Falling Skies: S05E10: "Reborn"

Rating: 4
Aweful

In A Nutshell

Finally, an episode to look forward to, not least because this is the LAST TIME we'll ever have to watch this rubbish. I don't know why, but I was hopefully it'll end with some drama and real tension, but of course, it didn't.

After a little opening speech from a future Matt Mason, I thought we were all going to go a little Star Trek: Enterprise finale on us for a moment or something, which would have been typical for this show, but they stayed in the present thankfully, although possibly listening to Matt for 40 minutes more might have been better than what followed.

The attack at the end of last week's episode was quickly thwarted by our 2nd Mass, thanks it seems to Marty (the crazy father who Weaver helped several episodes ago), who came storming out from somewhere with a machine gun. Well, he seemed to get all the credit for some reason, getting killed in the process. Makes a change that it wasn't a Mason who saved the day ...

We then have a biker crew arrive. Sadly, it's not Pope's gang, but some other people on their way to DC. Why do they let them through the gates before asking who they are in this show? Anyhow, the biker gang agree to help take down a massive wall around DC and provide a distraction for the 2nd Mass. Using the classic plot aide of service tunnels, Tom and the gang progress to DC Queen HQ by way of creeping past alien glowing eggs, like something out of an Aliens Film. No where near as creepy and dramatic though. Everyone is reminded not to touch the eggs, as they creep about, so it comes as no surprise when one of gang wants a closer look at an egg, and ends up getting killed by whatever was inside, sending everyone trigger happy, including someone who lets off a missile, which ends up killing the alien and him, but naturally not Tom, who evades the explosion. He's now cut off from the rest so that he can do his Tom saves the day thing I expect. Seizing the opportunity, Hal changes his mind once again on which girl he loves, and proposes to Maggie! Yup, this guy is not only indecisive but a real sleaze!

Tom comes out of the tunnels right next to that statue in DC and just around the corner from where the Queen is hanging out. With the distraction going on elsewhere in DC, it seems the Queen is amazingly unprotected. Yup, not even the one alien guard, which makes no sense quite frankly. But hey, it does help speed up the finale. Tom faces off with the queen who quickly gets him in some sort of web, with the weapon device Tom was carrying just conveniently out of arm's reach. You know that'll be no problem for Tom though. The Queen then gives us a rather dull speech about why it's all humanity's fault that they came back, telling us about the last time the aliens were here and how we killed her daughter or something. It was really a pathetic story that did nothing for her side of the tale. Naturally Tom defends humanity with a "you provoked us" speech which has little justification or fact to back it up. Very much a playground scrap this. "You started it", "No, he did!" blah blah.

Anyhow, as the Queen starts sucking out Tom's blood, he manages to reach the weapon with his hand, and uses it on himself, in order to get the weapon to go through his blood and into the queen who makes a noise and then blows up into a handful of dust. Very unthrilling. I thought they'd done stuff to that weapon to stop it attacking humans anyway?

So, that's basically it. Humanity has won the day. I assume all the other aliens around the planet also just left or died right then? We never see it happen.

What we do see though is Ann Mason, with the rest of the gang, collapsing injured from that missile blast earlier. She succumbs to her injuries in a heroic ending for her of sorts. Ben runs off, for some reason, and finds Tom, who tells him how he finished off the Queen, and Ben tells him about Ann. Tom rushes back, and remember how those ex-wife-vision-aliens saved him, marches absolute miles carrying Ann's dead body back to that river and demanding they fix Ann.

Then, for no really good reason, Pope shows up! Yes, he's still not dead, and gets more lives than Tom. He's very much injured but says he got looked after by someone. Was it the same family as Tom did a while back? Dunno, it's just a ridiculous tale he gives anyway. He offers Tom a gun to shoot him but Tom says the war is over. Pope makes a groan. Not sure if he died then or not. It's all just too daft and pointless really, no matter how much I loved Pope. He's been given a very pathetic ending, but this is the show full of pointless and flat storylines so we shouldn't have expected anything else.

In the final few minutes we skip to the not so distant future and see everyone all dressed up and happy, where Tom gives a final speech. Naturally everything is fantastic now the war is over. Anyone who has fired a gun is now in a military uniform looking smart. Matt is on a date with his girlfriend. Hal is with Maggie. It's all vomit inducing stuff as Tom waffles on about America and thousands of people nearby in DC all clap and cheer. Sigh.

What I liked

It's the finale. The last episode ever of this show. That's a big plus point.

The Queen looked big and mean but ultimately not really given much screen time sadly.

We saw Pope! But I wish they never bothered. It was a pointless scene.

Marty goes out in glory ... although I'm not sure how he got the credit for saving the day.

