I am late to this discussion as I spend most of my time discussing media entertainment in the Community forum. I respect most opinions, but was surprised at the negativity in this thread. I watched season one when it came out and decided to rewatch it before starting Season 2.
There is always a human/family dynamic. Besides “action” what gives practically every story like this relevance, is how people react when put into survival situation, the choices they make.
If you demand instant action as in an alien/post apocalyptic movie that has to get the ball rolling, think of War of the Worlds, there we got about 30min of Tom Cruise establishing his family dynamics before the **** really starts. Here, in a series which has a lot more time to work with, you maybe disappointed, if you dislike slowly building human interest scenarios, which I am enjoying, but I don’t demand agreement. I guess some of this depends on if you like the characters, which I do.
This time, I am up to Season 1, Episode 5 and it’s all good. Ep5 is the best so far with tension and direct alien conflict. I find the individual stories to be compelling, the US Army soldier in an Afghanistan who has a close encounter, along with a hard time telling friend from foe (there are both). The family in NYC where the husband was having an affair and is morally forced to flee with his family by car. A group of school children in the UK who are forced to establish a pecking order in a survival situation. A JASA employee who loses a loved one on a shuttle, and is determined to figure this out and save her if possible.