{jatabs type="content" position="top" height="auto" skipAnim="true" mouseType="click" animType="animFade"}

[tab title="Movie Review"]

{googleAds}

Seven months after the 2nd Mass arrives in Charleston, the gang realizes – what with new characters, new aliens, new technology, and new presidents – that all is not what it seems.  Perhaps the viewer will too.  So much has happened in the gulf between Season Two and Season Three that Falling Skies: The Complete Third Season, at times, acts as if it is a reboot; a retooling of the show you thought you previously knew.  Was it needed?  Yes.  The Walking Dead it is not.  Does it work?  At times.  Ultimately, the sum total of Season Three – with only 10 episodes - just barely adds up, leaving viewers in a lurch. 

Created by Robert Rodat and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Falling Skies: The Complete Third Season opens with Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) elected as President of New Charleston.  The alliance with the Volm and rebel Skitters seems to be working as Volm Ambassador Cochise (Doug Jones) continues to gear up for this war.  Tensions and suspicions rise when a spy is suspected in their midst and Arthur Manchester (Terry O'Quinn) pays the ultimate price in the search for the spy. 

Also developing this season is Dr. Roger Kadar’s (Robert Sean Leonard) dangerous plan to destroy a nuclear power plant which was providing fuel to the Skitter mechs and the birth of Tom’s daughter, Alexis Denise Glass Mason, who seems to have alien powers.  But when the surviving President - President Benjamin Hathaway (Stephen Collins) – is discovered and his own wife and daughter go missing, Tom must make a choice between personal revenge and continuing the fight against the Espheni or face the future in Brazil on a reservation as the help from the remaining human beings is not wanted by the Volm.

There’s more crammed into these 10 episodes and you can see that the show desperately needs a bit more episodes to clearly tell the story.  Unfortunately, TNT continues to assign only ten episodes which means that important subplots and characters get the shaft for episodes on end.  One has to have a good memory to keep up.  There is also a bit of strange science fiction elements at work as the season arc comes to its conclusion involving alien powers and infected worms which should, hopefully, play out nicely next season as the gang fights to stay off the reservation the aliens want to impose.  But in this season, it is merely a teaser to keep people watching their sets for the fourth season. 

There’s a nice degree of topicality to some of the episodes but those moments seem almost accidental because they go undeveloped for episodes before picking up the momentum of the message later in the season.  Maybe the writers don’t want to hit viewers over the head with message after message as the alien invaders – even the good guys – seem to have hidden motives for “friending” the surviving humans.   The effects – especially as the war explodes – continue to get better but the acting is not the quality of other comparable shows, with the talents of Wyle stealing every minute of the show when stacked next to Will Patton as Captain Weaver. 

In the right hands, Falling Skies could have been grand science fiction.  The narrative balance tips a bit too far in this season and feels a bit of a letdown.  As a result, the show is merely watchable for those loyal to their science and their fiction.

[/tab]

[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - June 3, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles: Falling Skies: The Complete Third Season Blu-rayEnglish SDH, French, Spanish, Dutch
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (2 BDs); UV digital copy; Digital copy
Region Encoding: A

The 1.78:1 1080p image is quite often good but not overly impressive.  There's a high level of detail present and fine lines are strong.  The earthy color scheme comes through accurately and the blacks are nice and inky.  There is some noticeable banding in a few scenes, and there's a little grain that's most certainly intentional in a few spots, but aside from that it's a nice looking set.  The nighttime scenes are a little flat.  It’s really hard to distinguish between people and trees and whatnot as there are a lot of lines that bleed when they shouldn’t.  The show comes with a nice 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that packs quite a wallop for the subwoofer.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

Second Watch, hosted by Wil Weaton is every bit as awesome as it sounds – if you like Wesley Crusher.  Seriously, though.  Featuring Wyle, Bloodgood, Roy, Schram, and Knight and Greg Beeman and Remi Aubuchon, these nine episodes are informative and fun.  The two-disc Falling Skies: The Complete Third Season Blu-Ray set also includes a behind the scenes look at the series' friendly alien character, Cochise, and an expose on Jessy Schram's character.

• Nine Episodes of Second Watch (130 min)
• Warrior Poet: Creating the Character and Emotion of Cochise (20 min)
• Karen: The Overlord Next Door (21 min)

[/tab]

[tab title="Trailer"]

[/tab]

{/jatabs}