Falling Skies came back with a two - hour season premiere last Nox , written by a 3 of Battlestar Galactica writers . And both the creep factor and the alien menace were amped up from the first season , along with a noticeable reduction in the rate of platitudes per moment . Most of all , though , this show seems to be encounter new way to talk about its central metaphor : the harness .
Spoilers beforehand …
The thing that distinguishes Falling Skies from so many other alien encroachment stories is the notion that the outlander are taking our kidskin and changing them into … something else . Even as the show dwells on the way in which ordinary people adapt and survive in the backwash of an alien invasion , the question of how we conserve our humanity is amplify and focus through the report of Ben Mason , who was harnessed by the aliens and rescue last time of year .
What was new in last dark ’s two - parter was the collocation between Ben and another survivor of alien captivity : his father Tom . And even though the cliffhanger in which Tom volitionally fix on an alien ship did n’t feel completely resolved this time around , the contrast between the two Masons is interesting enough that you sort of want to go with it .
The literal patch of “ Worlds Apart”/”Shall We Gather at the River ” is pretty uncomplicated — the Second Mass has get its corporate posterior kicked non - stop since the big battle in Boston , most notably in the Battle of Fitchburg , where they lost 100 hoi polloi . They are being herded by the Skitters and Mechs up to the Housatonic River , and if they ca n’t baffle it , they ’ll be massacred once again . Good news ? There ’s a bridge . tough news ? It ’s kick downstairs , thanks to Pope ’s spicy - headedness . So Jameel ( a new character ) needs to fix the bridge so they can drive across , and then blow it up .
Meanwhile , we learn how Tom met the alien drawing card ( ? ) and then was led off the ship to be executed with some other prisoners , but miraculously was n’t shoot . Now that Tom has returned to his people , they do n’t entirely confide him , and he does n’t entirely trust himself — especially after there ’s a weird Prometheus - style hemipteran in his heart . Eventually , Tom has to step up and save the day when the bridge crossway does n’t quite go according to programme .
So Tom and his son are both apportion with the after - effects of having been in the grasp of the aliens — except that Tom travel willingly , because he ’s a dumbass . And Ben has get superpowers , include superintendent - senses and awful strength , which he use for the Resistance . The spikes in Ben ’s sticker are stay to spread a weird form of dermal stratum across his skin , and meanwhile when he come too close to a crashed alien ship he get down the worst worry ever . And meanwhile , Tom ca n’t convince anyone ( include himself ) that he ’s not an alien spy or a walking tracking twist , or some kind of sleeper factor .
The best scene in both sequence arrive after Tom ’s been tied up inside the aesculapian bus , at his own asking , and Ben comes to see him . They bond over being a match of monster , who ’ve been tainted by their contact with the aliens , and unsure as to whether they can trust themselves . And Ben says :
You want to have intercourse my arcanum ? To verify they ca n’t control me ? Hate . I detest what they did to me , with all my heart and soul . I detest that they turn me into a nut . You cause ta hold on to your hate , Dad . If you may do that — if you may do that — then it does n’t matter what they ’ve done to you . They wo n’t be able to change you indoors .
To which Tom reply that hate is a very herculean emotion , and he does hate the aliens too . But it was love , not hate , that kept him proceed the preceding couple month when he was trying to get home to his family . ( The aliens deteriorate him off in Michigan . ) And if you give in to your hatred , then they ’ve already commute you inside . He does n’t really address Ben ’s larger point , though — that hating the alien might be enough to counteract their controller .
In any pillowcase , the BSG vibe is very impregnable here , include the belief of people who both part of the dwindling away , embattled grouping of humans and also somehow tie to the attacking force . And the scene , ahead of time on , where Hal attempt to push his wimpish Thomas Kyd brother Ben around — only to get his ass kicked — is pretty captivating .
Meanwhile , the instalment does a pretty honorable job of conveyance that these people are under siege and on the run — their eight - mo dodging window after scupper an exotic picket patrol has turn into a two - mo windowpane . They look vast logistical problems just hanging on to the meager weaponry and supplies they ’ve manage to scrounge , and they ’re generally under threat every step of the way .
So what did the aliens actually need to talk to Tom Mason about ? It ’s a fragile routine of a letdown , unhappily . They want to offer the humankind a qualification , basically — a property where we can live in peace and rubber , while the outlander have the residuum of the major planet to themselves . They mean that since Tom is a history professor , he ’ll appreciate the onetime - timey quality of their proposal , but he ’s not amused . In fact , Tom order the Bible we ’ve been waiting to hear him say since the show ’s first episode : “ I would be thrifty about drawing too many lessons from the past . ” Thanks for illuminate that up , Tom !
In any guinea pig , Tom manages to tase the alien leader , in a nifty niggling shot — but then he ’s herded out of the starship , along with a clustering of other people . The outlander are go to execute all their prisoners , and they do n’t want to get human brains on the upholstery in their starship . But for some understanding , everybody gets gunned down … except for Tom . And Tom does n’t even have the mentality to fall on the ground and play dead , so it ’s not like the foreigner were confused or something . What ’s go on ?
It ’s all to do with the cerise - eyed Skitter , who seems to be set up as this season ’s gravid bad . He was supervising Tom during his imprisonment , he ’s been keep a single red centre on the Second Mass the whole metre , and he ’s somehow connected to the foul worm inside Tom ’s orb . Plus there ’s a dream sequence ( or is it ? ) where he fall to view Tom sleeping in the midsection of the night . Old Red - eye seems to have some somewhat serious plans for Tom , and they ’re seemingly not over yet . All of which suggests that maybe Pope is correct to want to mishandle Tom up along with that bridge . As Tom himself says over and over again , he may be a monolithic liability . And so may Ben — and watching the style they both deal with their “ touched by an foreign ” brand is locomote to be fascinating .
All screencaps viaTumblr .
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