What I Didn't Like

Service tunnels ... convenient.

Tom is sent flying by Queen, but weapon lands within his reach ... convenient.

Tom uses weapon on himself, although I thought they'd manipulated the weapon to not attack humans? Or was that just not kill them?

Ann dies but is brought back to life.

No one else of any significance in the main cast faced any real life or death moment, except Tom (but that's par for the course) and Ann. Didn't feel like much was on the line.

I know there was a distraction in DC, but you telling me the Queen would have been left with zero guards?

Pope scene totally pointless and ruined everything that had been built up in the season between him and Tom.

Hal proposes to Maggie, despite not giving any hint of going back to her since he met his new girlfriend.

Huh?

As soon as someone said not to touch the eggs, you knew someone would.

The Queen is big naturally, but not really anywhere near as interesting as one might think. And totally unguarded? Seriously?

The Weapon conveniently happened to lodge just within Tom's reach, who uses it on himself to kill the Queen. Didn't they reprogram the weapon to not affect humans?

If we thought last week's Pope finale was rubbish, then bringing him back for this scene was another step too far.

The only thing missing from these cheesy scenes were medals being handed out.

And Finally

What can one say? It was pretty much a given that this season, being it's last, would in some way expedite a route to a resolution, and indeed it did. There wasn't much really that went down in this episode as it was a fast tracked to success. Some episodes this season have almost crawled along, with no attempt made at winning the war, and they were all the much better for it, but when it came down to the 2nd Mass concentrating on the enemy, things never really seemed t0o insummentable. The finale lacked any real gravity of the dire situation they were in, the risks, and the absolutely number of aliens in DC. It seemed a walk in the park, which ironically that section of DC actually is.

Falling Skies S05E09: "Reunion"

Rating: 5
OK

In A Nutshell

Ending very much with a whimper thus far, but can the penultimate episode rack up the tension and quality ahead of the finale?

Hell No. The title of this episode is 'Reunion' and that's quite apt, considering it brought back some characters but it was the kind of school reunion you'd rather not have attended, because you never really liked them the first time around. More of that in a moment.

Ben is this week taking ice baths at regular intervals as he attempts to learn more from the alien communication device. You know, the thing that's like a coal fire? I assume the cold baths help him concentrate although that's barely explained how the process is exactly working. He scribbles out lots of random stuff on a blackboard which only comes to relevance a little later after they've learn't that a queen is in DC and this could be the end of the battle. If it's not, then, well, they've run out of airtime quite frankly.

Reunion 1 involves the person no one wanted to see again. Not us viewers or anyone in the show, as Alexis shows up whilst on a nearby patrol. Looking dishevelled, she says she's no idea where she's been but not to worry that she's a trap or trick. Right. Thankfully common sense prevails this week, and literally no one is willing to believe anything she says, except maybe Tom, who thinks it might be worth the chance. What is it with this guy? Anyhow, she finally shows her true colours, attempting to kill him but Ben saves the day with another alien weapon. Yes, earlier in the episode, Tom was summoned off base by his alien friend who likes to masquerade as his ex-wife still, although I'm not sure why. We know it's an alien really. Down by a massive river, she gives Tom a weapon to use on the queen that'll kill them all. Literally all. Seems like a good way to end everything with only one episode left right? Her massive spaceship comes out of the river to deliver the device, and it seems no one notices this ruddy great big thing in the sky!! Well, this is Falling Skies after all. Lots of daft stuff in this show.

And that leads us on to reunion 2; Pope. After having the best episode of the season earlier, Pope is sent on his way this week in the style of Boba Fett. He tricks his way into the compound like something out of Little Red Riding Hood. It really is quite ludicrous. Then there's a hell of a gun battle before Pope takes up his position next to a number of explosive barrels. He might as well have been wearing a red shirt. Sure enough, Tom and co destroy the barrels and thus literally blow Pope up. It's all over in 2 minutes and was very dissatisfying in every way possible. It was also rather pointless and stupid.

On top of that, the soldier who eloped with Pope in the first place, suddenly has a change of heart this week. After being responsible for abducting Doctor Mason, and joining in with everything Pope has done since, and never once complained, this week he decides to take a bullet for the doctor. Later in the episode he tells Weaver he has learn't the error of his ways. Weaver almost gives him a big hug and kiss when he tells him he forgives him and wants him to help them out. Jeez. Wtf?!!??! This makes no sense quite frankly.

Right at the end, with everyone now ready to go gun ho on Washington DC, after figuring out the most simplest of puzzles that Ben learnt from his baths, we see a mass of flying aliens arrive.

What I liked

I enjoyed Pope's going gun ho on everyone and his few quips, but it was all rather pointless a sub-plot. He didn't deserve that.

