. For those who don't know, this is a pretty big new show from the folks who know drama. Falling Skies takes place after an alien invasion apocalypse. Looks like it'll be pretty dark, and the cast looks good too. This will be one of the few American sci-fi shows on TV so I hope it does well.
Falling Skies website

Futurama on Comedy Central on June 23. This epic series returns for the 2nd half of its 6th season. Since this is not a serialized show I'm not sure if we'll do reviews for them. I personally love the series, so I promise I will try.

Weeds on Showtime on June 27. Everyone's favorite show about a pot selling mom returns for its 7th season. While I have not been totally happy with the direction the show has taken the past couple seasons, I still love it for being one of the strangest series on TV. I'm hearing that a lot has changed since the end of season 6, so I'm looking forward to this one very much. Since it's on Showtime it does include nudity and profanity, and of course drug use.

Movies:
X-Men: First Class opens June 3. I was a bit concerned for this one, but the trailers look AMAZING. It really could be the best comic book movie of the year. I'm a big X-Men fan, and I'm putting a lot of my continuity and canon issues aside. I plan to see this with a big group on Friday, so expect a review either that night, or Saturday morning.

Super 8 opens June 10. This is my pick for the movie of the summer. J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg! I cannot wait for this movie, and love how mysterious the plot still is. I hope it's more than a monster movie because that seems to easy. I know that will be an aspect of it, but I just hope there's a lot more.

Green Lantern opens June 17. This is DC's shot at some of the comic book movie love this summer. Picking Ryan Reynolds was a smart move, but lets see how the movie turns out. Green Lantern is not a funny, happy go-lucky story like Spiderman can be. It's dark, and a bit scary. I hope they got that right. The trailers do look excellent though, so I'm hopeful.

The Flashbacks Podcast:
Episode 2 on June 6: This is our 4th anniversary and we'll be discussing a lot of things. Check out our talkshoe page for more info.

Episode 3 on June 20: Most likely this show will cover the various movies that opened during the off week. We also will begin our our single show flashback discussions. Don't know the show yet, but tune in for more info.