characters show what they can do and how they interact on a more regular basis. Tom’s kids dynamic is increasingly interesting, especially with the presence of rescued Ben, struggling with the trauma of abduction and harnessing, mixed in with the more normal trauma of being a middle child with a somewhat overachieving elder brother. It’s nice to see how Pope has fit himself in, and nice to see he retains his role as snarky Sawyer-from-Lost rip off that he always has been. The story also gives a nice (if that’s the word) bit of Body Horror with the “bug” that’s been planted on Tom; a really well implemented, wrenching bit of TV that serves both to make the viewer uncomfortable, but to establish the idea that Tom may no longer be trustworthy, even in his own eyes. It feels like the establishment of a storyline that will run for a bit, and hope that it is. By the end of the episode, Falling Skies feels like a show a lot more comfortable in its own skin; a show that at the very least knows where its balance should be and is working very hard to get there. Long may it continue.
The series seems to be settling into a new rhythm, one of constant forward motion. Nothing seems allowed to settle, as if the one the first seasons big criticisms, that it stood still and talked a bit too much, has really been taken to heart. This well finds the Twond Mass at the airfield mentioned last week, making preparations to move into the mountains and start their guerilla campaign against the Skitters from there. Of course, nothing quite goes to plan. There are really three main stories in this episodes, all of them sort of linking through but never really meshing into a coherent thematic or storytelling whole, but all tied into what feels like longer season arcs. The first is the simplest – a plane turns up at the airbase with new orders from a newly founded “Continental Congress”; head for Charleston where some semblance of government and order and resistance has been restored. Weaver gets to fret over it a bit, it’s too big a plot point to ignore but highlights that Weaver is a much better character this season – more a commander as he should be, without being a slightly pointless hard-ass for Tom to rub up against. Not much else to say on this plotline really, but it will be interesting to see where it goes. More interesting is what they seem to be doing with Pope. Last episode he seemed to be a Sawyer (from Lost) knockoff, but this week he’s in fullon psycho mode, and all the more interesting for it. The show needs some sort of intra-human tension, and Pope
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is a good place to get it; someone just interested in killing Skitters, not fighting a war with the compromises that involves, and it makes a certain amount of both narrative, and character sense, to drive him out of the group as a full-on renegade. Another one for future episodes, I think. The final arc is the real emotional meat of the episode. I’ve started to worry that the lack of up-lifting homilies from the writers of Falling Skies is starting to make me worry we are going to get an episode full of them, but we got one this week, at the end, over the grave of one of the shows recurring characters, and its effective, not twee. The death itself is brutal and grim, from a fight that didn’t have to be started, and for no real gain. The show spends a lot of time dealing with its ramifications, and whilst it does help to heal some of the rifts between Toms family, it’s at a terrible cost. Ben’s returning from Harnessing remains a big thing so far this season, and the recurring Skitter characters evident interest in him is all the more intriguing. So there is a lot more sense of things moving in this episode, three stories for the price of one. I’m still waiting for the episode of homilies though! Falling Skies airs on the FX channel in the UK on Tuesdays, 9pm.
Episode Three: Compass
Matt Farr
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