Episode 8: Death March
In episodic stories, there are two approaches that are generally used to tell the story. One is to create a formula that will be used for the majority of the episodes and create a variation for most of the others allowing for a second formula to be used for special occasions like holiday episodes. This is what sitcoms do and most procedural law enforcement and court shows. It is a time tested way of creating a certain caliber of show, and if you're lucky that caliber is high. The other method is to mix it up with every episode, where some things might stay the same, while the style changes. This works best for stories of a limited span, like television shows with a short season - that way every episode can seem fresh - or comic book mini and maxi series (4 to 12 issues). I like both formats just fine, each has it's own pros and cons, but if the latter kind can be pulled off well, it keeps me more engaged in the story.
Earlier I mentioned the suspense/thriller technique of allowing the audience to remain a half-step ahead of the characters so that we can worry longer over what will befall them. Related to that technique is taking that half-step away so that we know what they know which the audience to have its emotions manipulated at the same time as the characters are having theirs manipulated. This kind of story works particularly well when the end of the arc is the opposite emotion from the one we've been herded towards for most of the episode, and for it to work properly, it must be a surprise to the audience. Sometimes you build them up just to knock them down, but the opposite, like they used in this episode, works well, too - you tear them down and step on them just to come through at the end.
Episode 9: The Price of Greatness
With the main character being a professor of American history, I expected that sooner or later there would be an overtly political episode, drawing corollaries between the situation in the show, the American Revolution and the cu rent political environment. I kind of assumed that the current political environment would be that of the U.S. which they have by showing us a situation more similar to what is happening in Egypt or Libya.
The leader of Charleston is Tom's mentor, a published and well respected historian, Manchester< that wants to build up the new country away from the eyes of the alien which is achieved by never confronting them. Opposed to him is General Max Headroom, ok not really his name it's just that he's played by the same actor, Matt Frewer, who wants to take the fight to the aliens. Add a kid into the mix who purports to be representing the leader of the Skitter rebellion (I'm pretty sure I just used a racist term against the aliens there) and we're set up with all kinds of grabbing for power that intentionally or not shows Manchester to be more interested in retaining power than ruling the Charlestonians well, while the gung ho General is kind of afraid to be gung ho.
To me it clearly seems that Manchester is being set up to be the bad guy as we see him bribing, or more accurately attempting to bribe, members of the 2nd Mass to get dirt on Tom. Manchester's answer is that he must preserve the state at all costs, even when it comes to rounding up all so-called dissidents, "just in case". This is a thought that crosses my mind all of the time - what happens if Occupy Wall Street movement gets going again and an over-zealous police force cracks down hard and someone loses their life? How long before the political parties, on both sides, mobilize their people and we have rallies and counter rallies exacerbated by issues of racial and economic inequality? How long before the rally is a riot and people start dying? Does the military step in at that point, just like in one after another country in the Middle East and Eastern Europe before it? If it does, will the military be acting on behalf of the civilian government or will it have taken over the civilian government? I'm not too worried about this scenario, most Americans are far too lazy to attend rallies, not to mention apathetic. Yay laziness and apathy???
Episode 10: A More Perfect Union
Knowing the personal relationships between certain characters in the show, I expected title of the season finale was going to be a double entendre about settling the political issues in Charleston and one of the couples getting married. Well, I was wrong. I'm actually not sure where things stand on either one of those fronts, as this was predominately an action episode and they covered as much ground in the war against alien invaders as they have in the rest of the season put together.
While the seasonal arc and the Charleston arc both reached conclusion, many of the character arcs are setting up for next season. The powers that be decided to end this season in as big of, if not bugger than cliffhanger than they did season 1. They went to great effort with a large number of F/X shots for this episode and we got to see some cool stuff that we hadn't seen before. But, there was a trade-off of less time spent on the dramatic and emotional stories. I guess that can be a drawback of using different storytelling mechanisms in each episode, that I might not like one or more, whereas I realize that other members of the audience may have felt this was the best yet. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but to leave so much hanging for another year or whenever it is I get a chance to watch the third season...well, I guess that is the point of a cliffhanger to make sure that the audience will return.
Falling Skies on IMDb
Showing posts with label Sarah Carter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah Carter. Show all posts
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
Falling Skies Season 2 Disk 2
Episode 5: Love and Other Acts of Courage
I took a couple of days off from watching this season to watch some movies and to not feel so, um, pre-weepy for a couple of days. I watched the first disk over two days instead of one which allowed me a little more time to reflect on it. I'm at the point where I have become emotionally invested in the story and it's characters. This is what good stories do, they make you, or perhaps the better terminology is, allow you to care about the characters in enough intensity that it transcends the amount of time spent viewing/listening/reading the story. A good story also provide an amplified intensity of the emotions you're feeling that you don't typically get from entertainment across the various media. Some stories make you laugh, this one makes me hold my breath and get all dewey-eyed. Aside from maybe some more of the laughing bit, I don't think I can really ask for a story to do more for me.
