Falling Skies – Details of the invasion start to emerge

All of that disappointment that I had after watching the screeners of the first couple of episodes of Falling Skies is quickly going away. I love how they are slowly peeling back the onion that is the why and how of what has happened on Earth, and to the individuals of the Second Mass. Plus, they’ve found a way to introduce a guest star here and there that really adds to the narrative. Carla said to me that Falling Skies is the best parts of Jericho and V … ss long as we’re talking the original V, then that is high praise that, so far, seems to be deserved.

I loved Steven Weber’s turn as Dr. Harris. I’m still a little confused as to exactly what he and Mason’s relationship was. They obviously knew each other, and Mrs. Mason died while running provisions with the doctor. But, they talked about it being the “first wave” … were they gathering provisions in preparation for the attack they assumed was coming? Did they know each other before the aliens arrived? Regardless, I loved that the guilt Mason tried to place on Harris could easily come back to him … with Mason’s wife giving him the morning off.

Is there anyone better at playing the “gruff military commander” than Dale Dye? I’m a fan … a big fan, and have been one ever since Band of Brothers. As Porter, he does so much with very little, just as he’s done his entire career. Mason is inexperienced, and we can’t really get a feel for Weaver’s character yet (there has got to be more to him that just being a hardass), but Porter, and Dye, lend the Resistance an air of authenticity.

You would think, in our cultural lexicon, that people wouldn’t need to be told to post pictures of their missing loved ones on public walls. I never saw the walls in New York after 9/11, but the images from the news are burned in my brain. Battlestar Galactica made the allusion to them as well, to great affect. I like Falling Skies’ take on it as well, and hope that they keep it up. The fighters looking at the wall every time they go on patrol is a great way to show the civilians that they are on the same side, and a subtle reminder to themselves of what they are fighting for.

The minute they took Mike’s son instead of Ben, you had to know that Harris’ experimental procedure wasn’t going to be entirely successful. I hate it for Mike; he’s seemed to be the most level headed guy around about his son being missing, even though the mission proved that he was actually very far from it. I actually figured that he would die, and was not expecting the skitter and he to have that connection in that last second.

Notes & Quotes

• I was kind of disappointed at first that the harnesses were just a way of providing slave labor
• Nice to see Mason taking Pope’s advice on killing the skitters … take out a couple of legs first (seems I heard Neil Patrick Harris give the same advice once too)
• As if the Starship Troopers reference wasn’t enough, they threw in a Will Smith/Independence Day homage as well
• Despite the bigger names in the cast, Jessy Schram is one of the actors I was most looking forward too … I hope Karen doesn’t stay captured long
• There’s something very telling about the way Weaver was interested in the harness removal procedure

Clacked by Ivey West
on Jun 27, 2011 @ 02:32 EST5EDT