I’ve watched Falling Skies from the beginning and last night marked the series finale. The show had the big name of Stephan Spielberg as Executive Producer attached to it, along with its biggest star, Noah Wyle. Big concept sci-fi is tough to do on a TV budget, but TNT stepped up and made a fun alien invasion series.

While the budget often showed on screen with some awkward CG and limited scope in showing destruction, I gotta say the production really made the most out of what they were given. The prosthetic effects and physical aliens were often very good, Doug Jones as Cochise looked fantastic (all the Volm do, as few as we get to see).

With any alien invasion story, the end is pretty much one of two outcomes: annihilation or a triumphant fight back. In between that is the struggle. The horrors of war, the internal struggle between survivors, the wins and losses of battle. Falling Skies often showed that well and showed us new and interesting things. The harnesses and “Skitterizing” of humans, the tech of alien espionage, and their weapons, both biological and in hardware. But in an effort to have major season finale’s, they would often dip into deus ex machina territory to make things work. Mostly, people surviving things they shouldn’t.

After five seasons of this alien war, I was rather let down by the series finale. So much build up, so many trials and tribulations and it just wasn’t grand enough. First, the bio-weapon that Tom Mason was given was a huge cop-out, despite them modifying it so it wasn’t a complete gift from God. It was never really explained well, going all the way back to Tom surviving the off-planet mission (which was a huge cop-out to begin with). I’m not a fan of the Dorniya idea at all.

Much of the season was spent on gathering intel for the final fight, which worked well and fit in. Lexi coming back and the other Espheni tricks were fun to watch (they usually are). That leads us to a showdown in Washington that should have been massive.  Tom and the 2nd Mass sneak in, but the tunnel sequence was shot so dark, it was hard to tell what was going on. Someone makes a sacrifice there, but it came off as confusing and unwarranted. Someone goes to be a hero, you need that to pay off, not have your audience shrug their shoulders. Tom gets separated only to face the Queen conveniently by himself. This had to have been done because of the budget because the final fight was barely one. The Queen looked awesome, though, loved the design and it looked like a lot of time was put into it so I can’t hate on this scene entirely. And then this huge war kind of…ends. Everything drops dead, even the goo holding Tom to the wall suddenly dissolves (makes no sense). There’s a bit of exposition on the Queen’s part, but that turned out to be pretty damn stupid. A lot of wasted potential (plus a miracle character rescue that I didn’t like at all. There was very little consequence for the Mason clan this season, felt too safe).

There were a lot of good ideas in the last season, but they kinda fizzled out at the end. Pope’s defection was a great move, but really anticlimactic. I think that thread could have used some more time in the writers room to make work.

I really wanted a satisfying ending so I’d be able to confidently recommend the show. It was on a nice track for a long time, but it grinds to a half-hearted halt. I’m not mad at the ending. I’m good with the outcome and the final dialog is pretty great. I also appreciated the thank you message and the title being assembled by the names of the cast and crew, it’s a classy touch.  How we got to that ending, is what upset me. Those final threads of the story just crumbled to the wayside.

Hannibal may have been the most intense TV show to air, but it’s been grossly overlooked for all of it’s three seasons. Last night was the series finale and gadzooks did it go out with a bang.

Mads Mikkelsen might have done his career-defining role as Hannibal, he’s that good. The shadow of Anthony Hopkin’s work in the films is an epic one, but I don’t think anyone can deny or marginalize Mads work. I think from here on out I will consider him The Hannibal Lecter.

The entire run has been rather shocking. It’s amazing this show aired on NBC and not a paid cable network. I can’t think of a more beautiful but horrific show. Crazy prosthetic makeup effects, each one outdoing the last. The mayhem started as mostly aftermath visuals, but by the end much more onscreen violence was shown. Despite where Hannibal was physically at any given time, the threat of escalation was always palpable by the other psychopaths on the show. The villainy of this world is hard to match (looking at you, Mason Verger).

The production levels are upper echelon high with the often stunning visuals. There’s this crazy design logic that can’t be seen anywhere else. I’m having a hard time articulating the ebb and flow of this show it’s so overwhelming.

The cast around Mikkelsen is fantastic, so while Hannibal is a dominating presence, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) always seems like he has a shot at getting the upper hand, albeit a small one. Hannibal is and always will be a step ahead.

I rather like that Hannibal only went for three seasons. Packed with great, memorable characters and dark plots, there wasn’t much chance for the show runners to get off track. A clear beginning, middle, and end is the best way to tell a story and the start, lead up and conclusion of last night was very satisfying for me.

