Falling Skies Season 1

Falling Skies rocked TNT last summer with an exciting alien invasion action show. Where Terra Nova failed to gain traction, Falling Skies brought a good survival story to modern day Earth.

The show is set in a dystopian version of modern-day America. Aliens have invaded and destroyed society. Cities have been destroyed or wiped out and millions of people have been killed. The aliens, known to the main characters as skitters, enslave kids using a harness to control them. It’s a biological harness that embeds spikes into the spine of its victim enabling the kid to communicate with the skitters. It’s a pretty wild system. I like the creativity of it.

Skitters are six-legged creatures with a tough exoskeleton and three-fingered hands. They can communicate with humans by speaking through the harness kids. In addition to the skitters, there are aliens who are superior in rank to the skitter known as Overlords. They are tall, thin and bipedal. There are also big combat-robots called Mechs and drone-like fighter planes.

Groups of survivors have come together and formed small militias. The group we follow in the show is the 2nd Massachusetts (or 2nd Mass) which is led by Captain Weaver with Tom Mason as Second-in-Command. The rebellion against the aliens is not going well so the militias split up and go separate ways until an effective strategy is found for defeating the skitters.

Falling Skies Skitter — “They die just like we do. You just have to get close.” – Dai

Thoughts on Falling Skies

I’ve really enjoyed watching Falling Skies but I’m a big fan of science fiction and fantasy so it’s really no surprise. Other than the main fight for survival theme, there are other interesting character plots and struggles. The characters have solid back-stories that we slowly learn more about. We see Hal and Jimmy become more responsible and effective fighters. Captain Weaver becomes slightly more amenable to the plight of the civilians. We discover more about Anne’s past and her emotional struggle. Basically, a whole lot of good storytelling is going on.

Woven throughout all of this is ample amounts of action and new discoveries about the alien invaders. It’s easy to stay tuned-in to Falling Skies because so much cool stuff is happening.

Falling Skies Cast

The cast includes a lot of great actors including a personal favorite Moon Bloodgood.

Characters:

Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) – Former history teacher turned Second-in-Command of the 2nd Mass.
Hal Mason (Drew Roy) – Tom’s oldest son and a scout for the 2nd Mass.
Ben Mason (Connor Jessup) – One of the harness kids.
Matt Mason (Maxim Knight) – Tom’s youngest son.
Anne Glass (Moon Bloodgood) – Former pediatrician, she’s now the 2nd Mass’ only doctor.
Captain Weaver (Will Patton) – Army veteran and leader of the 2nd Massachusetts.
Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel) – Medical school student is now Anne’s assistant.
John Pope (Colin Cunningham) – Bad guy (ex-con), leader of a gang, talented in the culinary arts.
Dai (Peter Shinkoda) – Nice guy who is also a skilled fighter.
Margaret (Sarah Carter) – Known as Maggie, she has a dark past, and was an unwilling member of Pope’s gang.
Karen (Jesse Schram) – Scout for 2nd Mass and love interest of Hal Mason.
Anthony (Mpho Koaho) – Skilled fighter.
Jimmy Bolan (Dylan Authors) – Young kid who is eager to be a good soldier.
Rick (Daniyah Ysrayl) – Another harness kid. He becomes very troubled.

“I’ll take a rest for a little while. Being the leader of a post-apocalyptic gang of outlaws has been exhausting.” – John Pope