Author: TJ Provost

Episode  8 – What Hides Beneath

Summary:

Captain Weaver is having trouble sleeping and is showing signs of decreased operational awareness. The school has been compromised but the Skidders are pulling back to their main ships, for unknown reasons, but Porter is ready to take the attack to the Skidders. In the meantime Ann and Lourdes are making dark discoveries about the Harnessed kids and the Skidders.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Pope has some demolition skills.
• Rick is drawing pictures of his life as a slave.
• Uncle Scott blowing a hole through the walls. I guess no one was down range.
• Is there anything Captain Weaver hasn’t done? He’s soldier/OB/contractor.
• The reveal of the new humanoid aliens. It changes the layout of the battlefield.  Are Skidders just grunts and not the decision makers like the survivors thought?
• Max and Pope bonding. “Out of the mouths of babes.”
• Ann and Lourdes doing alien autopsies. The Skidders may be the end result of humans being enslaved? Is Ben turning into a Skidder?
• Karyn is at the door, with her friend the alien.
• Captain Weaver’s wife and oldest daughter might be alive.
• All the guns on Pope when he’s showing them how to use the alien bullets.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Poor Captain Weaver is having nightmares.
• Rick is sitting right there drawing about Skidders as they are discussing their big attack plan. Does anyone else see problems with that.
• Ben’s seems physically very fit but there is something going on with his harness spikes.
• Wouldn’t shooting in the middle of an alien controlled city be a bad idea?
• I don’t trust Rick. He wants to be taken back to the Skidders.
• How has the old woman stayed alive for so long right next to the alien base? Oh wait, she’s crazy  after the Skidders let her go. But there is something very creepy about the way she has supplies and stuff.
• Captain Weaver goes back to his house.  He remembers all the bad things that happened when the initial attack happened.
• Captain Weaver was forced to take a harness off his own daughter and the pain is just too much. He’s giving up.
• Once gain, your going to let alien sympathizers live? She’s a crazy old lady but they should have cut her down.
• Rick running after he see’s Pope shoot through mech armor.

Episode  7 – Sanctuary Part 2

Summary:

We know from the end of Episode 6 that Pope rolled on Weaver’s group.  And everyone else at “Sanctuary” is apparently in on it.  Traitors.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Mike wondering why Clayten’s people are so settled in.
• Pope complaining about how Clayten’s people cook.
• Tom taking a bike and checking out where Clayten took their kids.
• Rick at dinner, creeping me out.
• Lourdes finds Eli’ backpack. The tension builds. I think Hal is starting to put it together. But Mike isn’t so sure because he’s known Clayten for so long. Right up until he finds the piles of belongings from all the kids Clayten has handed over to the skidders.
• Come on, show a real live birth.
• Mike’s still a good guy. Come on, kill everyone quick and quiet as you leave the traitor house.  I think in real life people would be a bit more viscious.
• Good shooting Mike.  Come on, don’t bite it. Shit, Clayten flanked him.
• Nice houses.  They picked a good spot to flee through.  I think the cake looks fine, have a bite.
• Ben wants to go get help. He’s fast.  The after effects of the harness seem to have made him stronger. The Hal/Ben  dynamic if very touching.
• Captain Weaver has some serious OB skills.  Weaver keeps surprising me.
• Pope saves Hal.  He might be a d*ck but at least he’s kind of on the right team this time.
• Come on Weaver, just drop everyone at the farm.  None of them deserve to live.
• Nice shooting Tom.
• Rick is a Skidder zombie – very creepy.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Send all those under twenty with me, after I walked in after my position got overrun.  Hmm, I smell something fishy here.
• Come on, Pope would have stabbed the dude, without a doubt.
• Why doesn’t anyone have any silenced weapons? They seem like they would be useful when your trying not to get caught by skidders.
• Why the hell would Tom walk out in the open? It really makes no sense. And Clayten would have just shot Tom and Hal once they were disarmed.
• Why is Ben normal but Rick is still a zombie?
• You leave traitors who deal with the enemy alive? I think that in any army that is a death sentence.
• Mike bought it.

Episode  1

Summary:

I have to say I am pretty psyched about this new series.  I hope it delivers.   It has a great premise. Vampire, zombies, and other undead creatures are real, and the police have a special squad put together to combat them.

The first episode delivered tons of laughs, but at the same time it felt like it was rushed into production.  Overall, a great start, I’m looking forward to next weeks episode and hopes it continues to deliver.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Bryan Callen is pretty good as the sergent.
• I mean, I’m not saying you are a virgin, but I’m not saying your not.
• Jocko taco – that’s going to hurt coming out.
• Naked chicks, nipple slips, wow, he has a lot of porn on this thing.
• Hot blonde chick kicking ass in the background.
• Slow walking zombies eating hands.
• Hiding guns in bodies.  Hop, hop, hop.
• Crying sound men. You’re acting like a pussy.
• If they can run like that, we let them go.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• The production values are all over the place.

