‘FALLING SKIES’ REVIEW: Season One Finale
Review of “Mutiny” (01:08) and “Eight Hours (01:09)
SPOILER ALERT!
Falling Skies, the hit sci-fi series from TNT, finishes its inaugural season with a two-parter that both frustrates and exhilarates. The buildup to the summer event seemed to focus on the offensive attack of the 2nd Mass. on the alien mother-ship hovering over Boston. But before the survivors get to the skitters and Mechs, they have to deal with one another.
Doctor Anne Glass (Moon Bloodgood) tells Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) her little secret about the skitters having harnesses under their skin. After hearing this revelation, Tom begins to question the leadership capability of Capt. Weaver (Bill Patton). Ever since nearly killing himself at his old house in the last episode, Weaver has been erratic. He’s popping pills and making rash decisions.
When Tom confronts Weaver about his addiction, the captain takes it as a sign of mutiny. Within a few short seconds, Tom finds himself taken into custody by a new character named Lt. Danner. Imprisoned in the boiler room, it appears that the aliens are going to wipe out the 2nd Mass. from the face of the earth without firing a bullet.
Meanwhile, John Pope (Colin Cunningham) forges a relationship with Tom’s youngest son, Matt (Maxim Knight), and Ben (Connor Jessup) starts to learn about the damaging effects that radio frequencies can have on the skitters.
Surprisingly, it’s little Jimmy who comes to Tom’s rescue. They bust him out of the boiler room and then try to take back the 2nd.
Now it’s decision time. Dai (Peter Shinkoda) has reported that Porter (Dale Dye) doesn’t want the 2nd Mass. to move on the alien target unless there is confirmation from the 4th and 5th Mass. units. No confirmation means abort attack. Weaver, ever the militaristic madman, decides to circumvent Porter and issue the offensive.
It’s only when Weaver sees the hurt he has caused Jimmy that he decides to back down. As recompense, he keeps the attack on schedule, but requires no one to join him. He only wants volunteers, 50 of them to be exact. In one of those great television moments, where swelling music joins with raised hands, Weaver gets his recruits.
Tom stands back with the women and children of the 2nd Mass. as Weaver goes on ahead.
One of the reasons “Mutiny” is so frustrating is that the alien action is non-existent. The main battle is between Weaver and Tom, and although they make formidable opponents, their rivalry has been well-documented throughout the first season. It’s time to kick some alien butt.
It was also surprising to find out that Tom doesn’t go with the volunteers to Boston. The main character is relegated to being a glorified babysitter. Hmmm?
In “Eight Hours,” the action kicks up a notch, and Ben becomes an even more pivotal character.
Rick (Daniyah Ysrayi) attacks Uncle Scott (Bruce Gray) and his radio equipment. Before Tom is able to catch the un-harnessed kid, Rick escapes and heads toward the woods.
After giving chase, Tom finds Rick telling the secrets of the 2nd Mass. to the aliens. Heeding the historical lessons of the battles at Lexington and Concord, Tom decides to evacuate John F. Kennedy High School immediately. As the women and children head through a tunnel, the fighters set up a barricade and prepare for battle against the Mechs.
This is where Ben becomes vital. His tinkering with the radio signal has paid off. The Mechs retreat; they can’t deal with the frequency levels once the survivors use a flag pole as a transmittor.
With the Mechs gone, and the threat level more manageable, Tom decides to leave for Boston. Before he heads out, he does something audience members have been waiting several episodes for: He grabs Anne and kisses her — a beautiful moment.
In Boston, Weaver’s volunteers have been beaten down. Many are dead, although Weaver and Pope survive. Before they retreat, Tom takes one shot at the mother-ship with an RPG and causes some destruction.
On their way back to the high school, audiences are left with their season-one cliffhanger: After encountering one of the new humanoid aliens on the road, Tom decides to follow the strangers into their ship. Why? Apparently, the humanoid is Ben (or he sees that Ben is connected to these aliens in some way).
“Eight Hours” works much better than “Mutiny,” but both episodes are spare on the action. This two-part season finale is more of a thinker’s episode than a fireworks finale. Thankfully, it sets up season two nicely, and all of the main characters will likely be around for another go at surviving.
Falling Skies is the well-deserved television event of the summer. Here’s hoping for a repeat distinction next year.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com-
Falling Skies
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TNT, Sundays at 10 p.m.
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Created by Robert Rodat
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Starring Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood, Colin Cunningham, Connor Jessup, Maxim Knight, Drew Roy, Will Patton and Dale Dye
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Rating:
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I really liked the finale. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl and they didn’t go too heavy on all the fighting, which would have bored me anyway. I think the whole Tom going with the aliens is maybe so we can see inside the alien structures in season 2 . I don’t know how else they could have done it.
I think the final paragraph of the synposis is wrong. The alien isnt Ben, but Ben is becoming an Skitter.
Great show. Its great to see some engaging Scifi on another channel then Syfy (Wrestle Greater), Because we all know that Syfy has cancelled some great shows like Eureka and SGU.
Cant Wait for season 2.
Thanks for the comments so far. That’s a great point about Ben becoming a skitter. I didn’t think of that. Then what’s the deal with the humanoid?
Hmmm…so many things to ponder before season two.
Anyone else have some thoughts about that final scene?
