Tom Mason is a fictional character and protagonist of the TNT television series Falling Skies. The character is played by Noah Wyle. Falling Skies tells the story of the aftermath of a global invasion by several races of extraterrestrials that neutralizes the world's power grid and technology, quickly destroys the combined militaries of all the world's countries, and apparently kills over 90% of the human population within a few days. Mason is one of the leaders of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, a group of survivors fighting against the aliens.
The character was created by series creator Robert Rodat. Noah Wyle was cast in the role in 2009, on recommendation by executive producer Steven Spielberg who produced Wyle's previous series ER.
Character history
Season 1
At the opening of the series, most of the human race has been destroyed in an alien invasion. Tom Mason, a history professor from Boston who almost always wears the same bike gloves, is made second-in-command of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, a group of civilians and fighters fleeing the city. Tom's three sons are Hal, Ben, and Matt; his wife perished during the initial stages of the invasion. At the start of the series, Ben has been captured by the "Skitters" – six-legged beings who make up the alien ground forces – and fitted with a "harness" that is making him perform slave labor through mind control. Around this time, Tom encounters a group of scavengers led by a man named John Pope (Colin Cunningham). After a firefight with Skitters, Pope's group is reluctantly taken in by the 2nd Mass.
After learning that Ben is being kept in a hospital with other brainwashed children, Tom, Hal, and the 2nd Mass' commanding officer, Captain Dan Weaver (Will Patton), formulate a plan to infiltrate the building, kill the Skitter guarding them, and rescue Ben and the other captives. Ben's harness is removed, but Hal notices that his brother has undergone physical and behavioral changes during his time in captivity. Meanwhile, Terry Clayton (Henry Czerny), an old friend of Weaver's and the commander of another survivor group, is revealed to be a collaborator who is giving human children to the Skitters. After Clayton's treachery is revealed, Tom fatally shoots him.
When Skitter forces draw back in major cities, the 2nd Mass decide to launch an offensive on the alien base in Boston; Tom and Weaver scout it to detect weaknesses. It is during this expedition that they realize the Skitters are being commanded by another race of aliens later identified as the "Overlords." During the initial stages of the attack, Tom evacuates the 2nd Mass' civilian population from the school where they are hiding, then joins the fight in Boston. Using a grenade launcher given to him by Pope, Tom shoots down a spacecraft which crashes into and destroys the alien base. The Overlords, having underestimated the human resistance, offer to begin negotiations with the 2nd Mass. Tom begrudgingly agrees when he is told that it will save Ben from his transformation by the harness. The season ends with Tom being led aboard an Overlord ship.
Season 2
Three months after the battle in Boston, a traumatized Tom is returned to the 2nd Mass and is accidentally shot by Ben. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Tom was put through agonizing torture before being brought before the Overlords, who offered to allow the 2nd Mass to peacefully live in a "neutral zone" in exchange for their surrender; Tom refused. A "Mech" – one of the robotic beings fighting alongside the Skitters – massacred a group of humans as a reprisal. After he recovers, Tom becomes the focus of suspicion by other members of the 2nd Mass, who fear that he turned or was brainwashed while in alien captivity; this tension leads to a conflict between Tom and Pope, who forms a parallel group called the Berserkers. A parasitical alien probe is found and removed from Tom's eye, leading him to question his own loyalty.
The 2nd Mass decides to travel to Charleston, South Carolina, where they have been told that other groups of survivors – led by former members of the U.S. government – are organizing. Over the course of the journey, Tom grows ever closer to Anne Glass (Moon Bloodgood), the medical doctor for the 2nd Mass. The group comes across a Skitter that Tom identifies as one of the aliens who tortured him during his time on the ship. They learn that a large group of Skitters have fought off the control of the harness and are mounting a rebellion against the Overlords; the Skitter rebels desire an alliance with the humans. During a firefight with alien forces, Tom briefly holds an Overlord – who was also present during Tom's own captivity – captive.
Upon arriving in Charleston, Tom is reunited with his academic mentor, Arthur Manchester (Terry O'Quinn). Manchester, the "Majority Leader" of Charleston's government, is overeager to prevent hostilities with the aliens, a position that Tom and Weaver consider reckless. When given the option of joining forces with the approaching Skitter rebellion, Manchester refuses and eventually orders that all members of the 2nd Mass be arrested. However, General Cole Bressler (Matt Frewer), the commander of Charleston's resistance force, mounts a coup and deposes Manchester. Tom facilitates dialogue between the rebel Skitters and the humans, resulting in a plot to assassinate the Overlord that was briefly captured by the 2nd Mass. The 2nd Mass is forced to work with the Skitters with no help from Bressler or his men. During the attack on an Overlord weapon, the location of which had been provided by the rebel Skitters, Tom, Weaver, Hal, Ben, Maggie and Anne are captured by Karen and her Overlord master. While torturing them to find out what they know, Karen reveals to Tom that Anne is pregnant with his child. Before she can inflict harm on either of them, Tom says that he will talk.
