S04.E01: Ghost in the Machine

[Meredith Quill]

Episode Synopsis:

On the outskirts of Charleston, just steps away from perceived safety, The Mason Clan and the remaining 2nd Mass suddenly find themselves under brutal attack by a new Espheni war machine – and a new, deadly creation unlike anything previously encountered. Divided like chattel and spread to the winds, The Masons must each forge new relationships and abilities to survive.

[sjohnson]

The Espheni would change strategy/tactics after being defeated, especially after the final death of the old commander (who carried on as a revenant in Karen.) And it makes sense that coordinating with the Volm would be dicey. Corraling humans however strongly suggests one reason for the Volm version of strategic hamlets in Brazil. Namely, keeping the Espheni from using the natives as shields/hostages. Despite showing Tom going all Hogan's Heroes (an unfortunately apt comparison!) the fact that the real agency in the war rests with the Volm means his story line is in sort of a holding pattern. Waiting is a part of war but it's not easily made into dramatic viewing. 

 

Little Matt's story line seems obvious but is a strong one. I'm not quite sure what Hal's story line can do with it besides some heroics to liven the pace. We'll see.

 

Ben's story line is the most problematic. On the one hand you can see why engaging with him at all is expensive for the FX. This is triply true if he did what you would expect which is try to subvert skitters and spy on Espheni and generally go wild with the gifts left by the harness remnants. And from a dramatic standpoint, the notion that humanity will change is altogether too concretely embodied in his spikes. A lot of people don't agree or approve. So they dumped him into SORASville. Megalyn Echikunwoke is played in this iteration by Scarlett Byrne. I wish them luck making this work. They could really go 4400 and depower her as needed to stall the plot, as well as writing her as to emo to take decisive action (neutralizing her plot terminating abilities.)  I would like to think that she had to wait for Ben to wake up to really start her master plan and that he is somehow essential. That kind of conflict I think would be a little more dramatic than her dithering until it's time for a cliffhanger. I think Falling Skies has always been distinguished more for competence in adding real feeling and drama to standard action SF. The way that their world actually includes children for instance raises the stakes in a way soap about the love lives of the main cast just doesn't. This show has always realized this I think. That's why I've like it.

 

But I can't think anyone has ever successfully done the Space Baby growing up SORAS as anything but a villain. Their Adria was fairly solid I thought. SG-1 did an okay job with Shifu as a non-villain but that was a one-off. Adria was one of the most successful villains too. But by and large near as I can tell this whole business of a the special baby who magically grows up just doesn't work. I hope they beat the odds..but I am reminded of Effie announcing the odds are always in our favor. 

[Iamsweetdee]

What the hell was that crap I spent 20 minutes (thanks Genie HD DVR) watching?

[xaxat]

I just finished a show (Revolution) featuring a plot revolving around the brainwashing of kids in order to make a Junior Killer Corps. Not sure I can do it again so soon.

 

I'm still kind of pissed at what the writers did to Karen. She gets shot by Tom, double tapped by Maggie and yet they allow Lourdes to run around playing with Lexi.

[mattie0808]

I'm trying to remember the last time I was so out-and-out confused by a season premiere of a show. My father and I watch together, and we were saying before it started that maybe we should have re-watched the last episode or two from last season...but about a third of the way into it, he said, "It's like we missed an entire season." I was almost too gobsmacked to reply.

 

I literally can't believe the Hitler Youth...then I'll work my way down to whatever the hell is going on with Lexi, to Tom being a comic book hero, to our good doc becoming our military leader, to the Volm essentially being written out, to...

 

I don't want to be overdramatic, but I'm just straight flummoxed. WTH just happened?

Edited June 23, 2014 by mattie0808

[FormerMod-a1]

This seemed to be a whole lot of set up.

1. Tom and Weaver in "jail" in the ghetto-town
2. Hal & Tector (and Pope) on the outside in ghetto-town
3. Anne & some others outside of ghetto-town, just surviving and trying to find Lexi
4. Lexi, Ben, Lourdes, Maggie in "China town" sanctuary
5. and the littlest Mason in re-education camps
6. plus a bonus of Cochise? (the Volm) traipsing around

 

I'm sure they'll all come together soon, Tom does want to reunite the 2nd Mass, after all.  But meanwhile Maggie seems completely brainwashed.  Are we to beleive Ben has been unconscious for 4 months?  That seems odd, especially with his super-human abilities.  Maybe this is all a dream of his. The war-free China town, that is, not the whole thing.

[MDKNIGHT]

Till the very end of this ep I kept expecting it all to be an alien induced hallucination.  I thought each of the main characters were in a separate dreamscape each tailored to their specific personalities. (reminds me of the end of the British version of Being Human) I swear that is what I thought was going on.  I STILL can't believe they did the infant into teen/adult half breed alien thing they did in original V.  Angel and the 4400.  Has ANYBODY ever really liked that ever?  Like I said I thought when the brother's vision went blurry he was going to see through the alien illusion and blonde was going to be a skitter or something.  I missed the last two eps of last season.  Could I have missed something that is important to what is going on now?  Could I still be right and this be an illusion? The alien being threatened at the end implies no, but I'm still confused.  Everybody seems to have changed personalities over the break.  It is very weird. 

[thuganomics85]

I watched this a few days ago on the sneak peak On Demand.  I don't know; usually, I find this to be a safe, but competent sci-fi (compared to some of the crap I usually watch), but this was the first time where I felt a little uneasy.  Part of it was having everyone off or in groups, doing their things.  Tom and Weaver are captured and in solitary. Hal, Tector, and Pope are trapped by those fences, but seem to be getting buy (and, of course, Pope is using this opportunity to acquire items and power.  Anne and Anthony escaped, and are forming a resistance, I guess.  Matt is in a training camp that the evil aliens are using to brainwash children, but is secretly going against them.  And then there is all that crazy shit with Ben, Lourdes, Maggie, and the new Lexi, played by the girl who was Pansy Parkinson in the later Harry Potter films.  Maybe some of this will go somewhere good, but a lot of it just confused or annoyed me.

