Falling Skies - Season 5: Discussion and Spoilers

[auntiehill]

What kind of irritated me was that they'd already set up that the spikes allow Ben and Maggie to jump really high--so they could get into that window. Why didn't they have them circle around and go in the back BEFORE Weaver was taken hostage? And this whole episode seemed to only serve the purpose of Hal escaping. That's it. On the Pope front, he's no longer just bald and psycho; he's now bald, psycho and has a big, ugly scar across his face---in case you needed more proof that he's now The Bad Guy.
And the whole, "You get innocent people killed!" schtick gets tossed aside as Pope goes around, you know, KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE. It would've been a whole lot more interesting to make Pope NOT be a psycho, hypocritical dick and actually try to keep people alive. What might have been really interesting would be to have Pope actually try to lead and be better than Tom, to have a democratic, "no one is cannon fodder," group---to essentially have Pope and Tom switch roles for a little while. But........no.

 

[137th Gebirg]

It strikes me that they're simply trying to write all this Pope stuff off as good old-fashioned PTSD snap-and-shoot-to-self-pity reaction to the dead girlfriend. At that point, all of Pope's idiotic behavior, including the hypocrisy and cold-blooded murder, can be explained away by soul-crushing grief being slammed against someone who has never really been of the strongest moral character, based on his initial introduction. IIRC, Maggie despised him for rape, torture and a number of other atrocities when they first met. Honestly, it was only really a matter of time before he got pushed back into the shadows of the dark side. He only took a brief vacation from it for the past few years.

 

[KGator]

Wow, after reading the posts on this thread I am glad I gave up on this show years ago. I'd be empty if I had invested much more in this ridiculous fairy tale.

And it had such a promising premise too. *sigh*

 

[Caretaker]

At the end of last season there was a survey on the show's website asking for input as to what people liked and didn't like about season four. It's quite evident that they either didn't listen to my opinion or I was in the minority opinion about many things (like how much I disliked the Hal/Maggie/Ben triangle).

 

[Aragorn]

Anyone know what show TNT aired in place of Falling Skies directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring goatee Noah Wyle? It was actually pretty decent.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Space Ghost Coast to Coast?

 

[auntiehill]

Anyone know what show TNT aired in place of Falling Skies directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring goatee Noah Wyle? It was actually pretty decent.

It was pretty decent. For once this season, I was actually interested in what was going on.

 

[Aragorn]

Anyone know what show TNT aired in place of Falling Skies directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring goatee Noah Wyle? It was actually pretty decent.

It was pretty decent. For once this season, I was actually interested in what was going on.

It also seemed like a show that was made out of necessity since it had a much smaller budget than the alien and combat-heavy ones. Maybe that's the secret.

 

[RJDiogenes]

It reminded me of Herschel's farm from Walking Dead.

And why did the Espheni hide this important wireless router in a crate in a booze factory, completely unguarded?

 

[Tzenkethi]

Maybe they had a few Mechs which are powered down.

 

[137th Gebirg]

We've seen evidence of that ethereal Espheni comm system since last season when those two (were they brothers?) were talking with each other. It stands to reason that this and other relays like it have been quasi-hidden in these locations for some time back when they had the ability to defend them more readily. That, and they probably preferred the more mobile and accessible nature of the choices of their locations. In short, it didn't bother me all that much considering all the other things that seemed more egregious recently.

I honestly expected that family that Tom ran into to be another illusion by that new "Dornia" race that's been communicating with him, or another one (Skitters or Overlords?) that would get him to become complacent. I was quite shocked to see that, as the episode progressed, they were real people. Although I think I've had my fill of angst-ridden and obtusely headstrong teenagers in this show to last 3 lifetimes!

 

[Sindatur]

We've seen evidence of that ethereal Espheni comm system since last season when those two (were they brothers?) were talking with each other. It stands to reason that this and other relays like it have been quasi-hidden in these locations for some time back when they had the ability to defend them more readily. That, and they probably preferred the more mobile and accessible nature of the choices of their locations. In short, it didn't bother me all that much considering all the other things that seemed more egregious recently.

