by Merrill Barr:
Falling Skies Recap: “Worlds Apart”/”Shall We Gather at the River”
Original Air Date (TNT): June 19, 2012
Season 2 Episodes 1 & 2
In cable television the scenario often occurs where all the episodes of a season are filmed (and sometimes locked) before any of them air. This ends up creating a vacuum for the writers where any problems that viewers have with the show can’t be corrected until the following season.
I was a huge fan of Falling Skies when it premiered last year. While I’m one who rarely gets into genre programming, something about Falling Skies really sat well with me. It was (and to this day is) the only Spielberg television project to be truly worthy of having his name attached. The family struggle set against the epic-scale world event, the rise of true heroism, the clearly identifiable hero journey, it’s all classic Spielberg.
And while I fell head-over-heals with the series during season one, I won’t deny that it had some issues. At times the writing of the show felt a bit cheesey and while no where near Walking Dead levels, the show did have moments of nothing happening.
All of that has changed in season two (at least as far as the premiere is concerned).
No time is wasted, right from the get go we are re-introduced to the Second Mass via a street battle against some skitters and mechs. It’s exciting, re-encouraging, re-assuring and entertaining. Much like the premiere of S1, everything you need to know about the world is told through visual cues in a matter of moments. Cities are mere ruins of their former selves, people of all ages are now gun legal and aliens roam the earth.
But more interestingly are the people who have clearly changed in the last three months (in the show’s universe), namely Ben. When we last left Ben and Drew Mason they were still struggling with the adjustment to the new order of things. Being forced to grow up fast and fight the good fight. But more importantly, Ben was struggling to his re-adjustment back into humanity after being captured by the – what I’ve chosen to dub BAMF (big ass motherfucker) aliens.
At the start of season two, not only has he found his true calling, violently killing skitters, but he’s also found his motivation to do so – revenge. Ben wants revenge for being taken away from his family, his home, his life. And he wants revenge for those lost to the BAMFs.
And speaking of the BAMFs, Ben wasn’t the only Mason to square off against our villains in the premiere. In what was – as far as I’m concerned – a brilliantly written and acted piece of television, Tom has a stand-off with the lead BAMF and a skitter whom I have affectionately dubbed “Red Eye.” But what made the stand-off so intense was not merely Tom staring down a fifteen foot high being. It was the fact that, that fifteen foot being was using Karen as a mouth piece. Just to remind the audience that these are creatures without feeling or care for the term “freedom.”
Then of course Tom zapped the Lead BAMF with a cattle prod which was just awesome. But it makes me wonder. What happened to Tom between the time he zapped the Lead BAMF and being let off the ship? Is that when the eye-slug was placed inside of him? Is that when more experiments were conducted upon him? I don’t know, just something to think about.
Another character that has been greatly improved upon this season is Pope. While he’s still the most charismatic of the bunch, he’s now serving as the logical voice of reason to the Second Mass. “So is anyone else gonna question how Tom made if off skitter central unharmed?” “You won’t blow the bridge? Okay, I will.” It’s going to be moments like that throughout the season that raise Pope beyond the rebel without a cause caricature set forth for him in season one.
And speaking of the bridge scene, that was another rather fine moment of television. The drama was at an all time series high and I’ll be honest, for a moment – however brief it may have been – I did wonder if that was it for Tom. Despite an understanding of how television works and how the lead guy can’t just be written out, it was a thought that ran through my head as the explosion blew the bridge and the attacking mechs and skitter along with it.
The point to all of this is, Falling Skies is not the show it was at the end of season one. The writers have heard the cries of both fans and critics. There are mysteries to be uncovered (like what the fuck is up with Red Eye, seriously?) and heroes to be risen. If the season opener is any indication, we’re in store for when hell of a ride this summer.
~Merrill Barr, DarkMedia Resistance Group 49 – out~
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DarkMedia contributor Merrill Barr can also be found on his podcast, The Idiot Boxers and on Twitter @sonic43.
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[Photo Credit: Michael Muller & James Dittiger]
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