Falling Skies (TNT) season 2 premieres 6/17/2012 (1 Viewer)

The second season, from new showrunner Remi Aubuchon ("24", "Caprica", "Persons Unknown"), has its two-hour premiere tonight at 9/8c on TNT.

here is hoping that the writing and score improves this season.
i keep watching because i have alot of interest in the base subjec matter. so i am really hoping!

The show still has a lot of problems, but almost all of the changes from the first season were for the better. Instead of being holed up in that elementary school all season, they're on the move. The special effects budget appears to have roughly doubled. And there's a great change which is that the paranoia comes from within. Tom's parasite was super-creepy. Ben's transformation remains ongoing, in some capacity. And they keep taking losses.
I hope there's a four or five season plan that takes us from where the show started to some semblance of victory. At the end of the first season, it seemed like the tide was turning a bit, having figured out how to jam their signals and make ammunition that pierces the mechs' armor. It didn't remove the threat, but it made the resistance more plausible. Now the treat level's up again. I hope they continue to show the resistance innovating to meet the evolving challenges.

Yeah, this seems like a real improvement over Season 1, as though somewhere they have really listened to the fans. Enjoyed the premiere a good bit.

As he does for all of the shows he directs on, Greg Beeman is blogging his episodes for "Falling Skies" this season.
One of the more interesting things is that the school that was their home base last season was sort of forced upon them for budgetary reasons. The original idea had been for the 2nd Mass to be nomadic, constantly on the run from skitters, but the show's budget didn't allow for it. When Remi Aubuchon took over as showrunner, he made getting the 2nd Mass mobile a priority. Two things allowed them to pull it off this season. The first was that they shot WAY ahead of airing, starting in October of last year and finishing up in March. So they could shoot things out of order and shoot all of the scenes in a location for various episodes before moving on. The second was that they came up with the idea of a base camp of vehicles and tents that were consistent from location to location. That way they could shoot the interiors on a sound stage and still have the setting of the base camp change from episode to episode.
The show shot in Toronto in Season 1 and moved, like many a show looking to cut costs, to Vancouver for season two. The vehicles they already owned from the Toronto production were literally driven and/or shipped west for Season 2, and then more were purchased in Vancouver to fill out the convoy.
Steven Spielberg also took a hands on role in the design of the spaceship interior. That was an aspect of the show that appealed to him, and he mapped out Tom's conversation with the Overlord.

Originally Posted by mattCR /t/321623/falling-skies-tnt-season-2-premieres-6-17-2012#post_3939546
Yeah, this seems like a real improvement over Season 1, as though somewhere they have really listened to the fans. Enjoyed the premiere a good bit.

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Yeah, I feel like this season will be more of a fun ride, as I enjoyed the premiere very much as well. Glad I chose to watch this over the season finale of The Killing.

I thought the first episode was more of what we saw last year but the second episode was definitely better. And then after watching the promo's for the upcoming weeks ahead, it looks like they are picking up the pace (and budget). I'm definitely excited to see where they take this.

I thought tonight's episode was definitely the best of the series so far. Hal and Ben just happening to run into Weaver's daughter at the hideout of the people who stole their bikes was a bit of a writer's conceit, but they did enough of a good job settling up Jane's possible survival at the end of the first season -- and they've been sparing enough in their use of convenient coincidences that I was able to go along with it. The part was well cast, and the storyline didn't have the cloying inevitability of so many season one storylines. On one hand, the youngster's decision to go off still on their own after what just happened is absolutely asinine. On the other hand, it's exactly the sort of thing a group of children and teenagers who have been successfully living on their own for months would plausibly do. And choosing between the boyfriend that's saved your life multiple times and you've been living in close quarters with for months or the estranged father who you were distant with for a few years before the alien apocalypse, of course she'll pick the boyfriend. Absolutely heartbreaking for Weaver though, and brutally cruel of Diego to make her choose. It'll be a criminal shame if she never pops up again.
it's a credit to how far the show's come in a short number of episodes that I was willing to consider the possibility that either Matt or Jane would be harnessed by the end of the episode, and the brutal ending for Weaver (in a different way) made me feel that I wasn't mistaken in that worry. The harness factory continues the trend of taking technology we've seen in the first season and making it many times creepier. Seeing the harnesses come down the slide as squirming slugs is a truly nightmarish image.
Matt on the scooter at the beginning being tracked by the skitters seemed to be setting up the sort of idiot-brained manufactured drama that made me groan so often in the first season, but then, boom-boom: it was all part of a well-thought out plan, albeit not one that would leave any father sleeping easily at night.
The show still has issues, and the whole band of children plotline itself would have made me groan on a show I had higher regard for. But they've made great strides from where they started.

