Falling Skies S04E01-04

While catching up on Falling Skies, I remembered making this blog thingy. Yeah, I know. I can be a bit absentminded sometimes. Anyway. Time to catch up with the 2nd Mass.

Tom Mason

No surprises here; he’s still the greatest human and leader to ever live and I couldn’t give a shit if I lived on a diet of laxatives. Flashback to season 1 when Tom risked everything to free Ben, except he now risks everything to free Matt. He also, as usual, boards an Espheni ship and is offered a deal and doesn’t take it, now haven’t we seen that roughly 25 times in the last 3 seasons already? It’s just boring as hell to see an immortal, omnipotent guy do the same things over and over again. But hey, it’s at least consistant.

Hal Mason

Consistency is something I can’t pin on Hal. So he was Tom’s second in command for the longest time and suddenly he needs daddy’s permission for everything? On the bright side, he seems to be over Maggie and so far, hasn’t been anywhere near Lourdes. Guess it counts for something.

Ben Mason

Nothing wrong here, except the creepy chemistry he has with Lexi Stormborn, the last dragon. I get many, many Targeryan vibes here and that is a bad, bad thing. I also have a bit of a hard time to see how he and Lexi came to be so close as siblings, considering Lexi has turned from a 5 years old girl into the expected “she’s like 1, but looks like 21”. Still, I’m not complaining. Ben was damn lucky so far.

Maggie

Umm, she’s around and her usual oh so tough self. Don’t really care either way.

Ann Glass

Ann went into full Parental Rage. Her entire character consists of “OMG MUST FIND LEXI”. Now she has found her, but I have very little hope to see anything other than “BUT SHE IS MY DAUGHTER” for the rest of the season.

Lexi Stormborn

Alexis is suddenly not 5 anymore, she’s conveniently 21. She also looks nothing like the child we saw anymore, she now looks like Danerys Targeryan, has magical powers like no-one else, not even Ben, and goddamnit, that’s why I hate this old super child that grows up really fast and gets crazy abilities shit. Duh, her Espheni friends want to use her as a superweapon. I hope they do that rather sooner than later, so this is over.

Cochise

The Volm left and don’t care about humans anymore, except for Cochise and a handful of soldiers. Well, there’s one thing the Volm and I have in common; I am losing interest myself (see below).

Lourdes

Holy fucking shit, on what drugs was the idiot who decided to trash her entire character development? She was one of the big hopes I had for this season, and what did I get? A delusional, passive-aggressive hippie priestess. Fuck that. I’m giving this one more episode, but really… This is so freaking bad, I don’t see a way to recover from such a blow to character development in general.

Matt Mason

How old is Matt again? 10? 11? Let him be 12 thanks to generous time skipping. Did he really need a love interest?! Not complaining about the general character development, but this is just fucking stupid. Plus since she was left behind, the Mason clan has yet another person to go after. It’s turning into BBC’s Survivors, where the entire plot was “variations of saving group members”.

Pope

Has the same problem Matt has: apparently, he’s getting a love interest. While Matt’s “girlfriend” isn’t neccessarily a bad character, Pope’s is a carbon copy of himself, which is the nail in his coffin. Pope always worked best in moderation; if the writers tried to include him in everything ever, it soon got lame and he ended up inconsistently complaining about everything. Now we’re getting twice the already slight overdose from season 3. Sad, since Pope was one of the few truly good characters in the beginning.

Dan & Jeanne Weaver

Colonel Predictable. Besides the usual “totally having Tom’s back” and worrying about his daughter, he plays up his heart condition a little more. Everything else is status quo. And, as many predicted last year, Jeanne did die and he did witness it and now he’ll probably start drinking or something.

Deni

Oh, yeah, she’s back. She’s never been gone, right? Still no background story, still no comment why she was absent for so long and why she’s suddenly back.

Anthony

Still lacking a last name and a really defined role in the group, but he’s alive and has lines. I’m still holding out hope he’ll get more of a backstory and a definition instead of bouncing from “3rd or 4th in command, if X isn’t around” or “voice of reason to someone (Ann) who doesn’t listen”.

Tector

Still around, now flipflopped to Hal’s second in command.

Lyle

Apparently got offed in the first 10 minutes of the premiere, and no-one even blinked.

Dr. Kadar

Still alive, still a genius in every sciencey science there is.

Dingaan

Probably the best thing about the season so far: the introduction of a new character who isn’t someone’s love interest (yet…).

 

Summary

As is apparently tradition, many major events such as the opening of indoctrination camps for children, the sudden decision to turn human adults into skitters after all and the beginnings of Lexi’s hippie community are left unexplained. And the Espheni have announced that yet another party is involved in the war; a small detail that they – as well as their long-time enemies, the Volm – neglected to mention. At this point, I think the writers are just out of ideas. So it’s Tom being offered deals and declining on Espheni ships, saving a son and being an allround super leader; it’s a new random alien race; it’s people stressing over where other people are over and over again. A big part of me wishes the 2nd Mass had retired to Brazil.

Cell Count (2012)

Umm. I’m not sure why this movie exists.

So there’s Russell Carpenter and his dying wife Sadie. I think she has cancer or something. After the emotional introduction of this situation on her deathbed, a doctor with a – presumably – German accent tells Russell in no uncertain terms that Sadie will die in one week. Unless she joins his secret program, that can totally bring people back from death, and to prove his point, the doctor totally rips open his shirt and shows a totally convincing scar. Despite the outragous claim and little evidence, Russell immediatly agrees to not only sign up his wife, but join her, too. Russell Carpenter, as it turns out, is not a man of wise decisions.