I honestly expected that family that Tom ran into to be another illusion by that new "Dornia" race that's been communicating with him, or another one (Skitters or Overlords?) that would get him to become complacent. I was quite shocked to see that, as the episode progressed, they were real people. Although I think I've had my fill of angst-ridden and obtusely headstrong teenagers in this show to last 3 lifetimes!

LOL, yea, I was thinking, "Oh Geeze, they're not really trying to convince us again that this clean, unmolested location is real and not another illusion.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Maybe they had a few Mechs which are powered down.

That's a good thought.

In short, it didn't bother me all that much considering all the other things that seemed more egregious recently.

It didn't bother me either. That's the type of show it is. It's like watching a B-Movie... it's fun to point out the logical flaws.

 

[Shawnster]

We've seen evidence of that ethereal Espheni comm system since last season when those two (were they brothers?) were talking with each other. It stands to reason that this and other relays like it have been quasi-hidden in these locations for some time back when they had the ability to defend them more readily. That, and they probably preferred the more mobile and accessible nature of the choices of their locations. In short, it didn't bother me all that much considering all the other things that seemed more egregious recently.

I honestly expected that family that Tom ran into to be another illusion by that new "Dornia" race that's been communicating with him, or another one (Skitters or Overlords?) that would get him to become complacent. I was quite shocked to see that, as the episode progressed, they were real people. Although I think I've had my fill of angst-ridden and obtusely headstrong teenagers in this show to last 3 lifetimes!

LOL, yea, I was thinking, "Oh Geeze, they're not really trying to convince us again that this clean, unmolested location is real and not another illusion.

And how did that work? I mean, really, how could they shelter their children for these past 5 years from such an event?

Mom, grandpa, why doesn't the TV work anymore? Or the lights? Why don't we go to the grocery store anymore? Why don't we go to school? What about my friends? Why can't I meet any neighbors? When can we go to the movies, the zoo, the library, or Disney Land?

How do you keep that oldest boy from wandering around and finding things? He was gone for a long time and missed dinner. Obviously he was allowed the freedom to roam unsupervised. He never found any mechs, skitters or signs of the war in the past 5 years? He never broke into a neighbor's house and found it vacant? Or all the neighbors?

What were they expecting to do in a few more years? He's 15. Puberty has already hit. He was going to want to find someone to hook up with. He's old enough to understand how life works. He's got a mom, remembers his dad, has a grandpa. He would know and understand the need to seek out companionship.

 

[RJDiogenes]

It was rather coincidental that he never came upon any evidence of the invasion in five years, then stumbled across a mech as soon as Tom showed up. That's just the way things work in these Irwin-Allen type shows.

 

[Aragorn]

It shouldn't have taken this show five seasons to get to "Woodbury" but boy did this episode go off the rails. It was like a grade schooler's idea of what the military is like, not counting the simplistic psychotic and rapey stuff.

 

[Tzenkethi]

They already arrived at a community way back in season 2 with Charleston.
This episode was just staggering, not for what happened but what shouldn't have been at this point in the season.
This plotline should have been done way back in season 3 with the President and what's left of congress not this lot and not this late in the game.

 

[Admiral2]

It shouldn't have taken this show five seasons to get to "Woodbury" but boy did this episode go off the rails. It was like a grade schooler's idea of what the military is like, not counting the simplistic psychotic and rapey stuff.

Well, the simplistic psychotic and rapey stuff is a typical Hollywood liberal's idea of what the military is like.

 

[Procutus]

This episode was just staggering, not for what happened but what shouldn't have been at this point in the season.

I agree completely, for the show to go off in this direction, only three frakkin' eps from the end, is just soooooo wrong. This was not what I was expecting or hoping for at this stage of the game.

The way they handled Pope, well, I didn't like it but I could at least kind of buy into it. But the behavior of these people, considering what's at stake, just makes no sense at all. The end scene clearly shows what's going on (at least I think it did), but if so, it's a really strange turn to take right before the end.

But, as Weaver likes to say, 'It's not over 'till it's over.' So we'll see.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Very weird to be focusing on Crazy Pope and Crazy Soldiers with only a handful of episodes to go. How about that pesky old alien invasion?

Clearly, something is going on with the captain and her wound. She must be under the control of the Espheni, culling the human population in the guise of executing "collaborators." I wonder if Pope's redemption will come when he saves the gang from execution. Or will it just be "Nobody kills Mason but me."