Falling Skies: Season One Finale Recap

Falling Skies: Season One Finale Recap
by Tom Ruff
August 10, 2011

On Sunday, the highly anticipated first season of TNT's sci-fi alien drama came to a close, with a two-hour episode that no doubt took some direction from some of it's genre predecessors.

In this two-hour finale, Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) dealt with fears over Captain Weaver's (Wil Patton) ability to lead a massive coordinated attack on the alien structure located in Boston. As the coordinated attack was being planned, the aliens prepared to attack the 2nd Mass's position at the high school, and Rick and Ben tried to cope with figuring out what was happening to them, who they were, and where they belonged.

In the first part, Mason staged a mutiny after learning that Weaver had been abusing pills and may not be fit to lead their insurgency. After being locked in the boiler room, he escaped, and used his reasoning skills to convince Weaver that they had to work together, and that this attack, which would likely result in casualties, needed to be a group decision. Also in the first part, Mason learned that the skidders were also harnassed, like his son Ben, and may not have always been as they appeared. As he feared that Ben might be transforming before his eyes, the boy also continued to sense changes within him, but unlike Rick, he knew how important it was to remain human. Ex con pope continued to assemble his explosive devices and machine piercing bullets, while Mason's youngest son defied his father by helping.

In the second hour, Weaver led an army of volunteers off to Boston to attempt to rendezvous with other militias and blow up the structure. At the same time, Mason prepared the civilians to move out and hide in a new location, as they learned a skidder attack was inevitable. Ben learned that his connection to the aliens could be used to his advantage as he helped to track down a radio frequency that could disrupt all alien communication. This would later force the aliens to retreat from the high school and regroup. After Rick attempts to sabotage this effort, he runs away and tells one of the harnass kids all of the 2nd Mass's plans in hopes that the aliens would accept him back, but they leave him behind, and Mason convinces him that his place is with the humans. After driving the aliens away from the school, Mason drives out to Boston to meet up Weaver's forces, only to learn that they have been defeated and the strike on the tower has failed, and the other militas never made it. In a final Hail Mary attempt, he fires an RPG at an alien ship, which crashes into the tower, causing a massive explosion. It doesn't destroy the tower, but clearly does some damage. The episode ends with Mason and Weaver being stopped by an alien ship, and his oldest son's now harnessed girlfriend, who tells him that the aliens never expected resistance to this level and want to negotiate. They tell Mason they will take Ben back if he doesn't go with them, and he joins her and one of the aliens in walking onto their ship.

The finale, and in many ways the season, felt in many ways like it had followed the LOST formula. An incredibly serialized plotline, a very short time span, a focus on characters and emotions, and just a sprinkling of mythology filled with more questions then answers over the course of the first season. The finale itself resembled so many early season finales of LOST, with half the group preparing an offensive, and the other half of the group preparing to run and hide, and at the same time defend themselves. In fact, there were so many similarities to the general episode structure, that at numerous points throughout the episode I half expected Tom to quote the famous "Live together, die alone" line.

Overall, I loved this first season. It doesn't have the intelligent dialogue or big budget action that some people might have preferred, but it does have a focus on characters, and a slow peeling off the outer layers of a back story and mythology that draws me to shows like this. I also love the way the writers have replaced flashbacks with history lessons of past wars, specifically the American Revolution, as a metaphor that carries the narrative along. Setting the show in New England, the birth place of our nation, really works for the show. While I don't expect to see any Emmy nods, I definitely look forward to learning more about the "who" and the "why" next season, and can't wait to see what happens when Mason goes inside that ship.

Falling Skies will return on TNT next summer.