"Falling Skies" Season 2 (spoilers)

[Guardsman Bass]

Given the historical referance's they keep doing it'll be whichever one featured more prominently in the American Revolution

Charleston has significance in the American Revolutionary War, but not in a good way for the human resistance. It was the site of a devastating American loss in 1780 following the Siege of Charleston. If they decided to follow that particular parallel, then that would involve the 2nd Mass surrendering at Charleston, with a few people escaping the Siege.

[Questor]

That would certainly fit with the titles for the upcoming episodes.

[Guardsman Bass]

It definitely fits with the next two episode titles. You could possibly fit the season's penultimate episode ("Price of Greatness") into that as well, if it involves some heroic stunts to save people that get people killed (such as Weaver). The finale title makes me think that the 2nd Mass and skitter rebels will make a pact to fight together.

[Themightytom]

95% sure that Margaret has more brain tumors. Calling it now.

if she doesn't know, she will soon, and somehow this will involve aliens, I agree CC, hopefully they won't pull a Baltar and just up and throw alien DNA in her to cure it, making her some kind of bizarre hybrid. Hal's been through enough

[Ahriman238]

Is it Charleston, or Charles Town?
I ask because if they are still on the East Coast, the only Charlestons are South Carolina and West Virginia. However, there is the Charlestown area outside of Boston, as well as several other Charlestowns in RI, PA, and MD.

There is a Charlestown not far from Boston, but when the pilot lady got out of her plane she very clearly said Charleston, South Carolina.

Hmm in ideal conditions Boston to Charleston would be a 2 day drive, straight down US 1. In a post-apocalypse dodging alien patrols, a lot longer. Though SC is roughly the same distance as Michigan, so it shouldn't be impossible to send down a small scouting party and see if Charleston is really there and not sacrificing people to the alien star-gods.

[Darth Fanboy]

Dude in ideal conditions you should be able to do Boston to Charleston in less than two days, assuming stopping for the night and rest stops. You could power through it though in about a day if you really wanted.

[Guardsman Bass]

I just finished watching the episode. There were a couple parts that were a little too on-the-nose, but overall I liked most of it. It turns out I was wrong about the whole "Molon Labe" title meaning that they'd be cornered and forced into a "death march" (the title of the next episode). It makes me wonder what is going to give the next episode the "Death March" significance (since this show is generally not subtle).

I also wonder what Karen meant with her whole "I predicted everything" speech to Hal, as well as the aliens' mysterious purpose for invading Earth. What, are humans interfering with the Fishheads' Destiny Prognosticator?

[CaptainChewbacca]

I'm guessing the Overlords consider themselves to be gardeners/tenders of the Universe, and feel jutified in their culling/shaping of humanity because they think there's a bigger threat coming.

[Themightytom]

That whole speech sounded like string theory made vague enough to sound mystical. Karen is describing her dastardly plot like it's the work of a genius, yet it's utterly ridiculous. Sure she managed to lure Ben, after she failed to lure Hal, and they stumbled accross her master, where at the time she thought it was Ben's resistance. Great job Karen, you're the Kwizatch Haderach...

The little buggy things are just dastardly, lourdes' crisis of faith seems forced. I don't really care to see Dark Lourdes personally, it would be the final shark jump from the first seasons, good old fashioned Americans tone to Standard Grim Dark Rebels tone the second seems to be taking. Tom is getting all fired up to be heartless, Hal and Ben are becoming more and more central to the resistance movement, even the kid is running around with a gun now, instead of his little skateboard thing.

Which would be great if the movement from insightful character building were complemented by more action and focus on military action, but NOPE.. 2nd mass pauses it's urgent march to Charleston to chill at a hospital for two weeks, stops to go look the one possibly compromised soldier...a little too much swiss family robinson in the mittle of Platoon..

[TOSDOC]

I got a kick out of Pope's reaction to almost shooting Matt. I forgot how he bonded with him over the anti-mech bullets.

