Falling Skies is back, with new aliens, new plans, more deaths and no doubt Tom throwing out more daft ideas that work out because he’s the protagonist and so special. And Pope still isn’t dead. Let’s see what this series brings with a double episode starter.
In a very dusty mine, a line of filthy harnessed kids
digs while guarded by Skitters and Mechs. They are watched by Colonel Weaver,
his daughter Jeanne and Matt Mason – and they recognise one of the kids
– Diego. Mat goes in planting explosives around the mine equipment. When
Matt returns, Weaver talks to the other team using a radio larger than an 80s
mobile phone, and the bombs go off, un leashing waves of blue light and,
possibly, EMP by the way the Mechs get shaky.
Teams move in from all directions, Ben and a new
character, Dani, (she keeps calling Ben Benji which Annoys him so I approve) stab
a Skitter and a team moves in whose bullets manage to knock down the Mech.
Maggie and Hal drive up in a jeep. They lead the harnessed kids into the back
of a truck and, alas, Pope is still leading the Berserkers (and still isn’t
dead).
At which point 2 new, much bigger Mechs appear from where
they’re hiding behind rocks. They have very big guns.
Everyone dashes to cover as the new MegaMechs unleash a torrent of firepower, killing several soldiers and sending others scattered. And from the mine emerges a wave of Skitters. Ben and the new woman grab each other’s hands as his harness flares blue and they’re overwhelmed by the Skitters. Pinned to the floor, they try to fight
At the top of the mine another wave of Skitters appear – lead by one with a red painted eye. Rebel Skitters – they pull the Skitters off Ben and attack their fellows.
As Hal runs out of Ammo and one of the MegaMechs focuses on Maggie, Tom arrives on horseback with several others – and they have a gun that completely rips the arms off the MegaMech. With Tom, also on horseback is an alien that looks like nothing we’ve seen before. His gun easily slices down the other MegaMech.
Everyone gathers up and Weaver discusses the ambush with Tom – and Weaver, Colonel Weaver, calls Tom “sir” when he suggests leaving before more surprises pop up. Everyone heads home
Home, of course, being the ruin of Charleston, though
unlike last season there are people moving around on the surface as well as
hiding underground. He’s greeted by General Bressler as “Mr. President”. Well
that explains the sir I guess. Both General Mason and a Ms. Perlata (who seems
to be Tom’s new assistant) tell him he’s a naughty president and shouldn’t be
leading attacks. Tom makes it clear he’s going to keep fighting. As he walks
through the returning people we have a few recaps – Professor Arthur is now
chairing committee meetings, he tells Weaver to call him Tom – not sir,
professor or president and we learn 7 months have past. And Hal is helped down
from his firing position into his wheelchair. Well that’s new, last we saw of
him he
was getting his evil side together with an alien parasite, not being
disabled.
Pope is still a horrible person who is really not
thrilled to have either the Skitter rebels or the new aliens about.
In the infirmary Lourdes and Jeanne lead Diego to a
heavily pregnant Dr. Anne Glass and they put him in the new shiny
anti-harnessing machines which Lourdes says removes harnesses completely,
painlessly without any sideeffects (so sounds more comprehensive than with
Ben). By the blue light and strands it uses, it’s clearly alien technology. Anne
reunites with Tom, they’re still a couple and he wants her to take things
easily though she’s the only one who knows how to use the alien machine.
And Tom finally makes it to his military mission, with
Ben, Hal, Weaver, Bressler, a Skitter rebel and a lot of military folk – and in
behind Tom comes Cochise, of the Volm. The new alien; Weaver questions his
presence by Tom points out that as an ally they should be involved in military
planning. Especially since the ambush the bad aliens (who I will call the
Overlords from now on) was so neatly planed that it looks like they knew the
humans were coming. A major possibility, especially considering the eye-worms
and other alien moles. Of course, Bressler is more on the side of “waaaah
aliens evil! Why do we have these aliens around! Evil aliens!!!” A much wiser
Colonel Porter points out that a year ago they could barely survive and now
they’re scoring so many victories that the Overlords are resorting to
espionage. And the only reason they’re doing so well is because of the rebels
and the Volm.
