Keeping the Sky from Falling

If there were awards given out for "Most Improved Television Program," this season of Falling Skies would run away with the category. What started with much promise in its opening season soon was sidetracked by stalling plots, cliche characters, and a fair amount of poorly written lines that no actor would ever be able to pull off. Then something happened toward the end of Season 2, the show and the characters began to find themselves. The story stopped simply moving from place to place with the same results, and brought the 2nd Mass to a permanent settlement, Charleston. From that moment on, Falling Skies ceased to be War of the Worlds-lite and started to show signs of possibly becoming the next Battlestar Galactica.

With the final episode of the season having aired this past Sunday, I can safely say that while it's still not Battlestar Galactica,  it's getting there. The scope of the story expanded exponentially this season, wisely adding a new alien race and raising the stakes of each battles and subsequent victories. And while I've always felt Noah Wyle was the best thing about the show, his Tom Mason character was finally given the gravity with which to make the show revolve around. And Charleston grew to have the same sense of desperation and hope that the Galactica had, complete with its memory tree for lost family and friends.

The production value of the show has always been pretty high, especially for a basic cable program. That was never an issue. But with the washed grey pallet that the show was given this year, it added a gritty feel that had been missing. Certainly there were still weak hangovers from the past, but they were less bothersome this year than previous seasons. This is a perfect example of why new concept shows need more time to develop. I'm really glad I stuck with the show, I finally feel rewarded for it. If you were at all interested in this show at any point, but gave up...I recommend giving Season 3 a chance. It's proven itself to be one of the quality sci-fi shows on television.