That Volm Vibe

I'm Getting that Volm Vibe Again.

My "Vadar" (that's Volm radar) has picked up some reverberations in the Falling Skies ether again and I think we are getting a step closer to the mysteries behind the Volm thanks to the last episode, "At All Costs".

Let's start with the heavy handed bluster of General Donovan (played by Battlestar Galactica veteran Michael Hogan) when he sees that Tom Mason has brought Cochise with him.  He and President Hathaway go into instant paranoia mode.  This serves to demonize the Volm in the eyes of these characters; characters we are led to believe stand for the true United States and therefore legitimize the mistrust for the new alien species.

I feel this is part of a misdirection campaign to taint our perspective of the Volm as viewers.  We've already seen this mistrust by General Bressler, John Pope and Colonel Weaver.  All major characters or significant supporting characters that have stated their mistrust of the Volm.

Seeds planted to grow our own mistrust.

Speaking of seeds, let's get right to Cochise's "Flower Speech" where he entails his feelings for the planet he's never seen.  It's a stirring oration where Cochise outlines the love for his home planet.  There, grows a flower he's never seen in person but he hopes future generation of Volm will return to see.

The speech serves to melt the heart of President Hathaway (Stephen Collins) and he sees reason to believe the Volm can be trusted.

Misdirection!

As viewers we can see this speech in two different ways.  We can either buy into the speech by Cochise and also be stirred by its impassioned resonance or we can cry BS and claim that this story is just a lie and the Volm are trying to sell us a false bill of goods.

I'm willing to believe that the writers are hoping we'll see it as the latter and not the former.  The old "too good to be true" story.  It did sound a little too sweet didn't it?

Here's another tact, have you ever wondered what's behind the accusation towards the Volm of, "What do they really want"?  Colonel Weaver has repeated this several times as has John Pope.  It's all part of a concerted plan to sow mistrust of the Volm.  Surely they must want something.

Really?  A burned out husk of a planet with a dwindling population and a determined foe already in place?  That's their plan?  We don't even know why the Espheni are here.  (Although I believe it is to gather enough resources and slave labor to continue their flight through space.)  This question as to the Volm's intent has been repeated in every episode and I'm thinking the writers are using this question to sow the seeds of doubt in out own minds.  The question is even asked on the Falling Skies Facebook page!

Has anyone else noticed the subtext of prejudice in this show? 

The aliens are consistently derided as fish heads or bubble heads or some such.  Young Matt characterizes the Skitters as "Slimey Cowards" as we open the show, even though they are former beings that have been enslaved against their will.  His own brother was nearly a Skitter yet Matt and his friend derides them even as a disemboweled Skitter is dragged in front of him.  Pretty callous.

Pope is famous for his intolerance of the aliens and even Col. Weaver is guilty of thinly veiled racism.

Do I think Falling Skies is intolerant?  Absolutely not.  I'm just saying it's another way the aliens are painted as characters we can't trust because the shows principles don't trust them.  All part of the plan.

Where is this headed?

I've stated this before and I'll repeat it here, the Volm will be fully demonized by the end of this season.  So   overwhelming the mistrust for them will be that they will be forced to leave.  Only too late will Earth's survivors realize they were our legitimate allies all along and by then it will be too late.

Goodbye Volm and hello doom.

Then the writers will be able to say, "Gotcha".

A Falling Skies Mirror

Inspiration comes in many forms.   When someone gets into the creative process they can draw from many different sources as they muse about their subject matter.  Sometimes these sources can come from the conscious mind and sometimes from the subconscious.  I've always liked to explore where the writers of various TV shows get their material from.  It's nearly impossible to be 100% original in the creative process and there are times when writers deliberately borrow from other source material so they can pay homage to their inspiration.

So let's take a look at our first example.  When I see the character of Lt. Fisher, played by Luvia Petersen of "Continuum" fame, I think to myself,  "Where have I seen something like this before?"  As you may remember, the Fisher character was discovered when Tom Mason and Col. Weaver took out a snipers nest that was praying on Pope's 2nd Mass outpost.  Mason was heartbroken when he discovered he had shot a fellow human as he came to Pope's rescue. Upon reaching the remains of the shattered snipers nest they rolled over the shooter to discover that it was a woman.

As in reality, it is no longer a surprise to see a woman in a combat role.  In Falling Skies it is equally important have all hands on deck as they battle the alien invasion.  So why do we reflexively gasp when the reveal is shown to be a woman as the shooter and have it punctuated by the TV show when they suddenly break to commercial?