Episode  6 – Sanctuary Part 1

Summary:

The civilians are getting antsy, frightened by what has been going on in the camp. Things go from bad to worse as they realize another brigade has been overrun, and the skidders are heading their way.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Fear mentality – it would be chaos in reality.
• Ben freaking out Max with his spine spikes. Big brothers…
• Ben explaining how he felt about the skidders.  Uber creepy. It freaks Hal out too.
• Tom and Ann – how long before they they get closer?
• Lourdes, the pre med student, there is something very wholesome and sweet about her.
• Go Jimmy, he must have played airsoft.  Good shot Captain Weaver.
• Jimmy is in shock, give the kid some whisky.
• Maggie, “I’m going to go save your br0ther…the one who’s about to get his ass kicked.”
• The dynamic between Hal and Ben. If I was Tom I’d let Hal go with Max and Ben.
• Tom and Ann finally hold hands.
• The slave girl Clayton deals with is creepy good.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Send all those under twenty with me, after I walked in after my position got overrun.  Hmm, I smell something fishy here.
• Candles burning in an unattended hallway? You have that many candles.
• Come on, the mech shows up and the new guy wants you to give him your kids.  Don’t trust Clayten!!!
• Yeah, let’s take the path I told everyone we wouldn’t take.  Great idea, and Hal just let’s him lead them away.
• Clayten is such a traitor. What a bastard. Is everyone at Clayton’s camp in on it or is just him?

Episode  5 – Silent Kill

Summary:

Tom has found his stash of narcotics and is ready to go after Ben. Anne cautions him that even if they get him back, its not a guarantee that he will be okay. The skidder is naughty, but Ann still thinks she can learn form it.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Ann is hot and has an awesome name in real life – Moon Bloodgood
• Captain Weaver schooling Tom in tactics.  Even if it leads to the highly unlikely strategy of sending one dude in with a knife between his teeth in the dark.
• Uncle Scott working on the radio equipmen with Max
• Margaret is a cutie too.
• Uncle Scott being worried about Anne. He’s a sweet old man.
• Dr. Harris getting strangled. You get what you deserve when your an idiot.
• Captain Weaver, “I don’t know what’s crazy anymore, we’re fighting aliens from outer space.”
• Ann getting up close and personal with a scalpel. You go girl.
• Mechs are the worst sentries ever – they make a lot of noise.
• Ah, the skidder loves its little slave babies. How cute.
• A half way quiet kill.
• Uncle Scott, he’s also a physicians assistant.
• CPR Boobies – keep doing CPR – Don’t stop, you can save him.  Damn, she stopped.
• Margaret’s story. It was sad but touching.
• The baby shower – I wonder if its going to be like “V” and its going to be an alien.
• Ben is back.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• I know I’ve belly ached about it, but the civvies are a little too well fed and a little too clean.
• Poor Captain Weaver, I think the song was his daughters.
• Mike’s son Rick isn’t on a 1 to 1 watch? He just got unslaved, slaved, unslaved.
• I’m afraid Captain Weaver is going to eat a bullet eventually. He’s starting to show cracks.
• Ann is showing her crazy bits, but I still love her.
• Hal’s “slave impression”.  He moves his head too much.  Although he did improve a bit later on.
• Poor Captain Weaver listening to his kid’s music.

Episode  4 – Grace

Summary:

They’ve got the bug Tom captured in lock up but Captain Weaver won’t let him go back after Ben until after he gets them more motorcycles to improve their mobility.  Hal has his own worries as he struggles with Karyn’s being taken.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Max wants to fight.
• The old man who gives Max the radio job. I think he’s called Uncle Scott.
• Skidders sleeping.  Apparently they are like bats.
• Skidders give off radio waves.
• The hot religous pre med student.
• The creepy look Mike get’s when he realizes his son is looking at the alien, saying “father”.
• Mike getting serious with his M16.  He’s my kind of negotiator. Then it passes out, and the radio static stops.
• Anne is also pretty cute.
• Gas grenade bombs.  Sweet.
• Harness kids with guns.  Very smark aliens.  People will hesitate before shooting kids, even if they are salved.
• Skidder on the wall in the motorcycle shop.  Very nice special effects.
• Human endurance, no matter how bad it gets, there are things to be thankful for.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Tom is too easy to convince not to go get Ben.
• The recon team just got back and they are too clean. Come on, you’ve been walking for hours, rub some dirt on.
• You let Pope go back to get gas with just one other dude?
• Dr. Harriws is a D*ck but I agree with him that they should kill the damn alien.
• Holy crap, Mike’s kid is a slave still.  Poor Mike. And the skidder can talk through the slave. Poor Mike, he lost his kid.
• Some of the slave kids look a little chubby.  What have they been eating?
• So do some of the civilians. (look chubby I mean)

Episode  3 – Prisoner of War

Summary:

The’ve found Ben, but the slaves are well guarded and they need to come up with a plan. They struggle to save Ben but learn a lot in the process.

