Hal and Margaret return from retrieving the drugs
Margaret knew about – a hidden stash she knew from one of the drug dealers.
Margaret seems unwilling to involve herself in the bonding fluffiness of
everyone else. Which Ann and Tom quickly dive into, preparing Tom for the worst
that could happen if the surgery to remove Tom’s Harness goes wrong.
Time to discuss strategy with Captain Weaver (who maaaay
be allowed to live). Weaver provides some practical criticism of Tom’s strategy
(which gives u the advantage of surprise and requires the enemy to act as he
wants them to) and they settle on a stealth tactic. Captain Weaver also shows a
more human side as he looks at a picture his lost daughter drew and removes the
record Scott is playing because it bothers him. he also starts taking pills.
Margaret tries to help Hal and Tom who are practicing
with crossbows since they’re silent (she also gets very close to Hal to show
him how to work it). Margaret knows the hospital where Ben is and gives Tom a
lot more insight into its internal layout. She’s also invited by Lourdes to
Sarah’s baby shower to try and help her fit in and join the community, but
Margaret doesn’t have much time for it.
Ann and Harris (who hasn’t been eaten yet) are still
debating on the treatment of the Skitter prisoner while Margaret is making new
friends in the lunch hall (where, despite the absence of Pope, people seem to
have learned how to cook). Scott (and his assistant Matt Mason) are trying to
find ways to use radios – and the frequencies the Skitters transmit – as early
warning systems to let them know when Skitters are around. Ann and Scott also
have a heart to heart about Sam, her lost son who she lost in the invasion.
Harris (who hasn’t been eaten yet) gets too close to the
Skitter’s cage and nearly gets his head pulled off – it’s not decapitation, but
it does kill him. He hasn’t been eaten but I’ll take it! Captain Weaver wants
to kill the Skitter in the aftermath to reduce civilian panic, but Ann argues
to keep it alive. Weaver gives her a day to learn what she can from it, then
he’s killing it. Ann and Tom discuss the death – Tom prefers her as a doctor
because she cares more. Tom also encourages her
to put up something of Sam on the memorial wall.
Hal tries to talk to Ricky who is still adjusting to
having his Harness removed. But he’s not very communicative or very reassuring
– not giving much information or insight. But from what he does here, Hal wants
to strap on Ricky’s Harness and pretend to be a drone to sneak into the hospital.
Tom doesn’t like it since it risks Hal, Weaver does – but he leaves the
decision to Tom to make. The decision is
moot, however, unless they discover a silent way to kill a Skitter. So they ask
Ann who tells them about Mike hitting a Skitter in the mouth and that being a
vulnerable spot to its brainstem. Of course, she’s not going to let Hal try
that without testing! She takes out a level of Badass, forces the Skitter back
with a cattle prod, enters the cage and stabs it in the mouth with a scalpel.
Why, it works! Even better, even though she’s upset, Ann tells Tom it wasn’t
hard for her – all it took is for her to picture her family. And that killing Skitters
is a skill all humans need to learn. And she hasn’t put a picture up for Sam
because she has nothing – not a toy, not a picture, nothing, not one thing to
remember her lost son by – all she has is the bloody handprint she leaves
planted on a newspaper article from the time of the first attack
That night they put the infiltration with the Harness
plan into action with Hal sneaking into the hospital in an extremely tense
scene while Tom worries outside with the patrolling Mech. Hal joins a queue of
Harnessed kids pretending to be one of them while a Skitter watches, laying
down with them while the skitter strokes their heads as if to comfort them. The
Skitter goes to sleep with them, touching Hal.
Outside Tom can’t wait any longer and he and Maggie
decide to go rescue him while Dai and Anthony wait outside. They arrive in time
to see Hal stab the Skitter, not quite getting it right, but tom distracts it
with a crossbow bolt giving Hal chance to finish it off. The tension maintained
in this scene was incredibly nerve-wracking. Very well done.
They sneak all the kids out and it’s back to the school. Ann comes into her own and runs the almost production line procedure to free each of the kids from their Harness as their blood pressure and pulses start to drop – and one of the children dies before they can save him. She saves 5, but she dwells on the one she lost as anyone would.
Hal and Margaret have some more bonding time as we try to
pry open more of her backstory – she had cancer which is why she knows the
hospital and she took cannabis for the pain and to feel better, which is how
she knew the dealer. We have some more Hal and Tom emotional scenes. Then on to
the Baby shower with the most awesome hippy grandma ever.
Hal and Tom and Matt watch Ben sleep – and Weaver manages
to completely melt to human and remember his own lost ones. Ben wakes up – and recognises Tom. Big awww
moment.
Why is the alien still in the sick room? Whyyyy? I mean,
what logical sense does it make to keep your deadly dangerous predator with
your wounded?
Ding dong Harris’s gone! I suppose it should be a bad
thing for the team, but he annoyed me so much, I certainly won’t miss him.
That’s the problem with making someone so completely unlikeable, it makes it
hard to feel horror with their death. Or not to feel glee.
Ann in this episode… was incredible. This is what makes Falling Skies, not just the action and the explosions and the desperate fight for survival, but the emotional connections, the times when tom talks to Hal, the growing relationships and shared pain – and the loss people have suffered. And Weaver, and Hal and Tom and Matt with Ben – the emotional cost of this dystopia is always so very clear.