With season 1’s “let’s build the next great machine!” arc finished, I wasn’t too sure where the bulk of season 2 would go. The obvious being that Joe was kicked out of the club, ostracized by his own actions, right back where he started. Gordon would play around with his payout while Cameron and Donna would be busy getting Mutiny off the ground.

Now with season 2 finished, it’s clear that our quad didn’t learn much as they made many of the same mistakes. Joe manages to bounce back pretty quickly, selling himself and his out of the box thinking like a true master. Too bad he is his own worst enemy. Even when he does right, his track record means no one trusts him anyway. Joe’s life is an animated gif of an explosion spreading out and resetting over and over.

Gordon can’t stay still for long and decides to build his own PC again. Keep it small, do what he does best and engineer the crap out of it and do direct sales to start. It’s all he really knows how to do. A major illness knocks him for a loop, which makes his business hit the skids before it every really gets off the ground.

Donna and Cameron make a good team, with Donna being the business woman and Cameron being the fire in the furnace for the fledgling Mutiny. The online upstart that has bigger plans than it may ever be able to handle. They manage to get through every crisis, but a piece is lost each time.

Halt and Catch Fire is about the four legs of the table: Joe, Gordon, Donna, and Cameron. When a leg (or two) gets kicked out, the whole thing teeters. Their work back at Cardiff Electric will be with them until the day the die.

Cameron struggles with Joe the entire season, despite him hardly being there. They were rarely in the same scenes together, but their actions were often influenced by each other whether they realized it or not. Cameron gets to the end this year be reassured to never trust Joe (again).

Gordon was a walking accident all season. With Donna working with Cameron so much, their past roles were reversed with Gordon more or less floundering around and hiding things. Their rocky marriage has been mentioned quite a bit from the start of the show, but Gordon’s most recent actions were Joe caliber implosions. A lot of it was due to his brain disease, but the rest he had to take responsibility for (which Donna more or less forced him to do).

I found a lot to like this season and it all came together in the season finale. Gordon’s erratic behavior and the head it reached with Donna. I loved the ultimatum she gave him at the end for them to move forward in a positive way. She’s a smart woman, simply bailing on him would’ve be too easy. The kicker of Gordon discovering Joe’s theft should light an epic fire under him. Keeping his family together is one thing, but this is going to push him to help Donna and Cameron absolutely bury him. Because of the payout from Cardiff, Gordon got out of working with Joe relatively unscathed. That left him open to help out Joe when he asked (while still being shady about it, but Gordon still rolled with it). The last move from Joe is a straight up personal attack, I can’t see Gordon ever forgiving him.

That was just one break-up of the season too. Cameron couldn’t hold it together with Tom (big mistake) but retaliation on him in episode 9 was great. She kinda rolled over in season 1, but not this time. Joe’s marriage was a major flameout (surprise!) which seemed like the end of him. He always manages to rally though, like any good parasite. Slash and burn and move on is Joe MacMillan’s M.O.

Looking forward to Season 3 where we move to California to see if both Mutiny and Joe can fly out of the ashes again and manage to stay air born with the promise of networked computing.

The Wet Hot American Summer movie came out way back in 2001 to an audience of around 100 people, so it’s surprising that a series was made out of it. Yes, it did find a cult following after coming out on DVD, but even so it’s a love it or hate it kind of property. I lean more toward the hate is side as I think Wet Hot is more weird than actually funny. I’m a mark for anything Netflix green lights though, so with a stacked cast of actors I really like, I thought it necessary to attend the first day of camp (seriously, check out the cast, it’s ridiculous).

A prequel to the movie, Camp stars most of the same cast, now in their 40’s, playing the kids they were already too old to play 14 years ago. Half the charm and all of the enjoyment comes just from that premise. Just like the movie, we’re brought to Camp Firewood, located somewhere in Maine. It’s 1981 so watch out for the short shorts and tube socks.

With such a big cast, there are a lot of stories being told at once and most of them are incredibly stupid. Everyone plays the absurdity straight, completely committed to their part.  I’m talking about a show where H. Jon Benjamin gets turned into a can of mixed vegetables from toxic waste dumped in the woods, which makes Jon Hamm show up as a secret government agent to try and cover it up. Your tolerance of such things is going to dictate on if you watch this or bail out after two episodes.

I liked this a lot more than the movie. A lot more laughs come from the more in-depth characterization allowed by the added time. Everything is more expanded and not so slammed together so the crazier stuff gets a better set up. Wet Hot had a big cast to start with, but the added kids are a welcome edition (for some reason I got a real kick out Arty, who holes up in the campus radio station and dubs himself “The Beekeeper”).

