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Falling Skies Season 4 (1 Viewer)

mattCR

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Falling Skies is one of those shows that I think struggled a bit in it's first season, made some headway in Season 2.. but Season 3 was pretty good.

This was a really solid start to Season 4, I thought. I'm glad this show had a chance to grow into what it is now.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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David Eick, who was the directing producer for the 2004 re-imagining of "Battlestar Galactica", took over as showrunner after Remi Aubuchon's two season run did a lot to turn the show around and really find its voice.Lots of Eick's strengths were on display here, with the most sophisticated worldbuilding we've gotten yet from the show, and a whole different narrative framework with the 2nd Mass splintered into these various separate camps.I did feel like the dialog took a step backwards under Eick tonight, but since that was exactly the strong point of the show to begin with, I'll give him a pass on it.The one decision I really questioned was replacing a nine-year-old biracial child that looked like she could be the offspring of Tom and Anne, and then mysteriously replace her with a white adult clone of Daenerys Targaryen.Carol Barbee, who did some very solid work on "Jericho" and "Touch", is writing next week's episode.
 

David Weicker

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The problem I had is this felt like a reboot. By randomly splitting up the group, all the character building/ relationships we saw last season is gone.It took ten episodes to get where they were, and poof, the season ended. Now are we going to have another round of creating relationships/ respect/camarderie?Of course there are nit-picks. Such as,how did the Hitler Youth school get up and running so quickly, who made all the brown shirts? And who 'educated' the leaders?And what happened to the other characters - Gloria Reuben, Robert Sean Leonard, Patton's'daughter, the people in Charleston?
 

Adam Gregorich

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Its odd that the aliens switch tactics to abruptly, from harnessing kids to brain washing, killing humans to the concentration camps. Either way a solid start to the season.
 

DaveF

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I'm excited. It's a strange shift, and I have quibbles. But it's taut scifi, smart enough, acted enough, that I give it a pass on the lesser plot holes. I was surprised to find that Lexi is Eshfeni hybrid. I thought she was going to be Volm hybrid, because of Anne's work with Volm machines in de-harnessing kids. At the end of S3 Karen warned Tom of the Volm not being what they seem. Is that real? Is it relevant? Or was it a piece discarded for this seasons story?
 

mattCR

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I thought the first two seasons were 'OK', but I think S3 & so far into S4 have been surprisingly good, as though they decided to go with something a bit harder to define, a real 'rebellion' show, and I think it works much better now that they are clearly on the lamb trying to figure things out.. it adds a lot of tension and has become a better show
 

DaveF

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S2 was the weakest, for me. S1 was fresh and exciting. I was concerned about a holy-child, chosen one character and plot. This can go badly in all regards. But, thankfully it's interesting do far. Helped significantly by Ben's role and performance. The death if Weaver's daughter Jeanne was horrific and increased the stakes. It also tells is, if there was any doubt, that the Eshfeni are nasty pieces of work. Well, that was bluntly expositioned by the two Eshfeni. I'm not sure what I think of that scene. Adding strange new superpowers late in the show risks feeling too random, violating the rules. I think I wanted that subtitled, not dubbed. It felt weird.
 

Stan

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I'm really enjoying the new season.

As the show has become more successful, there have been some major improvements in the CGI and other digital effects.There are some gaps, especially with past characters who aren't being shown, or are maybe going to appear as this season ends, but it's still a very well done show.
 

todd s

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The show was just renewed for the 5th and final season. So at least they will have time to wrap it up.
 

DaveF

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The latest episode was great. Aaron Douglas and Gil Bellows have cameos and crush it. Dan Weaver spends most of the episode with Matt and gives his performance of the show. This was character drama; no specific story advancement. I loved it.
 

Walter Kittel

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I've always preferred Falling Skies when the members of the 2nd Mass are mobile and encountering different situations vs. those episodes where they are settled. When the series started this year, I was not crazy about 'the Ghetto' setting but I think the show has picked up the last few episodes. I would agree with Dave that Will Patton has turned in some strong performances this season. I've enjoyed Mira Sorvino's presence on the show but IMDB only lists her for a few episodes. :(

With one more season to go, I wonder how the show will wrap it all up.

- Walter.
 

DaveF

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Walter Kittel said:
I've always preferred Falling Skies when the members of the 2nd Mass are mobile and encountering different situations vs. those episodes where they are settled. When the series started this year, I was not crazy about 'the Ghetto' setting but I think the show has picked up the last few episodes. I would agree with Dave that Will Patton has turned in some strong performances this season. I've enjoyed Mira Sorvino's presence on the show but IMDB only lists her for a few episodes. :( With one more season to go, I wonder how the show will wrap it all up. - Walter.
They've got some great guest casting this season. I'm curious what's to come of her character. It's interesting to having so won't like minded for Pope. And not deeply resentful, like Maggie was.
 

DaveF

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Jeff Brooks said:
Please, let the Lourdes and Lexi characters go away!
lexi, I'm ok with. I've got reservations over messiah /chosen one stories. They're hard to do. And she's not played with nuance. But, this is a story with potential and fits well in the Falling Skies story.But Lourdes is too one note. I can imagine how she got to where she is, but watching character evolution, from Lexi saving her to this, would have been more interesting than merely the result.
 

DaveF

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Season 4 is finished. I enjoyed this season as much as past seasons, save for some disappointment with the finale. This final hour felt written and produced by a different team from the rest of the season.
 

Johnny Angell

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I had to think a little about 2001 with the finale to this season. Does this mean Tom will be an esphini convert?
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Overall, for me it was better than the first season but not as good as the second and third seasons. David Eick is very solid on-set producer who's done some great work, but I just don't think he's as good of a writer or a showrunner as Remi Aubuchon.One thing I appreciated about the finale, especially the first hour, is that it brought the show back around to being a family drama. For the first time all season, Lexi was used a character rather than a plot device, and I thought Noah Wyle and Scarlett Byrne did a nice job playing off each other. The Masons are a pretty functional, low-drama bunch, so having an estranged parent-child relationship (however utterly bizarre the circumstances) gave Noah Wyle different notes to play.
Johnny Angell said:
I had to think a little about 2001 with the finale to this season. Does this mean Tom will be an esphini convert?
Yeah, there were definitely "2001" overtones to that final sequence. But, given the reflection we saw in the mirror, I don't think he was rescued by the Espheni. Rather, I think the alien we saw, with all of its limbs, is what a skitter looks like before it is skitterized.
 

DaveF

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The Eshfeni warned Tom that something worse was coming. I assume that is the something worse. Agree about the first hour, I rather liked it overall. But the second hour felt off to me.
 

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