History YMMV / FallingSkies

* FanonDiscontinuity: Season 4 and beyond have a ''lot'' for many fans of the first three seasons to dislike and want to disregard as non-canon. [[spoiler:The Skitter Rebellion and the stabilization of the new government under Porter and Peralta both amount to nothing, as those characters suffer abrupt UncertainDoom fates at best. Weaver's surviving daughter is abruptly kidnapped, and despite hints of a RescueArc, merely ends up as a source of CollateralAngst. Tom and Anne's daughter Lexi becomes a base-breaking WildCard. Lourdes (whose religious beliefs previously got a nuanced portrayal and who just got out of being a mind-controlled spy) ends up as a StrawCharacter worshipping Lexi.]]Some fanfiction has the point of divergence a bit earlier due to wanting stories where [[spoiler:Karen forms an EnemyMine situation with the heroes after releasing Anne and Lexi at the end of season 3 instead of being rejected and shot.]]

** Subverted with [[spoiler:Pope]] in Season 5. He didn't die in the penultimate episode, but [[spoiler:when he shows up in the series finale, we find out that he was gravely wounded from the explosion. [[spoiler: And then he dies anyway]]]].

* TheScrappy: Lexi Mason. MoralMyopia abounds to the point of hypocrisy. She's definitely some kind of sue with alien powers and everyone on the human side either wanting to understand her or unable to stop her.

** The Skitter Rebellion is indicated to have been completely smashed in Season 4, despite being played up as a large plot point in Seasons 2 and 3, and offering a new dynamic with eh aliens the series otherwise did not show.
** Everything regarding Caitlin and Brian in Season 5. Both were siblings who survived for months on their own, and the latter of whom was part Skitter. They easily could've been the center of a subplot focusing on how the 2nd Mass would deal with Brian, or even attempting to use Brian as an ally against the Espheni, similar to Red-Eyes. Instead, [[spoiler:Caitlin is accidentally shot by Brian, and Brian turns the gun on himself. [[ForgottenFallenFriend Both of these characters are quickly forgotten about]].]]
** [[spoiler: Pope losing his mind and declaring war on the Mason family]] in Season 5. With the Espheni crippled, it looks to be the main source of danger throughout the season and could have been the perfect culmination of five years of CharacterDevelopment for Tom [[spoiler: and Pope]]. Instead, [[spoiler: Pope vanishes after one standout episode, reappears in the penultimate episode for a two minute firefight that severely wounds him, and turns up at the end of the series finale simply to say a few words and [[CriticalExistenceFailure perish anticlimactically from his wounds]].]] The whole arc results in nothing of consequence and almost seems like an afterthought after a while.

