Berserker Cast Falling Skies Podcast

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LIVE SHOW SCHEDULE:

FALLING SKIES
LIVE Podcast: Tue 8pm East.

 

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BC 15 – Season 4 Review, Season 5 Preview

BC 15 – Season 4 Review, Season 5 Preview

And we’re back! After an extremely long hiatus, Darrell and I (Emilee) are excited to jump back into our ongoing discussions of the wonderful TNT post-apocalyptic alien drama Falling Skies and all of its Berserkery goodness. In this episode of Berserker Cast, we take some time to talk about all the things season 4 did well, all of the things season 4 could have done without, and look ahead at the season to come. Read More…

The Final Battle Begins

The Final Battle Begins

Summer is finally here! It is time for barbeque, suntans and alien invasions. In season 4 the 2nd Mass faced the greatest challenge yet. The Espheni Overlords have corralled the remaining adults into ghetto camps. The children are sent to school to be reprogrammed. They will be used as tools to catch their rebellious parents. The survivors are losing hope when The Ghost arises. Once again Tom Mason negotiates with the enemy and leads the remaining humans against the Espheni. Read more…

BC 14-Berserker Cast Episode 14-Shoot The Moon Review

BC 14-Berserker Cast Episode 14-Shoot The Moon Review

In episode 14 of Berserker Cast we take a long hard look at the finale episode of season 4 of Falling Skies before speculating on just what the writers have in store for us next season! So much happens in this finale, we see the skitterization machine put into effect against the 2nd Mass, we see Tom take down Scorch, and we see Lexi take one for humanity (or…does she?).

The mysterious fog substance that flowed out of the skitterization machine (we need a better name for this… Flower Pod? Fog Egg?) reinforced this idea that the humans have reached a point of helplessness on earth. They need to stretch beyond their limits in order to bring the Espheni reign of terror to an end. Emilee compares the creatures coming out of the pod to a 500 million year old, Cambrian-era creature we know of only through the fossils they’ve left behind, Burgess Shale (see picture to right; source). The show she references that brought her to this creature is called Primeval (she highly recommends you check it out!). Read more…

BC 13-Berserker Cast Episode 13-Space Oddity Review

BC 13-Berserker Cast Episode 13-Space Oddity Review

In episode 13 of Berserker Cast we talk about the penultimate season 4 episode “Space Oddity” which consists of Lexi’s plea to take Ben’s place on the mission to the moon with Tom. We discuss our perceptions of Lexi, whether we believe her or not, and how that ebbed and flowed as the episode went on. Did you find it easy or difficult to trust Lexi?

Despite being rather relaxed on the action front, this episode helped to really draw out the human in Lexi and reveal the scared little girl inside of her that was finally yearning for her father. As she begins to understand what it means to be human, she begins to change and behave differently and even become a daughter to her father. Watching that relationship develop was certainly one of our favorite parts of the episode. Read more…

BC 12-Berserker Cast Episode 12-Drawing Straws Review

BC 12-Berserker Cast Episode 12-Drawing Straws Review

In episode 12 of Berserker Cast, we discuss Falling Skies Season 4 Episode 10 entitled “Drawing Straws” where names are chosen from a hollowed out piece of wood to determine which (un)lucky two will ride in the alien space craft to the moon. While no one is surprised by the end result, it was an interesting road getting them to where they need to be.

The discussion we have circles around Epictetus (or Epic-Tardis if you’re Darrell) and we look at how lessons in stoicism have been shaping each of the characters in the last few episodes for this penultimate episode of season 4. While Tom seems to be conflicted over his own commitment to the philosophy of Epictetus, his boys form the spectrum he is wavering on. We get some major, much-needed character development that makes ongoing events frustrating and fascinating, and will undoubtedly lead to exciting events in the finale two episodes!Read more…

BC 11-Berserker Cast Episode 11-Doug Jones Interview

BC 11-Berserker Cast Episode 11-Doug Jones Interview

In this very special edition of Berserker Cast we had the honor and the pleasure of speaking with Doug Jones, whom we all know best right now as Cochise on Falling Skies! His resume is expansive and colorful, embodying quite well the man himself. But we had a chance to lift up the foam mask and talk with the man who brings other-worldly creatures to life.

