Funny thing about expectations – sometimes they’re a good thing, because they put you in the right frame for a show, or because having them thwarted can be good and interesting. Other times they’re a bad thing, because you just end up disappointed. So when Falling Skies titled an episode “Death March” just after a dark and interesting episode the week before, my expectation was for more along the same vein; the same tightness, the same dark heart. But my expectations were doomed to be thwarted, and not in the good way.
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est desire to go with him. It’s creepy and cool, but feels like something they should have done earlier in the series, not now when you want pace and drive towards the series end. The other storylines – more on Maggie and Hal, which is…. alright, I guess, and the emergence of Tector more into the foreground, aren’t bad by any stretch, but aren’t what I wanted to see after the upswing of recent episodes. The first reveal of Charleston is well handled, and Weaver’s (successful) attempt to revitalise them is well done, if a little over-familiar; the second reveal bodes well for an interesting run in. This is far from a poor episode of Falling Skies, but it is an episode that’s spinning its wheels when it should have been driving forward with more confidence.
havens after the end of the world, can it be all it seems? It’s quickly apparent in this episode that conflict is going to arise between the incoming resistance fighters and the half-formed government in Charleston. It is to Falling Skies’ credit that it doesn’t try to simply recreate the usual way these stories go. That is to say, that secretly they’re mad, or under alien sway. It’s simply that Arthur Manchester (a guesting Terry O’Quinn) is intent on building his new order in the ruins of the old: a new Democracy, a New Form of Government, ready to emerge when the Invaders get bored with occupying the Earth and wander off again. He’s a Utopian, his comfort blanket wrapped around his head and desperate not to threaten the chance he sees to build something worthwhile from the rubble. As the missus pointed out, he is, in fact, the Artilleryman from The War of the Worlds. Of course he’s wrong to dismiss the intelligence brought to him about Skitter uprisings, de-harnessed kids and the like, but I found his point of view understandable and well put across. It is a pretty crazy story Tom and Weaver come up with, and compared to the clean uniforms and ordered air of Charleston they do look like a raggedy bunch of loonies. There is a missed story, I feel, of the 2nd Mass being unable to settle in the security, portraying them as disruptive and restless troublemakers – there is only a cursory nod in that direction. After wanting Falling Skies to keep its pace up over the last few weeks,
The 2nd Mass are on the move again towards Charleston, and seem to have left the Skitters and Overlords and Mechs (oh my!) far behind. This week it’s a push on down the road and a bunch of introspection, presumably to get all the character stuff lined up for the final two episodes coming up. The problem is that the abrupt removal of last week’s escalated threat lowers the tension somewhat, and we’re back to characters sat in trucks talking about their feelings, which is never a strong suit of Falling Skies. In fairness, some of the introspective stuff is pretty decent. They pick up an accidentally de-harnessed girl showing signs of advanced physiological change, and there is some good stuff between her and Matt, and her “brother” coming to get her is another example of Falling Skies done well. In this case, you never clearly see the brother, just fleeting impressions of something that was once human, coupled with the girl’s hon32
Episode 9: The Price of Greatness
Not for the first time this season, Falling Skies returns to some of the ideas from its first season. This time it’s militarycivilian conflict, and an obsession with the American Revolutionary War. Also not for the first time this season, it does it in a more interesting, and generally better, way. The 2nd Mass has reached Charleston, and it’s warm, safe and welcoming. But as ever with safe