Episode 6: Homecoming
Sometimes the best part of a story is that you, the reader/viewer/listener, know what's going to happen but the characters in the story do not. Really good thrillers work this way, whether they're psychological, emotional or physical or more likely some combination of these. This is akin to foreshadowing but typically less subtle as the storyteller had to make sure that you know something is going to happen that the characters don't. Though, I suppose if it's told well, even if the audience misses the hints, the story is still suspenseful, because now they are identifying with the characters who also did not see it was coming. I think for great stories, while this technique may be applied from the beginning, it is put to best use once you have a vested interest in the bad thing, whatever is being built up towards, not happening. The technique is applied as the action builds until it reaches it's crescendo, whether that be the high point of the section or of the whole story arc, and then it is dropped immediately after the big reveal so that the audience can commiserate with the characters. Often this is the point where the storyteller may give the audience one last glimpse of how, let's say, the missing character's return is worse than just the sour homecoming we've have witnessed.
Episode 7: Molon Labe
I have to assume that the name of this episode must be the name of one of it's characters, and since I know the names of all of the human resistance it must therefore be the name of one of the aliens. Look at me all mixing up my inductive and deductive reasoning skills to arrive at some conclusion which I will assume is correct until I check it on Wikipedia, which won't be until I'm caught up with the series of which I am fully one season behind on at this point.
I enjoy stories that while episodic in nature has a larger story arc and the accompanying structure in place. Some series have multiple arcs going - the arc of the episode, a several episode arc, a seasonal arc meaning the current season of the show and a show arc. It seems fairly rare in American television to have more than two of these occurring in the same series, especially the show arc because most shows get cancelled instead of planning on going for a set number of shows and then stopping. Falling Skies has evidence of all four types of arcs in play, the only time will bare out if the show arc pans out or not. All I do know is that so far, so good.
Falling Skies on IMDb
I took a couple of days off from watching this season to watch some movies and to not feel so, um, pre-weepy for a couple of days. I watched the first disk over two days instead of one which allowed me a little more time to reflect on it. I'm at the point where I have become emotionally invested in the story and it's characters. This is what good stories do, they make you, or perhaps the better terminology is, allow you to care about the characters in enough intensity that it transcends the amount of time spent viewing/listening/reading the story. A good story also provide an amplified intensity of the emotions you're feeling that you don't typically get from entertainment across the various media. Some stories make you laugh, this one makes me hold my breath and get all dewey-eyed. Aside from maybe some more of the laughing bit, I don't think I can really ask for a story to do more for me.
Episode 6: Homecoming
Sometimes the best part of a story is that you, the reader/viewer/listener, know what's going to happen but the characters in the story do not. Really good thrillers work this way, whether they're psychological, emotional or physical or more likely some combination of these. This is akin to foreshadowing but typically less subtle as the storyteller had to make sure that you know something is going to happen that the characters don't. Though, I suppose if it's told well, even if the audience misses the hints, the story is still suspenseful, because now they are identifying with the characters who also did not see it was coming. I think for great stories, while this technique may be applied from the beginning, it is put to best use once you have a vested interest in the bad thing, whatever is being built up towards, not happening. The technique is applied as the action builds until it reaches it's crescendo, whether that be the high point of the section or of the whole story arc, and then it is dropped immediately after the big reveal so that the audience can commiserate with the characters. Often this is the point where the storyteller may give the audience one last glimpse of how, let's say, the missing character's return is worse than just the sour homecoming we've have witnessed.
Episode 7: Molon Labe
I have to assume that the name of this episode must be the name of one of it's characters, and since I know the names of all of the human resistance it must therefore be the name of one of the aliens. Look at me all mixing up my inductive and deductive reasoning skills to arrive at some conclusion which I will assume is correct until I check it on Wikipedia, which won't be until I'm caught up with the series of which I am fully one season behind on at this point.
I enjoy stories that while episodic in nature has a larger story arc and the accompanying structure in place. Some series have multiple arcs going - the arc of the episode, a several episode arc, a seasonal arc meaning the current season of the show and a show arc. It seems fairly rare in American television to have more than two of these occurring in the same series, especially the show arc because most shows get cancelled instead of planning on going for a set number of shows and then stopping. Falling Skies has evidence of all four types of arcs in play, the only time will bare out if the show arc pans out or not. All I do know is that so far, so good.
