Falling Skies 4.7: Massacre Indeed

Falling Skies 4.7 on Sunday was entitled "Saturday Night Massacre," and it was a massacre indeed, with at least two and maybe three major characters falling in one way or another.

Lourdes, loyal to a fault to Lexi, pays for that with her life, when she asks Lexi to make her life better. The blond hybrid's way of doing that is to kill Lourdes, making Lexi probably not the best person to approach when seeking spiritual guidance and healing.  So Seychelle Gabriel, who played Lourdes, is gone from Falling Skies like a sea shell on a windswept beach.

Next up for disposal is Dr. Kadar, played by Robert Sean Leonard, seen to such good effect on House for so many years.   Unfortunately, Anne's medical skills are not on a par with House's, and not up to the task of saving the cracked Kadar.

And then there's Maggie.  She's been one of my favorite characters on the series (well played by Sarah Carter), always willing to speak her mind, and, even more impressive, to change it with presented with new facts - reminiscent of John Maynard Keynes' quip, "when the facts change, I change my mind, what do you do, Sir?" - and I'd hate to see her go.   And, maybe we won't have to.  No one has pronounced her dead.  She's clearly stretched out in the rubble, injured and unconscious.   But when it comes to television deaths, I've learned over the years never to count someone out unless his or her head has been blown clean off, or a reliable character says the person in question is dead, even then ...  Think about Tony on 24.

So this is what Falling Skies has come to.   No real progress in the story line, and the only real interest now is seeing who dies and who does not.   Ah, if only we could be back in Massachusetts again, where this series began so well.

See also Falling Skies 4.1: Weak Start ... Falling Skies 4.2: Enemy of my Enemy ... Falling Skies 4.3: Still Falling ... Falling Skies 4.5: Cloudy

And see also Falling Skies 3.1-2: It's the Acting ... Falling Skies 3.3: The Smile ... Falling Skies 3.4: Hal vs. Ben ... Falling Skies 3.6: The Masons ...Falling Skies 3.7: The Mole and a Likely Answer ... Falling Skies 3.8: Back Cracked Home ... Falling Skies Season 3 Finale: Dust in Hand

And see also Falling Skies Returns  ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's Motives ... Falling Skies Second Season Finale

And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season

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The Blacklist 1.7: Natural Immunity

One of the best Blacklists on this past Monday, reminiscent of Fringe in its biological theme, which makes sense, given that J. R. Orci wrote it, and he was one of the best writers on Fringe.

I guessed that Barnes was out to get a cure for his son, as soon as it was clear that he was interested in the woman who survived his germ attack in the courtroom.  Spreading an almost instantly deadly illness - a hyped up version of what is afflicting his son - is a bit extreme, but makes good epidemiological sense.

Less understandable is why Lizzie killed him, rather than letting Barnes inject his son with the possible cure.  We saw at the end that she agonized about this decision, but for my money, not quite enough. But ethical quandaries and disagreement over decisions make for good television.   And it was good to see Robert Sean Leonard aka House's Wilson in the lead villainous role, and a nice couplet with the slightly deranged by good scientist he played on Revolution last year.

The show is still dancing around on whether Red is really Liz's father, and the coming attractions promise more  of this.  As I've indicated several times, it will almost be counter-climactic when we find out that he is, which makes me think that he isn't.  But if not, then what exactly is his relationship to Elizabeth?

And husband is still a question mark, which makes Elizabeth's lovey-doveying him disquieting.   All in all, The Blacklist is probably the edgiest show on television right now, with James Spader the perfect persona to carry this forward.

See also The Blacklist Debuts: Alias Meets Jay Z ... The Blacklist 1.2: Mysteries ... The Blacklist 1.3: Construction Site Heights ... The Blacklist 1.6: Truth and Enigma

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Falling Skies 3.4: Hal vs. Ben

There were four good plot developments in Falling Skies 3.4 this week -

• Hal's evil, alien side takes over - which all but confirms, at least to me, that he's the mole, the killer of the Terry O'Quinn character, and who knows what else.
• Ben and his likely girlfriend don't want their spikes thoroughly removed - he's grown to enjoy the power they give him.  This should make for some interesting developments down the road.
• Anne's on the run with her and Tom's baby girl.  This happens after the not-so-mad doc played by Robert Sean Leonard tells Anne and us what was clear already last week in the baby's smile: she has alien DNA.  The doc wonders how that could be.   But we already know - it must have come from Tom, who must have been embedded with some alien DNA when he was aboard the ship.  At this point, however, Anne doesn't seem to be thinking much about how that happened - she's more concerned with making sure her super-baby is beyond the reach of the other humans in the compound.  But where will she go?
• All three of the above developments become even more intense because Tom decides to go off to the see the real President of the United States.  Tom and the good alien who has come to the meeting just about manage to convince the President that cooperating with the good aliens is the only way we can win - when the bad aliens attack.  Who tipped them off, Hal?

These interlocking developments are making for a good story line this year - in fact, better, I think, than in the previous two years.   Hal under alien control can dominate the compound and get it to do his bidding if he plays his cards right.   With Tom and Anne not there, for different reasons, who can successfully oppose him?   Even Pope is with Tom, away from the compound.   That leaves Margaret, who's no dummy, but she doesn't have Hal's alien strength.   So ... we may be down to Ben ... and an all-out Ben vs. Hall confrontation for control of the compound would be something worth watching.

See also Falling Skies 3.1-2: It's the Acting ... Falling Skies 3.3: The Smile

And see also Falling Skies Returns  ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's Motives ... Falling Skies Second Season Finale

And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season

 

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Falling Skies 3.1-2: It's the Acting

Falling Skies was back with its two-hour Season 3 premiere on Sunday.   The show continues to be an appealing amalgam of trite parts that somehow add up to something pretty good.

The Earth attacked by superior aliens is of course a trope most made famous by H. G. Wells more than a century ago.   The addition of aliens fighting amongst themselves, with some allying with us, is also something we've seen before.  So are the mechs, recently seen to best effect as the toasters in Battlestar Galactica.   A new component in this season's Falling Skies is the star child, a human-alien hybrid who grows more quickly than humans and has superior powers - last seen in the late lamented V on ABC-TV a few years ago.

The child in Falling Skies is Tom and Anne's, which raises the question of where she - the baby girl - is getting her powers.  Possibly this has something to do with the time Tom was on the alien ship, in between seasons 1 and 2.   Meanwhile, Tom's relationship with his three sons also continues to be well depicted, with Ben, the middle son who was freed from alien harness, still of greatest interest, though Hal's relationship with his former girlfriend, now a bad-alien leader, has potential.

The locus of the action has shifted from the road and make-shift headquarters to something more substantial in Charleston, where Tom has been elected President of a fledging United States.  This makes for a refreshing touch with Weaver, now a Colonel, calling Tom "Sir,"  but the move to genteel Southern cities is also something we've seen in other post-apocalyptic dramas, including Revolution and even a bit in The Walking Dead.   And a resurgent United States after the apocalypse also popped up in Revolution's season 1 finale.

So what makes Falling Skies appealing?  It's the acting, most notably Noah Wyle as Tom.  And with Gloria Reuben as Tom's aide and House's Robert Sean Leonard as an eccentric scientist (what else?) this season, I'm definitely in for the run.

See also Falling Skies Returns  ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben's Motives ... Falling Skies Second Season Finale

And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver's Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season

 

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