 

At least Cochise is still around!  Yay, Cochise!

 

All I ask is that Anne is used well.  I get that it couldn't be avoided last season due to Moon Bloodgood's pregnancy, but the lack of Anne last season bummed me out.  One of my biggest sticking points for this show is the lovely Moon, dammit!

 

Well, I also hope they find some way to work in Crazy Dr. Robert Sean Leonard again.

[wmdekooning]

What thee deuce was that?! I couldn't see what was going on half the time, it was so darned DARK!

And likewise, I had no clue if it was a dream or if I had missed something and I too wish I had seen the previous episodes again. Actually, I don't think it would have helped.

I guess this is going to be a new show...

[Iamsweetdee]

If all Anne is going to do is yell about Lexie, then I wouldn't be opposed to Ms. Bloodgood finding a better job and disappearing.

[tv echo]

Well, that was a disappointing mess of an episode.  I hated the Lexi storyline.  I got shades of Adria from Stargate SG-1, a young Glory from Angel (with her creepily delivered peace message), and even shades of Stephen King's The Stand (from Lexi's fake blonde appearance) - not to mention the special half-alien girl from V.  The "Hitler youth" party has also been done in various shows, including V and the old children's show Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.  Then, Tom Mason as a masked hero was like a parody on a different show.  

 

This show started out as trying to be realistic - or as realistically as a show involving aliens can be - and has devolved into familiar sci-fi tropes.

Edited June 23, 2014 by tv echo

[Bill C.]

Half sane, half bonkers.

 

The Espheni going all Warsaw Ghetto on humanity I could at least understand post-Volm incursion, if for no other reason than to minimize resistance.  The Volm being absent was explained away in a pretty good way, IMO; of course their priorities would change if the majority of their population was being threatened, and they weren't exactly Up With People to begin with.  Tom being a stealth vigilante in the Charlotte ghetto...fuck it, it's Tom Mason.  Charmed TV life.  (See also Anne going all gung-ho leader type, ironically a la Weaver.)

 

Dollar General Khaleesi and the whole Unity thing, plus Maggie's story about the mech being struck by lightning, just confused me.  Assuming it's not a fakeout of some sort, why and when would a roughly year-old being discover religion--let alone form a cult?  I'm already becoming convinced this is some sort of bizarre Espheni experiment, though I can't see what their goal would be.

 

And further down the path of irrationality you had Verheiden College (assuming I read that sign right; I see what you did there, David Eick) and the Hitler...er, Espheni Youth.  For a species that already had an extremely effective way of ensuring obedience--the harness--and that last I knew wanted to explicitly use human children as eventually-transformed slave labor, their resorting to simple reeducation, seemingly without any other aids, made negative sense.  It made for a good visual, if subtle as a brick through a window, but that was it.  I suppose it could be a long-con thing; get them now so they would later have kids who wouldn't resist at all, thus creating a small but sustainable labor pool?

[BooksRule]

That was kind of jumbled-up mess, but hopefully some of it will get sorted out soon.   I was hoping that the Chinatown scenes were all in Ben's mind, but I guess not.

 

Are there still any of the 'original' Mechs around?  I love anything with creepy robots in it, and really liked the Mechs (humming and all).  The new ones are too 'Transformer-like' for me, I'm not sure why.  I know they are supposed to be more menacing, but I find them less scary than the old ones.

 

I thought that the most effective scene was the dropping of the 'fence posts' for the perimeter fence. 

[sjohnson]

Harnessed children aren't usable for informing, which is explicitly one of the activities being taught. I'm inclined to think that the Hitler Youth story line may have been done before but still has something to offer if done well. Conformism is relevant to our lives. And the way they brought up hunger and feeding as a method of control was effective I thought. And the way that the leader was working the collective responsibility on Matt too. I think the key personnel should turn out to have eyeworms, though. A handful of controlled administrators for the whole system would make it more plausible in fictional universe terms.

Edited June 23, 2014 by sjohnson

[ottoDbusdriver]

If all Anne is going to do is yell about Lexie, then I wouldn't be opposed to Ms. Bloodgood finding a better job and disappearing.

 

Anne is the new Michael and Lexie is the new Walt !!!!!!

 

Falling Skies picking up bad ideas from 'Lost' -- can a Falling skies equivalent of Nikki and Paolo be far behind ?

Edited June 23, 2014 by ottoDbusdriver

[AV8n]

The initial attack brought several questions.  If the Espheni had this fence technology why didnt they use it sooner?  Like, to wrap a perimeter around that thing they were building in Boston.  Also, Tom had one of GoatCheese's alien supersoakers, but didn't use it until the very end?

 

I find it interesting that where the show originally drew parallels to the Revolutionary War, they are now making a lot of WWII/Nazi references with things like ghettos and youth indoctrination.  I've got to admit, I didn't like Matt originally when he was a rosy cheeked little kid.  But now he is a battle hardened young man who has spent a huge chunk of his life fighting and running.

 

I still haven't figured out Lexie's Chinatown DMZ.  My guess is that she is not working for the Espheni, but rather playing out what her still young mind thinks should happen.  In other words, she thinks to her self "wouldn't it be cool if everyone stopped fighing and got along?", then realizes that she has the power to make that happen - at least in a small area.

[shrewd.buddha]

I'm trying to remember the last time I was so out-and-out confused by a season premiere of a show.

