Falling Skies

Falling Skies

Episode 6: Homecoming

By: Carlos Uribe

Falling Skies is a show about the human resistance against an alien invasion force-months after they wiped out most of humanity.

Spoilers Ahoy!

In the first season, there was probably only one episode that I felt was good and that it was the first time I liked the show since the trailer. Since that episode, the series has gone back to it's middling problems and has remained relatively dull. This is the first episode since “Silent Kill” where not only did I enjoy it from beginning to end, despite it's problems, but one where I actually liked the specific episode. I'm not under any delusion that this show has fixed it's problems-especially since this episode suffers from many of the same criticisms I've been lobbying. This episode is superior than the rest of the series simply because I was able to have a fun time, making a lot of the narrative and character issues to become tolerable. This is the kind of episode that Falling Skies should always be delivering at it's weakest, instead of this being Falling Skies at it's best. This is the show that I signed up for-it's not to the level of quality that I would like, but at least it's to level of entertainment that I seek. This is all to state that this is my favorite episode of Falling Skies by far. This isn't exactly high praise-it isn't that hard to be my favorite episode since you just have to ensure you leave out dull scenes-but it's at least something.

This was an episode that featured the return of three characters. The first is Karen. She's appeared in the series since she has been captured, usually to speak for nearby skitters. She was Hal's love interest up until the point where she was harnessed. If you're a regular viewer who doesn't tune into the Great Escape to watch the previews and doesn't go to spoiler websites like TV Line, then her return must have been a surprise. Regardless of what you knew beforehand, there is no way that the viewer should have trusted Karen. She may have acted like her old self, but her reappearance was too shady. It's revealed by the end of the episode that she's actually here to take Ben, due to his involvement in the skitter rebellion. This was a largely good story and I was relatively satisfied with it. What's best is that this meant that something actually happened-Karen returned and took Ben with her into a trap. This felt like the plot was actually moving. It feels like there is some actual narrative momentum and there is even a bit of tension. The other character to return is Pope (and the third being the guy who left with him) but he largely serves his purpose of telling the 2^nd Mass that Karen was here to take Ben, but the warning came too late.

There was also a large plot that put Weaver's life in danger. At first, I was wondering if the show was actually going to kill him off. As saving his life became more and more of a concentrated effort by the characters, it became obvious that Weaver was going to make it. Why was Weaver's life in danger? That's because the harness that bit him a couple episode back had implanted some kind of parasite into him. This parasite took a while, but it started to really weaken Weaver's health. What was good about this plot is that the show was merely hinting at it, and then it surprised the viewer when it suddenly became more serious. It felt like the show had slowly been building up to this plot and it felt like the show actually earned it. This also meant that by the end of the episode, it felt like more than just Karen and Ben's plot had any movement, but also Weaver's recovery felt more significant. This was a pretty well-handled plot.

It also put Tom in charge of the 2^nd Mass and he seemed to be overwhelmed by the position. There is a part of me that thinks that the real reason Tom wanted to save Weaver so badly was because Tom didn't want the responsibilities of being the leader. He had to deal with a fuel crisis, a food shortage, Karen's return, Pope's return, Weaver's condition, and there is apparently an ammo shortage. It's good that the series is continuing to take the camp's lack of provisions seriously, and I don't give the show credit there, and it was nice for Tom to step into Weaver's shoes for once. In my opinion, the show should be preparing Tom to eventually replace Weaver's leadership position.

So what were the problems? There were some narrative issues that remained. It doesn't feel like this is an episode that took place right after the last one, with Ben telling Matt that he was leaving, but that it took place a while after. Pope's return was a big one, but we have no idea what he was really doing and he just disappeared from the viewers for too long. It feels like the series wants to keep the character in the show, but doesn't really know what to do with him. He only seemed to be in this episode to ensure that another plot gets developed properly. The episode might have had some tension with Ben and Karen, but it had little tension elsewhere. There should always be a feeling that the characters can get attacked at any time, and yet they're feeling complacent-as if it's been a long while since anyone last saw a skitter. This was an entertaining episode, but the series still has some issues that it needs to sort out.