Falling Skies on IMDb
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Falling Skies Season 2 Disk 1
Episode 1: Worlds Apart
...and, they're back. I've really been looking forward to this dvd and viewing the second season of Falling Skies. My life is seriously lacking in science fiction and fantasy television series. And let's not even get into whether what I get is good or not. I think if I restrict myself to good sf/f television shows, I get this, Game of Thrones and possibly Alphas depending upon my mood (there is that new show that is set in St. Louis, but I still haven't seen it). I guess supernatural falls under sf/f, so Walking Undead would be included, too. That's not just the good shows I have access to, but pretty much all the shows i have access to. I do mean currently in production shows, as I can go back and rewatch some classics, I suppose. I've heard tales of some British show with like a time-traveling surgeon or something. Those Brits, they're all a little loopy.
We don't really pick up right where we left off, but three months after the end of last season and the flashback to the intervening time and situation. When I first saw the words "three months later" I was worried about what the aliens would have done to Tom in that time, but we learn that he was with them for only a few days, maybe a week, and most of that time they were ignoring him or zapping him.
There is some suspicious stuff going on, like as soon as he gets back, the aliens change tactics and start tar getting vehicles - the first one being hit was the vehicle Tom was transported back to camp with after he rehooked up with his boys, literally and metaphorically. My first thought is, "why wouldn't the aliens put a tracking device on his person? they would be stupid not to.". You can't tell me that with the aliens access to human's memories that they haven't come across someone's memory of a procedural show where they track the culprit via her cell phone or plant a tracking device in the suitcase of money before giving it to the kidnappers. At least we had Pope mentioning this suspicion at the end.
Episode 2: Shall We Gather at the River
I do not want aliens putting biomechanical bugs in my eye. Or any other kind of bug in my eye. Or in me anywhere. Just as long as we're clear on that.
Maybe the aliens had placed a tracking device in Tom, maybe not. If you're just going to track, why make the bug capable of leaving its target and going back to base, so to speak. We know the aliens like use hybrids, but they have no problem using a machine when a machine is what is needed. And you don't need anything more than a simple transmitter if you're tracking someone. Ergo, they were doing something else.
This show is complex running both the short and long game simultaneously across multiple fronts. But, it's not complicated. If you look at each part of the show, Tom's story or Bens's story, etc. they are simple and easy to recognize. That's part of that makes this show so good. The same things goes for Game of Thrones, the whole damned thing is complex, but look at each character and her story and it's not complicated.
I also really like that this show has a memory. Several times in these first two episodes, specific characters who died last season have been mentioned in a natural way. People talk about shared memories and acquaintances, in fact when it comes to people, most of us have a tale or two to share with people who never knew the person we are talking about. I dislike it when television shows forget this and try to make the characters ones that we can't identify with because they don't resemble us at all.
Episode 3: Compass
And lo the great producer said, "With this hand I shall give you hope." and our eyes did behold a beauteous angel with news of a far off land. "But," the might one continued, "with this hand I shall break your heart." and our eyes did behold the demise of a beloved boy, cut down before his time and there was much crying.
So, Tom called Pope an asshole. Is he even allowed to say that word on television? I mean it's not like this show is on pay cable or something. Actually, I know that broadcast television has a code of standards and censors because they are regulated by the FCC, but basic cable, I think that technically falls under the same rules as the premium channels. I must be wrong about this, now that I take a second to grok it out. If the basic cable channels had the same rules as the premium channels, you know that MTV would have long ago become MFTV with all of their reality shows, and pro wrestling wouldn't have the girls top pulled off just as the referee steps between her and the camera. Anyways, I digress. Pope has been the one raising the ruckus about Tom not being trustworthy since the eye incident last time. Which I think is going to turn out to be smoke and mirrors as things with Ben are pointing towards him being the one the aliens are tracking. We'll see...unless there are bio-mechanical insects in our eyes, then all bets are off.
Episdoe 4: Young Bloods
What is the earth's population, around seven billion give or take? We've got a group of less than 200, heading towards a group rumored to be around 3000. Let's say that represents the Eastern seaboard, so maybe another 3000 on the Westcoast and 3000 in the central regions. Add in another 1000 for all the small little bands and individuals roaming around the continent and you maybe have 10,000 for North America. If you are generous and say that each continent did as well, you have 60,000 people, let's kick in another 10,000 to be optimistic in this scenario and you have 70,000 remaining from 7,000,000,000 and that means 1 in 100,000 people survive. I don't see much chance of beating the aliens, well unless we still have Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham, then we will totally kick the alien's ass.
Dan has to face the difficult choice of having his daughter still alive but not with him, ain't never gonna be with him versus her being dead. Of course the first one is the best option, no question, but it's a lot more painful. I'm sure he'd come to terms with her being dead and then to have good fortune of her stepping back into his life for a day ors so rips that all up. Of course there is always the chance that the writers, I mean the fates, will bring them back together.