Cochise speaks up in an echoy alien voice thanking the
general – and then gets all awkward when everyone looks at him. Awww, poor
Cochise. But he adds that the Espheni (what the Volm call the Overlords) have
also deployed their MegMechs which usually are reserved for enemies with better
technology – proof that the humans have unnerved the Espheni. Bressler stomps
that they haven’t had a large decisive battle. Cochise points out that’s
actually what the Espheni are good at – guerrilla warfare is what confuses them
and defeats them.
Bressler says that makes no logical sense. Cochise doesn’t call him a fool but does ask why he expects extra-terrestrial beings to observe human logic. Returning to the mole, Tom decides to appoint Arthur Manchester to search out the mole since he’s both good at such investigations and didn’t know about the mission anyway so can’t have been the spy.
The meeting breaks up and Hal and Maggie go to bed – and
Hal dreams about walking out into the woods to meet Karen – that’s Espheni
possessed Karen – and kissing her. He wakes up in shock, Maggie comments on the
nightmare which has apparently been common and he hasn’t been remembering them.
He doesn’t want to talk about it and is sharp when she pushes and snaps at her
for putting his wheelchair out of reach.
Tom walks with Marina Perlata, his assistant, as she
gives him a list of things he needs to handle, including a citizens’ council to
be ready for – with news of the possible spy already leaking out. And he meets
Ben and Dani who tell him the leader of the Rebel Skitters wants a word but
doesn’t want to come into the city because he doesn’t feel comfortable with the
anti-Skitter talk.
In the clinic, Hal is working through physiotherapy.
Maggie and Lourdes watch, with Lourdes reassuring Maggie that he’s doing well
but Maggie confides her worries with her. Apparently, there’s nothing
physically wrong with him – and Maggie blames his disability on something Karen
did to him. Hal also apologises to Maggie for how he’s been acting.
Dr. Arthur begins his checking for a mole and for that he
talks to Anthony who has experience as a cop – and an undercover cop at that.
He wants Anthony’s experience and investigative skills – and provides him a
list of files he wants him to look at. They include names of people Anthony
knows and trusts.
Weaver and Tom go to the meeting with the Skitter Rebels
with Ben acting as a translator/puppet to tell them that the Espheni are plAnneing
a new offensive (Dani has the same glazed, emotionless look suggesting she is
similarly plugged in). This doesn’t bother them much as they keep trying but
the Volm defences make Charleston too strong a target for the Espheni to bring
down. The Skitter reminds Ben that the humans aren’t actually the Espheni’s
target – the Volm are, and their troops are arriving, purportedly to fight the
Espheni – but the Skitters are less sure of their motives. Also there’s a new
Overlord in command after the last one was killed – this one is apparently
human. Karen.
Tom goes to see Anne and finds she’s taken a nap but he
wakes her covering her up. They both moan a little about how little time they
have together with their busy schedules. He goes to do his thing while Anne
goes to the clinic, talks to Lourdes – and her water breaks.
Matt runs to collect Tom, and he runs, leaving Arthur
behind and his list of possible suspects, to collect later, it can wait. Yeah,
he’s dead. He’s so dead. Anyone who says they can wait to give you the big
important information ALWAYS DIES. It is a rule. “I need to tell you something”
are probably more common last words than “it can’t get any worse!”
Outside JeAnnee and Diego reconnected, she talks about
them trying to find him and how they can remove harnesses and they see the
large Volm structure which is very impressive. There are, apparently, about
20-25 of them though they keep to themselves, and they fight the Espheni
because they were invaded by them and seek to liberate other victims. She
speaks about all the many good things they’ve given them – but she doesn’t
trust aliens. Ben and Dani cross their path talking about manga and we get to
follow Pope (who isn’t dead) some more who goes into a rowdy bar. One of the
men in the bar is mouthing off about killing off all the aliens, including
their allies and Pope tells him to shut up and orders another round of drinks
to keep everyone calm.
While the Mason family and Maggie flock around Anne, a
shadowy figure approaches Arthur’s desk. Yes, he’s dead. He recognises the
figure – who shoots him. This points to the spy not being Hal as the figure is
standing and if he was out of his wheelchair, I assume Arthur would say more
than “is it that time already?”
They investigate the scene the next day and confirm that
only a weapon modified with Volm tech could do so much damage – guns that are
only in military hands. Tom blames himself for not listening to Arthur and then
sets Anthony on seeking the spy. Lots of sombre faces
And off to Anne’s bedside, she’s in labour. The baby is born – a little girl. From there he goes to the Citizen’s Forum, where he Anneounces the birth of his new daughter – Alexis Glass-Mason. And to mourn Arthur Manchester’s death. Time for a big dramatic speech about winning the war and turning the tide.
