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pennie_dreadful) wrote2011-08-11 03:24 pm
pennie_dreadful) wrote2011-08-11 03:24 pm
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So season one of Falling Skies is over. Let me rant about it.
Falling Skies, oh Falling Skies, I haven’t experienced a love/hate relationship with a show like you in a long time. I understand that this is primetime network television. And really, I should have known to just stay away. And true, the pilot episode was kind of blah. You didn’t give me anything I wasn’t expecting. But I kept watching, and you threw in some neat plot twists that sparked my interest. Unfortunately, one of the plot twists (Weaver being a prescription pill addict) was only referenced like, twice, and then at the season finale he has a moment where his hands shake and he looks at Hal and says he stopped taking them a week ago. Freaking. What. And how about a little bit of insight into him—temporarily, albeit—developing a god complex in episode 9?! Overall, I feel that his character has been very underutilized, and he’s just there to get in Tom’s way, omg why can’t he see that Tom is right aboutevery some things.
And Tom, ohgod Tom. I—I know he’s supposed to be our bridge character—the character the viewers are supposed to identify and empathize with. Unfortunately, while his dedication to his children’s wellbeing and his unrelenting optimism are noble qualities…wait, no. The unrelenting optimism is freaking annoying as fuck. If I have to hear him give one more pep talk that can basically be summarized as WE BEAT THE BRITISH DURING THE REVOLUTION WE CAN BEAT THE SKITTERS GO TEAM USA!1!! I will throw my shoe at the tv. STOP. It’s great that you were an American history professor and all, and some of the stuff you know about warfare is actually relevant, but seriously, STFU.
And for fuck’s sake what is with Weaver not executing Clayton, the guy who sold them out to the skitters, stole their children to use as bargaining chips, and KILLED MIKE. If I ever see you again I’ll kill you, are you for real. Shoot him in the head right. Now. Oh, but wait. I forgot. They’re better than that. (No one even had to actually say that line, or some variant of it, in the actual episode for me to know that’s why they didn’t execute him, that’s how clichéd it is. Sigh.)
But thank you, show, for giving us a little teeny bit of racial diversity. We have a total of two Asians and three black people…two of which have already been killed off in season one. :||||||||| And of course we had to make the bridge character and his family not only white, but privileged upper middle class suburban white. (Tom and Hal played lacrosse? Seriously?) :|||||||||||
And Ann, I’m kind of meh about. She’s just sort of there, and I don’t know what she’s there for except to be used as some kind of love interest/pay off for Tom. :/ Please to be developing her character more, writers. And also, why the hell was Hal barely focused on after the Rick storyline? His girlfriend was captured by the skitters, the skitters then forced him to watch while mechs mass murdered children. He was seriously freaked out immediately afterward, but during the later episodes? Uh…yeah. He totally does not need to process his grief or deal with his emotional trauma. :||||||||||| (Mass. Murder. Children. How do you just shrug that off? How?!)
But, okay, there’s some stuff I like. When it comes to telling a story that is as common and clichéd as the old aliens-invade-the-earth plot, some neat, unique plot twists are necessary if you want to draw in the dedicated sci fi fans as well as people less familiar with the genre. The harnessed kids was one way to do that, and the BIG REVEAL as to what the harnesses are for—ohgod D: I do appreciate that they spent time showing that Rick was still very affected by his time under the harness, and didn’t completely ignore his storyline until it was time to use him as a plot device to create more tension.
Pope—oh man, I love Pope. As a foil for Tom he is perfect. I’m not saying I don’t think he’s a completely unreliable asshole, mind you, but I guess I’m just sick of Tom, lol. Although it was cool that Tom wasn’t actually stupid enough to trust Pope in the finale. That gave me hope.
I think one of the things that irritates me the most about the show is it can’t decided which kind of story it is. Is it a drama that just happens to be taking place in a post apocalyptic near future where aliens are systematically exterminating the human race? Or is it a kickass, in your face action/adventure sci fi show? Like, there are ways to make it both (See: Firefly), but the writers are seriously failing at it.