At that moment, the rebel Skitters attack and free the humans while taking care of the Overlord's forces. The Overlord himself is attacked by the rebel leader, "Red Eye", but Red Eye is killed. Tom seizes the electrostaff that Karen had used to torture them and used to kill the Overlord. As he does so, Karen flees, screaming that they will never win. The weapon is successfully destroyed, marking one of humanity's first major victories since the beginning of the invasion. However, despite the victory and Manchester's offer that Tom be elected to succeed him as Majority Leader, Tom and Weaver believe that the best thing for the 2nd Mass is to leave Charleston and continue their life on the road. However, before they can leave, a firestorm apparently engulfs Charleston and several pod-like ships land, revealing new aliens.
Season 3
As Season Three begins, the 2nd Mass is still in Charleston and Tom has been elected President of the New United States. Also, the human resistance and their Skitter allies have formed an alliance with the new aliens, known as the Volm, who have provided them with the technology to effectively combat the Overlords, whose name has been revealed as being the Espheni. They have also provided a device to remove harnesses from enslaved captives, which Dr. Glass (now well advanced in pregnancy) is seen using. One of the Volm, whom Tom names Cochise, is now serving as an adviser to and fights alongside the 2nd Mass. After seven months of combat, the humans are finally drawing blood against the invaders, so much so that the Espheni have had to resort to espionage to gain an advantage over the humans and their intergalactic enemies, the Volm.
While Tom carries on his duties as President of the New United States, he has to deal with many of the hardships of being a leader - including the issue of a mole within Charleston. Manchester is given the job of uncovering the mole's identity, and is on the verge of doing so when the mole kills him in his office with an energy weapon. Anne later gives birth to Tom's daughter Alexis, but his joy is short-lived when Charleston is attacked by a group of soldiers working for a man they call the President of the United States, Benjamin Hathaway. Tom successfully defuses the situation, but loses a member of the Berserkers along the way. Then, with the help of Lt. Fisher, Tom makes contact with Benjamin Hathaway forces and decides to travel to Keystone to meet them along with Cochise, Pope and Bressler. After receiving a somewhat subdued reaction from President Hathaway and his troops, he is later forced to leave Keystone, leaving behind Cochise, and while en route back to Charleston has his plane shot down by an Espheni ship.
Tom then finds himself in a dangerous situation when he awakens in the burning wreckage of the plane to find Bressler dead, and Pope unconscious. When Tom saves Pope's life, he then successfully leaves the area with Pope's help, evading Espheni forces along the way. Much to Tom's shock and dismay, when he awakens in the hospital in Charleston he learns from his sons that Anne and Alexis have fled Charleston due to the revelation of her baby being part alien, and she has been abducted by Karen.
During Tom's absence, his sons Hal, Ben, Matt and Maggie lead an initial search team to try to locate Anne and Alexis, but later return home to Charleston under the realization that the Espheni have them, and that the best course of action as suggested by Ben was to try and use the Rebel Skitters within the Espheni ranks to try to locate Anne and the baby.
When Tom has recovered enough to walk around and resume his duties, he is thrust into further danger when his son Hal, implanted with an Espheni eyebug, attacks him and Peralta as they are discussing the Volm weapon. To his horror, he finds himself abducted by Hal, who demands information on the Volm weapon, and ends up being held hostage in a nearby building which the 2nd Mass later surrounds. Coming to the realization that his son may end up being killed for being the mole, Tom attempts to connect with Hal by bringing up the past and his mother to defuse the situation without any loss of life. As the situation begins to escalate and Hal's demands of Tom to reveal the information on the weapon increase, his other two sons, Ben and Matt, enter the room along with Maggie, bringing the situation to a close. Tom later decides to go along with a dangerous remedy to cure Hal of the eyebug and invites him along on the search for Anne and Alexis.
He then makes the decision to step down as President of the New United States and offers up the information on the Volm weapon, which has been called Project Orange, to Peralta, knowing that she will be elected the next President, and she is sworn in during his departure from Charleston.
Tom then leads a rescue party out of Charleston consisting of himself, Hal, Matt and Ben to locate Anne and Alexis. During their journey they find themselves robbed of their supplies by a local family, the Picketts. After successfully retrieving the supplies, but with the unfortunate loss of one of the family members who had robbed them, they resume their search for Anne and Alexis. Tom later decides to return to the Pickett house to check on their well-being, after telling them about Charleston, but is ambushed by several Espheni mechs and skitters.