Being the Leader of a Post-Apocalyptic Gang of Outlaws Has Been Exhausting

Spielberg! Aliens! The Dude from ER! It was hard not to get excited for the Falling Skies (well maybe not the Noah Wiley part) as producer Steven Spielberg made the most beloved alien movie of all time. Of course the aliens in Falling Skies did not come in peace or for Reese’s Pieces. But the problem with the television is that unlike the eighties movies, he was unable to create any likeable characters. Ten episodes later and the only one I can name off the top of my head is Pope (even worse, I do not even care enough to look the other ones up), yet almost thirty years later I can still recall Elliot and Gertie.

Where Falling Skies lacked in character development, it almost made up for with its sci-fi parts of the storytelling. The skidder upped the creep factor whenever crawled across the screen with their menacing four legs and only became creepier when we saw them cuddling with the children they kidnapped (which it looks like the harnesses that are put on the kids are turning them into skidders, which begs the question, will they grow two more legs or are the skidders a different entity). Then you had the nearly indestructible mechs with their sonic boomsticks. Although the aerodynamic aliens shown to be controlling the skidders like pets: not so scary looking.

Watching the final two episodes of the inaugural season of Falling Skies, I could not help but think about the first season finale of Lost where we spent two hour trouncing around the island looking for dynamite and kidnapped Aaron only for the episode to end with us not being able to see what was down the hatch. The first hour of Falling Skies seemed like a stall tactic while we are forced to watch a power struggle between Noah Wiley and the commanding officer while we are left screaming at the television, just bomb the alien structure already. And much like Lost, we leave the season with the biggest question unanswered, in this case why are the aliens here? I was expecting the chick from Veronica Mars to interpret their masterplan James Bond villain style in that last scene but it never came.

But it was that last scene which will be the reason to tune in next season (well that and much like this year, it’s not like there is anything much better on in the summer). What do the aliens want with Noah? How long do they plan to keep him? Will the resistance try to rescue him? Will they tell him their masterplan Dr. Evil style? Will we care about them more any anyone else in the cast? I am almost excited for next season. Almost.

Falling Skies 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.