Falling Skies season 1 episode 10 : Eight Hours

Summary : A few rare good minutes saved this episode from exploding in the deep blue sky

Score : 5/10

It's actually a story praising the finale, and even mentioning Lost, that convinced me to give Falling Skies an other chance. Now that I have seen its finale second part it's not that I regret it but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations and the inevitable jaw dropping effect I was awaiting never happened. It's obvious the production budget is limited but I just don't get the biped robots. The premiere intrigued us about these metal creatures but when they reminded me of RoboCop's ED-209 series their CG rendering is just too cheap and watching them walking in bright daylight is almost ridiculous. Moreover their masters have super advanced technologies that allowed them to blast the Earth and travel through space but their robots fire ammos and rockets. So it was weak in the action department but also when it came to the substance. I get the creators good intentions of teaching a few things to the audience about moral values and history but Tom's speech was misplaced, Noah Wyle played his part like a machine, and the flag metaphora was poor. Worst the characters behavior is questionable. One minute they're scared like chickens, the next they laugh and joke about what just happened. What would be wrong with frightening our children a little ? Hopefully the arcs involving the mutant and the captain were good. I think the teenager has done a decent job so far and looks spooky enough to make us believe that he's turning into something inhuman. Tom and Anne's relationship also developed further and even if it was nothing surprising it should make these characters grow on you even more. However I still consider Moon Bloodgood's talent deserves more than such a cliché role. As for the cliffhanger its concept was good but its execution was flawed. From the flimsy visual effects to the hasty development its quality wasn't worthy of a finale. In fact my biggest reproach would be the general lack of spirit. Falling Skies doesn't feel at all like a Steven Spielberg production. Where is E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial poetry and magic ? What about Close Encounters of the Third Kind epicness ? Otherwise I can only admit that it was at least interesting and made me curious about what could happen in season 2.