It looked like someone got a new special effects budget for Christmas - - so they threw out the old, clunky alien robots and created shiny new ones.

It's as if the premise of the show is humans fighting aliens and the producers don't think anyone is going to notice any minor detail changes. 

 

As others have said, it feels as if this show is just stealing unabashedly from .. everything and everyone. Breaking the story into four or five different segments and groups feels like a Game of Thrones steal to me. Or maybe it is something that makes production and shooting schedules easier. 

 

I don't know whether to be appalled or impressed that they seem to just upend everything from one season to the next. But I am tired of the "six months later" crap, where they have all the action and WtF's in the first episode so that they can have cheaper, back-fill stories up until the next phase of money shots... 

Edited June 23, 2014 by shrewd.buddha

[Bill C.]

I still haven't figured out Lexie's Chinatown DMZ.  My guess is that she is not working for the Espheni, but rather playing out what her still young mind thinks should happen.  In other words, she thinks to her self "wouldn't it be cool if everyone stopped fighing and got along?", then realizes that she has the power to make that happen - at least in a small area.

 

That's an interesting thought, though it also makes Lexie potentially even more godlike than she apparently is.  And it doesn't rule out her somehow being some sort of botched Espheni project, either.

 

Harnessed children aren't usable for informing, which is explicitly one of the activities being taught. I'm inclined to think that the Hitler Youth story line may have been done before but still has something to offer if done well. Conformism is relevant to our lives. And the way they brought up hunger and feeding as a method of control was effective I thought. And the way that the leader was working the collective responsibility on Matt too. I think the key personnel should turn out to have eyeworms, though. A handful of controlled administrators for the whole system would make it more plausible in fictional universe terms.

 

Thank you for reminding me of the eyeworms, which are another fairly reliable method the Espheni have for ensuring obedience (and a much less obvious one than harnesses).  Neither method is completely foolproof, to be fair, so I guess it goes back to the long-con theory--though it still would seem easier to just 'worm up the entire student body at Verheiden College and turn them loose.  Or send them all to a DMZ, like Chinatown, and get your Delta City on.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Bill C.

[sjohnson]

The Espheni are well aware the Volm technology can handle the eyeworms, so it seems plausible to me that they don't want to use them in the field, so to speak. 

 

The fence tech looks like a variant of the one they planned to put around the entire planet (taking out humanity as collateral damage.) The new plan is to create another power source for a planetary defense against the Volm. In a sense they were using the fence, now it's just small scale. The Volm posture right now is recon aimed at uncovering the Espheni plan. The new Espheni strategy is aimed at creating whatever conditions they need. Figuring out what it's about is the main overall plot obstacle right now. We're not used to the US military ever changing its strategy and tactics after being defeated. But in principle intelligent aliens might. I think in fictional universe terms, the developments make sense. 

 

Upon reflection, namely rewatching as much as I could, Noah Wyle morphing into Bob Crane grated a lot more. As doubtful as the precedents for Isabel/Adria/Shifu are, the Ghost is just kind of bad, I think.

Edited June 23, 2014 by sjohnson

[Bishop]

I thought the season premiere was very good.  Kept my interest throughout, and the opening was great.  I think the show has to keep upping the ante, and it makes sense to me that if the Aspheni have been conquering planets for hundreds of years, it would make sense that they would assimilate all different species and then corrupt them to do their bidding, much like the humans.  So to see them with all these different weapons and technologies makes sense to me.  I do like that the characters are split up because it drives all separate stories.  I don't like the time jumps all the time, but so far, I think the premiere opened well.  I'm definitely interested in the next episode.

[iMonrey]

Well at least they fixed Matt's hair. That's all I've got until I re-watch. Confused at this point.

[Chaos Theory]

The Nazi Kids story doesn't bother me, I actually like that particular brand of story.  Even though the show is a bit of a mess the only story I outright do not like is the Lexie one.  I hate the cult storyline.  I don't know it just bothers me in a way I cannot explain.    The other stories I can deal with mostly because this show is what it is.  .  

[Iamsweetdee]

I thought the show was bad the first season and I see I still have the same opinion. Tom as the viligant was just embarrassing. I'm already sick of Anne. How did she become the leader when Anthony was right there the entire time? Oh yeah, plot calls for Mason's and their SO's to run the show. I guess the only redeeming thing I saw was....well, I have to think a little harder on that one.

[ParadoxLost]

They are relying on time jumps too much. What makes it worse is that they are abandoning the previous story before it feels done. Or perhaps more accurately they are doing a bait and switch and setting up things in the finale that seem promising and then jump over the part I was looking forward to and set up a confusing New premise to be explored during the season. Only I'm too bored to pay attention and become unconfused. And I've learned not to expect any payoff.

I think I'm going to go back to binging the show once the season is done and think of them as loosely related miniseries.

[Kristen]

They were starting to lose me last season, but I stuck with the show because I was either hopeful that they'd turn it around (not that it was every *great*, but I was along for the ride), stubborn or just an idiot. I only made it halfway through this episode. Guru Lexi and alien Hitler Youth? Over it.

[mythoughtis]

Did I miss something?  didn't last season end with the Masons separated from the 2nd mass in search of Anne and Lexie, who was an infant going on six?  Now, all of a sudden, they are back with the group and nearing Charleston.. and Lexie is still six?   4 months later, she is an adult.  Anne, who lost her first husband and child without turning all warrish, is leading  the 2nd mass? Maggie has turned into Suzy Homemaker, Lourdes is babysitter deluxe, Hitler has arrived, the Volm are useless.  Only Pope is still the same as ever?  What a mess of an episode.  Why can't the writers LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE. 