Ben's baths were not explained much but at least it looked like he'd been through hell getting the intel on the queen.

What I Didn't Like

Alexis returns. It wasn't really her but that didn't matter. She was boring before and even more so as an alien trap.

Pope was giving the most dissatisfying death scene imaginable. Totally ridiculous showdown and a rubbish ending for him.

The alien's weapon experiments done by Doctor Mason were at least showing some sort of concern over just using something they knew nothing about, but it all felt like filler and rather dull stuff.

Huh?

Large ship comes out of river. Nobody seems to have noticed.

Ben goes through hell this week, much like we have for years watching this show.

Alexis returns in perhaps the most unwelcome comeback ever.

Pope takes cover ... besides lots of highly explosive barrels. Sigh.

Best get lots of fly swatters and pesticides ready because they'll be needed next week.

And Finally

The finale can't come soon enough. Hopefully the second mass will be wiped out along with the aliens if we're all lucky!

Falling Skies S05E08: "Stalag 14th Virginia"

Rating: 5
OK

In A Nutshell

Things start off once again badly, with a lineup of people about to be shot, with black bags over their heads, the order to fire being giving, and then the awful "Seven hours earlier" then being shown on the screen. Sigh. Naturally we're left to figure out who was about to be shot, although we suspect Tom and sons, we can't be sure and plus did they get shot? Is the world round? Is this show fantastic? Yeah, I think we know what is not going to happen after the gunshots actually occur.

So, back in time we go and the sad reflective grim looking Weaver is following around his old flame like a puppy, Commander "Carter" (well, easier to say Carter as that was who she was in SG-1) and keeps trying to convince her she's wrong to do all these bad things to the 2nd Mass. In a rather pathetic manner, Weaver follows the Commander in her jeep out of the base. Quite what she said to the gate guard as to why she was going for a night time drive, I don't know. Anyhow, Weaver, despite being almost in her pants whilst following her, sees her meet with an overlord, whom he then strangles after she leaves. We never see the overlord at all, so I'm guessing they were saving money on CGI! 

Over the course of the episode, Weaver gets more and more of the guards on his side. Tom is also in the cell doing a great job as an ex-teacher of convincing the guard there to help them. Eventually he caves to Tom's relentless voice and they attempt an escape, but it goes wrong. Tom gets away (through a weak point in the perimeter) and the cell guard who helped them gets shot. Seems Pope's theory is right huh? Everyone is then naturally all destined to be shot by firing squad the next day. Joining them in the line of fire is Doctor Mason, who after spilling everything to the patient she fixed up, finds him go all "Traitor Traitor" on her, in a strange comedy turn of emotions. Seems the patient was working for the commander in some ridiculous subplot which wasn't necessary at all as the commander was likely to arrest doctor mason regardless. 

So, Doctor Mason and boys are lined up to be shot, but, wait, the guards refuse to shoot. They've been weaver'ed! At the same time, Tom comes storming through the gates like Mad Max in their lorry, and gives his usual bullshit all-american speech about living together and fighting the aliens. Everyone is starting to hug and kiss each other as world peace spreads across the base, when the Commander attempts to shoot Tom, but Weaver stabs her. Quite why he didn't just take the gun off her, I don't know.

So, we end with the commander dripping black blood. It's suggested she was or wasn't a complete duplicate or copy of the original Commander. No idea. It's hard to fathom and I'm beyond caring. If all that seems hard to fathom, well get this ... the patient in the hospital we then find stumbling along a road and into Pope's camp! WTF? Why? Why was he going anywhere or knew to go to Pope's camp, or even where it was? Is the camp really the close and no aliens between the army base and Pope? Just ridiculous, but we do get to see Pope pleased to find out that Tom is alive because we all know that he wants to attempt to kill him himself.

What I liked

It was sort of interesting to see how the 2nd Mass would get out of this predicament, but ultimately the result was absolutely ludicrous in how they yet again won the day.

What I Didn't Like

The patient in the hospital, who turned on Doctor Mason in pantomime fashion, then ended up stumbling into Pope's base? That was just highly contrived and ridiculous to believe.

Wasn't clear what had happened to the Commander in the end. Was she alien or half human?

Are we supposed to believe Weaver strangled an overlord?

The way the whole 2nd Mass talked around all the soldiers was half cheesy and half obvious manipulation. I get that the army might think things weren't right, but to believe anyone so easily was a little daft, especially how they all started to love Weaver.

Weak point in the perimeter? This is an army base! How on earth is there any weak point?

Tom's Mad Max entrance.

Huh?

Weaver creeps up and strangles an overlord in a highly contrived money-saving exercise for the producers as we never see the overlord.

