FALLING SKIES: Saving Private Benjamin

A few minutes into the premiere episode of TNT’s new action adventure series Falling Skies, executive produced by Stephen Spielberg, things began to look vaguely familiar. War torn landscape? Check. Disparate individuals coming together to fight a mostly faceless invading horde? Check. Mild-mannered Everyman called into leadership role? Check. Son captured by invaders? Check. Separate mission to rescue son? Check. Sure, Falling Skies is set 65 years later and uses aliens instead of Nazis as the invaders, but the themes and plot are almost identical to those in Spielberg’s 1998 WWII film Saving Private Ryan.

The familiarity of the plot is oddly comforting for me. Alien invasion stories are almost always allegorical if you look hard enough, but they’re also often scary and inaccessible thanks to the “sci-fi” label. In this case, the viewer is able to connect with the human story Spielberg & Co. are telling thanks in large part to the familiar structure and theme, although the sci-fi element keeps it from being too preachy. Spielberg’s passion for military history and fascination with aliens come together here to depict people banding together, and not, after an horrific invasion.

Noah Wyle takes on the Tom Hanks role as Tom Mason, a history professor turned second-in-command of the 2nd Massachusetts regiment and father of three sons. His middle son, Ben, has been taken by the aliens and implanted with an utterly creepy giant centipede-like apparatus on his spine. (In one shot, a group of similarly implanted prisoners are marching along a dirt road in a scene that could easily have been Jews being marched to a concentration camp by Nazi guards. It’s eerie.) Wyle does a fine job portraying the bookish professor whose extensive knowledge of military history is being called into service in an actual war. His speech is peppered with references to previous battles and tactics, which both exasperates and impresses his fellow survivors. By necessity Tom is quickly learning to balance his book smarts with survival skills, while trying to maintain his compassion and growing as a leader. It’s a tall order, but Wyle is up to the task.

While Wyle is the lead, Falling Skies has a solid ensemble cast to back him up. Moon Bloodgood is Anne, a pediatrician who lost her son when the aliens first invaded six months ago. She still hasn’t dealt with that, focusing her energy on helping survivors instead. A potential love interest for Tom, whose wife is dead, she’s also become a de facto leader for the civilians being protected by the 2nd Mass. Will Patton is Weaver, the commander of the 2nd Mass who has little empathy for those civilians and therefore butts heads with Anne over their rights within the regiment. He’s a no-nonsense guy who’s easy to dislike, but his hard-nosed attitude will probably keep them all alive.

A bevy of young people are part of the cast, which both contrasts and compares to Saving Private Ryan. History is full of stories of young men pressed into military service or lying about their age in order to join the fight. Here we see young men and women both required to mature quickly and learn the skills necessary to survive and to protect others. In one scene in the premiere, Tom and his oldest son, Hal (Drew Roy), remark on the difference a few months has made in how Tom sees his son: “Seven, eight months ago you wouldn’t let me ride my bike to Julian’s house at night. Now you’re giving me extra ammo.” It’s a poignant reminder of a stark reality in the post-invasion world.

The inclusion of women both as civilians and fighters adds welcome depth. Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel) was in a pre-med program when the invasion thrust her into real world training. She works with Anne and has a strong Christian faith that is strengthened by the tragic circumstances. Margaret (Sarah Sanguin Carter) joins the 2nd Mass after spending time with a band of marauders, bringing a toughness born of a difficult life to the fight. Her story has a lot of potential and I hope is explored in some detail. Karen (Jessy Schram, who I spent two hours thinking was Brittany Snow) is another tough young woman who joins the squad on recon and supply runs. She hasn’t revealed much of her past yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she was a star athlete.

Lest we think all humans are wonderful and aliens horrible, we encounter John Pope (Colin Cunningham), the charismatic leader of a gang of outlaws who take Tom’s squad hostage in order to trade them for weapons and food. An opportunist, Pope is still likable and a welcome foil to Tom’s almost unreal goodness. On the flip side, about midway through the premiere, we’re given an astonishingly empathetic scene with an alien. It’s uncomfortable but necessary as a reminder that there are perhaps counterparts in the invading force, aliens who are simply following orders. As a plot point, it’s ambitious and I hope one that is explored further as the series progresses.

Falling Skies, at least in the first three episodes, doesn’t break much new ground but it is a solid story with enough action-adventure for a summertime flick and enough character focus for an extended performance. If nothing else, it shows that TNT is willing to gamble on something other than legal/medical procedurals. Falling Skies debuts with a two-hour premiere Sunday, June 19 at 9/8c on TNT.