[Latverian Diplomat]

They seem to keep making major adjustments to the show, and nothing quite works and not much sticks.

 

The major Espheni project of the last few seasons failed. They came up with another way to keep the Volm off Earth (counterattacking a more important--to the Vo--target). But we still don't know what they wanted with Earth in the first place. Everything they were doing in this episode was things they could have been doing all along. Why start these major shifts in strategy vs. the humans now?

 

Lexi as hybrid/chosen one/super-being is going to be very tiresome.

 

On a nerdier note, it was not stated but one could suspect that neither the Volm nor the Espheni had FTL, which would have been a nice change of pace, interstellar war in slow motion. But the abruptness of the Volm about face seems to imply that both sides do. . 

[shapeshifter]

I'm going with Lexi-ville being a dream-induced state that Lexi has generated to allow the kids to...IDK...sleep? Heal? Hybernate?

Edited June 24, 2014 by shapeshifter

[maraleia]

Well at least they didn't kill off Denny. I was afraid that they would just dump another black character like they've done in the past.

[Iamsweetdee]

Well at least they didn't kill off Denny. I was afraid that they would just dump another black character like they've done in the past.

You just don't know how hard I was searching for her! I guess that is the one redeeming aspect of the show for me. She lives!

[xyzzy]

I like my sci-fi shows to be just a little bit sly when referencing other things, be they true or fictional events. One of my major complaints about this show, from the very first season, is that I always feel as if the writers don't trust me to make fairly simple connections. Do they really think that the average viewer can't be trusted to identify the parallels between the Nazi Youth and the Espheni Youth without the ham-handed costumes and "aryan" features of the leader?

 

Like many others here, I too have a huge problem with the decision to split up the Second Mass and tell the various portions of the "new" story through the eyes of its former members. The first episode was far too ambitious and the effort to fit some of the characters into their new plot arcs left them unrecognizable. Maggie's drinking the Kool-Aid? Anne could barely walk up a hill in the opening shot, but four months later she's a Billy Badass resistance leader to whom actual former members of the military defer even though she's doing a terrible job? Weaver is falling apart?

 

Nope. Didn't like this at all.

[Alison]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who was totally confused while watching this. It felt like giant chunks of the show had been edited out and we were watching an unfinished cut sent to Spielberg.

[Morrigan2575]

Felt like a giant retooling went on during the off season, almost as if this was a totally different show, it was very weird to watch.

 

Can someone help me out?  I must have tuned out really early but I saw a comment on spoiler.tv that someone was going to sleep with a 16 year old...I'm guessing Ben.  Who?  Maggie?  Lourdes? 

 

I'm honestly not sure I'll be tuning in for the rest of the season, I wasn't all that interested in S3 and now this is like Bizarro Falling Skies...not sure if it's worth the effort.

[BungalowSummer]

I have to admit, I've never been that attentive a viewer with Falling Skies, but I enjoyed it enough to catch most of the episodes. However, this season opener has had the opposite effect of drawing me back into the world of the 2nd Mass.

 

It was weirdly arbitrary in setting up what's happened to the characters. They spent three seasons showing us how the Ispheny take over planets. Truth be told, despite the heroic efforts of the Masons, the Ispheny should have wiped the floor with every surviving human and be enjoying their new planet by now. That reminds me, has it ever been explained precisely what the Ispheny want with Earth? I don't even remember.

 

Now, because humans are just that awesome, the Ispheny have a new playbook with Hitler Youth reeducation camps, Warsaw Ghettoes, and the human/who-knows-what hybrid is playing guru in a bubble.

 

I understand this was a setup episode for the season, but where do they think they're going? The only urgency I saw was from Anne looking for her creepy kid and Weaver freaking out. Cochise is predicting extinction, and Tom is all, "Meh, don't you like us anymore?"

[AV8n]

In an earlier season, Tom is told that the Espheni have been studying humans for a long time (decades or centuries I think).  So it kinda makes sense that they would see the Hitler Youth and think "Hey, that's effective!" and model their program after that.

It does beg the question of just how many humans do they intend to keep around.  If they intended to annihilate every last one, why the ghettoes and youth camps?  But we saw with the harnessed kids that they needed laborers.  Because apparently the mechs can't be repurposed for building stuff after they've killed everyone.  Apparently advanced technology isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[iMonrey]

 

They are relying on time jumps too much. What makes it worse is that they are abandoning the previous story before it feels done. Or perhaps more accurately they are doing a bait and switch and setting up things in the finale that seem promising and then jump over the part I was looking forward to and set up a confusing New premise to be explored during the season. Only I'm too bored to pay attention and become unconfused. And I've learned not to expect any payoff.

 

I wonder if they expected the previous season to be the last. There was a definite finality to it since they successfully took on the Eshpheni with the help of the Volm, and then it looked like the Volm were just going to take over the fight for the humans and relocate them somewhere safe. Now it's like someone hit the re-set button and the humans are basically back to square one WRT the Espheni. They may be struggling now just to keep the story going.

[Bishop]

I think splitting up the 2nd Mass is smart, and frankly, last season was the problem.  This season premiere was ten times better than last season.  The Volm never worked for me because we were denied the opportuntiy to see that relationship play out on screen.  Tom was suddenly President (even though I think he would make a great President) felt like it came out of nowhere - and it did.  I never really bought his friendship with Chochise because again, I never saw that relationship develop.  This season premiere is so much better because Tom wasn't all polite with Chochise.  He was more direct, even rude, like Tom would have been in seasons one and two.  He wanted answers, didn't care if Chochise's guys had to wait until they finished talking.