Tom convinces the guard to help them escape. Probably they just want rid of his whining.

Escape goes wrong. Someone other than a Mason gets killed. Sound familiar?

Will the Masons get shot? Don't be stupid.

So, what exactly was she? Hard to know for sure. Probably they didn't want to have to explain it to us.

And Finally

A relatively interesting scenario is played out with some ridiculous scenes and lame plotwork. On the plus side, Pope is back!

Falling Skies S05E07 "Everyone has their reasons"

Rating: 6
DECENT

In A Nutshell

Well, it wasn't dull this week, but it was hardly full of quality either, with daftness actually highlighted quite openly throughout the episode.

Most of the 2nd Mass make their way to an old Navel Base which is under the command of Weaver's old flame, and ex-Stargate chief, Samantha Carter. Ok, it's not the character, but the actress. She performs admirably all episode, despite having to put up with multiple plot moments where she has to readily acknowledge the scar on her neck that keeps bleeding. It's so totally highlighted throughout the episode, and that it occurred after a recent ambush by skitters, that the only people not noticing the bleeding obvious is everyone. Ahh well. After being let into the camp, things go south quicker than two quick things, with the 2nd mass gradually being rounded up for questioning/detention. Commander "Carter" is doing so under very sensible reasons (hearing about 2nd Mass involvement with all sorts of aliens) that you'd be surprised that Pope wasn't behind it and not an overlord whom we see at the end. Poor Ben ends up being cornered by anti "alien freak" soldiers, who he promptly beats up rather impressively before being sucker punched from behind. He's then subjected to having spikes literally pulled out. Despite the obnoxious solider who pulled the spike out being attacked by the spike creature and sustaining a rather nasty facial injury, nothing is made of that for rest of the episode. Curious ...

Back at the previous camp, Cochise and the 2nd Mass gadget man have a few scenes where they are essentially retrieving the communications device. Young Matt Mason is on his way back there after Weaver (the only one not under lock and key by his sweetheart commander) sneaks him out to get help. Things go very wrong for the Masons as Commander "Carter" puts them under a court material investigation, ending with them all being sentenced to death. Shock horror. Wonder if that'll happen?

What I liked

Ben Mason finally kicks ass, thanks to the spikes, showing us the true power of what they can do. Why we haven't seen this super human stuff before like this I don't know. It's great!

Commander "Carter" actress brings great integrity, despite some of the daftness she has to perform.

It's quite contrived and unoriginal, but the second mass at the makeshift army base makes a very welcomed change of scenery and interaction with different people.

What I Didn't Like

The several scenes of Cochise and co removing the communications device was totally unnecessary. We could have saved ourselves from that.

The soldiers at the base all seem to be obnoxious idiots and bigots. I can't help but think they are overplaying all that to make them seem like this week's "bad guys".

Huh?



A'Hoy there Captain, rubbish CGI ahead.

Proving that no alien devices or painkiller are really needed after all, this guy pulls out one of Ben's spikes with some pliers. Double ouch!

 

You'd hardly recognise Stargate's Sam Carter, but you would notice the bleeding scar on her neck that's given prominence all episode.

 

Blind Date this is not.

Look who is being controlling the Commander? Jeez, didn't see that coming. Sigh.

And Finally

Change of scenery and a faster pace helps nicely for a decent episode despite all the dialogue and plot daftness.

Falling Skies: S05E06: "Respite"

Rating: 5
OK

In A Nutshell

No Pope this episode, sadly, so you'd expect all tension and drama of the human kind to diminish like the number of episodes left in this series? You'd be mostly right, but thankfully this didn't quite cross the line into pure dullness.

So, seems that alien that grabbed Tom last week just when he and Pope were about to blow each other up, was random and not anything deliberate for "the greater good" or whatever. Well, not as far as the overall arc goes but probably was pretty convenient to prolong the Pope/Tom battle, which is ok by me. Tom wakes up in a cosy bed in a quaint house. His wombs have been treated and he hobbles about to mingle with a family untouched by the war, with the grandpa, young children, teenage boy and the single-cute-he's-going-to-share-a-kiss-with mother. In a high degree of predictability, this episode progresses like a textbook, lacking any of last episode's true grit and human emotions, merely reminding us of the good ol'days and classic family issues. The teenage boy is moody and probably broody, and smoking/drinking, claiming that he doesn't know what's going on but a few miles or so away. Quite how a teenage boy didn't hear anything via radio, TV, internet or big super doper aliens in the sky, I don't know. The little ones, maybe, but the boy? Very hard to believe. Such is the obvious route this episode takes, we have him stomping off from the house and bumping into a dead alien (seems for 3 years he's not walked at least a mile away from home!) and Tom spills all the beans about the aliens in one sentence. Instantly the boy wants to fight in the war that he's not heard about until a minute ago. Yeah, it's all that stupid. Even more stupid, is come the end of the episode, when Hal and new girlfriend turn up, Tom manages to convince the boy to stay with his family in some of the most unconvincing words a testosterone teenage boy would believe.