Three weeks later, he wakes up desoriented in a sterile looking research prison, along with a bunch of other people. Bill/y aka bald guy with the tattoo, Blackhaired Girl, William the hobby photographer (or journalist?) and Delusional Timetraveller Mason. For some reason, Billy’s dog is also in the facility, in a locker room. And somewhere, two inmates who were sent to this research program; Timothy and Abraham. None of them is a very wise decision maker.

Everyone gets a mystery surgery to have “the cure” implanted, which is a crossover of a… roach or bug and a 5 foot long tapeworm. Apparently.

What stands out about all characters involved is how little they question anything. No-one looks particularly trustworthy or sane, but there are absolutely no conflicts or trust issues between them. Everyone also magically knows where to go, based on information like “that room where the dog is”, despite this being a huge facility with various corridors and security doors. At some point, the “regular” patients make contact with the inmates, whose cell doors are simply opened because why the hell not. Timothy soon pukes out a giant flesh bubble that wraps around his face. He is/goes insane and Eraserhead would have made a quite descriptive nickname. No-one has any reservations at all to trust Abraham though. Good for him, because he now reveals the truth about the “cure” being some sort of parasite. Though at least one person still has that thing inside his stomach, the group decides to escape. Now it gets a bit chaotic and I don’t know what the actual plan was supposed to be. Some people die, they kidnap the doctor and make it outside, where magically a bus with a driver (who is magically also a friend of Abraham) awaits. It is possible that Abraham, Billy and Mason all had planned to die to destroy the facility with the conventiently present C4, but they all make it to the bus anyway. Where it is revealed that they are in a quarantine zone of 100 miles that is inhabited by mutants. Then the movie is over.

Umm. It was an ok premise and had a neat (Hyper)Cube/The Experiment atmosphere at some point, but the extremly flat characters and their unexplained actions also make it… not boring, but very anti-climatic and hard to follow. I don’t expect much depth or logic from horror movies, but there are way too many things that make no sense.

Famous Last Words: Even body horror can suffer from plotholes; respect.

Falling Skies, not Falling Like Flies

So far, the opinions about the finale reveal two things the fanbase seems to agree on:

1. Everyone hates the upcoming pregnancy plot.

2. No-one liked Dai getting killed.

While there are few things that can be done to prevent the dreaded pregnancy, it is really easy for the writers to avoid another character death fiasco. I have made my points why Falling Skies needs to develop the characters that aren’t named Mason or involved in relationships with them and no, I’m totally not getting tired of doing so.

A leader is only worth something if people follow him for good reasons.

Only a dictator is followed by a crowd of yes men that agree with him for the sake of agreeing with him. A good leader, and I assume Tom Mason and Dan Weaver are supposed to be exactly that, need people to follow them for good reasons. Their own reasons. With Weaver, I have no issues in that regard. He is a “father to his men”, as the interlude with Tector has shown. Weaver cares about his men and tries to bring the best out of them. That’s why they follow him. But all Tom Mason is doing is motivated by the desire to protect his sons. I cannot come up with a reason why someone who has no sons or children would go all “yay, that’s my man” about him. Those people have to expect to be sacrificed by their glorious leader for the sake of his family any moment. That is why these people need own reasons to follow him. Reasons Tom may not be aware of or care about. Maybe he seems trustworthy despite his radical attitude because he looks like someone’s old neighbor, who happened to be a nice guy. Maybe he’s someone’s father in a metaphorical sense; one of his men did grew up without a mother and sympathizes with Tom because he knows the other side of the story; being the son of a single father with way too much going on in his life. Maybe there’s someone with a deep mistrust of the military or bad experiences while serving, and therefore he picks Tom over any other available leader just because he’s a civilian. Maybe there’s a woman whose family was torn apart after her father didn’t return from the war; she remembers the suffering of her mother and therefore sides with Tom because he struggling to not let his family be torn apart. There you have options, writers. Many options. No big deals, no elaborate backstories that require seasons to tell. And all are better than nothing and leaving characters’ pages blank regarding why they follow Tom Mason, Dan Weaver or both. We know why Hal, Ben, Matt and Anne are with Tom. But I want to know why people like Anthony and Lourdes and the rest of the non-military 2nd Mass accept him as leader, despite his tendency to put everyone at risk for his sons.

A Case For Crazy Lee

This is a show about an alien invasion. We have a post apocalyptic world where survival is the top priority. Shows like that need an action girl. Falling Skies has none. Why that is so notable? Let me run down some of other shows with “aliens” and “apocalypse” as premise: “Survivors” has Abby. “The Walking Dead” has Andrea (and Michonne coming in season 3). “Babylon 5” has Susan Ivanova. “Star Trek”, though all it’s incarnations, has many, and Kira Nerys, Jadzia Dax and B’Ellana Torres are the prime examples. “Farscape” has Aeryn Sun. Stargate has Vala Mal Doran and Teyla Emmagan, and even SGU had a tough chick, even though she was merely background cleavage for the most part. “Lost”, if you count it as a show about survival beyond civilization, has (arguably) Kate and later Anna Lucia and Alana. The list goes on and on and that’s why it is so obvious that Falling Skies lacks of this character archetype. And that potential candidates for the position always flip a reset switch if they show promise: Maggie is introduced with a gun in her hand and degrades into a whiny over-dramatized-past broken bird. Lourdes shows understandable anger and hopelessness after losing everything, then just goes back to girl-next-door as if nothing happened. The only female character doing anything resembling “action” is the hostile Karen. So here is the case for Crazy Lee, the female Berzerker. Build her character up. Give her some spotlight. Let her kick ass and be tough, to contrast the soft, feminine characters. Nearly all the action girls listed above are fan favorites, proving that shows in the relevant genres need characters like that. It’s alright if you want Maggie as the broken bird in denial, it’s alright if you want Lourdes as the friendly girl-next-door and it’s alright if you want Anne as the epitome of understanding. You have someone left to step up and fill the much needed action girl role. Hell, if you really have to, re-unite Lee and Tector as Battle Couple, but give her more lines and more development and more action.

