Five episodes in and Falling Skies remains a curious and somewhat frustrating show. It’s got a classic sci-fi premise, yet something about it never quite convinces. It’s entertaining, sure, and there’s certainly more good than bad, but it’s not quite managed to achieve the heights that perhaps it should.

Part of the issue is the inescapable feeling that this is a sci-fi epic shot in the style of a daytime soap. TNT have done an admirable job of getting an ambitious premise off the ground, but the look of the show, the whole aesthetic, somehow lacks the classy sheen of something like Battlestar Gallactica. The “soap” feeling also comes across in the fact that the themes of family loyalty and sense of community are perhaps laid on a little thick. It’s a favourite theme of his, and so it’s no surprise that a lot of the family stuff seems to have executive producer Stephen Spielberg’s hands all over it.

But this episode does at least settle one potential issue with the show; it allows the Mason family to rescue Ben. The use of children on Falling Skies has been one of its primary plot points, and while the Skitters’ enslavement of the young is a compelling notion, a few more weeks of Tom’s search for his son would have edged things dangerously close to tiresome farce (Thomas Jane’s self-parody in Arrested Development springs to mind, yelling “I JUST WANT MY KID BACK!” at every opportunity).

But, in perhaps the shows strongest sequence yet, Ben is rescued by brother Hal, in a stealthy infiltration of the hospital where the Skitters were keeping him. There’s a disturbing glimpse of a Skitter sitting protectively over its enslaved children; almost maternal, it sits above them like a mother-hen over a nest. And when it starts gently stroking the hair of the children as they sleep… Well, suffice to say it’s a very troubling image. Perhaps the Skitters aren’t the monsters we thought?

But before we break out the white flag and start making friends with them, there’s a reminder back at the high-school base of just how dangerous the Skitters can be, when Doctor Harris meets a violent end at the claws of the captured creature. The death was mildly surprising, but also served to render the character of Harris a little pointless. He only turned up in two episodes, was obnoxious and annoying throughout those, and then got himself killed. He won’t be missed.

Genuinely shocking, however, was the moment when Moon Bloodgood’s Dr. Glass surged into the holding room and killed the Skitter with her bare hands. Given that she had been fighting the creature’s corner, hoping to keep it alive for study, rather than tortured to death, it was extra shocking. She killed it not for any revenge over the death of Harris, but more as a reaction to facing up to the fact that her family are gone, killed during the initial invasion. It certainly shows a more fearsome side to the compassionate Doctor. Who knew she had it in her

And that’s where the frustration lies. Such great moments as these are always tempered by inconsistent or muddled ideas. The effects of being de-Harnessed, for example, are presented as being totally different to last week, with Rick having his memory back and Ben seeming to suffer no ill effects at all. The Skitters are still an indisputable triumph, but the Mechs look like something out of a decade-old video game. Maggie is bursting with charisma and back-story, while the rest of Tom’s team may as well be stick-figures. And the less said about the tiresomely earnest religious girl who works as a nurse, the better. (And own up, who on Earth thought it was a clever idea to name her Lourdes?)

Falling Skies is still early enough in its infancy – and with a second season already confirmed – that it hopefully still has time to iron out the kinks and become the sci-fi series we can all see lurking underneath. Not dragging out the rescue of Ben – and the early dropping of one weak character in Dr. Harris – are definitely steps in the right direction, and it’ll be interesting to see what drama the show cooks up during the upcoming two-parter. Bringing back the charismatic Pope would be a good start…

Airs at 9pm on Tuesday 2nd August 2011 on FX.