Meanwhile, back at the second mass, Maggie has her spikes removed. Cochise ends up doing it in secret against the doctor's wishes, but seems he doesn't know much about what he's doing cause the final spike refuses to come out, so he calls the doctor, who throws a towel over Maggie, and then pulls the spike out. Blimey, either she's a real dab hand, or Cochise is really rubbish!

Things all end with Tom, Hal and new GF meeting with the second mass once again and revealing that they've literally decided to very conveniently make a base on top of a secret alien communications device. Yup, back to the cheese stuff again.

What I liked

Not a lot to like this week, unless you liked the Hal/GF flirting stuff, or Cochise's rather blatant rubbish medical knowledge. It was all quite pleasant at the house that's amazingly avoided aliens for 3 years, but we don't watch this show for nice reasons, right?

What I Didn't Like

No Pope!

No drama of any genuine level.

Predictable

Cheesy plot

Huh?

Tom plays happy families briefly this week. Quite how he didn't suspect an alien mind game I don't know. He did manage a rather brief cry though, which was comical.

Hal and his new GF do some amazing tracking, given they've gone miles chasing after a flying alien that's long out of sight. Oh look what they happen to stumble upon!?? Yes, you guessed it.

You wouldn't trust this alien with a game of Operation!

Maggie, meet, ummm, my new "friend".

Doesnt look like much, but they say this could help them win the war.

And Finally

The whole spike removal held no drama at all, with the most tension at the family home for Tom being when the mother cut her hand on some glass. It was all very dry and procedural once again this week, which can mean only one thing; bring back Pope!

Falling Skies: S05E05: "Non-essential personnel"

Rating: 7
Good Stuff!

In A Nutshell

Now this is much more like it! There's a clear threat, and one with emotion, personality and predictiveness thrown in together in a damn fine mix; called Pope! He's the bad guy you just love, and one that most ardent Falling Skies fans would be hard not to have a high degree of sympathy with. Whether this all ends with Tom and Pope hugging and sharing a tender moment, I don't know, although I suspect that'll happen, but at the moment this is about as tense and gritty as this show has been in ages. Ironically, this is all because of the human aspect and not the aliens that really made this episode.

Pope and his gang save another group of people from critters, recruiting the strong and sending the weak on their way. He's hold up at a bowling centre whilst he leads Tom on a mystery tour across town to find him. Badass pope works very nicely, and he really does speak a lot of truth. I'm on his side, although not with all the violence though. But this is great unpredictable and meaningful stuff. You can understand his actions, which over the last 5 or so years, has been hard to fathom from most of the main characters. This actually all makes perfect sense for once! Sadly, Tom does catch up with Pope, sneaking through Pope's guards like butter melting on toast. Very easy, and convenient, especially when he chance meets Pope, and they both draw their guns at the same time! Although, Pope of course misses, but Tom lands a blow. Can't say for sure where he actually hit Pope, but I thought that was it for a mo, but as Tom goes in closer, Pope shoots Tom in leg (yup, didn't kill him) and Tom gets in another shot that creates a gash in Pope's head. It's all very messy and a case of bad aiming. However this is cut short when a flying alien comes in and carries Tom away! Yup, didn't see that coming but at least it prolongs the badass Pope storyline, as believe it or not, despite two bullets, he 'does a Tom' and is still living at the end of the episode and thirsty for more. During all this, Hal escapes with the help of one of Pope's lady recruits, and leads the search for where the stork, I mean flying alien, carried his dad.

The sub-plot this week is just as good, if not better, which really surprised me. Whilst the second mass are making their way through a town on route to where ever it is they said they were going last week, they get cornered by someone in a building with rocket launchers and machine guns. Weaver goes all righteous on us and does a "I come in peace" walk to the building to talk the person(s) down. Turns out, it is just the one person there, which one half suspects but the story does well to disguise that fact until the last moment. In the building, Weaver gets injured by the gunman, who demands half of all the 2nd masses ammunition in order to protect his family. Turns out, his family is already dead, and this guy has gone through emotional hell. Somehow, Weaver knew that all along (so he says) but how it's all scripted, and acted, along with the tension throughout was absolutely delicious, and quite emotional there at the end. Even better, they agree to take the guy into the 2nd mass and help him get over his loss. Actually quite touching for once.

