Maxim has a rave review in the LA Examiner for “Falling Skies”:
Through Mason [Noah Wyle], Falling Skies is extremely smart and metaphorical. But while he has to be strong as a character, Wyle is actually at his best when he is just lost in the moment, not forced to think three steps ahead just to keep his guy alive. Watching his youngest son (a charming Maxim Knight in what is sure to be his breakout role) play with a few friends during what should have been his birthday party will break your heart in a way you (or at least we) didn’t think was possible in an alien invasion drama.
The two-hour pilot episode of Falling Skies much more heavily relies on those interpersonal moments to allow the audience a crash course in just what’s at stake. You will connect immediately with the true grit of the drama– the stakes for these people and their way of life (our way of life)– so when they struggle, you feel it in your gut and automatically begin to put yourself in their shoes. It’s the truest way of recognizing what keeps us human on an emotional level.
There will be a lot of talk about the strength of the Falling Skies supporting adult cast members like Moon Bloodgood and Sarah Carter, and while they are certainly worthy of all of the praise, it is the children who will surprise you the most and tug on your sense of sentimentality. Knight owns that role in the pilot episode, managing to capture a sense of hope and hospitality that doesn’t seem possible in the face of his new life’s adversity.