 

There was a time when woman weren't seen as combatants and society was less tolerant of their role in  wartime.  The movie "Full Metal Jacket" explored the moral complexity of women in combat from a 1960's perspective.  There was a helicopter gunner in that movie that shot indiscriminately at innocent women and children as they scurried for cover.  The movies heroes were aghast at this practice but the gunner explained to them that it was all the same to him.  As far as he was concerned, everyone was a combatant.

As the movie wound down to a dramatic conclusion the squad of heroes found themselves pinned down by withering sniper fire.   They took heavy casualties and as they outflanked the sniper and invaded the nest they returned fire with deadly accuracy only to find they had shot a woman much as they had seen done so cruelly before.  Now the moral complexity was theirs as they decided whether to put her out of her misery or not.

The above scene from Full Metal Jacket no doubt inspired the sniper scene from Falling Skies.  We who had seen the movie had a visceral reaction to the TV scene.  Even those who hadn't, have it in their collective subconscious.  That's how impactful the movie scene was on popular culture.

 

Let's take another look at source material and inspiration.

There was a famous Twilight Zone episode called, "Time Enough At Last" where a recluse character played by Burgess Meredith was the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust.  The Meredith character of Henry Bemis had little time for people and spent his time removed from humanity just so he could read his books.  As it was, Bemis had hidden himself from prying eyes in the bank vault where he worked when the nuclear strike hit.  When he emerged he found himself utterly alone but surrounded by his beloved books.  Bemis now had "time enough at last" to enjoy his books without being bothered by the rest of humanity.

As he reached for a particular tome his eyeglasses slipped off his nose and shattered at the ground below.  

 Now Henry Bemis was truly alone and cursed to live out his days without any help from the people he eschewed and unable to pursue his book reading passion.

Falling Skies gives us a similar character in the form of Robert Sean Leonard's "Dr. Roger Kadar" also known as the "Rat King".  Like Henry Bemis, Kadar has chosen to seclude himself from humanity deep underground and perfectly happy to conduct his business as long as he doesn't have to go topside or deal with people.

Like Bemis he is bespectacled.  As soon as humanity invades his little world he immediately loses his comfort zone and acts out his societal angst. He is forced to come up with a solution to help the 2nd Mass and Charleston and just as he about to complete his mission his glasses break leaving him nearly helpless.

Kadar has had his Bemis moment.

The two characters are eerily related and I have no doubt the writers of Falling Skies found their inspiration for Kadar in Henry Bemis.

Inspiration comes in  many forms and I'm sure we will see similar occurrences as this Falling Skies season progresses.  I'll keep my eyes peeled (and my glasses on) if you do!

A House Divided

Falling Skies usually invites comparisons to the American Revolutionary War but on last Sunday's episode, "Badlands", we got a distinct flavor of the American Civil War.

Brother was pitted against brother, father against son, friend fighting friend and Tom Mason had a distinctly Abraham Lincoln moment.

Let's start with the "Brother against Brother". 

Pope and his Berserkers were manning the outermost positions of the Charleston perimeter when they came under sniper fire.  Pope, Tector, Matt and Craze were in imminent danger. We got a look at the "Gloved hand of doom" that drew immediate comparisons to the gloved hand that shot Arthur Manchester.  See below.

 

This turned out to be a false flag but I can't help but think that Falling Skies is playing with us and we'll no doubt see more of the "gloved hand of doom".  Someday we'll know who the real shooter of Manchester is until then we'll still get these little teases.

The real sniper turned out to be a fellow human being, much to the angst of Tom Mason who had come to the rescue, and it is here where brother was pitted against brother.  The few denizens of Earth have enough problems without shooting each other but as we are to find out, trust is an issue.

 

Speaking of trust, we get an example of "Friend Against Friend"when Pope accuses Mason of working his people too hard and its Masons' fault that Craze was shot.  (I'm using the word "friend" loosely here as there is no love lost between Pope and Mason but as "friends" they are fighting on the same side.)

 For his part, Tom does not deny this.  This is very much a "Lincoln" moment.  For those of us that are students of history and for those who are fans of the recent movie "Lincoln" we well know that Abraham Lincoln was anguished over having to sacrifice thousands of men in order to preserve the Union.  Yet he persevered despite the cost much as Tom did when he admitted his "guilt" and walked away from Pope.

Such is the cost of Freedom.