What I liked

Pope is fantastic! Bad-ass, violent and also making a high degree of sense!

The newcomers, largely the lady and nutty man (as they're the only ones given any prominence) was much welcomed after far too much staleness with the same group of characters.

Weaver going "I come in peace" was actually not as straightforward and cheesy as I thought. Quite emotional.

What I Didn't Like

Tom; creeping past all the guards like a genius. That's far too easy, right?

Tom/Pope; brief. Very brief shoot-out

Tom and alien wife vision; all so very egomaniac for Tom. IT HAS TO BE HIM RIGHT? Pope has a very good point.

Huh?

Pope saves some locals in order to gain some friends for manipulation. It's a classic idea and genius ... well, clever anyway.

Hal gets kinky as he tries to lure Pope into some S&M.
Nah, not really, but he is tied up and at the mercy of Pope.

The cryptic bitch is back! This week she at least makes sense more, but this "It has to be you Tom" is getting about as stale as a rotten critter.

In a very touching subplot, a nutty dad is talked down from madness by Weaver.

Pope's not dead despite being shot twice! Yippee! More bad-ass next week please!

And Finally

As the aliens take a backseat, it's a very pleasant surprise that the human characters actually rise to the challenge, with the newcomers being far more interesting for a change. More bad-ass Pope please next week, although I fear we'll have to get back to the long drawn out dull alien invasion soon!

Falling Skies: S05E04: "Pope Breaks Bad"

Rating: 5

In A Nutshell

This is what we've been waiting for. Pope turning to the dark side, as he's tightroped on for several seasons. Finally, taking longer than us viewers have, he's grown tired of all the Tom Mason leadership and seeing the Masons do ok, but everyone else (namely him and his falling ex, Sarah) suffer. Pope raises up the tension, enlisting PTSD soldier from last week, into his hellraiser group. A heated confrontation with Tom really started to bare some home truths. "Why are all the mason's doing so well?", "Why is everyone who follows Tom dieing?" as well as "Why is the CGI on this show so poor?" yet Tom does the double bluff, offering a gun to Pope and holding it to his own head, but Pope won't take that bait. Instead, despite holding lots of anger and resentment, he still needs to follow the stupidness of the plots in this show, by later taking Tom's wife hostage, but bailing out of killing her, before, at the episode's conclusion, holding Hal hostage, with a view to killing Hal and Tom. Somehow, Pope managed to keep it all together, and at least twice fail to take down Tom, but at the end, he's changed his tune and wants to take out Tom and Hal in one go! Jeez Pope, your very convincing as a nut job, but your evil plans are very Wile E Coyote ridiculous sometimes.

Elsewhere in the episode, one of the mason's discovers there's a depot nearby that they hadn't figured out for the last whole season. So, they go there and find goods galore; radios, petrol & cars. It's a great find. Almost unbelievable. There's even a scene with a very laughable british lady communicating with them on the radio walkie talkies. And they just take her at her word? And ridiculous accent? Even more amusing than the actual plot, is that the guy, Ryan, who Tom asks to come along, turns out to be the obvious person to perish, long before even Pope could have predicted it. He succumbs to an alien horde of flies. Yikes.

If you think that's all daft, then the sub-plot involving Cochise is the icing on a melting cake. Suddenly we discover he's ill. Kidney failure it seems! He's happy to go off with his arriving father on one of their spaceships, say his last goodbyes and die. Of course, the Masons won't have that, and we have them convincing Cochise's father to donate a kidney, because it's better to fight than to die. The whole operation is quite akin to that kid's board game of the same name. The kidney just pops out! Sadly though, his father dies and he ends up having a fatherly moment with Doctor Mason instead, in scenes that would have been better moved, than moving. Worse still, we have to witness that darn annoying daughter of hers, Alexis, appear as a vision to her. Sigh.

So, we're left at the end with Tom on ANOTHER solo crusade of his, where he goes out all chesty voice, to save Hal and take down Pope. Will some ass kicking happen? Will someone other than Pope die? Is this show ever going to be anything better than "meh"? We'll see ...

What I liked

Badass Pope. Sure, it wasn't perfect, due to his cartoon like bad guy plan flaws, but he spoke a lot of truths, and he felt much more threatening than the aliens have recently.

What I Didn't Like

The whole Cochise sub-plot was comical and daft.

Another appearance by the alien who Tom sees as his ex wife this episode. Out of nowhere he's suddenly having a vision where she tells him nothing much of anything, except that Hal is in danger, something he'd have figured out anyway, as I'm sure Pope would have sent a message to the camp.

Huh?

Hello British! Some really odd sounding lady was on the radio. Tom trusted her instantly, which was daft in the first instance.