The Racism I Do Not Believe In

Well, as the sub header says, I do not believe the writers of Falling Skies kill characters because they aren’t white. But to be perfectly honest, I start to see why people bring up such accusations. The redshirt list, counting on-screen deaths, contains Jimmy and Boone (and being generous, Dr. Harris) as white dead guys, and Mike, Rick, Jamil, Click and Dai on the non-white side. Boone, Harris and Click were pretty minor and only appeared on screen for a few scenes/episodes. So yeah, writers, while I see your good intentions in these deaths from a storytelling point of view, I can also see why people start to think you don’t really want non-white characters around. But that’s not what viewers want. Do I need to give you a rundown of shows in relevant genres with well liked main characters of other skin colors again? Walking Dead, Glenn (along with Daryl one of the few characters people don’t hate); Star Trek, Uhura, Sulu, Harry Kim (yes, you could argue he was an advertised extra, but the reason he was not killed to be replaced with Seven of Nine was the actor being voted on the “Sexiest Men Alive” list that year, and I would argue that counts as “popular”), Worf (popular enough to bring him back for a second show, an achievement no other main character can put on his achievement list), Hoshi Sato, the list continues. “Lost”, several, but I want to point to Jin Kwon here (Daniel Dae Kim also scored on the “Sexiest Men Alive” list during the run of Lost, just like fellow Asian Garrett Wang during ST Voyager, and I really wanted to mention that because you idiots just killed the only Asian you had). So, no, you guys, viewers do not only care about white heroes. And you killing your racially diverse cast one by one really makes it hard for people like me – who genuinely believe you just tell a story without a secret racist agenda – to counter the arguments of the folks accusing you of having said agenda. So if not for us fans, do it for your own good: Defuse that bomb and just develop the characters you have, regardless of skin color. Just like I believe you kill them regardless of skin color. It becomes harder and harder to argue you do just that if your equality only concerns the body count, but not the development of those that don’t die. You know what saves TWD from the racism accusations, despite their comical underuse of the black character? That their Asian is a well developed character who gets decent screentime. Think about that for a moment.

Don’t Let Your (Dark)Horse Run Away

Who do even the worst critics of Falling Skies like? If they hate the very idea of the show, the writing, the effects and each and every character, there is one exception and that is Pope. Yes, in this regard, he is really “the Daryl Dixon of Falling Skies”, the saving grace even your haters agree on. I will keep this complaint short because S02E09 did bring him back to the right path of being a loose canon. I’m not getting tired to mention that the writing of him has been seriously slacking after he returned though. He’s back on his old path – the path that made him the ensemble darkhorse in the first place – but there is still some room for improvement. For once, I would really really like to see him interact more with Anthony. I’ve been saying that since Pope saved his life: That’s a development meant to go somewhere. The constellation of a cop becoming friends, or frenemies, with the ex-con who killed his cop buddy, is the stuff character depth is made from.It’s the foreplay of Mollari saving G’Kar and vice versa; of Quark standing up for Odo and vice versa. Yes, I admit, the stakes were slightly higher for Londo and G’Kar (and their writing is the most outstanding exception in scifi history; drawing straws to decide whose character is the ‘bad’ guy and having fans riddle who drew what 20 years later proves that), but the comparison with Quark and Odo holds up on all accounts: Quark was not quite on the legal side of things, but did the right thing when it came down to that – like Pope. And Odo was the personified law and order; the alien version of a guy destined to become a cop – and, in case anyone forgot, Anthony is a cop. So it’s all there. I was overjoyed when you actually did what I hoped for and had Anthony leave with Pope. I was telling some friends that you renewed my belief in awesome writing in TV shows (and no, I do not write it off as “I was desperate and grabbing for any straw because I still felt the aftermath of watching Stargate Universe”). I’m still sure you had a freaking bright moment there and possibly some good ideas where to go with that. And then you didn’t. But it is not too late; you still have Pope and you still have Anthony. It’s simple math and following through with what I assume was your initial plan when you put them together. You see, I know you can do it. You did that very thing with Tector. You took him out of his usual surroundings for a few episodes, let him bounce off his developing personality on a more established and fleshed out character; Weaver, and then – though admittedly a bit awkward – put him back in his normal enviroment. Now all you do is take Anthony, imagine he is Tector, put him in a car or something with Pope (while you imagine Pope is Weaver), polish the dialogue a bit more, and voilà.

Falling Skies S02E10 Season Finale

There are several major headlines and I can’t decide which to use as this review’s sub title.

“Dai breaks 3 lines barrier, pays with life”, “Hal finally shows potential of becoming a useful character”, “Oh great, Anne is pregnant and Tom is the father” or “Dimensional rift opens, Drakh cross into universe” are all options I considered.

But first things first. As many expected, myself among those, Ben returned with an army of rebel skitters and a lot of information about the overlords, including an attack plan with the potential to throw half the continent’s alien military structure into chaos. Despite the shamelessly obvious attempts of the Charleston military to sabotage this plan, the 2nd Mass goes through with it.