Hal has another dream about Karen, only this time he’s
questioning. She says she planted a probe in his brain to connect them forever,
because they’re meant to be together. She kisses him but he pushes her back and
tells him he was paralysed from the neck down – she says it’s because he was
fighting the probe. She kisses him and pushes him onto the floor, straddling
him and removing her shirt. They begin to have sex through 2 layers of denim,
and Karen’s spine glows red.
In Tom’s office, he and Weaver share a drink – and Weaver
repeats his reservations about the Volm – and if they’ll leave once the Espheni
are defeated. Weaver thinks it’s a bad idea to depend on anyone but humans to
win the war – but Tom raises the second world war as proof of having to ally
with people you don’t trust to win a war.
And Hal wakes up from another dream to find Maggie
looking for his boots – that have been moved to the wardrobe – and are filthy.
As if the dream were real! Who didn’t see that coming? Anyone? Anyone at all?
To try and convince Weaver that friendly aliens are good,
Ben and Cochise take Weaver to a super-secret project. Turns out the big tower they
tried to destroy in Boston was created to stop the Volm ships from landing
and it’s just one of thousands – eliminating one will let the Volm squeeze
through the atmosphere barrier. And in these tunnels they’re making a big gun –
more than a gun, but a weapon to win the war. It does something – I presume they
tell Weaver but not us.
Following the guide by the Rebel Skitters, Ben and Dani
go scouting – and find a base of Espheni troops – including a lot of Megamechs
ready to move in and attack. The facility also charges all the mechs – and all
the fliers for the east coast. But it’s well guarded (presumably because they
have more tactical skill than, say, Bressler – whose even now in command centre
gasping “defend supply lines?! This makes no logical sense!”) At least the
front anyway – the cliff at the back is much less defended. Because it’s a
cliff. Actually, no, I take it back – to the multi-limbed Skitters that cliff
must be fairly easily traversed – so why isn’t it guarded? The harnessed kids
carrying the fuel tubes have severe rashes and scabs – and one collapses in
front of them, to be disposed of on a pile of bodies by a Skitter. Dani assumes
radiation is involved.
Back in Charleston Pope (who isn’t dead yet) tells Tector
how sure he is that the Volm are up to something (so he doesn’t trust them but
is against people mouthing off about it in bars?) We also have new soldier Lars
boasting and flirting with Maggie – I think he’s there to make Hal jealous and
lo, Hal shows up. Ugh can we not? Can we really do without the love triangles
and jealousy and concentrate on saving the world? It’s not like it’s the CW!
The tension is made more difficult but Maggie being convinced Hal can walk,
hence his muddy boots – and for some reason doesn’t want to since she knows
he’s hiding something. And Hal thinks Maggie may have muddied his boots to
convince him he was sleep walking as some kind of placebo to make him walk.
At the HQ, Ben, Weaver et al plan their strategy,
attacking down a cliff – the Volm and most human forces will stay and protect
Charleston – and Weaver will lead a raiding force. But no matter what, the plan
won’t work if the spy reports them. Also – it’s a nuclear plant. Sabotaging
them means things go boom and spread badness about. They need an expert – and
Marina speaks up about Dr. Kadar, the expert who runs all of Charleston’s power
– and an agoraphobic who never comes up from the underground power plants. They
have a deal with him to keep everything running so long as they send all supplies
down so he can avoid the surface.
Going down to see them they find a very erratic and
eccentric man who wants to know why they’re bothering him. He subsides a little
when he meets President Tom, but he’s quickly distracted by his devices. Weaver
gets his attention by discussing destroying nuclear reactors - the conundrum of destroying the reactor
without rendering the state uninhabitable – this is a fun puzzle! Come back
tomorrow
Problem solved it’s to Anne and little Alexis – who is
already tracking movement with her eyes at a week old. And she’s crawling. Oh
and she’s talking as well. This rather worries Anne to say the least
(personally I’d be running out the room yelling “demon child!” but that’s just
me). Later Tom comes home and they have
a wonderful reunion and Anne tells him that Alexis is a very… different little
girl. Very… advanced. Faced with explaining it, Anne decides it was just her
imagination and goes to her night shift.
At the hospital Lourdes talks about her envy of Alexis, a baby so innocent and new that has no idea there’s an apocalypse or that anything ever went wrong with the world. Of course this just makes Anne even more troubled about the Demon Baby Weirdness.