A further allusion to the Civil War is the plight of the rebel Skitters.  Tom's interrogation of the sniper, Katherine Fisher, exposes how it must look to her and her people when they see Skitters fighting alongside the humans.  Here, the Skitters are much like the African American troops that fought for the North in the Civil War.  Both were granted their freedom from an expedient President and both fight for a higher cause.  Yet the decision by each President was met with much resistance and prejudice.

 Father was nearly pitted against son when Hal decided he wanted to reveal himself as the "gloved hand of death" that shot Arthur Manchester.  Despite the advice from Maggie, Hal was ready to give himself up.  This act surely would've torn the Earth alliance asunder as cries of coverup and complicity would have rang true despite their lack of veracity.  Fortunately for the Mason family and the Resistance, events snuffed out this moment.

It's hard to ignore the direct connections between Tom Mason and Abraham Lincoln.  Both dealt with a restless public that was tired of war without end.  Each man often spoke of sacrifice and hope although hope was in short supply.  Tom, why always bearded, has come to look more like Lincoln everyday including the hollowed out eyes and deep set wrinkles that come with the burden of war.  Poor Tom even learns there is another President much like there were two "Presidents" during the Civil War.

As pictured above, Tom had a bit of a "Gettysburg" moment when he went off script and spoke from his heart much as Lincoln did at Gettysburg.  Each man spoke of those that had passed and the "last full measure of devotion" was invoked in spirit if not in exact word.

Gettysburg marked the turning point in the American Civil War but as far as Falling Skies is concerned we are not there yet.  Mason did mark this point for the Resistance where the dead shall not have died in vain and with the dedication of the "Liberty Tree" we now have hallowed ground that was consecrated by those who gave their lives.

By this, I'm sure the last of humanity will be granted a new birth of freedom that will not perish from this Earth.

Next up, Full Metal Jacket and the Twilight Zone.

Karen, Karen, Karen.

The New Overlord?

What does she want?  What is her agenda? Is she really the next Overlord?

According to Tom Mason she is, although my radar has detected a few false flags from the initial two episodes.  But look at that sweet face, who wouldn't want to follow her over a cliff into your complete and utter doom.

She has leader written all over her!

She certainly seems to have her tentacles everywhere.  And given proclivity for evil, tentacles seems and apt description of her reach.  Let's start with poor ol' Hal.  

As Maggie has claimed, Karen did something to him and it was in the form of one of the Espheni cyber-bugs.  As we all saw, Karen had placed a bug buried deep inside his cerebral cortex.  It allowed her to manipulate him with a Svengali like thrall.  He would come to her in the depths of the night in a dream like trance and from there she would work her magic as pictured below.

What of this "magic".  Let's take a quick look at another development.

Remember when Tom Mason disappeared aboard the Espheni ship and wasn't returned until later in season two.  Just about every member of the 2nd Mass thought the Overlords had manipulated him and they didn't trust him upon his return.  He didn't even trust himself.

Eventually, Tom was brought back into the fold and he and Anne worked a little magic of their own.  The product of which is "super advanced baby" pictured above.  Is this what Karen has planned for Hal?  The Overlords may have a new way of enslaving humanity outside the Skitters and their harnesses.  If the Espheni have developed a way of impregnating humans then the may have found a way of infiltrating Earth's resistance and placing themselves firmly in control of humanity with a whole new hybrid.

That would be a stunning development.

Where else do Karen's tentacles reach to?  There is the mystery of who shot Arthur Manchester.  One of the prime suspects is Hal under the mind control of Karen.  This is where my "false flag radar" goes off.  Yes, it makes sense he's the shooter.  He's under Karen's control and he obviously doesn't know what he is doing  in the dead of night.

But wasn't he up and about when Anne was about to give birth?

Who else has been acting suspiciously lately?

 Haven't things been a little fishy with Pope to start the new season?  Backing away from fights, making sure everyone has a drink in their hands and passing up chances to vamoose off to Mexico.  He says he has a plan so what is it?

He made a deal with Karen.

How's that for a plan?  His disdain for Tom's leadership has never been a secret but this year the vibe has been little different.  Pope's been keeping his nose clean and staying out of trouble relatively speaking.  I'm thinking Karen got to him and offered the leadership of the 2nd Mass in exchange for Tom and the 2nd Mass leaving Charleston.  She'll guarantee that no one will ever find out who took out Tom and in fact make Tom look like the goat in a stunning defeat for the resistance.