In the foreplay phase, there is one peculiar development: Gunnery Sgt. Murphy, USMC, simply returns to being Tector and reporting to Pope instead of Weaver. Because I do have hope for this show, I attest the writers a pretty clever twist here. Tector was put in the spotlight for the two previous episodes, putting him at risk of joining the “fairly major character deaths”. But instead, he takes back his old place after getting an upgrade – along with Crazy Lee in S02E09, making the Berzerkers are more interesting device with a combined 2.5 personalities for 4 characters (and that’s truly not a bad ratio, all things considered). Later, the Red God claims a life though by reducing Dai’s future lines to zero. Now, one may say “I saw it coming” because a billed main character that is so ridicolously underused is always a candidate for sudden semi-dramatic deaths in season finales. It was also painfully obvious, starting in early season 1, that the writers didn’t have the faintest idea what to do with Dai, going so far to leave his backstory more in the dark than that of a one episode character. But on the other hand, Dai was so damn underused, people often forgot he even existed and hence many forgot to put him on the red shirt list, in favor of discussing characters they want dead. So in a strange way, it came as a surprise.

Now, the big attack against the omnidestructive overlord weapon in the making. It didn’t go quite as the 2nd Mass had planned, which may be related to the fact that they apparently underrated the noise an explosion makes. Making a seemingly solid rock wall go boom, yet continuing to whisper to each other, suggests such a miscalculation. Half the team getting captured and tortured by Trance!Karen was likely not part of the plan. However, the outcome was a two-edged sword. Or, three-edged, actually, but I try to not stress the Babylon 5 references here. Instead, let’s speak of a good, a bad and an ugly consequence of this encounter.

The Good: It’s in the aftermath, so more on Hal later.

The Bad: Dai’s kinda surprising exit.

The Ugly: Oh god, why? Anne is pregnant, Tom is the father, and they look forward to their offspring; their symbol of hope, yadda yadda, I suddenly don’t feel so good.

Instant jump to the aftermath of Hal. He returns to Charleston on a stretcher and Anne can’t figure out why he’s unconcious. As soon as Hal is alone in a leftover corridor from the last Hostel set, he awakes to calmly witness in the mirror how the tiny eye crawler we’ve last seen transitioning from Tom Mason’s eye to Red Eye’s eye crawls from his own eye into his ear. Since Red Eye is Dead Eye as of the attack, I dare to guess that a part of him (his memory? his soul?) is now in Hal and that is a damn good thing to start his evolution from “pretty boy with gun” into an interesting character.

And then, the Drakh came.

We have last seen the Drakh in the short lived Babylon 5 spin off series “Crusade”, and previously in Babylon 5 self as the abandoned servants of the Shadows. And now, the Drakh fell from the sky in Falling Skies in escape pod-like thingies to the amazement and confusion of everyone.

Are they the enemies of the overlords? Are they the masters that harnessed the overlords who then harnessed the skitters? Are they just some guys who heard an explosion and decided to go down to the planet and see what’s up with that? Do they have a Keeper for Arthur Manchester? Are they the equally bad Vorlons to the overlords’ Shadows? Questions, questions, way too many Babylon 5 comparisons (and hey, there are worse shows to be compared to) and no answers for the next 10 months.

Filming for season 3 starts on Wednesday, my birthday, which I take as a good omen. (As in, Anne will miscarry between seasons and any future pregnancy plot ideas will be abandoned forever, possibly locked in a block of cement and thrown into the deepest ocean, along with any writer who comes up with new ones.)

To the writers of Falling Skies

My oh my, will the folks from fallingskiesblog steal my lunch money now… But the truth is, I didn’t miss Ben at all in the last two episodes. All through the season, I felt a little bit like things with him were going to the “overkill” side: Everything was about Ben and no-one, with the exception of Pope, seemed to be motivated by anything beyond “reacting to Ben”. It is a heavy burden for a character this young and troubled to carry the entire plot, for a whole season, all alone. Therefore, I’m glad the writers are giving him a break because viewers will only care for so long about his inner conflict. All good things are good in moderation, and diversity is always appreciated. An overdose of Ben and no other stories to spice it up was getting dangerously close to a total overdose. What a good story needs are characters, likable or hatable, who have their own reasons, agendas and motivations for doing what they do. Even if they all agree about something, they should do so for different reasons. So, dear Falling Skies writers, here’s a checklist for season 3, from a smartass who knows everything best. You can depend on that. And just for the records, I’m okay with the Mason clan being the main dish – as long as it’s not a lone steak on a much too big plate.

Anthony

Shame on you, writers, for not going anywhere with that character. As I mentioned earlier in my article about Anthony, I see a damn lot potential here and so far, it’s all going to waste. What do I want for season 3? I want to know if Anthony had a family, if he’s the only one of the Boston PD to survive or if he maybe had a partner who might still be out there. I want to know how he survived. We heard that most of the military was destroyed and in an emergency situation like “alien attack”, the next people to step up would have to be cops. I want to know what toll the situation took on Anthony. Does he still try to uphold law and order, possibly in a less psychotic way than Rick Grimes? Did he just give up on the idea of ever returning to the old definition of “right and wrong” and now just gives a damn about justice? I could see a man who believed in law and order all his life lose it because really, where’s the justice in having aliens nuke your world? Or maybe he never was that man and is glad there’s no authority he has to answer to anymore; finally free to enforce the law as he sees fit? You tell me. I hope.

Dai

I know, I know, I repeat myself, but seriously, main character billing and ONE line on average per episode? Face it, writers, that’s bullshit. We know nothing about Dai. NOTHING. “He isn’t a man of many words” isn’t anything to know if it’s not a character trait but an excuse to forget the character even exists in many episodes. In this case, the questions I want answered are way more existential than about Anthony. I want to know what Dai did before the attack. Right now, I’d have to guess he was starring in silent movies or something because nothing about his behavior or actions gives me any clue. He can handle heavy weapons, yes, but so can Hal Mason. That doesn’t tell me a thing about where he got those skills. I want to know why he had no family. Is he simply not the type to settle down, build a house, plant a tree and all the fanfare? Was he a modern day adventurer who explored the exotic places of the world; went on walkabouts, swam with sharks, helped on a dig for the remains of ancient cultures, volunteered to dig wells in the African desert and casually engaged in extreme sports like cliff diving? Or did he own a small newspaper kiosk in New York, chit-chatting with cab drivers about tourists, traffic jams and the weather? Really, writers, give me ANYTHING (though I admit, I strongly prefer the modern day Indiana Jones option. No need to thank me, credit is all yours).

