In a recent interview, new FALLING SKIES showrunner Remi Aubuchon revealed that in taking over the hit TNT series for its much-anticipated second season, he was given one mandate from fellow EP Steven Spielberg, “It’s got to be bigger and badder than ever.”
Suffice it to say, having had the pleasure of screening the first four episodes of FALLING SKIES season 2, we’re happy to report that Aubuchon and his team delivered in a big way. As outlined in Today’s TV Addict Top 5, handily posted for your perusal after the jump.
While it probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the tone of FALLING SKIES second season is slightly darker and more ambitious thanks to the addition of former BATTLESTAR GALACTICA writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, what sure as heck might are some of the almost BSG-esque moral quandaries our intrepid heroes will have to struggle with: Is an eye for an eye — or in the case of FALLING SKIES — eye for a tentacle justified? Should alien escapees return home a hero or a traitor? Just how far will one should one really go for revenge? These are just some of the questions that Tom Mason and Co. will be forced to struggle with in the show’s fantastic first four episdoes.
What’s the only downside to last year’s first season finale that saw the 2nd Mass literally take the legs out from a pivotal alien ship? Evidently, much like the crotchety old man who spends his summer sitting on his patio yelling at passerbyers to “get off my lawn,” certain alien overlords don’t take too kindly to the destruction of their property. Just ask poor Tom Mason, who gets an earful from a newly introduced angry alien on their true motives and an eyeful in terms of the horrifyingly low level of value they place on the denizens of earth.
Proof positive that not all teenage actors in the drama department have to — for lack of a better word — stink, comes the two eldest Mason offspring who deserve serious credit for continuing to develop characters with interesting and believable traits. While eldest son Hal (Drew Roy) continues to struggle with filling the paternal void left while his father has gone MIA on the Mother Ship, Ben (Connor Jessup) must attempt to control his anger towards the aliens that experimented on him. An anger that — without giving too much away — will not only lead to a very itchy trigger finger, but a handful of costly decisions that will irrevocably change the make-up of the 2nd Mass forever.
Just because the world is trying to pick up the pieces following a devastating alien invasion doesn’t mean people shouldn’t make time to, you know, help repopulate the earth. Which is good news for those invested in Tom Mason and Dr. Glass’s (Moon Bloodgood) will-they-or-won’t-they. Also good news, at least for Hal now that it would appear that Karen won’t be getting rescued from the alien’s clutches anytime soon [Note: Her portrayer, actor Jessy Schram will more than likely be preoccupied with her latest project, LAST RESORT that was recently been picked up by ABC] are the sparks between himself and Maggie (Sarah Carter) and the unexpected re-appearance of a certain 2nd Mass family member long thought to be dead.
In keeping with Spielberg’s mandate of “bigger and badder,” the team both in front and behind the camera waste precious time when it comes to proving that they’re worth carving out an hour of an audience’s week for. Complete with shocking character deaths, copious amounts of destruction, more mythology and amped up action, FALLING SKIES season two has a little something for everyone, making it our no-brainer for a perfect summer escape. 
To see what bigger and badder surprises are in store in the second season of FALLING SKIES, be sure to tune in for the 2-hour premiere on Sunday, June 17th at 9PM on TNT.