Things I loved about this episode…

• The military briefing.
• Noah Wiley as Tom – he’s a good actor even if he doesn’t have Derek’s abs. (Teen Wolf)
• Pope is a “Culinary Artest”.  And a D*ck.
• He was good looking for an older guy – you know he was like forty.  Slap.
• Sawed off double barrel shotguns for when just one barrel isn’t  good enough.
• Tom playing wack a mole with an alien’s head.
• Maggie being dragged away. I think I know what the slaves eat and poop now.
• There is something very creepy about the Dr.  I don’t like him.
• Very cool harness removal scene.
• The alien strategy to keep you from trying to rescue their slaves. (I don’t like the strategy, but I like how well thought out the storyline is.)
• Pope’s food is good.  But he’s still a D*ck.
• Oh crap the skidder can communicate with the slave kid they cut the harness off of.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• People would be freaking out over their kids.  They were just a bit too calm, not enough tears.
• The Colonel Porter asking Tom to rescue just Ben so they can try an experimental surgery to take the mind control thingy off of him.
• Mind control slaves? Do they eat, poop, pea? Do they take care of themselves? Or are they just run into the ground? Would aliens really use slave labor like this? Hopefully this will be explained as the series goes on.
• Damn, they have to leave Ben behind, for like the fifth time.
• Maggie is cute but wouldn’t her butt be a little smaller if she were a survivor eating beans and rice and walking all day, every day?  Sorry, just saying.
• Isn’t anyone concerned that Tom brings an alien to homebase? Or Mike brings his mind controlled slave son there?
• Why don’t the skidders have guns?
• The aliens kill the slaves to try and tell the soldiers that if they try and rescue them they will kill the slaves.
• Dr. Harris – I’m seriously creeped out by him.  And what was up with Tom’s wife and Dr. Harris?  It sounds like Dr. Harris was banging Tom’s wife and then abandoned her?  It’s a bit confusing.

Episode  2 – The Armory

Summary:

The armory is guarded, and Tom is forced to scout it out before he can go and search for his middle son Bed, who has been taken by the aliens. Tom and his crew are surprised to find out they aren’t the only ones interested in the armory.

Oh, and thank you to Pete for pointing me to the series.  I meant to thank him when I blogged about Episode 1 but I’m a bad friend.

Things I loved about this episode…

• Getting a room with thin walls.
• Alien finger necklaces.
• Uhmmm, why is the leader of the bad guy scavengers kissing Hal?
• The leader noticing Tom trying to get the sidearm.
• Billie and CueBall getting what they deserve.
• Tom’s counter attack. Go history teacher!

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Captain Weaver, he’s going to be the one we love to hate.
• Uhmmm, why is the leader of the bad guy scavengers kissing Hal?
• Do you really send the hot scavenger to guard the hot prisoner?
• Would Weaver really abandon the food and guns? I think he would have let lead fall.
• Come on, frontier justine, Captain weaver would have killed the scavenger leader.  Do you really put him in jail?
• Tom’s AK47 keeps bothering me.  I think 5.56 ammow would be more plentiful in the states.

Episode  1 – Live and Learn

Falling Skies is a new series on TNT that I am very glad to have found. (Via my friend Pete – thanks Pete.)

It starts off pretty heavy, with children talking about thier lost families and loved ones. So heavy that I was starting to get worried that it wasn’t something I could watch with my ten year old.  But it only lasted the first couple of minutes and after they set the scene the storyline moved forward.

Its kind of a mix of the old “V” alien series mixed with the reality TV show “The Colony”.  We ended up buying the series pass on iTunes and plan on watching an episode a night until we catch up.

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (4 Out of 5 Graves)

So what do you get if you take a decent story, a good sprinkle of sex (disguised under the context of love of course), with a fast paced plot?

A great read.  I highly recommend the book if you like a little bit of sultry content mixed in with your vampires.  Its a bit more graphic than the True Blood Series, but in a good way if you like that sort of thing.  My suggestion would be not read it while on the bus though, you might poke someone by accident.  

Not recommended for Twilight fans.  Its a little more than you can handle.