Lourdes

Oh the hope you gave me, writers, when you killed Jamil! I was ready for enjoying the rise of the show’s action girl; a pretty female Punisher in a skitter skin trenchcoat, blazing guns and yelling battle cries. But as so often, you left it at the most basic hints of character development and went no-where with her new attitude. Even worse, you almost immediately pushed the button to set things back to how they were in season 1. Lourdes lost her family, her boyfriend, her optimism and hope. A few in-universe days later, she’s the ever smiling med student again, as if nothing happened. I don’t need to tell you where I want this to go. I want her to become the action girl Maggie (violently) refuses to be. Because someone has to, and because you went halfway in the right direction and gave her a good reason to change and evolve. Now, take that and make it happen. It’s what Falling Skies needs.

Pope

To be fair, so far, you mostly did a good job on him. The exception would be around Molon Labe, where he – possibly due to his concussion – didn’t even comment on Ben and Karen and them leading the mechs right to the 2nd Mass. But other than that, he got the best deal in terms of character development. Still, there are questions I hope will be answered at some point. The biggest one I have right now would be: Why was he in jail? 4 years isn’t enough for murder or manslaughter, yet the nature of a crime can tell so much about the person committing it. And since we know he learned to cook behind bars, we have to assume he had a different occupation at some point. Or was he always a criminal and just got caught on something minor? If I had to guess, I’d say he worked construction. He single handedly built the 4th Wall and that is why he knows where the peepholes are. Unlike the 3 cases above, I’m somewhat confident we’ll get answers from Pope soon enough.

Tect… sorry, Gunnery Sgt. Murphy

Here’s my glimpse of hope. Though I must say, the “I feel guilty for losing men in battle” story was a bit stereotype. But then, a stereotype is what you make of it, and Tector is getting development, unlike certain other, less lucky characters. And he’s the one case where you writers didn’t leave it at one episode and a few hints. In fact, you did a really nice job to slowly make him more present, reveal some new hints here and there, and then finally move his story into the spotlight. What troubles me is that you did all that in the first place – if it means you are planning to kill Tector and only did it because of that. Now, you couldn’t know that people would basically shrug and give a shit about Jamil dying or that no-one considered him as “fairly major” as you did. You couldn’t know that something went wrong and you had to try a different approach for your next redshirt. It is just always a bit suspicious to build up someone billed as guest star while utterly ignoring certain main characters. But then, Norman Reedus was billed as guest star all through season 1 of Walking Dead and now he’s not only a main character, but the only character people don’t hate with a passion. Ryan Robbins is a great actor and you’re doing mostly fine with the development of his character, so I hope you guys keep him around.

Crazy Lee & Lyle – what’s left of the Berzerkers

Seems Crazy Lee is no longer Tector’s girlfriend, yes? I assume his “dark secret” to be a soldier was more shocking and relationship-shaking than Maggie’s. (That’s not hard though.) Anyway, I’m glad she got more lines now because she’s a nice contrast to the other women on the show. She’s not soft and kind and pretty and passive; she’s a tomboy who can kick ass. So tell me her story. How did she get the nickname Crazy Lee? Certainly not from whatever it was the Berzerkers were doing; it was first Pope, then Tector calling the “crazy” shots there. What did she do before the attack? What made her join the Berzerkers? What made her turn on Pope? What made her reconsider? Why did she and Tector break up? Was it his rediscovered past? Who broke up anyway? Could he no longer deal with a gunblazing girlfriend or could she not stand the authority he suddenly had? Oh, by the way, this paragraph is also about Lyle; there are the same basic questions regarding the Berzerkers and his former life. But I’d be happy if you only developed one of them a bit more, and Crazy Lee seems to be the more interesting choice.

That’s my wishlist for season 3. (If you’re in touch with your inner Santa and he has a really generous day, you could add some better writing for Hal and Maggie, but at this point, they are both a bit beyond hope for me.) Don’t go overboard with Ben once he returns. I like him too much to take an overdose and get tired of him, and that’s what almost happened. You didn’t take that route and instead added the delicious veggies (mainly Tector and Crazy Lee) to the Mason steak, but it was a close call. So in a nutshell, don’t get too focussed on exploring every tiny emotional shift in your big picture – the Masons. Don’t forget to shine some light on the smaller pictures within – the characters around the Mason clan, because they make the story realistic.

PS: I also want a pony.

Falling Skies S02E09

Weeee! Political plotting!

So Charleston is pretty much what I expected, a dictatorship run by John Locke. Arthur Manchester, I mean. But first things first:

Line count Dai: 1 (one)

And even worse, Anthony is absent alltogether. This episode – which I thought was quite awesome, all things considered – was a great chance to show where characters stand, even if it’s only by actions rather than words. Even Crazy Lee, who had no lines or scenes of relevance until now, got to show her loyalties. And I sure hope they extend her role a bit, now that the Berzerkers are officially down to her, Pope and Lyle.

