“This is the time for overkill. To fire both barrels and use everything we’ve got.”
- Tom Mason
If you’ve watched “Falling Skies” before, then you know that at the close of last season, Tom was left adrift out in space somewhere while Lexi destroyed the Espheni power core on the moon. Tom is having a bit of a freak out and trippy experience when his wife Rebecca shows up and starts talking about her breast cancer coming back. It seems sort of like a normal conversation (one that Tom remembers having before she died) but things get a little weird when she starts talking about him needing to tap into his rage, find his inner warrior and kick some alien ass. And then he gets dumped into the ocean back on Earth, very much alive.
Too bad the rest of the 2nd Mass don’t know that. Anne is giving something of eulogy and a rally speech at the same time. She implores the gang to keep fighting in memory of Tom and Lexi. That her husband and daughter gave them a big victory but they need to finish the fight and kick all the aliens off our planet. That night, while Weaver and company are fortifying their defenses, Tom is making his way back to civilization (as it were). He’s attacked by one of these extra creepy Skitters that got turned into a dragon-fly shape. At first he injures it and it takes off but then he lets his anger take over until he’s hacked the damn thing’s head off.
Tom is not particularly in the mood for Pope’s 20 questions when he finally makes it back to camp. He’s a little more forthcoming with Anne and the boys after Anne ensures he’s not bugged with alien tech or eye worms. Even though he told them about the sort of memory on the ship with Rebecca I couldn’t help feeling like he was leaving something out. I just hope it doesn’t screw them over in the long run. After Anne gives him the all clear, he makes a rather impassioned and rousing speech about the need to get angry and tap into their rage to take back their planet. But he’s not happy with Weaver’s assessment of their vehicles. They need to hit the Espheni tech before the invaders can power up again. Ultimately, they break into three teams to go scout and blow stuff up. At least they know now that there are 317 other human militias around the world that the Volm have contact with. If they can all get coordinated with the 2nd Mass, then humanity might have a shot. The first team (with Hal and Maggie) blow up some Skitters and some tech all at once. And the team with Weaver and Ben find a bunch of Mechs that don’t really work. So of course Tom, Anne and Matt’s team has to find themselves surrounded by a bunch of Skitters.
One of the Volm with Weaver senses that Tom’s group needs help so Weaver and his gang head over to lend a hand. Unlike the Skitters Hal and Maggie saw, the ones surrounding Tom are definitely coordinated and working in tandem. A firefight ensues and one of their group gets killed. Still on mission, Tom takes his dead buddy and uses him as bait for the Skitters. As he’d hoped, they descend on the dead guy, eating him because they’re hungry. His plan to blow them up with a bomb fails because the trigger doesn’t work. Luckily, Weaver and reinforcements show up and take out the Skitters. Organized Skitters means an Espheni Overlord nearby (within 5 miles of the ambush site). As Weaver and Anne start rattling off what’s in the radius, Tom flashes to part of the memory (that definitely wasn’t real). One of the places the Overlord could be hiding is Woodrow Wilson High School. Tom saw a bust of the President in his vision/dream thing and he never had a bust of Wilson. He’s convinced that’s where they need to go and it takes a little arm twisting to get the rest of the team on board.
Before they head out, Hal and Maggie have a bit of a confrontation about the whole Ben situation (what with she and Ben being drawn together because of the shared spine spikes). Maggie admits that she loves Hal but she can’t control how she feels about Ben so it’s best if she and Hal keep their distance. Good luck keeping a horny 20-something guy away. Well, they do have more pressing concerns to attend to at least. The raid on the high school looks like it’s going to be a bust at first. They don’t see anything and Ben and Maggie don’t sense and Overlord present. But as the group moves into the gym, Tom spots the bleachers moving and Skitters come out of the woodwork (as it were).
The 2nd Mass has come prepared though with some pretty epic guns that just take down Skitters en masse. It’s kind of impressive. While that’s happening, one of the former spine kids gets killed by a Skitter and Ben gets coopted by the Overlord. The Overlord says that Ben is his leverage but Tom disagrees (after finding his way down to the basement where the Overlord is hiding out). Tom says that he can kill the Overlord and all Ben gets is a headache. And that’s exactly what happens. Tom shoots the Overlord once and then four times in the head for good measure. They won this battle, even if they lost a few soldiers. I have to say the writers know they are in the final stretch and they aren’t afraid to kill people. Sure they’ve been somewhat supporting characters in this episode but I don’t doubt for a second at least one or two major characters are going to die by the end. Hell, maybe even Tom himself.
While Tom’s attitude was a little jarring, it’s understandable that he’d get to this point after everything and everyone he’s lost. Plus whoever or whatever saved his life put that bug in his ear about being a warrior and taking down the threat. I will be interested to see how the story wraps up over the next nine episodes.
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