Falling Skies

This is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with an invasion of aliens who take children as slaves. That was the premise of Falling Skies when it hit last year. The show began with the end nearly behind us, the aliens were already here and we, humanity, had largely lost the fight. But pockets of resistance fight against the invaders. Once such pocket is the 2nd Massachusettes, a collection of soldiers and other fighters protecting a larger group of civilians, trying to survive and looking for a way to fight back. And that's what we got for 10 episodes last fall.

Now, Falling Skies returns for a second season. The first season ended with Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) striking a noticable blow against the skitters - the aliens - and then accepting the offer to go aboard their ship to meet. I got to watch the first four episodes of the upcoming season, and I can say for sure that if you liked the previous season then you will love what they have in store for the 2nd Mass this summer.

The show picks up three months later and Tom returns from his meeting. His sons have taken a larger roll in the 2nd Mass since he left, especially Ben, who is experiencing many changes after being freed from the alien harness - even more than we saw last season. That's the first, maybe, ten minutes, and the show takes off from there.

Falling Skies continues to follow the formula it used last year, where episodes contain a single story but tie into a overall plot arc for the season, and having seen less than half the upcoming season I am very eager to see more.

And if you can't wait, be sure to head over to the official site where they've put up a four issue comic series for The Battle of Fitchburg, which fills in the gap from the end of season one and the start of season two.

Good Sci-Fi is hard to find on TV, but TNT has definitely nailed it with Falling Skies.