review of Falling Skies 5.9 

Falling Skies seems to be plummeting to its ultimate conclusion, or lurching along, checking off boxes that need to be checked, rolling out another trite gambit, in episode 5.9 on Sunday night.

Pope is now (presumably) dead.  Check.  Lexi\'s dead, too, after she comes back, or rather the bad alien comes back in her form, just as happened with Weaver\'s old flame last week.  Check.

And the new threat?  The Esphemi have not only overloads,  but a queen who is above them, calling the shots - "the"queen" - and she\'s apparently calling for an ultimate showdown at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

If time travel were part of this story, maybe Nixon could appear at this showdown, plucked forth from his infamous appearance at the Lincoln Memorial during the protests against his conduct of the Vietnam War.  That would at least be interesting.

What happened to this series?  It had its moments over the years, especially in the early seasons, and even seemed to come back a few episodes ago.  But since then, it\'s been one trite retread after another.

Somehow, the characters are still pretty interesting, especially Tom and his boys, and Weaver, too. They transcend the tired story lines.

So I\'ll be watching the series finale next week, if only to see what happens with these characters. And, who knows, maybe Pope survived after all.

See also Falling Skies 5.1: Still Worthy of Viewing ... Falling Skies 5.2: Hybrid ... Falling Skies 5.7: Back Up There

And see also Falling Skies 4.1: Weak Start ... Falling Skies 4.2: Enemy of my Enemy ... Falling Skies 4.3: Still Falling ... Falling Skies 4.5: Cloudy ...Falling Skies 4.7: Massacre Indeed ... Falling Skies 4.8: Spike ... Falling Skies Espheni: How to Pronounce? ... Falling Skies 4.9: To the Moon, Anne, To the Moon ... Falling Skies 4.10: Lexi ... Falling Skies Season 4 Finale: Self-Sacrifice and Redemption

And see also Falling Skies 3.1-2: It\'s the Acting ... Falling Skies 3.3: The Smile ... Falling Skies 3.4: Hal vs. Ben ... Falling Skies 3.6: The Masons ...Falling Skies 3.7: The Mole and a Likely Answer ... Falling Skies 3.8: Back Cracked Home ... Falling Skies Season 3 Finale: Dust in Hand

And see also Falling Skies Returns  ... Falling Skies 2.6: Ben\'s Motives ... Falling Skies Second Season Finale

And see also Falling Skies 1.1-2 ... Falling Skies 1.3 meets Puppet Masters ... Falling Skies 1.4: Drizzle ... Falling Skies 1.5: Ben ... Falling Skies 1.6: Fifth Column ... Falling Skies 1.7: The Fate of Traitors ... Falling Skies 1.8: Weaver\'s Story ... Falling Skies Concludes First Season

Labels: Falling Skies, Richard Nixon, television

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

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