That was bad ass.
I’m soooo thrilled Falling Skies got a third season! It looks like it’s going to be a completely different show next summer.
However, there’s a very serious problem that Show has to address in season three. It’s the same problem that most genre shows have:
(Note: this screen shot is not Photoshopped)
Minority characters shouldn’t do the majority of the dying.
Right now, being a minority on Falling Skies is pretty much being a red shirt. Show has done better than most in terms of diversity in casting (i.e., Dr, Glass, Lourdes, Anthony, Lee), but people of color tend to be on the chopping block at a greater frequency and are forgotten more quickly.
- Dai
- Jamil
- Rick
Remember Jimmy? That kid’s death took up an entire episode and reverberated for a couple more afterward. Only Lourdes mourned Jamil, and he was far more integral to the 2nd Mass than Jimmy had been. Just saying.
Anyway.
Tom Mason: Action Professor is an effing superhero. Here’s my evidence:
- In the face of a military coup, he’s all, “This isn’t my vision for a new America” and walked right into the holding cell.
- He used himself as a human shield to protect Ben and the Rebel Alliance and inspired others to do the same.
- He skillfully parented the Littlest Mason, convincing him to stay behind without making the kid feel like crap.
- He turned down the offer to lead the community at Charleston.
- He killed an Overlord with a lightning club.
Super. Hero.
I love that, after completing their mission, the 2nd Mass decided to leave Charleston. They’re too battle worn and broken to try to recreate the lives they had before the invasion and they know it. The move makes sense for them and for Show.
And just when it looks like we’re going to be in for a third season of the 2nd Mass wandering the countryside, another alien species lands, changing the dynamic completely.
I’m thinking it’ll be an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” type of situation. These new aliens aren’t coming in firing weapons and they’re landing individually rather than in force. Given how soon they landed after that key Overlord and his WMD were destroyed, this bunch were probably waiting for an opening.
Regardless, I’m really excited to see where they take Falling Skies next season.
Related Stuff:
Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Great episode! Lots of questions to be answered in Season 3. Dying to know what purpose the new Alien has…friend or foe. He didn’t come in with weapons blazing so ……
[...] In most popular media about the apocalypse minorities are pretty much Red Shirts– there because someone need to die so it might as well be them. This was highlighted in a PinkRayGun article recapping the season finale of Falling Skies. [...]