WHEN SEASON 3 OPENS …
When “Falling Skies” season 3 begins, seven months have passed since the 2nd Mass arrived in Charleston, and Tom (Noah Wyle) is the new President, but he’s also still out there fighting with the resistance. His decision to have the rebel skitters fight alongside humans creates tension and raises suspicions, especially since they seem to have a mole on their hands, feeding secrets to the enemy. Meanwhile, Hal (Drew Roy) struggles with nightmares that seem so real, he’s not sure he’s just dreaming. Finally, Anne (Moon Bloodgood) is close to giving birth to her and Tom’s baby. (source: examiner.com)
There’s a new alien in town as TNT’s Falling Skies opens season 3 in just over 24 hours at 9pm June 9 with a two hour premiere consisting of episodes “On Thin Ice” and “Collateral Damage”.
The dramatic arrival of the Volm, apparent enemies of the Espheni and the Overlords, aliens who attacked Earth two years earlier in a genocidal blitzkrieg invasion with only a remnant humanity left to resist them, posed an exquisite dilemma for what’s left of a mankind: Is my enemy’s (self-identified) enemy truly my friend?
While no one can answer that with any certainty since no one is entirely sure why the Espheni attacked in the first place, humanity has decided to trust that maxim and have entered into an uneasy alliance with the Volm, represented by the enigmatic Cochise (Doug Jones).
Tom, who is about to become a father for the fourth time with Anne Glass (Moon Bloodgood) and has his hands full trying to locate a mole in his ranks, is the one leading the charge to trust Cochise and the hope he and the Volm represent to vanish their Earth’s alien interlopers, in tandem with mankind’s new allies the rebel Skitters.
But he faces some fairly vocal resistance from the likes of Colonel Weaver (Will Patton) and John Pope (Colin Cunningham) who are not quite convinced that the Volm can be trusted just yet, if at all.
Their caution is understandable since mankind has a lot to lose from getting it wrong.
Even so humanity as a whole also can’t choose to be too fussy since they are not exactly in the strongest of positions so for now, trusting the Volm, and their leader Cochise is the best of all bad strategies.
Cochise’s presence in the ranks of the resistance does open possibilities for Tom to grow as a leader, especially since he is now not simply the 2IC of the 2nd Mass. but the President of what is left of the United States, as Remi Aubuchon, Falling Skies‘ showrunner (who is departing at the end of season 3 to write a novel with David Eick ex-Battlestar Galactica taking over) explains in a wonderful interview on tvaddict.com also featuring Doug Jones:
“Season 3 has been Tom Mason’s struggle to find himself as a leader, which he was not born to, not particularly comfortable with, and trying to balance that with the needs of his family, and knowing that instinctively he feels he’s doing the right stuff even against the odds of it not appearing on the surface of being the correct path to take, specifically with his relationship with Cochise and also the decisions that he makes as President of the New United States. That I really found compelling and fascinating, and full of rich colors to write for.”
One thing is for certain.
With Tom’s new responsibilities, and a mole betraying the resistance’s every move to their enemy, and the emergence of new players in the greater Charleston universe such as Gloria Reuben’s political operative Marina Perlata and the mad rat scientist Dr. Robert Kadar (Robert Sean Leonard), Falling Skies is set to go from strength to strength, telling an even more compelling story than ever before.
Falling Skies airs the season 3 premiere at 9pm 9 June, reverting to 10/9c thereafter.
You can check out interviews with Noah Wylie here, and here about the new season.