Anyway. The 2nd Mass settles in and encounters the first unpleasant details. Weaver, while re-united with his daughter, learns that the military has to take orders from the self-proclaimed “Majority Leader” of the civilians and that there are no plans to continue the fight. Once more, Locke finds himself in a weird place far from normal civilization and really likes the prospect of keeping it that way. Weaver, however, doesn’t find it too appealing and supports his daughter, who isn’t comfortable with the Charleston government/dictator refusing to send scouts out for the other kids, including her boyfriend, that she got seperated from on the way.

In regards to that attitude – kudos to Pope, who never even bothered to talk things through with anyone from Charleston and went straight for the heavy guns, realizing before anyone else that Charleston was more about “pretending the world is fine” and less about “shooting aliens”. It took his former brother-in-arms Tector the 2nd Up (archievement “full name”) and most of the episode to realize he sided with the wrong guys. (Fun fact: In Stargate Atlantis, Ladon Radim also turned against the military leader of the Genii and became an ally to Atlantis. Talk about weirdly specific type casting.)

After Pope spent the last few episodes suspiciously agreeable, he finally returns to his loose cannon ways – not only by trying to steal guns, which seems to be his favorite hobby besides shooting aliens, but also by not doing what people, specifically Arthur Manchester, expect him to do: turn on Tom. “If anyone brings him down, it’s gonna be me” certainly opens a door for becoming a Batman villain in the future; with the right radiation-related accident, it’s basically set in stone.

Tom “on/off gullible” Mason, on the other hand, seems intrigued by his former mentor’s plan to elect a government (“just a formality”) and become the founding father of a new democracy. While he picks up some weird vibes, it takes a de-harnessed boy to show up with a message for him to make him act on it. However, the one to pull off things with style are the generals, who swiftly turn this conflict of interests into a coup and arrest Arthur Manchester instead of “the entire 2nd Mass”.

And now, the dreaded sub arc I danced around and avoided to mention so far: Hal and Maggie are back to square one. While Hal claims something about “everything changed”, nothing really changed. Maggie is back in “I’m not the right person, nice try though” mode.  That is all I have to say about it.

I personally also found it a bit weird that Anne went ballistic on the Charleston doctor for pointing out that she is a pedeatrician. Because, y’know, Miss Glass, you are a pedeatrician. Sure, you also sorta filled in as a combat medic, how you put it, but it doesn’t change the fact that a heart surgeon likely has considerably more experience at being, well, a surgeon. Also, Lourdes obviously lost all her rage and fatalism over night, as she’s back to being the eager pre-med school girl, looking forward to learn more about medicine. Hey, girl, there’s a trenchcoat made from overlord skin waiting for you!

All in all, we now have a military dictatorship in Charleston. Besides declaring martial law, this works in favor of the 2nd Mass as they can continue with their plan to meet Red Eye outside the city and talk about “new developments” in the skitter rebellion. And damn, the preview for the season finale looks promising!

 

Falling Skies S02E08

“Death March” – or, how Greg would call it, “the dreaded episode without Ben”. And I can already see the horror in his eyes when I say “hell yes, that’s the Falling Skies I wanted to see!” It’s not a great episode because Ben isn’t there. It’s a great episode because other characters finally catch some of the spotlight. (However, I have to satisfy my urge to point out one thing I keep bringing up in every review: Dai has exactly ONE line. What the hell, writers?)

1. Maggie’s “dark secret” isn’t all that devestating – but it’s a total win nonetheless.

Justin over at fallingskiesblog came up with several ideas what Maggie’s dark secret might be; I added my own and we kinda agreed that a criminal past is the most likely option. We were totally right. Actually, Justin hits it twice, since he also had “drug addiction” on his radar while I was getting lost in character drama that would attract the Londo Mollaris of the world like a torch on a moonlit beach attracts mosquitos. So Maggie has a criminal past, was a junkie, went to jail and gave her baby up for adoption. That translates to: Hell, yeah, we successfully evaded yet another possible pregnancy arc! And if my multi layered suspicions about Charleston are anywhere near the truth, it also puts her at risk along with Pope, which is a good thing. My suspicions about Charleston basically include a dictatorship with a crazed military guy who wants to register everyone (former occupation, family, all the usual fanfare) and will not respond well to ex-cons. While the 2nd Mass wouldn’t have such a hard time to hand Pope over – which would severely hurt my scenario – they would care about about Maggie. Because, my scenario also contains a resistance within the resistance, and a secret ally who wants to overthrow the dictator, but needs some time to set his plan in motion. The 2nd Mass would need a reason to hold out instead of getting the hell outta there. Pope alone wouldn’t hold them. Maggie would. So her criminal past very much supports my theory.

2. First Up for Tector!

The level up in character depth is the single most precious item in the game. Every NPC wants it, but the party can only use one at a time. Maggie was holding hard onto this gem, but then Lourdes sacrificed her companion Jamil and dropped the cleric class, making it look like she’d be able to use the First Up. But alas, while she was wondering how to spend the skill points, Tector came along, grabbed the gem and immediately used it to switch from rogue to warrior with weapon grand mastery in projectile weapons. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d display the achievement “Opening Credits” in season 3 (after being billed as guest star all through season 2) on his profile.

3. Charleston

Well, well, well, who would have expected Porter to be hiding in the ruins of the promised land? Answer: Everyone who paid attention during the opening credits and saw the actor billed as guest star. Oh well. Let’s pretend no-one saw that. After pretty much everyone from the Massachusetts groups was presumed dead, it was a surprise to the 2nd Mass. And after finding a destroyed Charleston, it was the biggest possible surprise for them to find any humans at all. They didn’t see any opening credits. And to us viewers, it was certainly a revelation to find out why the aliens left Charleston alone: It already looks destroyed and the resistance is likely underground. (A part of me hopes they are building a nuke in a secret underground lab, and Tector will be involved, and only Stargate Atlantis viewers know why.) This sure looks promising.