 

Why does splitting up the 2nd Mass work for me?  Because when they are together, the stories revolve around one single story.  Ben's stories revolve around his father and brothers.  Same with Hal.  Same with Matt.  Same with Anne.  By dividing the story, Ben has to navigate his story alone, not with his father or his brother's help.  That allows Ben to grow as a character, and for me to actually see it happen.  The same is true of Matt.  I am not as big a fan of Matt's, but at least he's being forced to stand on his own two feet.  Anne's behavior was a bit out of left field for me, her sudden warrior persona, but then I remembered that she already lost one child.  So losing Lexi is gong to push her to do things she would never do.  I am also liking the Hal/Tector relationship.  Last, I am loving the return of Tom Mason.  I felt like Tom Mason from the end of Season two was COMPLETELY different at the start of season three, and he was.  Last night, he was proactive, focused, determined, and although the vigilante thing is a bit out there, I can buy it.  It allows him to gather intelligence without people knowing it's him (or that he's getting out) while also maintaining some order, which is something Tom would do.

 

As for the story itself, I think it's actually been well constructed if people are familiar with the first three seasons.  When the Ashpeni Overlord first captured Tom, he told him that they had studied their history.  He started telling Tom about many of the horrific things humanity has done, and Tom told him that he shouldn't cherry pick their worst moments.  My point being that the Aspheni knows about the Warsaw Ghetto, concentration camps, and Nazi Youth camps and how it served their purpose to the psychotics that were the Nazi party.  So basically, the Ashpeni are using humanity's history against them.  That's smart.  Why reinvent the wheel for mass extermination?  Then I asked myself, why are they trying to indoctrinate human children instead of just killing them or harnessing them?  Both the Aspheni and the Skitters have stated that the spirit of humans is unlike anything they've seen, and that their resistance was much stronger than they anticipated.  Even the Volm said as much.  So my guess is that the Aspheni don't want to harness humans because it just makes them drones.  Instead, they want the humans to retain all their human traits in order to make them good fighters but also make them completely loyal to the Aspheni.  Human fighters would be more effective than Skitter fighters.  Imagine Tom Mason or Captain Weaver or Ben or Tector with all of their human faculties, their drive, tenacity, ingenuity, but completely loyal to the Aspheni?  That's what I think.  Why are they keeping the adult humans alive?  Breeding purposes until the younger kids are indoctrinated and can multiply.  Again just a theory.

 

I find this season premiere tens times better than last year, and I'm kind of glad the Volm are going to recede into the background.  It's not as compelling if the Volm and the Aspheni are evenly matched.  It's much more interesting with the humans against the Aspheni, trying to outsmart and outfight them.  THAT is a story I am enjoying watching and that's a return to seasons one and two.  Season three was the season that was disjointed and all over the place, not really cohesive.  The fourth season has just started, but I was glued for the premiere and I can't wait for the next episode.  I didn't feel that way after season three's premiere. 

 

Lastly, the only part I'm not completely sold on is Lexi.  Why do they always have to have the half-alien hybrid that ages much faster?  I am intrigued with her story, however . What did she mean when she told Ben that there are "three of us?"  Her, Ben, and who else?  Is she answering to an Ashpeni overloard?  I hope not because we already did Karen.  I liked her, but her story ran it's course.  

 

I don't think Falling Skies is struggling.  If anything, it's much more interesting than last year.  If anyone is interested in discussing the premiere I'd love to hear some theories.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Bishop

[Iamsweetdee]

Nah, I'm familiar with the first three seasons (sometimes I think to my detriment) and still don't find the story well constructed.

[Bishop]

Nah, I'm familiar with the first three seasons (sometimes I think to my detriment) and still don't find the story well constructed.

Which part?  It's only the first episode.  So the story construct has barely been revealed. It's fine that people may not like it, but in comparison to season three, it's much better.  I mean, the season premiere shows Tom as President, and Weaver has his second-in-command when season two ended with them as equals about to leave Charleston.  Then Tom is best buds with Chochise.  Then there's a mole.  Then eye worms are infecting everyone.  Then Anne gets pregnant (why I will NEVER understand.  They could have filmed around her pregnancy).  Season three was the worst, but I still enjoyed watching it.  I still love the concept of the show, the characters, and the actors.  It's not a terrible show for me.  I really like it, and I don't take it so seriously (not saying you do).  

 

I am curious to see how the rest of the season holds up, but so far, I'm hooked.  It's funny because last season, my brother and I were confused about the stop and starts of the show, and this time, we both loved it.  It has its flaws of course, but much better than last year.  

[sjohnson]

Back when it started I thought that logical problems with the whole concept of space war would take their toll. Either they are advanced enough that it's a question what they would want with Earth or people. (And somebody who can travel to another star system would have to be incredibly advanced.) If they are so advanced, there's no way the humans could win unless the aliens weren't seriously trying. Or, if the aliens aren't so advanced, and would want Earth for resources and power, then they couldn't plausibly get here in the first place. And if a few managed to get here, they would be short on resources and manpower and at the end of an impossibly long supply line. That is, doomed to lose. 

 

Falling Skies has never solved the space war problem. The writers may not even really be aware there is one. But four seasons in, not having an intelligible motive for the Espheni is damaging their characterizations. They may be off-screen villains to save on the FX but they still need reasons. Falling Skies saving grace for me has always been simply a better level of execution, rather than its intelligence in re-working old SF tropes. 

[LittleIggy]

Oy, I was hoping for the 2nd Mass to go out into the hinterlands and do some guerrilla warfare. Nope. More blasted cityscape stuff. Lexi should have been smothered at birth.

[ganesh]

A time jump in a season premiere is what you do when you've written yourself into a corner in the prior finale. I get that you can't plan out every minute of your show run, but you need a bible and some kind of framework for the show.