** Near the end of Season 5, the Mason family is put on trail in a KangarooCourt situation that lasts two whole episodes and ignores the main plot entirely. This occurred right after a {{Filler}} episode where Tom was stuck on a farm.
* TheUntwist: Not too many people believed that Karen really killed Anne and Alexis, so when it was revealed that they were alive in the Season 3 finale, even less people were surprised. It really didn't help that Moon Bloodgood, the actress portraying Anne, was listed in the credits at the beginning of the episode. Also it is worth noting that [[KilledOffForReal to kill a major character for real]] offscreen and simply having it mentioned would have been simply bad writing in averting the RuleOfDrama.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Season 4 has a ''lot'' for many fans of the first three seasons to dislike and want to disregard as non-canon. [[spoiler:The Skitter Rebellion and the stabilization of the new government under Porter and Peralta both amount to nothing, as those characters suffer abrupt UncertainDoom fates at best. Weaver's surviving daughter is abruptly kidnapped, and despite hints of a RescueArc, merely ends up as a source of CollateralAngst. Tom and Anne's daughter Lexi becomes a base-breaking WildCard. Lourdes (whose religious beliefs previously got a nuanced portrayal and who just got out of being a mind-controlled spy) ends up as a StrawCharacter worshipping Lexi.]]Some fanfiction has t the point of divergence a bit earlier due to wanting stories where [[spoiler:Karen forms an EnemyMine situation with the heroes after releasing Anne and Lexi at the end of season 3 instead of being rejected and shot.]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** In "Hatchlings", the third episode of the final season, Sara (who has become Pope's love interest) is stuck in Espheni fog, so Pope runs 10 kilometers back to camp for a flamethrower instead of making a fire on the spot (Evidently lighters or flint and tinder aren't a part of the standard issue 2nd Mass scout teams). When he arrives and finds out that Tom and the group are going to take out an Espheni base and will help her when they are done, Pope gets a flame thrower and runs back with it ''by himself'', not enlisting any of the GhostExtras (which they didn't take with them in the first place, either), [[spoiler: and leading to Sara's death]]. Administrivia/TropesAreTools, though - the incident causes the Pope[=/=]Mason rivalry, which has been a foundation of the show since the first season, [[spoiler: to blow into all-out war as Pope becomes the new BigBad.]]
** Also, Tom for not [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting Pope]] in Season 1. When your only hope is people cooperating, a self-centered thug with [[TheStarscream Starscream tendencies]] is ''not the person you want around''. This comes back to bite big time in the final season.
** Regular military types tend to hit this trope. They either try to repel alien and human alike, thus damaging their chances, or they get eaten up with paranoia (like Marshall's group) and do more harm than good. Not to mention they tend to play defense, which a historian like Mason could tell them ''never'' works.
** The Espheni Queen. When she's [[spoiler:sucking on Tom's blood in the finale, she can ''clearly'' see that Tom is trying to reach for something, yet she does nothing to stop him. He ends up grabbing the Dornian weapon, uses it to poison his blood (which the Queen is still drinking), and then she dies]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Most of the alien characters, really.
** Everybody loves Cochise, the noble and dignified Volm warrior played by beloved creature performer Creator/DougJones. Especially after the beautiful "[[FightingForAHomeland Catarius flower]]" speech he gives in 3x04.
** Red Eye, the badass Skitter warrior and [[spoiler:[[TokenHeroicOrc leader of the Skitter resistance.]] May he [[MutualKill rest in peace]].]]

* FanonDiscontinuity: Season 4 has a ''lot'' for many fans of the first three seasons to dislike and want to disregard as non-canon. [[spoiler:The Skitter Rebellion and the stabilization of the new government under Porter and Peralta both amount to nothing, as those characters suffer abrupt UncertainDoom fates at best. Weaver's surviving daughter is abruptly kidnapped, and despite hints of a RescueArc, merely ends up as a source of CollateralAngst. Tom and Anne's daughter Lexi becomes a base-breaking WildCard. Lourdes (whose religious beliefs previously got a nuanced portrayal and who just got out of being a mind-controlled spy) ends up as a StrawCharacter worshipping Lexi.]]

** Subverted with [[spoiler:Pope]] in Season 5. He didn't die in the penultimate episode, but [[spoiler:when he shows up in the series finale, we find out that he was gravely wounded from the explosion. [[RealityEnsues And then he dies anyway]]]].

** In "Hatchlings", the third episode of the final season, Sara (who has become Pope's love interest) is stuck in Espheni fog, so Pope runs 10 kilometers back to camp for a flamethrower instead of making a fire on the spot (Evidently lighters or flint and tinder aren't a part of the standard issue 2nd Mass scout teams). When he arrives and finds out that Tom and the group are going to take out an Espheni base and will help her when they are done, Pope gets a flame thrower and runs back with it ''by himself'', not enlisting any of the GhostExtras (which they didn't take with them in the first place, either), [[spoiler: and leading to Sara's death]]. TropesAreTools, though - the incident causes the Pope[=/=]Mason rivalry, which has been a foundation of the show since the first season, [[spoiler: to blow into all-out war as Pope becomes the new BigBad.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Most of the alien characterss, really.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Everybody loves Cochise, the noble and dignified Volm warrior played by beloved creature performer Creator/DougJones. Especially after the beautiful "[[FightingForAHomeland Catarius flower]]" speech he gives in 3x04.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: For a cable television series, the special effects are very good.

* WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide: [[spoiler: In the end, Tom kills the Espheni Queen, and its indicated that the entire Espheni race is wiped out, down to the last one. Its also indicated that all the Skitters (who mind you are slaves) are also wiped out. This is treated as a completely good thing.]]