But dammit, I absolutely cannot wait until season two! (I really do kind of like this show, despite itself.)
Spoilers for everything. lol
Falling Skies, oh Falling Skies, I haven’t experienced a love/hate relationship with a show like you in a long time. I understand that this is primetime network television. And really, I should have known to just stay away. And true, the pilot episode was kind of blah. You didn’t give me anything I wasn’t expecting. But I kept watching, and you threw in some neat plot twists that sparked my interest. Unfortunately, one of the plot twists (Weaver being a prescription pill addict) was only referenced like, twice, and then at the season finale he has a moment where his hands shake and he looks at Hal and says he stopped taking them a week ago. Freaking. What. And how about a little bit of insight into him—temporarily, albeit—developing a god complex in episode 9?! Overall, I feel that his character has been very underutilized, and he’s just there to get in Tom’s way, omg why can’t he see that Tom is right about
And Tom, ohgod Tom. I—I know he’s supposed to be our bridge character—the character the viewers are supposed to identify and empathize with. Unfortunately, while his dedication to his children’s wellbeing and his unrelenting optimism are noble qualities…wait, no. The unrelenting optimism is freaking annoying as fuck. If I have to hear him give one more pep talk that can basically be summarized as WE BEAT THE BRITISH DURING THE REVOLUTION WE CAN BEAT THE SKITTERS GO TEAM USA!1!! I will throw my shoe at the tv. STOP. It’s great that you were an American history professor and all, and some of the stuff you know about warfare is actually relevant, but seriously, STFU.
And for fuck’s sake what is with Weaver not executing Clayton, the guy who sold them out to the skitters, stole their children to use as bargaining chips, and KILLED MIKE. If I ever see you again I’ll kill you, are you for real. Shoot him in the head right. Now. Oh, but wait. I forgot. They’re better than that. (No one even had to actually say that line, or some variant of it, in the actual episode for me to know that’s why they didn’t execute him, that’s how clichéd it is. Sigh.)
But thank you, show, for giving us a little teeny bit of racial diversity. We have a total of two Asians and three black people…two of which have already been killed off in season one. :||||||||| And of course we had to make the bridge character and his family not only white, but privileged upper middle class suburban white. (Tom and Hal played lacrosse? Seriously?) :|||||||||||
And Ann, I’m kind of meh about. She’s just sort of there, and I don’t know what she’s there for except to be used as some kind of love interest/pay off for Tom. :/ Please to be developing her character more, writers. And also, why the hell was Hal barely focused on after the Rick storyline? His girlfriend was captured by the skitters, the skitters then forced him to watch while mechs mass murdered children. He was seriously freaked out immediately afterward, but during the later episodes? Uh…yeah. He totally does not need to process his grief or deal with his emotional trauma. :||||||||||| (Mass. Murder. Children. How do you just shrug that off? How?!)
But, okay, there’s some stuff I like. When it comes to telling a story that is as common and clichéd as the old aliens-invade-the-earth plot, some neat, unique plot twists are necessary if you want to draw in the dedicated sci fi fans as well as people less familiar with the genre. The harnessed kids was one way to do that, and the BIG REVEAL as to what the harnesses are for—ohgod D: I do appreciate that they spent time showing that Rick was still very affected by his time under the harness, and didn’t completely ignore his storyline until it was time to use him as a plot device to create more tension.
Pope—oh man, I love Pope. As a foil for Tom he is perfect. I’m not saying I don’t think he’s a completely unreliable asshole, mind you, but I guess I’m just sick of Tom, lol. Although it was cool that Tom wasn’t actually stupid enough to trust Pope in the finale. That gave me hope.
I think one of the things that irritates me the most about the show is it can’t decided which kind of story it is. Is it a drama that just happens to be taking place in a post apocalyptic near future where aliens are systematically exterminating the human race? Or is it a kickass, in your face action/adventure sci fi show? Like, there are ways to make it both (See: Firefly), but the writers are seriously failing at it.
But dammit, I absolutely cannot wait until season two! (I really do kind of like this show, despite itself.)
Spoilers for everything. lol