4. Scaly Girl, here today, gone tomorrow.

9 years old Matt Mason got a love interest. No, seriously?! Hell, seriously. The scaly girl from the trailer that everyone was theorizing about. And that was pretty much a joke if that was all we’ve seen of it. Long character building scenes of Matt befriending the girl, just to have her leave without a trace? I’m willing to put the case on ice for now, since there are still two episodes to go. But if that was the last of her, I call bull.

5. Anthony got screentime AND lines!

After Tector successfully brought the First Up into his possession and used it, a new item has been thrown into the game and Anthony is hopefully on the way to grab it. I count Dai’s lines per episode as a joke, and I used to do that with Anthony, too. But this episode finally broke through my attention span, as he got more lines and scenes than my short term memory can keep up with.

The rest has to go in a short summary for now, but I can’t miss to mention that I really loved the Weaver scenes. His crisis after arriving in Charleston added a lot to his character. I’m also glad we finally got to see a more desperate side of Tom – it was about time after everything that happened. Actually, Matt making his will and giving it to Tom, and Tom later telling Anne about it, did a lot more for Matt than the entire Scaly Jenny interlude. The episode also refreshingly lacked of drawn out romance scenes – obviously in favor of revealing character backgrounds. I very much hope this trend stays strong, as this was a damn good piece of entertainment.

Who would you be if the world went to hell?

In her article over at fallingskiesblog, fellow author BethTX makes a strong point for why Ben Mason is one hell of a character. I agree about this fact; the writers and actor Connor Jessup do a damn fine job there. However, while reading the article, I found myself realizing that the reason “we viewers can identify with Ben” doesn’t apply. And that, on paper, it really should apply.

I do not wish to bore anyone with tales from my teenage years, but I need to go there for a short moment to explain. So I was a rebellious teenager who, like any other teenager, thought the world would never understand the first thing about me. Now I’m over 30 and the world is still mostly at a loss, which may lead me to think I got a point back then. Truth is, I don’t know and I also don’t care if the world gets me. However, to put things in perspective: I ran away from home at age 14, lived on sofas and in alternative communes with punks, anarchists and (red/S.H.A.R.P.) skins for years, “grew up faster than others because I had to”, am diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder and defy all odds with the triple A – being asexual, aromantic, agendered. I do get the grasp of feeling like an alien, in every nuance available. And without playing my own experiences up or other people’s teenage years down, I think my past qualifies for something else than “omg my parents are so mean, no-one understands me” teenage issues.

Ben Mason, a teenager who lost his mother in a freaking alien invasion, got captured and brainwashed by aliens and then turned out to develop scary levels of superhuman powers, should give me something to connect with. If nothing else, the feeling to be different and the attempt to fit in, the pretending and hiding of things others wouldn’t begin to understand. I have spend the better part of my youth pretending to be something I’m not. Most of all, however, I pretended to give a shit. Because, usually I don’t. Any attempt to fit in was for my convenience, not to really “fit in”. Tired of explaining that I don’t have “crushes” or any aspirations to be in a romantic relationship? Pretend I’m your average straight person, randomly pick some celebs people around me find “hot” and claim I find them “hot”, too. Tired of explaining that yes, I do appreciate this birthday gift, but my appreciation doesn’t inspire me to jump around and hug people? Fake a smile, play along, be done with it. It boils down to “being tired of explaining things you don’t get anyway” and “yeah, whatever, leave me in peace”. I never had any illusions people would sit down, hear me out and be okay with it at some point.

Ben Mason, he is truly desperate to make people understand how he feels. For acceptance, trust and community; proving his loyalty and that he only wants the best for his people. I give a shit as long as people just don’t get on my nerves and I frankly don’t bother with “what’s best for them”. “What’s best for me” is perfectly enough, and that is usually “I don’t get what the fuzz is about, so go tell your problems to someone else”. It’s not out of spite or because I’m such a cold bastard. It’s because I really, honestly don’t understand those things. Breaking up with a partner of 3 years? People will go through weird phases like trying to analyze why the relationship didn’t work out, worry that they “can never love again”, being allround sad and crushed. Me? Find new sofa to crash on, end of story. I know, I know, it sounds sad, but it isn’t – for me, it isn’t. I get it, I’m pretty different from the majority when it comes to such things. And that’s fine, I don’t expect the majority to change for me. It’s not all bad to be different anyway. One of my very best friends comes to me for relationship advice specifically because it will be rational and brutally honest. That is because I couldn’t give any other advice – I’d never say “listen to your heart” because people suspect I don’t even have one. (I do, I once saw it on an x-ray.) So in a nutshell, I cannot relate to Ben’s desire for understanding because I never had it, despite my being different.

I can also see what Ben is doing when he hides his glowy spikes or pretends he didn’t watch the time when he did 200 freaking push ups. He tries to not scare people; to fit in and be part of a group. Well, that’s the very thing that drives me nuts. My reaction to getting weird ass superpowers? Yay, now I can run off into the woods, survive on my own without depending on others to find food, weapons and shelter and other humans will run from me in fear! That’s awesome! You see, whenever I faked to be a sane, average person, I could keep it up for a while. I became quite efficient at it, down to faking to be a social butterfly who knows everyone and their mother; all while truly giving a damn. It was the neccessary thing to do to be good in my job, so I made the sacrifice the situation demanded. And then, I went into major burn out syndrome because a social butterfly is simply not who I am and playing a role almost 24/7 wears you down. Getting the magical ability to be efficient at what needs to be done – in case of an alien invasion, that would be “surviving” and “fighting for my life” – without the need to deal with people would be a freaking revelation. And what Ben did for the better part of the show was the exact opposite of what I would do.