I'm finally caught up with the 2nd season episodes, and the show leaves me with not much to say about it. It has an overly deja vu feeling when I watch it, but it's not terrible, but it's not thoroughly engaging yet. Plus I'm not a fan of dumb kids driving the plot.

The alien stuff keeps getting weirder, and that's a good thing.
Tonight's show may be the first episode of the show I've watched with no overt cringe moments. I think a big part of that is down to the fact that Mason's youngest kid only had two short scenes.

I liked tonights episode. If its true it could make for an interesting story line.

I liked tonights episode. If its true it could make for an interesting story line.

The scriptwriting this season has definitely been much better; I like the general direction this show is taking.

It's the little things that bother me. When Hal and blondie were holed up in the car with the Mech's marching past I was bothered by their not hiding their white faces and not shutting up. They don't know the sensitivity of the Mech's hearing.

Garrett Adams said:

It's the little things that bother me. When Ben and blondie were holed up in the car with the Mech's marching past I was bothered by their not hiding their white faces and not shutting up. They don't know the sensitivity of the Mech's hearing.

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The bigger standout for me was them using the hospital's backup generator to light up the entire hospital. They might as well paint a giant bull's eye on themselves. If the Brits had to use blackout curtains to hide from 1940s bombers, you'd think we'd have to be at least as light conscious against highly advanced alien invaders. It's the kind of thing a better show would get right, and the kind of think I just let go to enjoy the show we have.
It does make me wonder how there can be some massive new capital in Charleston, South Carolina, though. You'd think a highly visible, highly stationary population would be a dream target for the aliens. So far the 2nd Mass has survived by being small enough to avoid easy detection and mobile enough to take flight when things get hot. Why wouldn't the aliens just drop a h-bomb on Charleston?

Adam Lenhardt said:

The bigger standout for me was them using the hospital's backup generator to light up the entire hospital. They might as well paint a giant bull's eye on themselves. If the Brits had to use blackout curtains to hide from 1940s bombers, you'd think we'd have to be at least as light conscious against highly advanced alien invaders. It's the kind of thing a better show would get right, and the kind of think I just let go to enjoy the show we have.
It does make me wonder how there can be some massive new capital in Charleston, South Carolina, though. You'd think a highly visible, highly stationary population would be a dream target for the aliens. So far the 2nd Mass has survived by being small enough to avoid easy detection and mobile enough to take flight when things get hot. Why wouldn't the aliens just drop a h-bomb on Charleston?

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I agree on the hospital generator, but then again it it has never been hit it might be remote enough, or after almost two years they said screw it, I want to live like I used to for tonight. As to the capital, I'm a bit suspicious of that myself. It could be that it is the area "carved out" for people by the aliens that they mentioned in the season opener, or maybe they have partnered with the "rebel skeeters" to secure the area? Either way if I was a member of the second Mass I would approach with caution and send out some long range scouts.

I read today that TNT is going to renew this for another season.

I'm happy for the success of the show, but watching this season has been painful for me.
I was moderately interested in the show at the start of last season, but felt they really hit their stride with the last few episodes.
I have had a lot of complaints with the dialogue and the acting this year. I don't know if it's worse than last year, or if I just forgot.
Still sticking with it though. I'm intrigued that they've gone "fifth column" with the skitters. It is beyond me why the resistance wouldn't at least listen.

So far, I am liking this year more than last. That's not to say that it doesn't have its problems, but I like the pace of things and they seem to be taking the show in an interesting direction. I'm intrigued by the "skitter revolt."

Patrick_S said:

I read today that TNT is going to renew this for another season.

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It's officially official: TNT Orders Third Season of Epic Drama Falling Skies
This is TNT's best performer in the 18-49 demographic, so it's not a surprise. TNT's target audience (audiences 25-54) skews older than the broadcast networks, but even in that demographic it's second only to (I believe) Dallas.

John Berggren said:

I have had a lot of complaints with the dialogue and the acting this year. I don't know if it's worse than last year, or if I just forgot.

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You must have just forgot. The dialogue this season, while far from great, is no worse than it was last season. That's always been one of the show's weak points. The only episode that I can recall not cringing at the dialogue for was 1x02, "The Armory", which was written by Graham Yost and introduced Pope.