Recap
The 2nd mass finds itself fighting against large hordes of feral skitters who are unleashed from their overlords. The fight however cost the 2nd mass dearly when their food stores were destroyed during the fire fight. The skitters were after the food, they are as hunger as the humans are.
It is nice to see the use of the Volm weapons more, but the amount of standard weapons which seem to be able to easily kill skitters laughs in the face of season 1 when we were told how difficult they were to kill. Anthony’s rage surpasses even Toms as he goes off the rails during the battle against orders, still unable to cope with the death of Denny right in front of his eyes.
Word from the Volm recon teams is that there are many other human militias active in the US and coming across the same resistance from the skitters as the 2nd mass is. Matt is working with Dingaan on trying to retro fit Espheni tech for human use, but Matt is being suspicious of everyone around him, and not without cause. In the rubble, Ben comes across some food that survived the explosion. Hal and Weaver are both shocked he didn’t take some for himself but Ben doesn’t feel safe enough anymore to do that without starting a riot.
Pope and Sara decide to try cooking up some skitter to see if they can use all the corpses they have as food. One of the men decides not to wait and test it on a cat or dog and eats some. The results are gruesome and result in instant death, so take note: no skitter legs for dinner. With no food, a team is formed to go to a local food packaging plant to find food. Maggie, Ben, Pope and Sara set off to see if they can find a source for food.
Pope’s team hits the jackpot at the plant but finds themselves at the end of a gun from a kid who has been using the plant as their own source of food. However, the girl is holding a bigger secret in the doors behind the cage they are all locked in, her skitterized brother. Maggie and Ben can sense him and in order to get out alive and with the food Maggie makes a promise she cannot keep. She says they have the tech to reverse the process and save her brother. In return, they are allowed to leave, with the 2 kids, and all the food in a truck.
The team attempts to return to camp only to find itself facing a large horde of skitters. In order for them to make it through they must speed through the horde but that alone isn’t enough. Dingaan tests a drone bomb out using Espheni tech and is successful in using it to stun a large number of skitters. The team reveals the large amount of food and their 2 new friends to the group, and Hal collapses after jumping and injuring his leg.
Pope sets up a romantic dinner setup for Sara, one of the first times we have seen a softer side to Pope. Matt finished making a make-shift microscope for Anne to analyze the bug that stung Tom. It turns out its another mash up of alien DNA and human DNA (as in human eyes!). The bug is alive and takes off out of camp. Chasing after it the come across a massive swarm of the bugs and a huge camp of skitters just outside camp.
Check out preview for next weeks episode where it appears Tom goes to bat with an Overlord.
Review
Tonights episode was everything we loved about Falling Skies, finally coming back into its roots from season 1 and 2. We got alien action, human drama, and mystery that helped progress the story all in one episode. Watching Anthony go down a dark road with his skitter fighting ring and rage is an interesting story plot. You have to remember that Denny was on Anthony’s team a lot and watching her die like that has had a big effect on him. It will be interesting to see how he progresses
Ben and Matt both are becoming somewhat jaded and distant from everyone, though Matt seems to venture back a bit after a talk with Dingaan. Ben on the other hand, is watching Maggie drift away and his only other friend (Denny) gone. Having brought the skitterized human boy back will end up leading to people being on edge and Ben is seen as one of them to many.
The Pope and Ben mini-talk in the food plant was one of the best scenes we never knew we wanted. We have had very little Ben/Pope scenes in the show, the last one when Ben took a swing at him in season 2. So to see them talk about girls was a lot of fun to watch. Ben didn’t really have a lot to say but Pope seems almost proud of him for trying to take Maggie from Hal while also warning him about her.
The relationship front on the show has Pope/Sara on a romantic dinner and Maggie/Hal (Halgie to all the shippers out there) flirting again as Hal heals from lack of food and injuring his foot. Matt is making friends with a new girl at camp but Ben finds himself alone again. Based on previews later in the season, Tom won’t be the only person getting their rage on.
The mystery of the bug gets only more mysterious as we learn its got a mix of human, skitter and Espheni DNA in it. It is also odd the skitters stopped going after the 2nd mass. Finding such a large horde just outside the camp is also odd.
We give this episode a 5/5. Check out preview for next weeks episode where it appears Tom goes to bat with an Overlord.