I don’t think I’m ever going to watch the movie again, but Camp has convinced me to check out day two if they ever make it.

The first season of The Sopranos is a concise one. We’re introduced to a large cast of characters, with Tony in the middle, but the writers often let him take the backseat for others to grow and drama to expand.

There’s a lot of internal strife going on for Tony. His business is in flux with competition biting at his income from every side (and people not paying their debts), helping out friends (with various results, but always a consequence), and the feds watching his enterprises every move. And then there is his family.

The fulcrum of the show, or at least the start it, is Tony’s mental health. He gets panic attacks so bad that he blacks out. Seeking out mental health help is the only choice, but is later used as a weakness to try and get rid of him. The mob (organized crime in general) operates in secret. It’s dealings, it’s people, and their sins. A theme that keeps coming up is to never show weakness. Keep your secrets to yourself, or others will use them against you (that goes for family and enemies). Tony goes through great pains to keep his life in order which results in significant fallout from the solutions he comes up with.

The popularity of the show came more from the people around Tony, then himself. There’s a lot of morbid, serious and strenuous plot lines, but it’s stitched together by black comedy. Christopher, Silvio and Paulie often steal scenes, usually with very little dialog too. Soldiers to Tony, they are integral to his success, and at Christopher’s age, the key to a long, prosperous future. Paulie is by far my favorite though as he’s downright hilarious. He’s a dangerous man, but watching him struggle to keep up with a running target in the woods, only to freak out when he runs through some poison ivy, is one of the funniest moments put on film.

The real star is Tony’s mother Livia. She’s an awful instigator and epic source of Tony’s neurosis from child to adulthood. She manipulates Uncle Jr. behind Tony’s back in masterful ways and does her absolute damnedest to hide her involvement. Uncle Jr. realizes it too late and Tony’s maternal love blinds him for far too long as well. Their final scene in this season is bittersweet. Major props to Nancy Marchand for her incredible work. James Gandolfini’s work can’t be ignored either as he does carry the show through all sorts of emotional highs and lows. My favorite scenes are in episode 12 where he plays the effects of depression and medicated stupor to brilliant realization.

With 13 episodes, the first season moves along at a great pace and a lot is accomplished. The end sees Tony nearly cleaning house, but with more than a few loose ends that need to be handled. While the show is well produced, I found the editing to be really abrupt at times. It was almost like they ran out of film during the shoot, which forced the editor to cut to the next scene the millisecond dialog ended. Many scenes aren’t given a chance to breathe, the viewer never gets to linger in the room after something happens. These moments are really jarring and come off as amateurish. Thankfully, that’s the only complaint I have and it doesn’t happen enough to truly ruin things.

On to Season 2.

Haven’t talked about summer TV in some time and much of it is coming to a close soon, so let’s get to it.

The Strain- Liking this season a lot, but Eph’s kid is a little snot. They are slowing bring his vampire mother and him together (she’s been sniffing him out for a few episodes now) and I hope they finally pull the trigger on it this week. It’s long overdue and I’m hoping he gets eaten. While being a kid offers a certain amount of ignorance and stupidity (and the mourning and denial of his undead mother), I find his attitude most of the time insufferable, he can really drag things down. Hopefully, Abe finds the book he’s looking for this week too. It’s time to get him back to kicking ass.

Face Off– Some interesting challenges this year, but the cast is one of the weakest in quite some time. Every week there are 2 teams that are clearly on the bottom, a couple middle of the road and one or two who are head and shoulders above the rest. I think the time crunch and stress of the show is too much for many of the cast.

Falling Skies– The series is coming to a close, and there have been some smart changes made. They’ve splintered the 2nd Mass with Pope’s defection (making a new villain) and the Espheni aren’t giving up the fight. More espionage like tactics could thin the human herd quite a bit. Looking forward to how they end the show.

America’s Best Dance Crew– Back from a 3-year break, they condensed the season to 7 episodes with the finale at this year’s VMA’s. Great crews this year, cool looking set, but I don’t like the judges at all. They are all pretty corny, given no time to critique and it’s basically all meaningless praise, even when there were clear mistakes.

Mr. Robot– Far and away the best new show of the year let alone the summer. Can’t wait for every new episode and there are only 2 left. So much misdirection, a great cast, and plot make it like a journey. Episode 8 “White Rose” had some major reveals that answer and raise just as many questions. A lot of pressure on ending this arc in a satisfying ending, but they haven’t let me down yet and the craftsmanship of “White Rose” was probably the best yet. The last “what is going on?!” show like this was Lost and that one did a swan dive into the dirt. I’m optimistic they’ll pull it off though, can’t wait to see it.