Falling Skies on IMDb
...and, they're back. I've really been looking forward to this dvd and viewing the second season of Falling Skies. My life is seriously lacking in science fiction and fantasy television series. And let's not even get into whether what I get is good or not. I think if I restrict myself to good sf/f television shows, I get this, Game of Thrones and possibly Alphas depending upon my mood (there is that new show that is set in St. Louis, but I still haven't seen it). I guess supernatural falls under sf/f, so Walking Undead would be included, too. That's not just the good shows I have access to, but pretty much all the shows i have access to. I do mean currently in production shows, as I can go back and rewatch some classics, I suppose. I've heard tales of some British show with like a time-traveling surgeon or something. Those Brits, they're all a little loopy.
We don't really pick up right where we left off, but three months after the end of last season and the flashback to the intervening time and situation. When I first saw the words "three months later" I was worried about what the aliens would have done to Tom in that time, but we learn that he was with them for only a few days, maybe a week, and most of that time they were ignoring him or zapping him.
There is some suspicious stuff going on, like as soon as he gets back, the aliens change tactics and start tar getting vehicles - the first one being hit was the vehicle Tom was transported back to camp with after he rehooked up with his boys, literally and metaphorically. My first thought is, "why wouldn't the aliens put a tracking device on his person? they would be stupid not to.". You can't tell me that with the aliens access to human's memories that they haven't come across someone's memory of a procedural show where they track the culprit via her cell phone or plant a tracking device in the suitcase of money before giving it to the kidnappers. At least we had Pope mentioning this suspicion at the end.
Episode 2: Shall We Gather at the River
I do not want aliens putting biomechanical bugs in my eye. Or any other kind of bug in my eye. Or in me anywhere. Just as long as we're clear on that.
Maybe the aliens had placed a tracking device in Tom, maybe not. If you're just going to track, why make the bug capable of leaving its target and going back to base, so to speak. We know the aliens like use hybrids, but they have no problem using a machine when a machine is what is needed. And you don't need anything more than a simple transmitter if you're tracking someone. Ergo, they were doing something else.
This show is complex running both the short and long game simultaneously across multiple fronts. But, it's not complicated. If you look at each part of the show, Tom's story or Bens's story, etc. they are simple and easy to recognize. That's part of that makes this show so good. The same things goes for Game of Thrones, the whole damned thing is complex, but look at each character and her story and it's not complicated.
I also really like that this show has a memory. Several times in these first two episodes, specific characters who died last season have been mentioned in a natural way. People talk about shared memories and acquaintances, in fact when it comes to people, most of us have a tale or two to share with people who never knew the person we are talking about. I dislike it when television shows forget this and try to make the characters ones that we can't identify with because they don't resemble us at all.
Episode 3: Compass
And lo the great producer said, "With this hand I shall give you hope." and our eyes did behold a beauteous angel with news of a far off land. "But," the might one continued, "with this hand I shall break your heart." and our eyes did behold the demise of a beloved boy, cut down before his time and there was much crying.
So, Tom called Pope an asshole. Is he even allowed to say that word on television? I mean it's not like this show is on pay cable or something. Actually, I know that broadcast television has a code of standards and censors because they are regulated by the FCC, but basic cable, I think that technically falls under the same rules as the premium channels. I must be wrong about this, now that I take a second to grok it out. If the basic cable channels had the same rules as the premium channels, you know that MTV would have long ago become MFTV with all of their reality shows, and pro wrestling wouldn't have the girls top pulled off just as the referee steps between her and the camera. Anyways, I digress. Pope has been the one raising the ruckus about Tom not being trustworthy since the eye incident last time. Which I think is going to turn out to be smoke and mirrors as things with Ben are pointing towards him being the one the aliens are tracking. We'll see...unless there are bio-mechanical insects in our eyes, then all bets are off.
Episdoe 4: Young Bloods
What is the earth's population, around seven billion give or take? We've got a group of less than 200, heading towards a group rumored to be around 3000. Let's say that represents the Eastern seaboard, so maybe another 3000 on the Westcoast and 3000 in the central regions. Add in another 1000 for all the small little bands and individuals roaming around the continent and you maybe have 10,000 for North America. If you are generous and say that each continent did as well, you have 60,000 people, let's kick in another 10,000 to be optimistic in this scenario and you have 70,000 remaining from 7,000,000,000 and that means 1 in 100,000 people survive. I don't see much chance of beating the aliens, well unless we still have Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham, then we will totally kick the alien's ass.
Dan has to face the difficult choice of having his daughter still alive but not with him, ain't never gonna be with him versus her being dead. Of course the first one is the best option, no question, but it's a lot more painful. I'm sure he'd come to terms with her being dead and then to have good fortune of her stepping back into his life for a day ors so rips that all up. Of course there is always the chance that the writers, I mean the fates, will bring them back together.
Falling Skies on IMDb
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