Falling Skies

In my opinion, this new season of Falling Skies has been a bit off. As I stated in my review of the first hour of the new seasons 2 hour kick off, fans and non-fans alike are kind of tossed into the new season as if they have suffered from the classic missing time scenario. Characters have made epic leaps into new platforms of life, others have popped up and appear as if their important, but remain a forerunner on the screen without much advancement. It’s basically a quantum leap into the future that moves on as if you don’t need to know how we got from point A to point B. It covers its tracks by promising you that this season is all leading up to some grand revelation. By episode 3 I’m feeling the LOST effects; Grand things are on the rise, but as we move forward even more grand things pop up and those other things, we’ll, maybe we’ll come back to those later. Don’t worry about it for now.

Episode 3 of the show “Badlands” finds the now united Charleston community in wait for the next attack from their alien adversaries. Every able bodied man, woman, and child that can hold a weapon are on watch, including Tom’s youngest son Matt, who has opted to help in the war efforts rather then stay in the compound with the other kids.

In a surprise twist there is an attack, but not from the enemy they had been expecting. What’s more, when Tom interrogates one of the surviving combatants he gets some pretty shocking news, that if true, could change things drastically for the whole of the human world.

Anne, who has discovered odd things about the daughter she had with Tom, is beginning to crack. Is their child truly special or is it something else. Feeling burdened she reveals her findings to someone close and Tom finds out.

Hal, having discovered he’s not as worse off as he had expected, has come to a major decision which could cause major friction for himself and his Father with the Charleston community. He decides to reveal the truth to his Father at the unveiling of a special art piece designed by Dan Weaver’s daughter Jeanne. The event turns into a memorial as well as the show loses a  semi-main character. As Hal attempts to make his way to his Father to tell him his news all hell breaks loose. 

The problems that I had with the show from the first and second seasons still haven’t gone away. The show seems to hang on to the idea that nothing is more important to its viewers them the family bonds of its characters. No matter how many times a main character puts the whole of the community at risk when it comes to the love for their own children, a device that’s gotten completely stale, we still return to it. Worse off is the fact that the show doesn’t move quick enough in putting together its puzzle like story which means we stay stranded in these plots that make for decent drama, but fail to inspire you to come back for the next episode. I would like to see massive evolutions in the main story line rather then spend my hour in the midst of family drama or a predictable relationship struggles. It makes for very one dimensional characters in a flat world with little progress.