I continue to be stunned at the simplistic technical aspects and strategic goofiness of the show.
The black kid pulling the spiderman routine was ridiculous AND they brushed it off without a second thought. Epic goofiness.
I think the first hour was just filler. More or less a public service announcement to not use drugs. No real plot advancement other than making it clear the black kid was a real problem. Which by the way, after he admits to telling the aliens “everything”, Tom Mason basically takes him back to the school and lets him go and run free amongst the community. . .much like Pope.
A technical aspect that bugged me was taking the jumper cables for a ANTENNA lead and clamping them to the flag pole with a big spark. That was a major groan.
But by far, the craziest of the series, and I guess befitting the end of the season, was Tom going off with the alien because of the ‘threat’ the alien would call his son back to them. So. . both Weaver and Tom have a bead on one of the beings that have slaughtered hundreds of millions of people, Weaver’s wife, Tom’s wife, etc. They could “possibly” kill him right then and there, maybe take the ship (LOL, but hey, that would fit nicely in this wacko series) but decide to take a ride with him.
The other laugh was the alien “wanted to talk” because of their tenacity to fight?!?!? Have you seen anything in this season that blows you away as to their “awesomeness” as fighters? I certainly have not.
I watched all of Season One, but being as the show is on TNT, they obviously have some limitations, but some of the elements of the show border on the ridiculous and inane…for example:
When The oldest son and his girlfriend get confronted by a mech….golly gee..they were only ‘stunned’ which is amazing since the mechs usually respond to noise with a hail of bullets.
The mechs are even worse shots than the resistance fighters and have even worse aim (They need ten? or twelve?targeting lasers?) Of course the resistance fighters need several hundred rounds of DU to take out a mech, so I suppose that is equaled out….which gives rise to another rather inane premise…if the aliens travelled through space to get here, you would think that they would have someting better than projectile weapons. Laser weapons would make one hell of a lot more sense.
As Rick says, the Skitters are better than humans in that they don’t kill each other, but they think nothing about lining up and executing five children to make an example; are they really any better than us or have the Political Correctness generators kicked into overdrive? According to the storyline, 90% of the humans are exterminated, so that means 6.3 billion dead out of 7 billion. To think that any human would get all touchy feely about an alien after that occured is ludicrous.
Needless to say, a PC cast is inevitable these days, but why is it that all ‘white trash’ like the Pope character have perfectly white teeth and no vices? Come on, some realism would be nice.
The resistance people are holed up in a school. What modern day school could realistically expect to have a stash of technology that was cutting edge in the 1950’s at latest? Did the aliens carry out mass larceny after the invasion? A Radio Frequency Generation Program can be used on a computer with a decent sound card.
In Silent Kill, instead of a knife to the face up close and personal, an Ashanderai (A pike length weapon with a sword blade) or a crossbow would make a lot more sense. (Even the people on The Walking Dead have figured that out.)
Despite the previously listed inanities, the show might have some promise (At least the lead character kissed the doctor…finally), but they need to dispose of a lot of the PC angst and multicultural BS (oh, the poor little aliens! JHC on rye, they killed 6 billion people…get a clue!)and focus on the main storyline (The Aliens in our midst.)
I mostly agree with everything that has been said. One thing, in regards to the alien wanting to talk to Tom because of the level of resistance. All I can think of is that the resistance fighters managed three things that hadn’t been done before:
– Took out a mech
– Interfered with the mechs communication system
– Destroyed a mech plane; more so as it was landing back at base.
In the end though, it really only seemed to serve as a plot ploy to build suspense until next season.
Best show ever can’t wait till season 2 never going to miss a single episode
I really liked the review and most of the comments, but I still question Tom’s motivation to go with the aliens. If I was an opposition force and I had the opportunity to invite one of my enemy leaders into my stronghold you best believe he would not make it out, especially alive. Tom had a commitment to protect all his family, not just Ben. Find a way to fix Ben from the safety of our strongholds. I have 2 kids and I would want nothing to remotely happen to either, but if pressed the family must come before any of the individual members. Just saying.
Could not get into this at all.
boring and predictable.
The storyline is good but the only problem i had with the whole thing is the fact that so far we only no that alians came to earth just to kill people and make more of them with our kids. Plus what is more the fact that they said within almost a day the alians whiped out every last millitary instilation on the planet. Now they said they droped a blue light that cut off all electronics. So they droped an EMP. Which we have today. We could of still fought back. not everyting is nocked out by a EMP. Come on!!!! Sorry for the rant. Great show. Great suspense. Gana keep on watching next year.
I liked the series. It keep you guessing. Looking forward to next season.
The premise of the show is not unique. There have been many attempts, some better than others, to produce a great show in the alien invasion genre. I’ve watch every single episode of this show not because it is compelling but because it’s so simplistic and shallow it borders on being comical.
As other viewers pointed out, the show is riddled with ridiculous plot progression.
It’s difficult to watch most of the actors: their performance is not believable at all.
I would be very surprised if this show is not cancelled soon.
“They are surprised at your resistance” is probably the best and most intriguing line of the season. A love of freedom is NOT universal – even here on planet Earth. Serfdom can be bought – if one is willing to give up their humanity for a cure for cystic fibrosis – and many would.
Way to go TNT. Looking forward to next season.