In an operation a 5 year old could have performed, Cochise is healed from his rather sudden kidney failure.

Shoot Pope Shoot! Dammit Pope!

Noooooo, not her again!!!

I speak in riddles. It's that ex-wife alien thing again.

Newly head shaved Pope threatens Hal, and also threatens to make the show interesting.

And Finally

Pope as a badass works very well, and makes a lot of sense. Something this show has failed to do for the last five seasons. However, there's still some daftness overload abound that just makes this show too soggy to really care a lot about.

Falling Skies: S05E03 "Hatchlings"

Rating: 5

In A Nutshell

The excitement of knowing this is the final season is still keeping me going! This episode is much "meh" but thankfully not too bad overall.

Things start off with everyone heading off on a jolly walk through the woods, avoiding mummy and daddy bear, towards where the skitters were all on mass at the end of last week's awful CGI visual shot. Using some chemical spray they've used before, they send their new remote control drone up over the critter pool, and BOMBS AWAY!, it kills the majority of them. But, alas, all is not good, because the numbers soon return. Seems the critters are restoring their numbers from someone. Perhaps via copy/paste on the CGI maybe?

We then get a rather cringe investing scene with Maggie and the girl whose alien-mutated brother they tricked last week. Seems the girl has figured that no one can help her brother anyway. She seems to really jump on the fact that Maggie can communicate with her brother via her spikes. It's very awfully acted. I almost had to watch from behind the sofa, it was that bad. Anyhow, eventually of course, the alien brother and sister simply escape, or walk out the camp without anyone noticing, sigh, and the pursuit of them leads them to find an overlord. A few bang bangs later and brother, sister and overlord are dead, yet the overlord isn't quite, so he's taken back to camp, where's he rather barbarically tortured. Maggie and Ben then "spike up" together to infiltrate the overlord's mind with some acting that's like off a b-movie, which leads to them discovering the location of a skitter creation site. It's housed in some disused warehouse (naturally). We witness the 2nd mass taking that out in mere minutes, but not before Pope's poor girlfriend, Sarah, succumbs to nasty alien killer mist. Pope is enraged that killing skitters was more important than saving his lover's life. All hell is going to break out next week as we end with a scene of a very cheesed off Pope.

What I liked

Not much really. They didn't go anywhere with the brother/sister thing really that we hadn't seen before. The Pope/Sarah moments were probably the best. Quite sincere and funny.

What I Didn't Like

Where do I start? The fact that overlords are now as easy to take down and play with as plasticine? The awful b-movie acting? Tom always shouting and raving like he has a hamburger in his mouth? The ease that they took down this skitter factory? There's so many questionable stuff this week.

Huh?

Forgot to get any screen shots :( Ahh, didn't miss much anyway.

And Finally

Nothing amazing. Very much everything you've seen before regurgitated into another typical episode of ridiculous dialogue, acting and the usual grim looking people shooting and killing aliens.

Falling Skies: S05E02: "Hunger Pains"

Rating: 5

In A Nutshell

This week, Falling Skies is brought to you by the words "food" and "skitters".

Yes, relentless attacks by disorganised hordes of skitters leads to the 2nd mass losing their food supply and reminding us (after an 8 days later graphic) very constantly that they are starving, by way of people walking around looking wary and Matt's new girlfriend collapsing. Yup, in this episode he goes from nothing, to almost base one in cheesy stomach curling junior school romance style. A plan is hatched to go via a very convenient storm drain system to get to a nearby distribution store warehouse. They find food, but almost rather predictably, they also find trouble, thanks to a sister who has a half brother/half alien for company. Lying to her that they can cure her brother, she falls hook, line and sinker for that, and allows them to take the food, and her brother (in a crate) back to the 2nd mass.

Meanwhile, whilst they were away, our mechanic extraordinaire, Mike, builds a remote controlled weapon of some sorts from alien tech. He's pretty damn amazing, huh? Sigh. Tom continues to have random hallucinations, whilst that fly from last week remains in a glass jar awaiting study, as a million times it's presence is reminded to us. At the end, a makeshift magnifying device reveals that the fly is made up of human and alien parts. It suddenly, but predictably, then takes off. Tom and his missus then give chase, perform some fantastic tracking techniques that is sure to lead to them becoming beekeepers one day, as they pursue the fly for what must be a few miles. They they discover that the fly has friends, although exactly what was going on I couldn't tell from the CGI mess. Looked like skitters and flies together on mass.

What I liked

Them going out on a food run sort of reminded me of classic "The Walking Dead". Not as tense or dramatic perhaps but that sneaking about with guns in the dark is always a good watch.

Well, the fly isn't mechnical like I thought, but genetically made up of lots of species. Yuck.

