While Terra Nova has gotten huge press – partly because of the scrubbing of its early premiere and partly because of a pretty spiffy trailer – Steven Spielberg’s other series, Falling Skies [TNT, Sundays, 9/8C] is coming off without a hitch, this weekend. And it’s really, really good!
In Falling Skies, not only have aliens invaded, they’ve pretty much decimated the planet. The two-hour premiere finds us Earthlings scrambling for survival. All the planet’s major cities have been destroyed and much of our populated is simply gone.
Outside of Boston, a group of survivors, called the 2nd Massachusetts for the army regiment that forms its only real defense, is struggling to stay alive with some semblance of civilization – this in spite of ongoing alien activity, a shortage of supplies and the need to find and maintain cover.
Led by 2nd Massachusetts commander, Captain Weaver [Will Patton] and civilian university history professor [with specialized knowledge of military history and tactics], Tom Mason [Noah Wylie], these survivors may have a better chance than most to stay alive.
The alien invasion has been especially hard on Mason – his wife was killed in the invasion; his middle son was captured by the aliens and harnessed [with an alien spinal implant that turns teens and tweens into a slave labor force]; his eldest, sixteen-year old Hal [Drew Roy], has had to become a soldier, and eight-year old Matt [Maxim Knight] is still bewildered by the whole thing.
There’s a pretty pediatrician, Anne Glass [Moon Bloodgood], who has become the survivors’ doctor – a job in which she loses herself to avoid face the tragic death of her only child – and a supporting cast totaling eighteen regular and recurring characters.
The aliens are an insectoid race the survivors refer as ‘Skitters’ for the way they scuttle about, and they have oversized, bipedal robotic warriors known as “mechs” who patrol alien held boundaries. Each of the destroyed cities is being covered by some kind of singular building, like a hive, maybe.
The six episodes made available to reviewers are smart, high-energy pieces of a larger, ongoing serial that has as much in common with AMC’s Walking Dead as the usual alien invasion tale. That would be the way the show focuses on character and gradually reveals the ways that people react to having been conquered by the Skitters – and the hows and whys of their resistance efforts.
Things are hard for the survivors because of more than just Skitters and Mechs. There’s a fatalist skinhead gang that figures since they’re doomed anyway, they might as well kill as many Skitters as they can and have as much fun as they can – though their idea of fun isn’t especially nice, even when other human beings are involved. Then there are the collaborators who figure they can stay relatively well off if they supply the Skitters with unsuspecting young slaves.
The premiere mostly provides the set-up and introduces the characters, while showing just how dangerous a simple thing like a trip to a supermarket is, now. There are complications: mistakes are made [children aren’t meant to be soldiers and don’t always make the right choices]; people die [a few eps in, a character we come to care about, for example]. Just the logistics of survival – finding and maintaining shelter; providing food and medical attention; schooling, and even simple socialization – are more than difficult.
Even with the situation being what it is, though, Falling Skies is not an emotional drag. Small victories generate hope and most of the people in the group find ways to bolster each other’s spirits. In that, the show is, again, similar to Walking Dead.
Generally speaking, over the first six episodes, the writing is extremely good [writers include series creator Robert Rodat, Justified’s Graham Yost and Battlestar Galactica’s Mark Verheiden] and the large cast is solid [Patton, Wyle and Bloodgood are consistently excellent]. The premiere moves well [Part 1 directed by Carl Franklin; Part 2 directed by Greg Beeman] – exposition is folded into the ongoing situation in ways that make it integral to the plot and not at all awkward.
Physically, the show is well done, too. The cinematography moves smoothly from the claustrophobic to the grand as required, and the effects – practical and CG – are better than average. The CG effects have a real weight and are integrated so seamlessly into the practical sets and locations that they feel right.
Falling Skies gives TNT further reason to trumpet their motto, ‘we know drama.’ If that other Spielberg series is half as good, it’ll be worth watching.
Final Grade: A
Photos by Ken Woroner/courtesy of TNT