Enter Pope – here’s the character I do relate to, along with the bits and pieces of Dai and Anthony we were shown so far. No, Pope doesn’t struggle with alien superpowers that make people fear him; he doesn’t have the entire inner conflict of being different and trying to fit in. And that’s the point: He doesn’t try. People percieve him as a jerk and he’s okay with that. That is who I am. Sure, I’m likely percieved as a jerk for different reasons – I have the psych evaluation to show for it. But I have never thought of myself as a freak, as “ill” or that “something is wrong with me”. At best, I thought something is wrong with everyone else, because hey, I’m fine with the way I am. I am, indeed, okay with being kind of a jerk. Pope is more likely to ask “what the hell is wrong with you people” than having some inner monologue about his desperation regarding people not accepting or liking him. To me, he doesn’t give off a “what an asshole” vibe. I get a “ah, finally, sanity!” vibe from him because he does pretty much what I would do. Call bull when the situation warrants it, regardless if people want to hear it. Fend for himself and himself alone. Not having true loyalties, not even his own brother. (My brother isn’t quite the jerk Billy was, but damn, he’s close.)

So, if the world went to hell, I wouldn’t be like Ben. I’d be a chain-smoking version of Pope, and I’d be making more sarcastic remarks with pop culture references. And you’d better pray I wouldn’t get superpowers like Ben, because I’d be the most unlikely person to use them for your sake. While you were out there, afraid and alone, in an alien infested city, trying to find something to eat… I’d be jumping from roof top to roof top, in a silly, over-the-top superhero costume, throwing plasma TVs from skyscrapers, for the lulz. You need this fuel to transport your merry band of survivors to a safer haven? Well, fuck you, I need the fuel to make a flaming Punisher skull on this public place because it will look awesome at night. You need this canned food to feed starving children? Well, fuck you twice, I need the cans to shoot at them because I’m the Amazing Super Redneck (until I make a new costume).

Oops. I got sidetracked by my world domination fantasies up there. In a nutshell, I’d be a total jerk in a post apocalypse scenario. I’d be worse than Pope. And he’d be the one I’d come back for to save his ass, because he’d be the one most likely to become my supervillain sidekick. I’m not a hero. (Well, not that kind of hero.) I’m not someone struggling to fit in. I’d be mayhem, as irresponsible and “bad” it would be – from your point of view, heroic survivor with nothing but the well-being of your followers in mind. And that’s why I can’t identify with Ben. He’s a hero, I’m a jerk. And that’s my saving grace: At least, I’m honest about it. You’re warned: Do not, under no circumstances, depend on me if the world goes to hell. Because I’ll go with it.

Lourdes Sartana

What Falling Skies needs even more than stunt horses and dynamite is a strong female character. By “strong”, I don’t only mean “strong personality”, I also mean “shades of She-Hulk”. A woman who can kick ass and is more than just eye candy in battle scenes. Someone with an attitude and the firepower to go with it.

I had hope Maggie would become the Action Girl, but she didn’t. It seems every time she tries to step up, Hal gets in the way and someone clicks “reset” – and Maggie immediately goes back to being nothing but Hal’s Love Interest. Then we have Anne – she belongs to the lucky few to grab a last name, making her a major character. And frankly, I see nothing wrong with her character. It wouldn’t add up to make the former pediatrician a gunslinging badass. So Maggie obviously doesn’t want to be the asskicking Action Girl, Anne would be horribly out of character if she became one… and that leaves us with Lourdes.

Season 1 didn’t do her any favors. She was the med school student turned nurse aka “person to hand stuff to Anne”, her age was uncertain and besides some minor things that were dropped in season 2 alltogether – what some people see as a crush on Hal, her religious aspect – we didn’t learn a whole lot about her. In season 2, she suddenly had a boyfriend; Jamil and that was it for a long time. Then, we briefly (as in “in 2 or 3 lines”) learned that her family in Mexico was dead. Again, a long break before anything of note happened. When Weaver was infected and close to death, Lourdes turned out to be good for more than handing random instruments to Anne and came up with a way to save Weaver. And then… Jamil died, as I had suspected after hearing that Anne and Lourdes will develop a deeper bond in season 2. The shared experience of loss is likely the trigger to start this development, and it also showed a very different Lourdes than in season 1.

What some call “Emo!Lourdes” is “BadassInTheMaking!Lourdes” to me. In season 2, the friendly, shy, religious girl lost 3 essential things: the hope that her family is alive, her boyfriend and very likely her faith. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, even if Lourdes doesn’t give much about this phrase. She has nothing left to lose. You know who else went on a vendetta after losing everything that had any meaning? The Punisher.

Here is the future of Lourdes. If not in the real Falling Skies, it’s certainly her spaghetti western AU future. Upgraded to main character with one of the most legendary spaghetti western last names, I present:

Massachusetts Moon

The more I think about it, the clearer I see: Falling Skies simply needs more Pope, Anthony, stunt horses and dynamite. I also fear that the show will never live up to these expectations, especially in regards to stunt horses, so I went ahead and made this imaginary spaghetti western. So far, my imaginary movie has won 12 imaginary Oscars (including Best Horse Stunt, Best Explosion and Best Headwear*), 4 imginary Emmys and an imaginary Academy Award, and recieved 16 more imaginary nominations. What? It’s my imagination, I can win whatever imaginary awards I want.

* The Oscar for Best Headwear went to Pope’s new hat. When I had the idea to move the skitter claws from the necklace to the hat, I realized I had the character all wrong in the first script. He’s not a gambling gunslinger or train robber, he’s a wild west voodoo priest. And I don’t care if that makes sense because it’s my imaginary movie and if I want a voodoo priest in it, I will have a voodoo priest in it.