Finally, a show that is able to take big time style movie themes and bring them to television without dumbing down the storyline and floating it down a river of watered down sets. This is not executive producer Steven Spielberg’s first trip down television road and the experiences he has under his belt have allowed him to dodge the less than benchmark standard. Falling skies begins shortly after an alien invasion which annihilated humans while zapping electronics out of use.
Now, survivors have formed resistance groups such as the 2nd Massachusetts Armaments. Weaver, a soldier leading the resistance, is front and center in charge on the front lines. His fierce hardcore approach to fighting the aliens leaves no room for soft-soaping their position. His empathy is only revealed when he protects the civilians in his care.
History teacher turned soldier, Tom Mason (Noah Wyle ) was widowed in the initial attacks. He uses his history knowledge of past military tactics to maneuver the combat charge against the aliens. Now he has to juggle his new duties in the line of civilian defense against the aliens with fatherhood. One son, Ben (Connor Jessup ), was captured by the aliens and hooked to a harness that keeps him in line while subjected to work enslaved incarceration. The minds of those captured have no connection to reality. They function as robots with no emotion. Hal Mason (Drew Roy ) is Tom’s son who fights side by side with his dad. His main goal is to find and rescue his brother from the aliens. Youngest son Matt Mason (Maxim Knight ), who is not ready for the front lines, is being schooled in what his future may be.
Anne Glass (Moon Bloodgood ) is a pediatrician who holds court with the children and helps them deal with the traumatic situation of survival. She is often summoned to attend to injured fighters as they return from a battle. Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel ) works in the makeshift clinic under the supervision of Glass.
John Pope (Colin Cunningham ) is the leader of an outlaw motorcycle gang that draws the attention of the resistance as well as the aliens. He has been able to kill several aliens which has given him the respect of his compadres. His intelligence ranks much higher than the rest of his group which keeps him in control but he is often in need of high level conversation.
Margaret (Sarah Carter ) was captured by Pope’s gang and through time became psychologically dependent on them for survival. After being initiated into the gang, she would fight alongside them against the aliens as well as anyone who stood in the way. After the resistance front line is captured by Pope, Margaret turns the tables and shoots two captures to help the resistance soldiers escape.
This is a male-themed show with a primarily male cast. The women seemed to be shifted into WWII mode with the men out fighting and protecting and the woman holding the fort down at home. Robert Rodat, the creator, only implements three women in the cast but he allows room for growth within all their characters. The science fiction fantasy genre has been attempting to penetrate mainstream television since Lost hit its stride with the flashes. Combining fantasy with military has been attempted previously with less than commendable reviews. TNT, together with Spielberg, could be just the combination to put the fans in front of their TV sets.
Wyle at times seems to be directed to play a role with little character. Tom Mason seems to be a mechanical person that cannot make decisions in the heat of the moment. He is a high school teacher who can recite the past almost verbatim but has little life experience to bring to the fight against the aliens. He does find as much solace in conversation with the motorcycle leader as John Pope does with him. This storyline has a great bit of potential for build and let down for both characters. They each have other responsibilities that can intertwine while their decisions could impact the other.
There is a back story between Tom and Weaver that has the potential to push the plot, and if written correctly will not hold it back. The dialogue in the first two episodes combines for a two hour premier that is less than great. The visuals are over the top excellent for television. There is a scene where one of the aliens is dying and the realism expressed on its face was expectantly real. The sets reflect everything needed for the show and become another character in itself. The music can be grouped in with the rest of television’s drama series. Some shows that employ the powerful such as Steven Spielberg are unwilling to make critical adjustments, thus they ride the coat tails into obscurity.
