Falling Skies

Falling Skies recently debuted in the UK and at least for my part was eagerly anticipated. How engaging was it? How interesting and gripping? Well to give you an idea of the scope of its impact, while watching the 60 minute premier, I did the following things: fed my dog, balanced my checking account, retweeted links about kittens and baby giraffes, answered some work email, looked through the next week’s TV guide for interesting finds and began writing a review of something entirely different. This is what you would call a FAILURE in getting my interest.

Set in post alien invasion where all the human armies were decimated and capital cities obliterated, humans are forced to fight guerilla style for their survival against the badass aliens and their machinery. Not everyone confronted by aliens dies, some get a spinal back brace made of metals and alien parts that seem to make them hypnotized (and forced removal ends in death). The humans have to stay on the move, looking for supplies and trying to get a fighting advantage. The show follows Professor Tom Mason (played by ER alum Noah Wyle) who is a bookworm and has studied war tactics throughout the millennia. He and his 2 (or is it 3?) sons as well as his brother are all that’s left of their family.

Sounds promising, right? So where did it fall short? Let’s have a look at three ways Falling Skies just doesn’t cut the mustard.

1. Cliché Character Central
The central character (Wyle) is the only character remotely interesting. As for the rest, the appearance of these typical cliché characters had me rolling my eyes. Among others, there was the hothead brother, the crusty and hard-nosed military leader, a smart yet pretty young female doctor, smart-ass kids, a kind older couple (how did they outrun the aliens?) who drive their campervan and are surrogate grandparents. Don’t forget the 2 young  black guys who bring a bit of urban hip-hop to the dialogue (this stereotype is rather disturbing, kind of like those two Transformers who are “down” with the urban scene). If the characters are simply carbon-copies of countless programs before it, you lose credibility, at least with me.

2. Anyone else having a bad case of déjà vu?
I love a good sci-fi program, one where there are cool weapons, excellent special effects and where lots of sh&t blows up, but when it comes to Falling Skies, I’ve seen this allllll before. It’s an uninspired remix of War of the Worlds, Independence Day and The Walking Dead. 

3. Can anything ever come of this?
This point of disappointment isn’t actually the fault of Falling Skies. It’s fatigue…mine to be exact. As in the aforementioned point, I love these kinds of shows but at some stage I realize there can never be any satisfaction. The aliens can never be beaten (until final episode). So what’s the point, I wonder? Why do I want to go through the stress every week of the grim decimation of the human race when I know it’ll be the same thing every week? It’s the same with The Walking Dead (though that show has developed characters who make it worth watching, at least the 1st season), V (I really liked this show until I realized it’s the same damn thing every week). Note: only Battlestar Gallactica managed to avoid this fate. I tuned in every week for that show because of the amazing writing and deeper themes despite the stress of it.

Although Falling Skies may remain on the DVR schedule (I have to have something on while I’m writing for my blog, cleaning the house or paying bills), I’m afraid it will never really hold my interest or make me really care what happens.