What They Say:
Shoot the Moon – Tom and Lexi must find a way to destroy the Espheni power core; an Espheni bomb is dropped onto Chinatown.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the two hour finale, it was something that I knew I couldn’t watch in one sitting so I broke them up into two halves, which is how the episodes themselves are structured anyways. I was admittedly far more interested in watching The Strain anyway, especially after half of the previous episode of Falling Skies was all about a dream sequence that worked to get Tom and Lexi to finally understand each other and what they’re facing so they’re now actually father and daughter again. Doing all of that while on a ride to the moon in a cocoon. The show has been ridiculous for most of this season in a lot of ways and the predictability factor has been super high as well and that last episode certainly did a lot more of the same. With the season finale here, it’s easy to expect a lot more silliness, though the finales tend to up the budget a bit for the special effects and that’s a minor saving grace.
While the mission to the moon is underway, we get some on the ground material with the the remaining elements of the 2nd Mass doing their best to keep busy while waiting for the inevitable attack that’s to come since their position is known. And likely known even more now that Lexi has killed her handler and has left the control of the Espheni. Those that are out there aren’t running into too many problems in their patrols, but Dingaan’s group got accosted by something and they were all lost except for him in a kind of misty-grizzly way. At this point, with so few people left, it’s easy to imagine that the Espheni are pretty much revenge driven in eliminating the last of them, but there’s also all that superior firepower not being used well to eliminate their enemy which paints the Espheni as pretty uneven opponents overall.
Dingaan’s reveal of the mysterious nasty that took out his patrol certainly causes a lot of questions when he gets back, but figuring out that the Espheni are sending human hybrid skitters after them is what they settle on. What it all means is that their location is figured out (how hard could it really be at this point?) and that the 2nd Mass has to start preparing for what’s to come now. And it comes pretty quickly as an Espheni Beamer drops a bomb right in the heart of the area that has a mist that comes out that immobilizes anyone in it and uses its tendrils to snake them out and kill them. It’s a pretty nasty thing, but I still can’t figure out why they don’t just drop a more significant bomb at all of them and just destroying it all. This is obviously more personal and perhaps the revenge aspect is factoring into it, but it’s all just so utterly cheesy and not at all scary.
With everyone split up in different areas and a lot of them getting caught in the mist that’s like quick hardening concrete, we get some expected panic, resistance and bravado in the face of the numerous slithering critters that are snaking throughout the mist. There’s some decent stuff with what goes on, especially as fighting back has them figuring out ways to try and survive, but there are casualties among the nameless out there while our named characters get put in bad situations only to survive once again without any real issue befalling them. There’s some nice bonding moments along the way and seeing Anne being as strong as she is definitely helps her character a bit. Pope’s time is probably the best since it’s infused with a bit of humor whereas the others are mostly serious in their nature.
On the space side, things have gotten better between Lexi and Tom but it all falls apart relatively quickly when Tom discovers that the small breach in the hull has impacted the casing of the bomb. The distrust is put back into the forefront as Tom kind of lashes out, but they also start to figure out what they need to do to compensate, which has them talking a bit about what the Espheni are really mining for power on the moon with He-3 and a reminder of the Espheni talking about that mysterious other far more powerful force that’s out there that’s threatening them. It’s a concept that I do admittedly like, but there’s been just such a poor execution of it in the series as a whole with so much hidden from the human side that it’s hard to invest in much of it.
That the Espheni figured out what they were doing isn’t a surprise and that the ship gets captured isn’t either. Having Mira on board as the human element is amusing since she provides the voice for the Espheni and it all serves to put Tom and Lexi on the same side in trying to survive what’s being thrown at them. Lexi naturally plays the role of someone that was trying to gain favor with the Espheni by delivering Tom to them and because of the events that have unfolded on board the Beamer, it’s easy enough for Tom to believe it, though you hope that he understands what it is she’s doing because it’s so obvious. With her providing the distraction, Tom’s able to use the poison syringe that Hal gave him and take down the Espheni in a pretty brutal way. Considering how long this guy has been a thorn in everyone’s side, it’s welcome to see him finally get what’s coming to him.
With the way events unfold, is it any surprise that Lexi gets Tom to get the Beamer ready to go while she sets him to stay there so she can direct the main craft to the moon and crash it into the power core. As soon as they talked about going to the moon, you knew this course of action would show up. They do tug at the heart strings a bit with the mental goodbye that Lexi has with Tom and you know that just reinforces his desire to do right by her. But circumstances are moving beyond his control, which is a rarity for him even in this world. The dangers raise a bit with what’s going on but we get a nice save along the way as Cochise’s father arrive to help out and provide LExi the cover she needs to get to the moon and do what’s necessary. It’s certainly nicely done and even though it has its edge of sadness, you also can’t help but to have one of the most problematic characters of the series out of the picture.
In Summary:
Falling Skies draws its fourth season to a close with a win for humanity and a goal in cleaning up what’s on the surface of the Earth while they can. The downside to all of it is that Lexi is dead(?) and Tom is lost to the stars as his ship spiraled out of control after the battle. That they finished off the show with him having a bit of a 2001: A Space Odyssey moment makes me laugh rather than take it seriously, but the show is moving us towards the next phase of events with the larger threat revealing itself, and it’s supposedly beautiful. The next season is the last one when it lands next summer and at this point it can’t come soon enough. While there have been decent ideas to work with at times, the series never felt like it was fully fleshed out with where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. And it felt like it was made by people who wanted to recapture the kind of sci-fi that dominate a good chunk of the 80’s. That can be done and done well with the right angle, but this was a straight up copying of it and that just seemed to turn more and more people away. I’m in it to finish it but it’s a hard road to get there.
Grade: C
