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?
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?
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