Thursday, July 04, 2013
Michael Allen
Writers: Robert Rodat and Jordan Rosenberg.
Executive Producer: Steven Spielberg.
"Falling Skies" is now halfway through its third season. Epis. 5, titled "Search and Recover," of Seas. 3 brings several familiar characters to the forefront, during an ongoing alien invasion. Fans who are familiar with the show might have noticed a major slowdown in this season and especially in this episode. The story in "Search and Recovery" moves ahead with baby steps, despite an alien invasion taking place in the background. Instead, events here focus on characterizations, melodrama and forced sequences, which left much to be desired.
Fans unfamiliar with this episode will have to look back to reviews of previous episodes on 28DLA to find out what has happened in earlier seasons. But, this episode focused on two separate and likely converging stories. Characters Tom (Noah Wyle) and Pope (Colin Cunningham) recover from a plane crash, which leads to "Max Headroom's (Matt Frewer)" demise. Tom and Pope spend much of their recovery time fighting amongst themselves, while the aliens make a visit or two. In the second story, Captain Weaver (Will Patton) searches for Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and her alien hybrid baby. They get sidetracked and bury an anonymous character, instead. Do these plotlines sound ridiculous? That is because, you are in sci-fi baby!
Unfortunately, almost all of the conflict in this episode is setup poorly. There is a great deal of time spent with characters baring their souls to each other, but these scenes are repetitive and grow tiresome over time. Their purpose is to create deeper characterizations, while protecting the show's budget. When there is action, these action scenes come across as awkward. For instance, Tom and Pope break into a fistfight, because of a practical joke. The joke involves a snake and Tom's response is an overreaction. These characters are fighting a war against alien invaders; do they not have enough to deal with already? Another scene involving forced conflict appears in the second story. Here, Weaver and his motley crew of rescuers discover an anonymous body. Then, they spout prose and eulogies for the deceased, for absolutely no purpose at all. What connection does the viewer have for a non-descript character, lying dead on the side of the road? The viewers are not served by these poorly created scenes of minor action.
The pacing seems to sputter and die, because of these scenes and others. How did the story move forward in this episode? Only a few scientific details helped the plot at all. A researcher is studying alien technology, but his discoveries are mostly unnoteworthy. Anne has not been discovered. In the other story, Tom and Mason return home to Charleston, where much of Seas. 3 has been set. Events seem to be going in circles. Fans of the show could skip this episode and still feel confident that they did not miss anything important at all.
"Search and Recovery" was a major disappointment for this viewer. The show is diverse in characterizations and the pretense for this television series has potential. But, showings like "Search and Recovery" remind this film fan how bad television writing has gotten and how one show has lost its edge, especially compared to its first season. Sci-fi fans might have to be forgiving of this series, in order for events to (hopefully) pick up in future episodes like "Be Silent and Come Out."
Overall: 6 out of 10 (few actions sequences, lots of forced emotions and melodrama, very little natural conflict, disappointing).
*Seas. 4 of "Falling Skies" has been announced and will move ahead in the Summer of 2014.
The show's website:
Falling Skies Homepage
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Posted in: 2013,falling skies,falling skies season 3,moon bloodgood,noah wyle,sci-fi,science fiction,television,television review
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