Monday, August 01, 2011
Michael Allen
Creator: Robert Rodat.
Director: Holly Dale.
"Falling Skies" Epis. 8, titled "What Lies Beneath," sets up a story arc involving a planned attack on an alien superstructure looming over Boston. Boston is, of course, the birthplace of the American revolution; so, this series is taking on a mild jingoistic tone, which will likely finish with an American victory over this alien invading force. Also in this showing, Karen (Jessy Schram) makes an appearance. Karen is Hal Mason's (Drew Roy) girlfriend. Unfortunately, she has been captured and turned into slave labour by a hostile, and intelligent force. Finally, there is a change in tone with this episode, as character Pope (Colin Cunningham) develops some alien defeating technology and a planned counterattack is only three days away.
Much of the crux of this episode, and some of the melodrama, involved Captain Weaver's (Will Patton) mental breakdown. Fatigue and war stress seems to have changed Weaver into a paranoid mess. He abandons a recon mission, involving the stakeout of an alien fortress. Instead, he goes on a little foray into the suburbs to locate his abandoned family home. He finds some hope there, or possibly some weak evidence to fuel his paranoid delusions. Get that man some Xanax ASAP?
Weaver is a great developing character. Yet, Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), a father of three, and Pope are much better. Two of these three characters (Weaver and Tom) endeavour to gather intelligence on a four legged super structure. This structure shall now on be referred to as the Terrordome on 28DLA. The Terrordome has weaknesses at the four points where it connects with the ground below. Weaver notices that the structure is made of copper, and rebar, which makes this viewer think the aliens are not so technologically advanced as one might expect. This also hints that the planned attack in "three days" might go ahead as predicted. Goodbye aliens, hello Pope.
Pope is one of the surlier characters on television and in this episode, he takes to improving the 2nd Mass' munitions. First, he looks into explosives. Next, he is developing armor piercing bullets, which can travel through Mech suits. This ends the final few frames with some enthusiasm. This also signals that the energy for "Falling Skies" seems to moving into second and third gears. Hopefully Epis. 9, "Mutiny," and Epis. 10, "Eight Hours" ends this season with a bang!
This reviewer will just touch on one or two dilemmas and side plots before closing out the review. Karen is shown harnessed, while delivering food to an alien confederate. This confederate is strangely in on an attack discussion between Tom and Weaver: "the attack is in three days." This seems like an inopportune time to discuss military plans. As well, a sidebar is developing, with Hal ready to save Karen from her forced enslavement. Expect Hal to be out of much of the battle coming in future episodes. Also, Weaver might be distracted by possible evidence of his wife, Linda, still alive.
All of these elements and a few more made this episode an enjoyable viewing time. "Falling Skies" is now this reviewer's favourite show. Others might not be so excited about this sci-fi series, as numbers for the show have continued a downward slide. From 5.4 millions viewers during Epis. 1, the show has slipped to 4.1 million viewers for Epis. 7 ("Sanctuary: Part 2"). The series has already been renewed for a second season, but fan support will need to increase for future seasons. In the end, "What Lies Beneath," and the series have set the stage for a compelling finale.
Check out the details for the show at Turner Network Television:
"Falling Skies" Homepage
Read the book, watch the show:
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Posted in: alien attack,alien invasion,alien raiders,aliens,episodes,falling skies,falling skies season 1,noah wyle,sci-fi,science fiction,television review
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