Of course that makes Pope a traitor but if no one finds out it's all the better for him.

Anywhere else for Karen's tentacles?

This one hurts a little.  Gloria Reuben's Marina has been a great addition this season.  Her chemistry with Tom Mason has been terrific.  We could even say that of Reubens in general and Noah Wyle.  The two stars clicked right away and in my opinion look better together than Wyle and Moon Bloodgood.

 We really don't know much about her however.  Where is she from?  How did she get so close to Tom so quickly?  Do you remember the look on Arthur Manchester's face when he saw his killer.  Instant recognition and stunned surprise.  Et tu Marina?

It seems Karen's reach can get anywhere.

 Before I conclude let's talk a little about the actress that portrays Karen Nadler.  Her name is Jessy Schram and she is perfectly cast in this role.  She can range between vulnerable waif and icy dominatrix.  Her romance with Hal is just as genuine as the plucky resistance fighter we knew early on as it is now that she seems to be leading the Espheni.  Kudos to Jessy for that.   If you saw her in the now canceled "Last Resort" you know she can play the hurt but loyal wife (girlfriend?) and the whip smart lady that couldn't be duped by the government.   Falling Skies is fortunate to have her as are the Espheni!

Karen's greatest coup may involve this man, more on this soon.

 

You're a mean one Mr. Grinch.

I mean Karen!  

You are deliciously evil don't ever leave us!

Who Are The Volm?

Falling Skies Returns And They Brought A Friend.

But who are the Volm and where are they from?  Pictured above is new "friend" Cochise the latest addition to the Falling Skies ensemble and played by actor Doug Jones. Those familiar with Doug Jones know he is one of the great "character" actors of our time.  And when I mean character, I mean the type that gets digitized and inhabited by Jones.  The image below is from the renowned "Pans Labyrinth" where he played the "Pale Man".  

Creepy.

It's a pity we didn't get to know Jones' character of Cochise more deeply in this initial episode.  Oddly enough the season starts 7 months into the future and Cochise is an established member of the resistance.  I would have preferred to have picked up where we left off last season when the Volm arrived and we were left with a giant cliff hanger.

It's an odd conceit by serial television lately where we are left with a cliff hanger and when the new season resumes the immediate resolution has passed us by and we are left to scramble and pick up the pieces of the back story ourselves.  Mad Men has done it and more recently the SyFy show "Continuum" has done the same thing coincidently 7 months into the future!

Is this good story telling?  Does it help build dramatic tension?  Frankly I'm a little annoyed by it.  I'm sure we'll catch up eventually through flashbacks.  But why not start off the season with a bang and have the nervous and battle fatigued resistance fire off a volley at Cochise only to see their bullets fall harmlessly away or better yet, evaporate.  We could have shared in their panic, amazement and fear.  Let's hope TV doesn't make too much of this "fast forward" device.

So let's return to the mystery of the Volm.  During season one of Falling Skies I shared a theory with the website "Seriable" that the Espheni were on the run from another race across time and space.  I reiterated that theory in my own blog right around this time last season with the entry, "An Overture From The Overlords" .

We now know that this new race, the Volm, have been in pursuit of the Espheni for hundred of years and they themselves had once been attacked.  They've shared their technology with the human race and purportedly turned the tide of battle in Earth's favor.  They even have a super weapon of their own that should eliminate the Espheni scourge forever.

We don't know the nature of this super weapon but at least they had the foresight to bury it underground whereas the Espheni had their supergun virtually in plain sight.  It was also revealed that the Volm have interstellar troopships on the way that should turn the tide of the war.  So which one is it; Volm supergun to the rescue or the troopships?  Here's a question, why don't any of these alien races travel en masse?  Why do more have come later on or attack in small numbers in the first place?  Sigh, that's TV for you.

My initial feeling for the Volm is that they are a benevolent society.  I'm willing to bet they are here to truly here to help the last people of Earth.  Of course there is such a thing as a benevolent monarchy also, they may not want to leave Earth once they've landed here.  My new theory; the Volm have no planet to go back to.  They are a space faring race by necessity.  Their home was destroyed by the Espheni and not only are they in pursuit out of revenge but they are also hoping the Espheni will lead them to a new world where they can assimilate themselves.  (Hmmm, didn't Defiance do that already to some extent?  We'll see if Falling Skies has a different take on this storyline.)

I should add that Colonel Weaver has been appointed as the "Doubting Thomas" for the season and exhibited his mistrust with our new friends on more than one occasion already.

