Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Onward and... not quite upward...

In its fourth season, Falling Skies rises then, true to its name, falls. Rises again! And falls. Rises! Falls. Rises! You get the idea. New showrunner David Eick and his bleary eyed writing room tease a number of big, tantalizing and, above all, intriguing ideas; the creative forces that be taking their cues from everything from Empire Strikes Back to The Walking Dead and Eick's own Battlestar Galactica (specifically, BSG's fan-favorite third season). Unfortunately, those ideas are no sooner planted in fertile soil than they're neglected and left to rot. There's no payoff. No sizzle. Surprisingly little soul. It's an overly bleak, increasingly joyless march into the irradiated, uninhabitable lands of post-apocalyptic blah and meh. Cards on the table: I've never been a Falling Skies fan. But Season Four's change in direction was a source of excitement. And with Eick at the helm? I've never been so willing to set aside three seasons of skepticism. There's certainly no denying the series follows a different path than past seasons. I just once again lost interest, and lost interest fast and early, apathetic to the characters' evolutions, separation, new roles, love triangles, emerging alien threats, and promising but largely unsatisfying endgame.

Somewhere buried in Falling Skies is a tighter, more gripping, more human saga; an ensemble drama set in a familiar and convincing world facing extraordinary circumstances, populated with heroes, rogues, opportunists and villains that aren't repackaged versions of characters I've followed a dozen times before in better shows with better focus and more impactful direction. But the moment I would start to warm to the series, I was confronted by a bone-headed decision, a god awful bit of dialogue or clumsy exposition, an anticlimactic encounter, a ridiculous story development, or a dead-end subplot that left me cold, detached and unimpressed. I know Falling Skies has its fans, and more power to them. Enjoy it to your heart's content. This is just my fourth attempt at giving the series a chance and the fourth time I've walked away disappointed, my mind swirling not around what was but everything that could have been.

• Ghost in the Machine: Season Four opens with triumph but soon reveals a new dangerous force that leaves Tom, his family and his fellow freedom fighters with little choice but to change their tactics and begin to plan a new offensive. Separated and desperate, the survivors fight to learn the rules of a new game. Treva Etienne guest-stars.
• The Eye: The Espheni reveal their new plan to Tom, and he is faced with an impossible decision. Meanwhile, Weaver and Pope investigate a way out of the Espheni prison, while Matt struggles to hide his true allegiance from the "Team Leaders" at the Espheni Youth Camp. Elsewhere, Anne leads an exhausting search for her daughter Lexi, while Ben's concerns about Lexi's increasing powers uncovers a devastating secret she's been keeping.
• Exodus: Tom and the 2nd Mass hatch an elaborate plan to escape the confines of the Espheni Ghetto. Meanwhile back in Chinatown, after learning from Ben that Lexi has been keeping a deadly secret, Maggie confronts Lexi publicly. At the Espheni Youth Camp, Matt tries to talk Mira out of a dangerous escape plan. While trekking through the woods with her guerilla fighters, Anne has a flashback to her time in the Espheni Tower with Karen (guest star Jessy Schram), where a terrifying secret about Lexi is revealed.
• Evolve or Die: After breaking out of the Espheni Ghetto, Tom and the 2nd Mass seek refuge in a Volm hideout, where tensions run high between the Volm and humans. Tom sets off with Weaver and Cochise to find Matt, leaving Hal in charge. Meanwhile in Chinatown, Anne is reunited with Lexi, and comes to realize that the little girl she saw 6 months ago is now a grown woman.
• Mind Wars: After freeing Matt from the Espheni Youth Camp, Tom encounters two mysterious strangers in the woods, who attack his family before embarking with him on a violent journey. Hal faces almost insurmountable odds as he tries to lead the remaining Volm and 2nd Mass to a place of perceived safety. Lexi and Anne have a difference of opinions -- resulting in dangerous consequences.
• Door Number Three: After months apart, Tom finally reunites with his family and the 2nd Mass. But the joyous reunion is cut short as Lexi undergoes a health crisis tied to her hybrid DNA. The crisis pits family members against one another as they fight over how to deal with Lexi's illness. Anne goes to great lengths to save her daughter.
• Saturday Night Massacre: Lexi emerges more powerful and ruthless than ever. Tom and the 2nd Mass must work together with the Volm to hold off the invading Espheni forces in the bloodiest battle of the series.
• A Thing with Feathers: The 2nd Mass picks up the pieces after a devastating alien attack leaves Maggie fighting for her life... and Hal fighting for Maggie. Meanwhile, Tom and Dingaan are cut off from the rest of the group, buried under tons of rubble, where they must rely on an enemy ship to rescue them.
• Til Death Do Us Part: While members of the 2nd Mass attempt to dig out a shot-down Beamer, Tom and a small team follow the Volm to a supply cache in search of equipment to expedite the process. Along the way, they encounter a friend, and must decide whether or not to trust her. Back at camp, Maggie and Ben grow closer as he teaches her to hone her new skills, while Pope and Sara continue to clash, resulting in a fight from which they may never recover.
• Drawing Straws: Tom and the remnants of the 2nd Mass learn to pilot a Beamer as part of their plan to destroy the Espheni Power Core, and the group draws straws to see who will embark on the dangerous mission. The threat of death hanging over everyone triggers long-simmering confrontations between many of our main characters, ultimately bringing the 2nd Mass closer together.
• Space Oddity: Tom's mission to destroy the Espheni Power Core is complicated by Lexi's return. Lexi is forced to take extreme measures to save her father's life -- and her own -- after a Beamer malfunction. Meanwhile, the 2nd Mass fears an impending Espheni strike by the scorched Overlord.
• Shoot the Moon: With the weight of humanity's survival on Tom and Lexi's shoulders, they must defeat Tom's mortal enemy and find a way to destroy the omnipotent Espheni Power Core. Meanwhile, a new, terrifying Espheni Bomb is dropped onto Chinatown, immobilizing the 2nd Mass and preparing them for Human Skitterizaton.

Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blu-ray release of Falling Skies' third season suffered from poor contrast leveling, an unintended product of a misbegotten encode rather than a faithful representation of the showrunners' intentions. (Compare my screenshots from S3 to those from S1, S2 and now S4. Note the weak black levels, dull image, and washed out contrast.) Thankfully, The Complete Fourth Season is back on track with a solid 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation. Black levels often reach the deepest depths -- analyze the above screenshot for example -- and contrast is more vibrant, striking and true to the series' photography. The palette is generally cold and bleak, but splashes of rich color still grace the screen from time to time. Detail is quite good too. Edges are clean and nicely defined, textures are rewarding, close-ups fare well, and delineation is decidedly decent. Noise and crush still spike here and there, but rarely so much that either amounts to a distraction. There also isn't a lot in the way of macroblocking or banding, though a few instances creep into shots that incorporate significant CG. Fans will breathe a sigh of relief.

Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like past seasons, Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track offers an immersive soundfield that does well by the series' action and suspense. Dialogue is intelligible and carefully prioritized at all times (even amidst the chaos of battle), gunshots and explosions pack welcome LFE oomph, and engaging rear speaker activity keeps the 2nd Mass good times rolling and assaults suitably thrilling. Hushed, dramatic conversations occasionally dominate the soundscape, making for a rather front-heavy experience at times, but involving ambience, directional precision and a musical score that utilizes every channel to great effect keep things clipping along without a hitch. No real complaints here.

Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Inside the Episode Featurettes (HD, 23 minutes): Each episode includes a short one to two-minute behind-the-scenes featurette briefly detailing the highlights of the episodes and some of the challenges faced by the production team.
• Tom Mason: A Man of Tomorrow (HD, 21 minutes): Noah Wyle's Tom Mason is dissected in this surprisingly lengthy character doc. Wyle offers his thoughts on Mason, the aspects that drew him to the role, the four-season evolution of his freedom fighter, and more, while other members of the cast weigh in on their co-star and his contributions to the series.
• 2014 Comic Con Panel (HD, 53 minutes): Showrunner David Eick and the cast of Falling Skies -- Wylie, Moon Bloodgood, Will Patton, Drew Roy, Sarah Carter, Maxim Knight, Scarlett Byrne and Doug Jones -- descend on San Diego for a 2014 Season Four Q&A panel hosted by TV Guide magazine's Rich Sands.
• Episodic Prequels (HD, 18 minutes): A half-dozen two to three-minute minisodes are also available. Prequels include "Hal & Ben," "Pope," "Maggie," "Lourdes," "Anthony," "Cochise" and "Group."
• Character Interviews (HD, 8 minutes): Rounding out the package are a series of one-minute interviews with Colin Cunningham, Connor Jessup, Drew Roy, Maxim Knight, Moon Bloodgood, Noah Wyle, Sarah Carter and Scarlett Byrne.

Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Falling Skies still has yet to make me a convert, but its fanbase remains undeterred. And if you've made it this far, chances are you aren't interested in hearing a laundry list of complaints that don't matter one iota to someone who "gets" what I clearly don't. So enjoy... which will be that much easier with Warner's Blu-ray release of The Complete Fourth Season. With a strong AV presentation and decent assortment of supplements (not to mention a low pricepoint) there isn't much here that will prevent fans from picking up this 2-disc set and joining the 2nd Mass on their quest to survive. And maybe, just maybe, save the world.