I have to be honest and say that it sagged on both fronts a bit this, slowing down to take a look around, introduce some new elements and do some character stuff, and whilst not a poor episode by any stretch, it was a bit of a reminder of the more rocky first season.
Geek Syndicate
The episode starts strongly with Ben echoing the Skitter’s “dawn chorus” seemingly praising the rising son, a nice show-don’t-tell moment revealing how much he still struggles with whatever the remnants of his harness is doing to him. This quickly transitions into the camp being awoken by a distant gun battle; another nice tracking sequence as every gears up and goes to investigate, only to find the deserted battlefield and evidence of internal strife between the invaders. Yes folks, Falling Skies is doing the old “enemy civil war” plot. Turns out that Rick (the other post-harness survivor) is back, Ben is with him, and they’ve got the leader or spokesman or whatever of the Skitter Resistance holed up in basement. By and large the episode then falls back on “Tell-not-show”. The Skitter talking through Rick and Ben is a creepy and effective touch but the dialogue is too stodgy and I don’t buy Tom’s line about the Skitters not looking remorseful about killing – they’re aliens Tom, don’t judge their body language! It is a dense and information heavy exchange peppered with clumsy dialogue, interesting, sure, but inelegant. The episode counters this by putting Hal and his team in
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peril, and letting him get closer to Maggie, another of the shows sadly peripheral supporting cast. I’d been assuming Hal and Maggie were together, because, well, it’s the end of the world, they’re clearly interested in each other and why the hell not?, but apparently they aren’t, so we get a bit of teen l ?????????????!????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????e???????????????????e?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????$?????????????????????????????????????????????Q???????]???????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????M????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????()%?e???????????????5???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????!??????????????????????????????????Q??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q?????????????????????????????????Q???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????M?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????e?????????????????????????????????????????!???????5??????e??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????-?????????????????????????????????????????????????????'?e???????????????????????????????????-????e??????????????$??????????????????????????????e?????????Q??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????e?????????????????????????????????????????q?????t?????$????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????$????????????????????????????????????????????!???? ???????5????????????????????????????$??????e?????????????????L??????????????????L()?????????!?????????((0