 

Never in the history of anything has anyone ever said, "I can't wait to see what happens with the forced aged baby plot. I wonder if she has special powers. That would be cool." No it's not. Ever. It's one thing to have a show with aliens because we can believe that aliens really exist. It's one thing to have advanced tech. We have drones, they have robots; same thing. Energy weapons are plausible. But when you force grow the baby you're using magic. And if the tech is so advanced that it's magic, you blow out the suspension of disbelief. Just don't do it! This was actually a planned pregnancy too on the show. Which means they planned on the force growth. Who thinks this is a good idea?

 

And 45 seconds in, Hal and Maggie were already making me roll my eyes.

 

Maybe this is all a dream of his. The war-free China town, that is, not the whole thing.

 

I'm having a hard time with this because the baby growth into a blonde chick is so jarring that it's got to be some kind of simulation. *That* I can buy. They also used it on Tom too. 

 

Part of it was having everyone off or in groups, doing their things.

 

This is a tough thing to pull off with a short season because things have to happen fast to get the group back together at the expense of plot. I don't think Tom and Weaver should have been separated from Hal, et al. There's only 40 minutes of show and separating *everyone* seems difficult. 

 

For a species that already had an extremely effective way of ensuring obedience--the harness--and that last I knew wanted to explicitly use human children as eventually-transformed slave labor, their resorting to simple reeducation, seemingly without any other aids, made negative sense.

 

 

This isn't so bad. You figure there's finite harnesses to go around, and you have some people like Ben who can survive without them. Plus, they weren't expecting this much resistance. As it was said, they already have been studying Earth history and it's a good idea to try. You don't need harnesses now.

 

I hate the cult storyline. 

 

Cult storylines usually involve smart people behaving stupidly for the plot, cf. Maggie. I can buy that she's sticking around for Ben to wake up, but she's too chill. They could have just easily had her been very war-weary, and "fuck it, no one is shooting at me and I don't have to sleep with one eye open, so let's see how this plays out." 

 

But we still don't know what they wanted with Earth in the first place.

 

I thought they said they needed the raw materials and wanted to use it as a staging area for the Big Space War.

 

On a nerdier note, it was not stated but one could suspect that neither the Volm nor the Espheni had FTL, which would have been a nice change of pace, interstellar war in slow motion. But the abruptness of the Volm about face seems to imply that both sides do.

 

Cochise said that he's never seen his home planet, so they may have implied that this was the case. But there's no cluster near by that they can just hop over to and then hop back here. Also there's the issue of FTL communication for them to know that there's a problem over at the cluster.

 

Falling Skies has never solved the space war problem.

 

I thought Cochise tried to explain this to Tom. I remember something about a flower. But this is a symptom of a larger problem. TPTBs just haven't done sufficient world-building. And I don't think they have a show bible, which is just ludicrous to me in this era of tv watching. I get that telling the show from the 2nd Mass POV means the viewers aren't privy to all the big picture, but TPTB have to know these things for the show to work. And they don't because you'd have a lot more dissemination of information as the 2nd Mass went South. Similarly, you'd have that with the Volm. They have to have intel on the planet. I don't mean that we have to know what the harnesses are exactly made of, but the broad strokes need to be there and either discovered by the characters or through the Volm. Some guy from Jo-berg pops up in the ghetto and says he's been all over the world and no one asks him 50 billion questions? He's got nothing to say? At all?

 

This show started out as trying to be realistic - or as realistically as a show involving aliens can be - and has devolved into familiar sci-fi tropes.

 

This really could have been avoided from the start. What show do we want to tell? How do we tell it? I don't think they really know. 

[shapeshifter]

The time jump alone makes sense because the Mason boys actors will have grown and matured in the time between the wrap of one season and time that the new season is ready to shoot.

But what @ganesh said about the rapidly aging alien baby that nobody wants to see ever again.

Star child = shark to jump over

[ganesh]

Eh, but I'm skeptical that was the primary motivation more than TPTBs painted themselves into a corner and are using the time jump to cover up. They really should have structured the past season better to *end* with the time jump and get us to this point. *Then* kick off the season. 

[Bishop]

I don't think the time jump is  a big deal nor does it mean that they don't have a plan.  In fact, I recall in season one or two reading that they (Beeman) do have a show bible and know exactly how they want to tell the story.  (I also don't think it helps to have five showrunners in four years.)  I think the time jump from season two to season three was far more problematic because by the time they came back for season three, everything had changed (Tom being President, Chochise was an established fixture in Charleston, etc), and we were never allowed to get to know the Volm the way the 2nd Mass did.  That to be was a big mistake.  TIme jumps are common.  Heck, even The Last Ship had a four month time jump to move the story along.  I think the premiere was fine with the time jump because did I really need to see Tom and Weaver get taken prisoner and put in cells and Tom trying to find his sons?  Did I need to see Anne go from calm mother to obsessed warrior?  I didn't.  The time jump had a much bigger impact in season three, imo.  

 

If anything, I think show is fixing problems from season three.  Among them:  1) getting rid of the eye worms.  They were a great (and gory) addition in season two, but they were old by season three.  When Tom first had one, it was gripping and terrifying.  It was good when Hal had one, but by the time Lourdes had them, I was over it.  So I'm glad they've removed them from the plot - at least for now; 2) getting rid of Charleston as their "home."  The 2nd Mass is at its best when its on the move.  Watching them in their own private suites with beds and in chow-lines took away from the drama of what they were fighting for me.  I like when they are tired and filthy, like they've been through a struggle; and 3) removing the Volm.  I think the idea of having them is a good one, but they introduced them too quickly.  If the Volm are powerful and the Aspheni are powerful, then the human beings become less important.  That was also a mistake.  Removing the Volm from the show, but leaving a number of recon teams works for me.  It allows the Volm to assist, but the human factor is the one that dominates.Now the show is back to basics.  I don't think the show is writing themselves into a corner or don't know where they want to go, I don't agree.  If anything, season three slowed down the momentum of the show, and season four is getting it back.  I'm already interested in what happens to Tom and Weaver, to Ben, to Matt, to Ann, etc.  Last year, there really wasn't any of that kind of focus.

