Sorry for taking a week off from my Falling Skies blogging. Let’s get caught up.
Sanctuary Part 2 was a lackluster episode. I don’t think it was chock-full of any exceptionally stupid OMG SCRIPT! moments, but it lacked oomph. It shouldn’t have–there were unexpected deaths, heroic rescues, near misses, daring escapes, yet it all felt very by-the-numbers. Pacing was dull, heroics were filmed in a very non-heroic manner, and exciting situations were defused before they began. Someone needed to get angry, to do violence, to behave unexpectedly. Pope’s return was predictable, and he remains a problematic character. The formerly harnessed kids are still not being treated appropriately from a military point of view. The death of Mike should have meant more, but he remained a cipher of a character for 5 episodes, so his loss in the sixth didn’t really hit home. None of it adds up to a crisis of bad television, but if there hadn’t already been a couple of kick-ass episodes, I wouldn’t have looked up from my mending. Of course, it topped everything off with Religious Girl being religious, because we all always love that. I wanted to scream when she started looking at the piano: She has far too many virtues to be musical too! But she wasn’t wonderful or miraculous and didn’t move anybody with her soulful rendition of anything, so fine.
What Hides Beneath was a whole different ball of wax. Although it was not without its flaws, it was exactly why I watch this show. It was exciting, creepy, mysterious, surprising, and smart. It functions well as a self-contained episode while still maintaining a narrative arc. It’s good science fiction, and it’s handling an epic premise with reasonable grace. Noah Wyle also did really good Noah Wyle-type acting which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Skitters are harnessed! Holy shit, I never guessed that! I was leaning towards some kind of life cycle explanation; larval and pupal stages, “Skitter” as an older or younger version of a bipedal form. The early question about the Mechs: Why do they have two legs?–was designed to make you question, and then the mystery of the kids and the harnesses…but I still never guessed. It completely changes our understanding of what this war is about, and with it, the introduction of the classic bipedal alien form was cool and creepy rather than played-out.
Very disturbing, and it ups the stakes. All of a sudden this war is about the fate of the human species on a whole ‘nother level. Being wiped out by war and destruction is one thing, being transmuted into Skitters? ICK! ACK!
I was less interested in Weaver’s tragic story than the script intended me to be. I like the understanding that everyone is sitting on top of this kind of trauma, and certainly that kind of horrific survivor experience is part of what makes the premise of Falling Skies so compelling. But most of the characters just don’t grab me; I’m more interested in the show as a whole than any individuals, which is its greatest flaw. Yet, Weaver’s story brings us the interesting mystery of Rick–how did he know to draw that? The aliens definitely don’t seem to be telepathic, yet somehow, there’s more information being conveyed than there should be.
Rick and Greg, the formerly harnessed, are interesting characters, but Greg’s acting in the scene where he screams his hatred of the Skitters was a nightmare; apparently the director knew this and chose to avoid filming his face at all, which made the scene potentially worse.
Pope remains a problem. His wit is all over the map: I’m just a former prisoner, I know everything, I’m a chef, I’m a demolition guy, I’m entirely self-interested, I don’t kill in cold blood, I make erudite references. He seems like a repository for every fun script idea that’s out of character for anyone else. That being said, he is fun to watch and that bullet demo rocked.
The idea that they’ve been planning a long-term attack on the Skitters is gratifying, and I am genuinely excited about next week’s season finale.
AND–we got treated to a guest appearance by the awesome Blair Brown!
That’s who that was! Thanks, CKH–I missed the credits. She was very good as a emotionally fragile survivor. I thought having Weaver being the forgiving party–not Tom–added depth as we expect Tom to be nice and Weaver to be tough. But Weaver’s wife may still be alive because he found her only pair of glasses? Come on! But tea as the enticement was clever–it being Boston.
First close look at the boss aliens through the peephole was good too, even if we have seen that technique used elsewhere.
The skitters being harnessed mutants was awesome! The young actor who plays Rick is on Encore’s Moby Dick tonight. He gets to do more than sit around staring and missing the aliens. Do we think Rick and Ben could still grow into skitters without the harness?
Yes, Pope is all over the place, but his dialogue is LOL. I wouldn’t give that up.
will you be writing about the season finale?
Karen, yes, and I apologize for the delay. It has been a grueling week.