After this one I will be finally up to date on all for reviews for all the TV Series.
Season three takes place seven months after the arrival of a new alien race; The Volm. The Volm have been fighting their own war against the Espheni across the galaxy and have offered their help to the humans in the form of help technology and better defences against the Skitters/Mechs. Tom Mason has been elected the new President in Charleston and has managed to make a thriving community and with the help old and new allies, they are finally holding their own against the Espheni. However there are many who are unsure about the true intentions of the Volm and the Espheni have invented more subtle ways to strike.
This was a great season and I thoroughly enjoyed every episode and the stand out in this season by far is the Volm. Cochise (Doug Stones) has quickly become one of my favourite characters because of his helpful nature for the humans and the already friendly relationship with Tom. Unfortunately we barely see any other Volm apart from him throughout the season but luckily Cochise more than makes up for it and every time he and the other Volm had some screen time I just really wanted to see even more of them. We get a lot of background information and insight as the series progresses in why they help the Espheni, why are they helping the humans and their big overall plan but even I still questioned in whether or not they could really be trusted because even the Espheni try to turn Tom against them.
The old cast is just as good as ever, when I first heard that Tom was President I thought he would take a back seat but no he is still in the thick of it and Pope is still my favourite!! A great addition to the cast is Roger Kadar (Robert Sean Leonard) who is the resident scientist.
Now I want to go over several parts of season three that I think need to be addressed, some good and some bad. SPOILERS.
Episodes "Search and Recovery" and "Strange Brew": Two stand out episodes which are also two of my favourite. The first one mainly focuses on Tom and Pope who are stranded in the woods and need to make it back to Charleston. What I really liked about it was that we get to see a lot of interaction between Pope and Tom which I think they haven't had since season one and I think this was the start of them finally forming some sort of friendship (Which they seem to be now in episode three of season four).
The second episode is where Tom is trapped in an almost Matrix like reality where he is still a history professor before the invasion, his wife is alive and his friends are all teachers at the school he works, however the Espheni are using it to extract info from Tom. I really like episodes like this (like the one with Aaron in Revolution) because they are always a fun watch and we finally have Tom get some closure with the death of his wife since they barely brushed the subject in the previous seasons.
Hal the traitor: As seen at the end of season two Hal has been implanted with an insect that puts him under the control of the Skitters and they fully take over in episode six. Now this was a great episode but I really did not like how they dealt with it in the end. Hal almost commits suicide during it and there was a chance the removal of the insect could have killed him, neither of which happens. This really was a disappointment because I think the death of Hal would have had a major emotional impact on Tom which I think could have been great for creating a more darker tone for the show.
Think of it this way; out of everyone in Falling Skies, Tom's life has been alright in all these seasons. Sure he lost his wife but he still has his sons, he is President, remarried with new kid and he and his family always seem to make it in bad situations. Weaver seems to have had more than his fair share of loss during the invasion and I think Tom's character needed a big tragedy. Matt may have been to young to kill off, Ben is far too interesting but I think Hal has been developed enough that they could have sacrificed him. I do like his character but imagine the impact it could have had on Tom if he made the wrong choice during the operation.
Alexis: If I am honest I really like the Alexis as a little kid in this far more than what she has become in season four. Sure she had powers in this but they didn't go overboard and turn her in to some sort of stupid crazy cult leader yet. Would have been better if in season she stayed young like she is in this season instead of skipping a lot more years and they didn't have that sanctuary in Chinatown.
As for everything else about the show it was one really great season however the Skitters and the Espheni do take more of a back seat in favour of their insects doing to work for them. It is a shame because they introduced a new Mech design that looked really cool however the final two episodes where full of action and very fast paced, probably my favourite finale so far in the show.
Overall season two of Falling Skies is slightly better than season three because of it's more darker tone but it is still a very strong season and. I just think it should have had the guts to kill of Hal and I wish we saw more of the Espheni besides from Karen because like I mentioned before she is just not very good. However the Volm are a welcome addition and the clear stand outs which make up for some of this season's let downs.
SCORE: 8/10
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