 

The show Falling Skies wants to tell is a simple one:  What would you do if aliens invaded?  It's that simple.  It's the reason I like the show because with all its flaws, FS still manages to show the struggle of being oppressed by an invading force and to do it as realistically possible.  I think it provides a realistic view of the struggle but gets other things wrong (alien baby).  Is it perfect?  Of course not, but it's entertaining.  It holds my attention.  I didn't find the premiere confusing at all.  Don't get that criticism.  It also looks like the stories will move more quickly

based on the fact that in coming attractions, the 2nd Mass is already reunited with various members of the group.  So it's not like we are going to languish in prisons and indoctrination camps.  The story is going to move.

 

I'm excited to see next week's episode.  

Edited June 25, 2014 by Bishop

[shrewd.buddha]

The show Falling Skies wants to tell is a simple one:  What would you do if aliens invaded?  It's that simple.

 

But we still don't know what they wanted with Earth in the first place.

 

It seems to me that the Aliens came to Earth just to screw with the Mason family -- specifically, Tom Mason. The focus of the alien invasion follows Tom wherever he goes, from MA to SC and back again. All the alien leaders want to talk/negotiate with him. The rebel Skitter with the Red Eye, Skittacus , tries to get Tom to help. Then the Volm resistance force finds and works with Tom and his group.

 

Like V and its ilk, that's the problem with these global invasion shows - they aren't very global. I know that Falling Skies is a "starring Noah Wyle" show and that traditional story telling says we need a central character's POV to make things easier ... but it would be nice to have some acknowledgement of a larger world. If the producers want to split the show into different groups, why not use that as an opportunity to show what is happening on the west coast, or Europe, .. or Vancouver? 

Edited June 25, 2014 by shrewd.buddha

[ganesh]

In fact, I recall in season one or two reading that they (Beeman) do have a show bible and know exactly how they want to tell the story.  (I also don't think it helps to have five showrunners in four years.)

 

I'm highly skeptical because I just don't see much of a directed narrative over the 3 seasons. However, the constant change of showrunners sure doesn't help. If they do know what story they are telling, I wish they would show me because the direction of the show is murky at best. I also think it was a colossal blunder to introduce a baby into the storyline.

 

I'm not opposed to time jumps. My point is the timing and directed use of it. The way they left last season to now? There's a *lot* left on the table. Between the end of last season and now could have been a whole season's worth of events. This ghetto storyline isn't that bad; however, they used the time jump to basically reset the show. 

 

 

Like V and its ilk, that's the problem with these global invasion shows - they aren't very global. I know that Falling Skies is a "starring Noah Wyle" show and that traditional story telling says we need a central character's POV to make things easier ... but it would be nice to have some acknowledgement of a larger world. If the producers want to split the show into different groups, why not use that as an opportunity to show what is happening on the west coast, or Europe, .. or Vancouver?

This is what I mean by the lack of world building. I'm doubtful they have a bible in this sense. If you know your world, this isn't that hard to do. And we've been asking these questions since the show started. I don't need to be spoonfed everything, but you can hint and glimpse at the larger world. The Walking Dead actually does ok in this sense. There's good common ground here. It's a show about Rick, but as they travel, they meet other people and learn a little about the outside world. The main group has been split up a few times, but it's not 5 different groups, it's 3. And, they learn about the outside world. It's not impossible to do. TWD has the benefit of the source material, but that's what a bible is. Not that Falling Skies needs to write a graphic novel for each season, but they should be saying "what is the state of the world at S2? what does that look like?" 

 

For a very simple story, they're kind of fucking it up because they've been so weak on the world building. Which again, being told from Tom's POV he's not going to be all knowing, but being who his is, seeking out intel should be one of the most important things to do. *No one* in the 2nd Mass was assigned to intel? We had one guy on a radio and that was it. 

[Bishop]

It seems to me that the Aliens came to Earth just to screw with the Mason family -- specifically, Tom Mason. The focus of the alien invasion follows Tom wherever he goes, from MA to SC and back again. All the alien leaders want to talk/negotiate with him. The rebel Skitter with the Red Eye, Skittacus , tries to get Tom to help. Then the Volm resistance force finds and works with Tom and his group. 

 

 

I don't agree.  The story is simply focusing on the 2nd Mass specifically.  It's been stated several times by different characters, including Cochise on Sunday's episode that there are other camps, other Aspheni, other Volm dispersed throughout the globe.  The story of FS simply focuses, specifically on the 2nd Mass.  Throw in that the 2nd Mass, and Tom in particular, has been a thorn in the side of the East Coast Aspheni contingent, it makes sense that they would seek to stop him.  ALSO, they changed Ben genetically, which makes it personal for both Tom and Ben.  Now Lexi is part alien, and if they are using her to help defeat the humans, how would Tom Mason and his family not be involved.