Away from the Demon Baby, Matt and some friends are
skipping school and blowing stuff up – ah the innocent joys of childhood. Though
there’s an interesting point in them being frustrated by “conventional” school
lessons in a dystopian world under alien invasion. Of course, causing
explosions also means the guards think they’re under attack by aliens – and the
hurrying patrols quickly catch them. Matt gets dragged in front of Anne by
Anthony, who lectures him for blowing things up, skipping class and not doing
his homework. To which Matt, predictably, spits his dummy out and tells Anne
she’s not his mother. Gah, someone get the kid a harness. Harnessed teens are
quieter.
Back to Dr. Kadar and he knows how to destroy the reactor
without destroying the state – turning it off and place demolition charges in
the right places (after dumbing down considerably). Except they don’t have
plans so he can’t do the fun maths problems to work out where the charges
should go. They have to take him with them – which must be a risk given he’s
the only one who keeps electricity flowing through Charleston (shouldn’t
someone be learning from him – get some redundancy in case the eccentric person
who never sees daylight dies?). Of course, no-one worries about that – the only
barrier they see is his agoraphobia. Kadar walks away, refusing but Marina
follows him, encouraging him, reassuring him and telling him that their lives
depend on it.
To the battle room where everyone is told their part of
the plan – and only their part of the plan. Which would make more sense if the
plan was more complex than “sneak in the back, blow shit up”. It’s not exactly
multi-faceted here. Lots of bonding before everyone steps up – and some nice
interaction between Weaver and Tom after 2 seasons of clashing and slow
respect, they’ve not got a really good relationship.
But there’s a problem! The spy breaks into their laughably
unsecured and unguarded war room and scans all the maps. They used nefarious
methods like… a key. No, really, that’s all it took to break into the war room
during a panic about a spy – a key. A simple key. This doesn’t take a super-spy
to raid their top secret information – it needs a lock smith. The scanning
thing turns into a bug and flies off to report.
And on the attack, the humans run right into an ambush.
Of course, Tom has predicted this and is actually with
Maggie and his own force at the front gate. Weaver, Pope et al are distractions
– and the troops guarding the front gate are drawn off. They expected the spy
to leak the information. Of course, Pope among the distraction troops is
complaining up a storm.
Tom, Maggie, Anthony and team move in the front gate and
run into Harnessed kids with guns which they drive off with a flamethrower. But
in the aftermath one of the children cries for help; Anthony and Maggie say it’s
a trap but Tom can’t just leave a child. They go to him and find the child has
been massively changed by the Harness – which is in too deep to be removed. He dies
in front of them. While they look on being sad, another mutated child jumps on
Lars injuring him before they shoot. Tom tells an extra to take Lars back to
the rendezvous point while he, Maggie, Anthony and Kadar go in.
Weaver’s team are still being badly battered until Hal
drives in with big guns taking down some Mechs; giving Weaver’s team chance to
retreat.
Inside the power plant, Kadar tells them they have 15
minutes to act before the radiation levels inside cause them damage and he
points out where they need to set the charges. They take Kadar to the control
room to hut things down, but on the way run into more Skitterkids and he loses
his glasses. He can’t see without them, not well enough to turn the reactor off
and he starts to panic. He talks Tom through it while Maggie and Anthony hold
off Skitterkids. Following his instructions they turn off the power while
Anthony puts the charges – then plan to leave.
Outside at the retreat, they load up the dead and
everyone is accounted for. Pope (who isn’t dead) has a hissy fit because he
thinks the Volm are using them as sacrificial lambs because they’re not out
there dying. What – the Volm are using humans as sacrificial lambs by giving
humans technology to fight an enemy that is attacking them? I get suspicion of
the Volm, but this all “they’re not dying for us” seems… ridiculous. Weaver
tells him to shut up and get moving – though the Berskers looking on look all
pouty. Leaving the reactor, Tom et al look back and see it collapse in on
itself.
At the hospital there’s a frenzy to treat everyone – and Lars
has taken a bite from the Skitterkid, the Harness bite is toxic as we know from
when Weaver was bitten and this is too severe. Anne can’t treat him, only make
him comfortable. Colonel Porter and Tom go to comfort him while he’s dying.
Lars asks Maggie to keep his dog tags since she’s his only family.