What I Didn't Like

Another CGI mess with the skitters, but as there was so much going on, it wasn't as noticeable.

Tom's visions just seemed completely pointless this week.

The way everything is quite predictable and contrived in this show was on overload this week.

Tom and his missus can follow a fly for miles? I can barely see them move across the front room without losing sight of them!

Huh?

Fish is off the menu! And so is eating cooked skitter. Doesn't seem to agree with human intestines.

Ahh, the plot lazy but very convenient storm tunnels to get about

Oh, look, the food warehouse subplot involved getting trapped. Who'd have thought that?

Skitter overload this week!

The fly has human eyes! Not on the same scale of size of course. Could have been animal eyes too, so not sure why they jumped to conclusion that they were human.

And this is what Tom and missus discovered at the end after following that fly. Yeah, no idea for sure what it is either.

And Finally

Pretty unremarkable but not too offensive this week either. The usual sort of contrived, cheesy and pointless dialogue of course, but it just about held together some interest.

Falling Skies S05E01: "Finding the Warrior"

Rating: 5

In A Nutshell

Much like Extant, I wasn't looking forward to this show's return, but I was inspired by the knowledge that it's the final series. The struggle to get through last season without vomiting or dieing of laughter from the ridiculous plots was painful, but I think the break made things all the more bearable.

In a nutshell, you'd be hard pressed to say very much about this episode that you haven't said before over the long 5 seasons that this programme has been on. Tom is back ... naturally ... Mr Indestructible ... starts the episode in another one of those virtual visions back in his home where he's having a conversation with his wife. "Not another one of those is it real or not moments", I hear you ask. Seems Tom worked that out quite quickly, which he should by now, but then proceeded to have a conversation with his wife as if it was real. I don't see why he bothered to interact that much, but alas he did. Water then came through all the windows in the room before he's then coming up for air at the edge of a lake/river/sea and crawling onto the beach. Yup, he's back on Earth again. Everyone at camp thinks he's dead and died a hero along with his daughter (you remember they went to the moon and blew up the power station that the aliens use), but then alas he strolls back into camp with only the one person questioning this continuing illogical luck he has. Seems he feels compelled to be a warrior now and take out every trace of the enemy. Something I'm not sure he needed given he's pretty much been that way for years. Anyhow, three separate missions take place to take out nearby alien cells, with Tom's group having a little spot of bother, before the usual method of being helped out by another team occurs. There's a little more grit as Tom uses one of their dead colleague's bodies to plant bombs on and be used as bait, which gets largely overlooked by everyone. I know they've been through a lot, but still ...

They are then all off to the nearby school, where Tom is convinced that an overlord is hanging out, like the school bully. Indeed he is, and he's harnessed Ben as his conversation device, but Tom couldn't give a monkeys and just shoots the overlord, many times. Back to the camp and everyone is doing a little 'Return of the Jedi' party around one of their fallen colleagues burning bodies when Tom feels a fly on his neck, swats it, and sees it's no ordinary fly.

What I liked

Definitely the break has helped me be able to watch this rubbish as there was absolutely nothing remarkably new about what's going on. Usual random unexplainable emotional dialogues between people and behaviour you can't fathom for love or money. It's always dark or cloudy, or raining on this show, so the backdrop is always the same dull stuff. However, there were a few "WOAH" moments when aliens jumped out of shadows.

It's the last season. That's got to be good, right?

What I Didn't Like

The CGI is appalling on this show. The depth and perspective is so wrong on too many occasions.

One of the minor recurring characters suffered a rather quick death and send-off. She should've been wearing a red shirt.

It's just the same old thing on this show rehashed every episode. You could watch any episode and see exactly the same thing; people creeping around, dark surroundings, ridiculous behaviour and dialogue and bad CGI.

Huh?

Despite plenty of previous experience, and knowing that this is highly likely a "vision", Tom proceeds to have some conversation with someone who isn't there.

Planet of the Apes this isn't

John Pope; the only person to question the ludicrous implausibility of Tom once again coming out of disaster without a scratch. Mind you, why is John the only person on guard duty?

Tom goes all warrior on us this episode, and shows off an alien head to get everyone on his side.

We've all played a game like this back in the 80s, right?

Now going through their umptrenth ridicolous relationship "are they, aren't they" moment.

If only Tom had been this forward in previous seasons by just shooting without worrying about consequences, we might have wrapped this show up years ago.

Didn't I see something like this before in "Revolution" TV show?

And Finally

Time is a healer, and it helped me get through what is essentially the same old material rehashed time and time again. It's watchable if you've got some food and drink to get you through it, but there's little if any genuine quality in this episode.