We spend a great deal of time discussing Cochise and his role on Falling Skies, how Doug got involved in the project, and what he perceives the Volm’s role to be in the current season of the show. And, speaking of Volm, Doug tells us that he is the only one on set who can pronounce every Volm name that has so far been proffered up! And then he does it! Several times! Read more…

BC 10-Berserker Cast Episode 10-Till Death Do Us Part Review

BC 10-Berserker Cast Episode 10-Till Death Do Us Part Review

In episode 10 of Berserker Cast, which is technically episode 9 of season 4 of Falling Skies, we spend a lot of time talking about the state of the relationships of a lot of the main characters. With an increase in action in the last few episodes, this episode felt like a way to calm things down right before another big fight.

But while tensions are easing between Tom and Anne, culminating in their punctual nuptials, the same cannot be said for Hal and Maggie, nor Pope and Sara. Tom and Anne give us the seasoned, adult version of talking through arguments while Hal demonstrates the emotional hurt more reflective of his age in how he informs his brother that he witnessed the kiss. We talk about what implications the spikes have on Ben and Maggie’s relationship with each other, with Hal, and with the Espheni on a larger scale. How intimately are they connected? Read more…

BC 09-Berserker Cast Episode 09-A Thing With Feathers Review

BC 09-Berserker Cast Episode 09-A Thing With Feathers Review

In episode 9 of Berserker Cast, Emilee has a difficult task. She must convince Darrell that this episode didn’t totally suck. And, indeed, by the end of their conversation Darrell raised his rating from a 6 to a 7.5 (which, Emilee reminds us, is a pretty normal rating for her). From Emily Dickinson to Dante, Emilee draws in some literary parallels that were significant to her, while still joining in with some of Darrell’s nitpicks about things that seemed a bit forced.

The least favorite part of this episode was definitely the Pope/Sara scenes, and yet through those scenes we get to see a very different side of Pope that really seems to be changing him. Almost as though he’s caring about the 2nd Mass because he wants Sara to. Read more…

BC 08-Berserker Cast Episode 08-Saturday Night Massacre Review

BC 08-Berserker Cast Episode 08-Saturday Night Massacre Review

In episode 8 of Berserker Cast we waste no time jumping into the escalating events of Lexi’s haven-no-more. Now out of her cocoon, Lexi denounces the human race and leaves, killing a fan favorite in the process, and the 2nd Mass lays vulnerable to approaching Espheni forces. While Tom and Anne try to juggle the changes occurring in their daughter against the reality that is her total and inevitable betrayal, Hal takes a journey of his own–again–and comes around to seeing things his father’s way.

Throughout the discussion we continually come back to Lexi’s evolving biology and mental state. When, if ever, do Tom and Anne draw the line? When does Lexi stop being a Mason? We also talk about the forever rotating family paradigm that the 2nd Mass has undergone over the last four seasons and how we are to apply that to characters like Lexi or Pope or Sara. Read more…

BC 07-Berserker Cast Episode 07-Door Number Three Review

BC 07-Berserker Cast Episode 07-Door Number Three Review

In episode 7 of Berserker Cast, we discuss the midpoint of season 4 of Falling Skies entitled “Door Number Three”. Is Lexi human (door number one)? Is Lexi an Espheni (door number two)? Or… what is behind door number three? The common feeling from us and other listeners is that Lexi is attempting to be both human and Espheni, not to destroy one or the other, but to unite the races. This is the front that the re-education camps are promoting, but based off of sinister conversations held by Scorch and Monk, we don’t think Lexi has been quite given all the details.

After expressing how relieved we are that the Masons are reunited with one another at long last–and Anne, if you don’t count her as a Mason yet–we dive right into the very intense, and tense, happenings in the episode. Read more…