Falling Skies Season Three Recap and Comparison to V

Arrival of the Volm Reptilians
The Reptilian Volm that arrived at the end of Season Two join the resistance and provide advanced weapons to help the resistance wage war against the Espheni (Greys). Apparently, they have been waging a centuries long war against each other from star system to star system over a flower (or at least whatever the flower represents).

Hal's "Infection"
In the Second Season of Falling Skies, Hal becomes infected by an Espheni parasite. The parasite apparently impacts Hal's nervous system and paralyzes him during the day, or at least his legs. However, at night it controls his entire body and mind and leads him to rendezvous with Karen. Maggie discovers his nighttime treks from the mud on his boots, but Hal remembers none of this.

Lourdes the Assassin
Throughout the season, an unknown assassin kills several key personnel and funnels information to the Espheni, again through a parasite. The assassin eventually turns out to be Lourdes, the pre-med  student who has been helping Anne with medical issues and surgery throughout the series. She is one of the last people anyone would suspect to be an assassin. Lourdes eventually is discovered to be a mole and used to convey false battle plans to the Espheni.

Alien Hybrid Baby

Like in V, an alien hybrid baby is created. Unlike V, the alien is not a “love child” but somehow had her DNA corrupted with Alien DNA to produce a hybrid. This tracks well with alien conspiracy culture in the sense that it happened during Anne's (the mother's) encounter with Karen and the Overlord. Alternatively, Tom Mason could’ve been corrupted when taken aboard the alien ship to somehow produce an alien child

Unlike V, the child is not born into a welcoming group who want to protect it. Instead the mother (Anne) flees with the child from the human enclave in Charleston. However, the hybrid child is wanted by the aliens, and Anne and the child are abducted by them (again). In V, the hybrid child is viewed as a threat by all but the high commander and the child brings peace between the two civilizations. At the end of Season Three, it's not clear what purpose the hybrid child serves.

The Espheni Power Shield & Same-old, Same-old
Throughout the season, the Espheni have been constructing a power source in Boston to project a planetary defense grid. The destruction of the power shield becomes the main focus of the 2nd Mass, and their eventual success leads to an Espheni retreat and meeting between Tom Mason and the Volm Commander, who is the father of Cochise - the human name of the Volm's human liaison. Unfortunately, this meeting does not go down as one of equals and the Volm Commander essentially offers the same deal the Espheni did at the beginning of the Season: resettlement in a neo-reservation based in Brazil. The season ends with Cochise providing weapons and escape for the 2nd Mass to avoid resettlement.

The Post-Modern Nature of Arrested Development's Final Episodes

Arrested Development was always a brilliant show with a dedicated following. The long-running gags, fourth-wall break-downs, and unforgettable characters make Netflix's decision to bring it back for a final season extremely satisfying for fans.

What is interesting, and somewhat Post-Modern about this final season is that each episode is self-contained, but contains minor references to other episodes - just not like you would find in a television series. This allows one to watch the episodes in the order presented, which gives one set of experiences, including beginnings and endings. Alternatively, one can watch the episodes out of order, following characters and minor plot lines wherever they go. This leads to a different set of beginnings and endings for the viewer.

Happy Viewing in whichever order you choose!

Pop Culture & The Horrors of Genetic Engineering: Orphan Black and Hemlock Grove

It is commonly accepted among literary scholars that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was successful because it played on human fears of the new technology of electricity. To a certain extent, the exploitation of pop culture fears has continued apace with technological development ever since. This includes movies about virtual reality (Lawnmower Man and The Thirteenth Floor), artificial intelligence (Transcendence), and genetic engineering (Species and Species II).

Genetic engineering however has become the most omnipresent in our society of all of these technologies and is involved in everything from our food to attempts to create children with three parents so that gay couples both claim parentage of their offspring. Accordingly, it has become a topic ripe for exploitation in popular culture. Both Orphan Black and Hemlock Grove are excellent exemplars of this, and well made to boot. While they both capitalize on fears of research run amok, Hemlock Grove really takes the mad scientist meme to heart with the mysterious Ouroborous project going on in the lab. Orphan Black takes the other root and capitalizes on Hannah Arendt's banality of evil, showing that one corporation pursuing its own ends can produce horrors.

While neither show is inherently a horror show, they do exploit human fears and apprehension of the potential results of genetic engineering, even if Orphan Black does this in more detail.

Hemlock Grove: A New Take on Tired Memes

Hemlock Grove has the most original take on vampires and werewolves to emerge in the past decade. It's more interesting, and deep, than the vampire/werewolf origin story in the Underworld franchise, and it's less sappy and conflict ridden than that of the Twilight franchise. In Hemlock Grove, like in Twilight, being a werewolf is a genetic condition which does not afflict all members of the tribe. However, unlike in Twilight, in Hemlock Grove, the affliction occurs among members of specific Roma (gypsy) families, not Native American tribes. Additionally, there is no INHERENT conflict between the werewolf and the vampire, just a general compulsion among the Roma to avoid vampires at all costs due both to their appetites and their abilities to subvert one's will. The way these memes play out in Hemlock Grove, and the additional Roma component, make the series well worth watching. I'm impatiently awaiting Season Two as I type this.