The second half of the season left us wondering what was going on with the children. After Rick woke up, he seemed to still be under the control of the skitter, putting his harness back on and allowing the captured skitter to speak through him. In an eery statement the skitter said the children belonged to them now. Ricks father rushes to him removing the harness, resulting in Rick passing out. From there the mystery with the skitters grew, we knew now they could communicate through the harness and the kids. The doctor who was helping the 2nd mass save the children from the harness was killed by the skitter not long after but not before one more good piece of information was given to Dr. Glass.
It seems the skitter have a soft pallet with no bone protecting it that has all the nerve bundles in it. A strike to this would result in the death of the skitter and in a way was a silent way to kill them. Hal is ready to go rescue Ben from the skitters. He was seen in the hospital nearby with a group of kids. Hal is going to put a dead harness on his back and pretend to be one of the children. The goal was to try and bring out Ben but also everyone they could get out. In what was widely considered the creepiest scene of the season, Hal is seen lying down in a circle on the floor with the other kids as the skitter nests above all the children. The skitter then goes and pets each child on the head, as if it was a nursing mother. Hal knew he didn’t have long before the skitter knew he wasn’t harnessed and he took his chance and struck the skitter in the soft pallet killing it.
Once dead, the children seemed to be distressed trying to grab the skitter and see why it wasn’t moving, they also tried to grab Hal. Tom came in along with the rest of the scout group and took Ben and the others to Dr. Glass to remove the harness. Something was happening they didn’t expect. Ben and the others begin losing their pulse and slowly slipping away. Anne knew she had to hurry and as quickly as they could they pulled the harnesses off each kid with a torch. All but 1 made it through. It would be hours before any of them woke, but when Ben did wake up, his family was there to greet him.
One of the most interesting things about the children after being deharnessed was the stark difference between Ben, Rick and the others. Rick this entire time had remained very quiet and withdrawn from everyone else, while Ben was a bit more chipper and well normal. When asked about the skitters by Matt, Ben said he had never been more scared in his life when he was being harnessed but that the skitters weren’t all bad, they cared for him like a family. Hal who was pretending to sleep overheard this and his concern for Bens recovery grew. Another concern was Anne noting the fact that Ben and Ricks spikes in their backs remained while the others kids had gone. A key reason for this was that the others had only been harnessed a show time, but Ben and Rick had been harnessed over 6 months. Anne also noted something else of concern, a rough patch of skin growing around the spikes on Bens back. Not unlike the skin on the skitters, which Anne didn’t know what to think.
Not everyone was pleased to have Ben or Rick around. They called Ben a ‘razorback’ and wanted him and Rick gone. Hal defended his brother, but Ben simply stormed off, isolated and alone. He knew his family loved him, but they had to. The rest of the 2nd mass was scared of him. Anne asked him to talk with Rick and see if he could help him open up. Rick opens up but to Bens horror he tells Ben the skitters want them both back, they don’t be long here, they belong with them. Ben can hear the skitters still and though he won’t tell anyone, he knows it will cause a problem later on. His strength and agility continue to grow and he tries his best to hide it from Hal, but Hal isn’t stupid.
A man from another resistance group shows up and tells the tail of an impending attack on the 2nd mass and convinces everyone the kids must leave to a safe haven, a sanctuary. Once there, Hal is a bit suspect of what is going on. At the dinner table, Rick makes a blunt statement to Ben saying “how could you eat their food?”. Rick resents his father, and the humans and wants back with the skitters. Ricks father discovers clothing from what had to be dozens of children and it seems these men were giving kids to the skitters in exchange for being left alone. Hal wasn’t going to let them happen so Ricks father and Hal get all the kids to escape in the dead of night, but Ricks father doesn’t make it out. The men go searching for the kids and it doesn’t take long for them to find the group. But thanks to the help of Pope and Tom, the kids are safely rescued and the man in charge of this trade killed.
During a survey of the structure Hal, Weaver and Tom make a discover that forever changes their understanding of the alien chain of command, a grey tall alien that the skitters seem to be bowing to. These ‘overlords’ seem to be the brains behind the operations. Another discover forever changed their hopes for saving the children who despite removing the harness, still seemed to have some changes going on. An autopsy on a skitter reveals they too were or are harnessed. This raised the question of were the skitters something else before? Personally I feel the question of whether they were children or not is a simple answer: no. My opinion is based on the sole fact that the skitters were there on the ground the day of the invasion, long before children were being harnessed and its only been 6-8 months since the invasion and Ben who was harnessed 6 months, wasn’t close to being a skitter. I do feel the skitters were something else before, just not the children…..from earth. What the children turn into and why they need them remains a pivotal question for season 2.
Pope, with the help of young Matt Mason, comes up with an idea to use the metal from downed mechs to coat the tips of their bullets in an effort to penetrate the armor and kill them much easier. The idea worked and Pope was praised for the new weapon that would end up becoming a huge benefit for the 2nd mass in its resistance against the invaders. Pope prepared a series of bombs that would be placed at each foot of the structure, Hal goes with to help get this attack in order. Meanwhile at the school they prepare for attack. Hal and his recon team come back to Weaver stating that mechs and skitters are surrounding the structure and the other teams are not responding. Weaver, doing a favor for Tom, sends Hal away, while the rest march on to attempt to take the structure down. A large number of mechs show up at the school and Ben finally admits that he can hear their signal and uses that to their advantage. Using a radio transmitter, Ben helps pinpoint the signal and jam it but the radio alone isn’t enough. Ben runs outside in the middle of the fire fight and attaches a cable to a metal pull amplifying the signal. It confused the mechs and they ended up leaving but it also caused Ben a huge amount of pain as he too was hearing the jamming signal, causing him to collapse.
Tom goes to find Weaver and discovers the truck and Weaver still alive but they never did make it to the structure. Pope was on the ground injured and helping Anthony who was badly wounded. Weaver and Tom were about to drive off but Tom picked up the RPG and got a lucky shot off, shooting down a ship and causing a massive fire in the landing bay of the structure. On their way back to the 2nd mass, they were stopped in the road by a girl, it was Karen. An alien ship soon landed and grey walked out and began talking through Karen. They didn’t expect resistance at this level. The harness was a process and Ben wasn’t free from it. They threatened to call Ben back if Tom didn’t go with them. Even though his better judgement told him they wouldn’t help him, Tom could not resist the chance to save his son and he willingly went aboard.
It seems the aliens have a keen interest in Tom and in Ben. Rick didn’t respond as well as the aliens might have hoped. They used him for information on the 2nd mass and they got what they wanted and dumped him. Ben however, continues to grow in strength, agility and his senses are heightened. The result is that Ben has become the perfect soldier and as teased for season 2, that could result in those around him being put in harms way. Watch a quick recap of season 1 part 2 below and prepare for season 2 June 17th, 9pm on TNT.