[Themightytom]

I got a kick out of Pope's reaction to almost shooting Matt. I forgot how he bonded with him over the anti-mech bullets.

And yet, he was ready to shoot Tom... Pope is such a complicated fellow. You ever get the feeling he just wants to BE Tom, with the kids and the hot doctor g/f and the leadership...

[TOSDOC]

I got a kick out of Pope's reaction to almost shooting Matt. I forgot how he bonded with him over the anti-mech bullets.

And yet, he was ready to shoot Tom... Pope is such a complicated fellow. You ever get the feeling he just wants to BE Tom, with the kids and the hot doctor g/f and the leadership...

You know, you might really have something there, but my first thought was ask Maggie how complicated he is.

[charlemagne]

What I really dislike about Falling Skies is how each and every one of the characters is utterly incapable of actually talking about important stuff. Like when Ben says "I know what the aliens are all about" and Tom's answer is not "You do? Great! Tell me!" - stuff like that makes me furious.

They also create so many problems by leaving things just unadressed, like the whole Tom/Pope fallout earlier in the season - why couldn't Tom just say "yeah, I'm a bit afraid those aliens did something to me, too, and I've told people to watch me already" - bam, crisis averted.

[Ahriman238]

Finally caught up. I'd hoped that Karen had some sort of pheremone or psychic ability that explained her ability to turn everyone into an idiot, but no, it's just that the aliens are precogs and she knew exactly what to say, even almost nothing she said should have objectively had the desired result. Speaking of which, how have the aliens not busted the 2nd Mass already if they're precognitive enough to know exactly where they are and where they're going?

Lourdes freakout was very well executed and pretty much exactly how you'd expect someone to react at seeing alien chestbursters coming out of their SO.

Ben's leaving would have a lot more impact if they didn't regularly say tearful farewells to some character only to have them come back an episode or two later, like they consistently do with Pope.

[CaptainChewbacca]

The reason the 2nd Mass is still alive is because they weren't worth persuing until Redeye interacted with Ben.

[Ahriman238]

The reason the 2nd Mass is still alive is because they weren't worth persuing until Redeye interacted with Ben.

2-3 passes with one of their drone ships would do the trick. They don't even have to kill anyone, just take out most of the vehicles and supplies.

Well unless this is an uncommonly subtle gambit, It looks like Red-eye's rebellion is for real. Joining with someone who knows what the hell is going on would be nice, but even if it never happens (it will) the rebellion will enormously useful to the surviving human resistance groups, just by taking up an awful lot of time and energy on the part of the 'loyalists.'

This latest was an episode where a few mech bullets would have been incredibly useful.

[Guardsman Bass]

I just finished watching "Death March".

1. I know that Maggie's past is supposed to be shocking to Hal, but all I thought was, "That's it? She got involved in drugs and petty burglary after her recovery from cancer, and ended up pregnant and giving birth in jail?" Pope's "wait until he finds out what you are" speech made it seem like she had some serious, major secret.

2. My predictions about this show continue to be wrong. It looks like they made it to Charleston safely - and provided an answer for why such a major center of anti-Overseer activity is still standing. From the looks of the next preview, part of it is underground, and "nothing is what it seems" (whatever that means). Maybe they'll end up leaving the city, except that now they have no place to go.

3. "Death March" was pretty misleading as an episode title. I wonder if they included footage in the preview for it two weeks ago that didn't make it into the episode cut, because there was one scene from the preview that I never saw in the episode.

There's not really much else to say. The episode was mostly just an easy travelogue on the way to Charleston. The real action is going to be in the penultimate and finale episodes of the season.

[CaptainChewbacca]

This was a great episode, with real hope. I'm guessing Tom is going to get involved in politics pretty quickly, they might even end up making him Vice President. The ending was fantastic, I actually shouted 'YES!' when I saw Colonel Porter in a clean uniform.

Maggie's 'secret' was pretty meh, I wonder if they're going to find her son at some point.