 

The reason the Volm made contact with Tom Mason and the 2nd Mass is because they brought down the weapon that allowed the Volm to penetrate the Aspheni defenses.  Granted, it's convenient storytelling, but FS is being told from the perspective of the Mason family.  This does not mean that the entire alien invasion is about them, only that one piece of the story, those fighting on the east coast is being told from their perspective - from the Aspheni they meet, from the Skitters they meet, etc.  The reason the Mason family got roped into the Aspheni storyline is because they harnessed both Ben and Karen.  Karen became a mouthpiece for the Aspheni in that specific region, and since she was close to the Mason family, tried to manipulate them.  This put Tom in close proximity to her overlord.  Ben, as a mutating human, bonded with a Skitter (Red Eye) who also witnessed the human tenacity when he was on the Aspheni ship.  None if this proves that the entire invasion is focused on the Masons.  It's one small faction being told in a compressed story.  Cochise said that there were these ghetto camps all over the world, and I'm sure there are tons of stories being told there, but that's not what FS focuses on.  It's focusing on the 2nd Mass as told through the eyes of the Mason family and a few other characters.  Doesn't the Walking Dead do the same, another favorite of mine?  It's one group of survivors trying to survive a ZA.  It doesn't mean that no other groups are fighting to survive, only that the story is being told from their perspective and with their characters.

 

 

 

 I'm not opposed to time jumps. My point is the timing and directed use of it. The way they left last season to now? There's a *lot* left on the table. Between the end of last season and now could have been a whole season's worth of events.

But what's been left on the table?  Season three ended with the 2nd Mass leaving Boston and heading back to Charleston to rebuild a resistance group.

 

I don't see how world building helps the show because that just means we need more time to tell bigger stories.  The show was only ten episodes long.  That is way too short to tell a story about alien invaders that includes a world story, as much as I would love that to happen.  They added two more episodes, which I'm grateful for, but I don't want the show to get so big because then you have more characters to introduce and service.  I think the writers should fully explain why the Aspheni are waging war, but I can guess that's it for universal domination since they do this to all planets, not just earth.  For now, that is sufficient for me, although of course, i would love a better explanation.  I just don't think it hurts FS to not know know those details.  would it make the storytelling richer?  Of course, but again, I'm only getting 12 episodes.  I see a lot of potential with this new season after watching the premiere.  We got more action, the 2nd Mass acting in character at least (Tom, Weaver, Hal, Matt, Ann, and Ben refusing to yield).  Maggie may be drugged since Lourdes seems 'out there,' and I don't trust Lexi.  I think the premiere worked well because it set a very nice table for stories - something it failed to do with season three's premiere.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Bishop

[NurseGiGi]

After last season I decided I had enough and wasn't going to watch season 4 but my DVR had other plans.  I almost deleted the episode without watching but decided WTH, I'll give it a go.  I just watched and was thinking WTF did I just watch and thought I would come here to see if I could make sense of it.

 

I don't know where to begin. Yes, I do.  The rapidly maturing child with God-like powers has already worn out it's welcome and this in the first episode.  I thought at first Ben had gotten hit in the head and was in a coma and dreaming but no, it's really happening.

 

I like this Tom Mason a lot better than President Mason and I am curious to see what happens there.  

 

I'm just confused.  Maybe I need to rewatch the episode because there's obviously something I missed.  Or maybe I'm just shocked that it's such a departure from the direction the show seemed to be taking.  

[Bishop]

After last season I decided I had enough and wasn't going to watch season 4 but my DVR had other plans.  I almost deleted the episode without watching but decided WTH, I'll give it a go.  I just watched and was thinking WTF did I just watch and thought I would come here to see if I could make sense of it.

 

I don't know where to begin. Yes, I do.  The rapidly maturing child with God-like powers has already worn out it's welcome and this in the first episode.  I thought at first Ben had gotten hit in the head and was in a coma and dreaming but no, it's really happening.

 

I like this Tom Mason a lot better than President Mason and I am curious to see what happens there.  

 

I'm just confused.  Maybe I need to rewatch the episode because there's obviously something I missed.  Or maybe I'm just shocked that it's such a departure from the direction the show seemed to be taking.  

I completely agree with you regarding Lexi, but the rest I thought was good.  What did you find confusing (just for conversation sake)?  I think the departure was that the Volm were removed, which may have surprised people, but I think it was a smart redirection.  I mean do we really want to watch the Volm and Aspheni do all the fighting?  What does that leave for the humans, who have no formidable technology to fight them, do?  The Volm were a mistake, introduced too quickly, and I think the writers were smart to put the brakes on that.  The Volm can return when the human resistance need them to help complete the final eradication of the Aspheni from earth (if the show goes in that direction).

 

I guess I'm in the minority in that I love that the characters are split up.  I like that I can watch Ben have his own story.  I want to learn more about him and what motivates him, and maybe Lexi is going to be written in a less cliche way, but she doesn't ruin things for me.  Ben is the one I'm focused on in that story.  I'm also glad that Maggie is in his story because I think Hal and Maggie ran their course, and there are already cracks in that relationship.  Last season, Hal was hinting at a white-picket fence life for them, and Maggie was less than engaged over it.  They are both good people but I don't think they work - ultimately - as a good pairing.  I also like watching Hal interact with Tector.  Those two are fun together, and it some ways, it gives Hal a big brother figure to play off of.  Matt has never been a particularly interesting character for me, but FS did introduce the fact that the Aspheni are interested in the children.  So I can see why the writers chose this story angle for him.  Lastly, I am loving Tom breaking out of that mold they stuck him in last season, especially the first half as President.  I enjoyed him much more the second half when he was proactive and on the move again, but I missed him being teamed with Weaver.  That's also been corrected now.  The only character that annoyed me was Pope.  He never changes.  He's just always selfish and always blaming Tom for his problems.  Nobody put a gun to his head to come with the 2nd Mass.  I'm hoping we get some character growth from Pope this season.  

 

Also, did anyone notice that the big guy in Pope's group (don't know his name) got fried on the electrical fence when he was running with Matt?  That was nasty cool.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Bishop