** Regular military types tend to hit this trope hard. They either try to repel alien and human alike, thus damaging their chances, or they get eaten up with paranoia (like Marshall's group) and do more harm than good. Not to mention they tend to play defense, which a historian like Mason could tell them ''never'' works.

* ActorRoleConfusion: In the beginning it took an episode or so for viewers who had watched a lot of ''{{ER}}'' to stop wondering why "Carter" wasn't the doctor.

* {{Fanon}}: For the first two seasons (before the harnesses got dropped for other plots) there there were a lot of fans who thought that the harnesses turn humans into skitters. Admittedly harnessed humans have been shown in various states of gray-green skin creeping across their faces, and the harnesses have some absolute effect on their wearers, however there has never been any solid evidence that skitters are changed humans. Karen has been harnessed and heavily used by an Overlord for a very long time yet she still maintains a human skin tone and doesn't show any signs of sprouting extra limbs. As a matter of fact in season 2 the red-eye skitter says that skitters are an enslaved race from another planet. However this has not stopped fans from insisting on the "harnesses turn their wearers into skitters". While the writers continue to leave this ambiguous, the fanon continues.

* WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide: [[spoiler: In the end, Tom kills the Espheni Queen, and its indicated that the entire Espheni race is wiped out, down to the last one. Its also indicated that all the Skitters (who mind you are slaves) are also wiped out. This is treated as a completely good thing.]]

* WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide: [[spoiler: In the end, Tom kills the Espheni Queen, and its indicated that the entire Espheni race is wiped out, down to the last one. Its also indicated that all the Skitters (who mind you are slaves) are also wiped out. This is treated as a completely good thing.]]

** The Espheni Queen. When she's [[spoiler:sucking on Tom's blood in the finale, she can ''clearly'' see that Tom is trying to reach for something, yet she does nothing to stop him. He ends up grabbing the Dornian weapon, uses it to poison his blood (which the Queen is still drinking), and then she dies]].

* RudeToSay"Genocide": [[spoiler: In the end, Tom kills the Espheni Queen, and its indicated that the entire Espheni race is wiped out, down to the last one. Its also indicated that all the Skitters (who mind you are slaves) are also wiped out. This is treated as a completely good thing.]]

* RudeToSayGenocide: [[spoiler: In the end, Tom kills the Espheni Queen, and its indicated that the entire Espheni race is wiped out, down to the last one. Its also indicated that all the Skitters (who mind you are slaves) are also wiped out. This is treated as a completely good thing.]]

* CriticalDissonance: Season 5. Several critics have showered the season with praise, and it currently holds an 80% rating over on Rotten Tomatoes. A portion of the fans, however, believe that the season is filled with way too much {{Filler}}, atrocious writing (especially with the way Pope's character was handled), new characters who keep getting introduced, and a blatantly obvious rushed plot. Critics believe the series will end with a bang and/or on a satisfying note, while many fans believe the series finale will be a huge letdown that will rush to tie up as many loose ends as possible.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: John Pope. He's gathered a ''lot'' of fans, despite the fact even ''he'' admits he's a racist, sociopathic anti-hero.
** It certainly doesn't hurt that he's often the MetaGuy, calling out Tom Mason and those around him for things that would raise lots of eyebrows if they happened to any other family. (See TrappedByMountainLions below.)

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Everything regarding Caitlin and Brian in Season 5. Both were siblings who survived for months on their own, and the latter of whom was part Skitter. They easily could've been the center of a subplot focusing on how the 2nd Mass would deal with Brian, or even attempting to use Brian as an ally against the Espheni, similar to Red-Eyes. Instead, [[spoiler:Caitlin is accidentally shot by Brian, and Brian turns the gun on himself. [[ForgottenFallenFriend Both of these characters are quickly forgotten about]].]]

* TrappedByMountainLions: Nearly every subplot involving the Mason family. Many seem to think that in a world with humans fighting a war against a technologically superior alien force, the Mason family drama (as well as [[CharacterShilling general hero worship of the Masons]]) is the ''least'' interesting part of the show.

* SeasonalRot: The odd directions of season 3-4 make people wonder if this show is just going with the flow instead of leading somewhere. [[spoiler:By the end of Season 4, however, they appear to have gotten their direction back.]]