Tom and Weaver drink to the dead and Tom is all concerned
because he sent Weaver out on a near suicide mission (Tom, that’s what Pope’s
for!) Weaver has no doubts about Tom – but he still doubts the Volm; he doesn’t
believe the idea of a travelling race of crusaders, it’s too good to be true.
But Tom can’t deny the Volm have turned the tide for them. Weaver adds they don’t
even know what the weapon the Volm are making does or if they’re telling the
truth. Mason considers having Kadar look at it – which is when Cochise joins
them; to praise them at how skilled and impressive the humans are. He warns
them that the Volm has learned the Espheni is pulling in all the mechs and
beamers they have in the area to hit Charleston hard to try and prove they
haven’t been weakened.
Later, Matt comes to see Tom about the whole blowing
buildings up thing – Tom says he’s signed him up to help fix it. Which he
agrees to but he still doesn’t see the point of school, of memorising the names
of dead people and how it will help them win the war. But Tom says they need to
be ready to rebuild the country, not just fight the aliens. And Tom’s not angry
because he blames himself for neglecting Matt while he was so busy. But he says
he did something worse than blow up a building – he was mean to Anne, he
considers how he spoke to her to be worse than the damage he caused; Tom tells
him to talk to her. Matt goes to see Anne and apologises – and asks if he can
call her mom. Demon baby is still strange
And Maggie wakes up to see Hal not in bed – and his wheelchair empty. She goes out into the woods, following him. When she catches him she wakes him up, and he collapses, unable to support his own weight. Karen and her Skitter minion look on as she helps him home.
Ok, first issue – 7 months?!
I’m not against a show skipping ahead several months when
nothing much has happened so we can move on with the plot rather than have several
months of daily life. But this wasn’t daily life. Tom became president. Anne
was pregnant. Hal was paralysed. The Volm and the Skitter Rebellion joined
forces. A lot happened in those 7 months we just glossed over.
I think it was, perhaps, a mistake to release 2 episodes
as one long episode as they did here (this is episode 1 & 2) because we
ended up packing in far too many issues in one episode. We could have just had
a reintroduction to the characters and fighting the Skitters – and then have
Anne give birth next episode, Matt have his issues next episode and Hal have
his sleep walking maybe at the end of the episode. As it was I felt a little
overwhelmed by plunging right in a new series and having so many storylines at
once.
Generally Bressler is apparently a general. In an actual
army? Yet he does not understand why the Overlord/Ashveny military force designing
their armies around large scale pitched battles tends to fail badly at
skirmishes, guerrilla warfare and an enemy that refuses to engage their main
strength. He apparently doesn’t realise that when fighting a guerrilla war (or
“asymmetric warfare”) that a “decisive” battle is not the point.
How does he not understand this? How is this not logical?
How is this not blatantly obvious to anyone with even a passing knowledge of
strategy or actual history? How could this not be known immediately by a
General serving in the US military in the 20th and 21st
century? This is a minor point I complained about last season, to
create conflict between the people in command, they have them support
ridiculous tactical decisions so they can argue about them.
I think this show does tend towards the simplistic – like
the secure war room that is held by a key; sure they wanted the spy to leak,
but a simple key? That doesn’t look suspicious?
We have a definite uptick in inclusion – we have Dani,
Marina Paralta, the return of Diego and Anthony seems to be playing a
marginally bigger role along with Anne and Lourdes. I would take his as
hopeful, but given the casualty rates, I can’t help but feel this may be due to
the sheer number of casualties
that have been inflicted
on the POC – and I wonder if this is just restocking before the next round
of death. Yes I’m cynical.
I am interested to see some disabled characters –
particularly Hal being both disabled and a warrior. But in both cases I have
concerns – Hal’s disability is quite literally all in his head because of the
way Karen used the probe we’re now in the realm of both inevitable cure AND him
being able to walk if he just tries hard enough. Similarly, Dr. Kadar has
severe agoraphobia and hasn’t come above ground since before Tom & Co
arrived in Charleston. But Marina says lives are at stake and he… gets over it.
In both cases we have disabled people whose disability can be set aside and
cured – there’s no suggestion of having a long term disabled character without
the miracle cure. And the strong sense that if disabled people really wanted to
be well they could be – with these characters curing their disabilities by
effort of will.
It feels like a good start and that they’ve made some
major steps to try and patch some holes, but I’m not sure they’ve started in
the best way and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.