Edit: TNT now has an online show called '2nd Watch', hosted by Wil Wheaton that talks about the series. Worth a look.

[Ahriman238]

Just from the trailer, we have the 'government' in SC distrusting the 2nd Mass and harboring unspecified dark secrets. Oh, and being unwilling to back Weaver in some sort of offensive.

I'm thinking Charleston is one of the 'reservations' mentioned earlier, where people can live undisturbed as long as they don't actually take up arms against the aliens. Or start harboring people who might know about the Skitter rebels.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I don't think they're distrusting the 2nd Mass, but I think the 'Legend of Tom Mason' is going to come up especially when Tom confirms that he;

1. Went up in the ships and came back.
2. Has a formerly harnessed son he let go free.

Those will be the issues, I believe. As far as the reservation thing goes, I called that about 5 episodes ago.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Tonight's episode really paid off. Politics, deception, and a brewing dictatorship. It will be interesting to see what the General does and what comes of the Martial Law declaration. I found myself first shouting at the TV for Tom to speak up, and then for the General to do something about all this craziness.

[Ahriman238]

I liked the turnabout. When the show started, Weaver was all about the military needing to be in control if they were going to keep everyone alive, and Tom had to convince him to be gentler to the civilians. Now we have a politician giving wrong-headed orders to military officers. Nice.

It really says something when your democracy has to lock up dissidents to function.

Was it my imagination or did El Presidente seem in denial about the alien invasion and desperate struggle for survival?

[Guardsman Bass]

I enjoyed this episode, and the politicking (Tom's speech was expected). I like the fact that the coup threw some complexity back into the whole situation - they don't want a military dictatorship in Charleston, but they also need to speak with Redeye and his group.

Was it my imagination or did El Presidente seem in denial about the alien invasion and desperate struggle for survival?

I think he's genuinely afraid that the city-state will be destroyed if they go on the offensive and draw attention from the Overlords. It was probably very difficult for him and others to get everything working right up until that point, and he doesn't want to waste it on a conflict that is probably almost futile anyways.

There's merit in that position, too. Before the Skitter Rebellion, the Overlords didn't even really consider the human resistance to be a threat - all they did was pick off occasional patrols. This isn't the Revolutionary War again, either - if a large settlement of humans draws Overlord attention, they may just get neutron-bombed into oblivion.

[Tandrax218]

The thing that i hate the most about this show is the way the people behave throught the series.
Example:
- tom mason wants his son to play with action man dolls and go to school when there are aliens all over the place, and his logic is like this : "i want him to have a childhood" should have thought the kid how to shoot, scout and forage food...

- the whole charlestown gang is retartded top to bottom. The "president" guy is a looney who cares more about elections and upholding the "american democraty" than killing xenos. Makes me puke sometimes.

I still cant decide wheter to stop watching this or to go on til the end...

[Ahriman238]

The thing that i hate the most about this show is the way the people behave throught the series.
Example:
- tom mason wants his son to play with action man dolls and go to school when there are aliens all over the place, and his logic is like this : "i want him to have a childhood" should have thought the kid how to shoot, scout and forage food...

It's not unreasonable for a man to want his son to live a life free from fear and violence. Not a very realistic desire, as it happens, but people having unrealistic desires for their kids or being able to deny reality is actually quite commonplace.

- the whole charlestown gang is retartded top to bottom. The "president" guy is a looney who cares more about elections and upholding the "american democraty" than killing xenos. Makes me puke sometimes.

"Relax. You're safe now. You're in Ba Sing Se Charleston now. There is no war here."

I found myself somewhat more disbelieving that Tom's friend decided he was a political enemy because they had one disagreement, then went to Pope for intel to bury Tom with. Not cool, man. Things really did get crazy towards the end, didn't they? And it'll only get worse with the declaration of martial law and the incarceration of the (so far as we can tell) legitimate president. At least, he still seemed to be calling the shots after the confidence vote. Perhaps things would have gone differently if he'd had an opponent running against him.