I'm excited about the Volm as a viewer of the show.  Less excited by the new sexual titillation I'm sure was added to spice things up and add new viership.  More on that in the next post.

Bringing "Sexy Back" to Falling Skies?

Falling Skies Tries a Little Sexual Healing!

Yikes, what is it exactly that we are selling here?

Falling Skies has come out with a titillating video to attract viewership for this upcoming season 3.  I suppose if you want to lose yourself in the mythology of the show and become an active participant, then you could see this video as propaganda from the alien invaders.

Join us!  Meet hot girls!  Slavery isn't so bad when you're getting a little sumptin' sumptin!

Yeah, I can see how that could work.

That hasn't been the only effort, check out this poster for season 3.

I thought the Espheni only enslaved children with the harness?  This young lady looks decidedly older than your average 10 year old.

Oh well, who am I to judge?  Sex sells and the Overlords are no dummies.  A new alien species has arrived on Earth and if the Espheni feeling a little threatened then they break out the big guns.

Oops, bad pun.

The Shadow Knows

Hello to everyone out there fighting the good fight and where ever you may be.  A couple of interesting images have popped up on the Falling Skies Facebook page recently and I wanted to comment on them.  As you can see by the title of this blog post I'm interested in all things "Shadow".

Let's take a look at the above image.  Here we have the iconic statue of Abraham Lincoln as it sits in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C..  I guess we have to be glad the Overlords decided not to incinerate the Memorial although it does seem to have suffered a little battle damage.   

Along with the battle damage we can see some graffiti, "You can't shoot us all" and "Die Skitter".   The first is a bit fatalistic in a sense.  Imagine seeking victory or mere survival by relying on the odds that not everyone can be killed.  Sounds a little desperate.  The graffiti to the right of Lincoln is a bit artistic, (maybe Banksy survived the apocalypse) we have a Skitter head being held aloft at the end of a bayonet with the rifle itself is  gripped by a bloody hand. The clenched fist (our bloody rifle hand) is an historic symbol of defiance so it shouldn't be a surprise to see it here.  (I wonder if the bullet holes are all that remains of where the artist once stood.)

So what is interesting?

Behind Lincoln is the superimposed relief of an Overlord.  Actually, it looks digitally imprinted  behind Lincoln.  Would a graffiti artist do this?  I would think not.  This seems to be the work of Earth's invaders the Espheni.  One could speculate that if the Memorial became a source of inspiration or a rallying point then the Espheni would want everyone to know that you could not even look at one of America's most treasured sites without being reminded who their real leaders are.

Additionally, Lincoln was know as the "Great Emancipator" the President that freed the slaves from their bondage and reunited the Union.  Again, the Espheni wants the message to be loud and clear. There will be no emancipation or freedom for anyone.  Earth's servitude and bondage will continue under their constant watch.  The new Lincoln Memorial makes that abundantly clear.

If I were to retain any sense of optimism about this picture it would be to speculate that the graffiti artist and his message came after the Espheni desecrated the Memorial.

The spectral shadow reappears in our next picture.  Here the silhouetted outline of an Overlord is much less defined than the Lincoln Memorial one.  Was this the work of the Espheni or did a resistance fighter paint this?  What's eerie is the disembodied arm of an Espheni or Skitter extending from the doorway seemingly completing the graphic rendition of the Overlord.

"We can still prevail" is painted in large letters along the wall and a target like symbol in red is painted over the Overlord shadow.  Did the Espheni paint themselves on the wall to remind Earth's survivors that they are everywhere?   Or did a resistance fighter paint the Espheni and then "target" him?

Take notice of the "Gas mask" sign that is hanging center left in this picture.  Was this a shelter to provide relief from the invasion?  Or is there a more grim and sinister meaning to the mask?  If you look further to the left we can see inside the wall.  In the deep background we can see what looks to be some sort of fireplace or oven.  This is where our story takes a dark turn.  What if this tableau represents some sort of charnel house of horrors?  There is blood over the doorway to the far right, is this where the victims and survivors were flung to their fiery doom?  Does the bloody doorway symbolize the last gasp of the downtrodden?

Who are our downtrodden?

Was this "Charnel House of Horrors" employed by the Espheni or are the humans using it to rid themselves of their alien victims?  Either way it would represent a grim turn by the writers of Falling Skies.

Alternate theories are welcome, let me know what you think or if I have missed something.

Next up; Have the Falling Skies writer ratcheted up the sexual quotient to their show?