‘Falling Skies’ 3.6 Episode Review And Recap: Be Silent And Come Out

Here we are at Episode 6 of Falling Skies 3rd season and I am loving it! This season has been jam packed with action and adventure and some really great story telling. Yeah, there are some story lines I am not too fond of (Anne and Alexis) but even those stories have a certain morbid attraction! So, let’s get started with this week’s recap!

We open with Ben delivering news about Anne and Alexis from the rebel Skitters. Unfortunately they don’t have an exact location but seem to feel that they will soon. Tom isn’t willing to wait for more information, he wants to find his girls NOW. Weaver, Marina, and Ben try to discourage Tom from going after them without more intel, but Hal is all for a road trip. When Ben and the others manage to convince Tom to wait 24 hours, Hal is obviously not happy. *My favorite line in this scene “Dan, in case you haven’t noticed crazy is where I live right now. I have a 1/2 alien daughter, you wanna tell me how that happened??”* Says the King of Chaos!

Marina and Tom take a walk to further discuss Tom’s plans to leave Charleston to look for Anne and Alexis. There is this really creepy moment when Maggie walks up to Hal looking for more information on what the plan is and Hal doesn’t even hear her. He seems to be analyzing the situation, taking in the lay of the land. He walks away without a backward glance. The next time we see Hal is when he pulls up in a Humvee, pistol whips Marina to the ground and takes Tom hostage. Marina calls to Maggie, who just happens to wandering by, to stop them. Maggie acts fast, grabbing a big gun and shooting the Humvee, bringing it to a crashing stop! Hal has a gun to Tom’s head as they emerge from the Humvee and drags him into an abandoned building.

Tom tries to reason with Hal, to understand what is happening. Hal wants to know what Tom knows about the Volm weapon. When Tom tries to escape, Hal reacts violently and leaves his dad writhing in pain from his damaged ankle. Outside Maggie finally has to admit that Hal hasn’t been himself and that he suspected that Karen had infected him with something. Pope is not happy about this, he sees it as another Mason being protected while others die. When Weaver tries to focus them all back to the task of getting both Hal and Tom out safely Pope lashes out at him as well. “And you of all people should know better”, he says. “Instead you bend over backwards to make excuses for him, why? Because a Mason couldn’t possibly be a trader!” Ben tries to defend Hal responding that he is no more responsible for his actions than a harnessed kid, but Pope doesn’t care .He makes a nasty remark about Ben wanting to keep his “studs”. Ben finally has enough and hauls off and knocks Pope to the ground (I think this is the second time Ben has decked Pope, or is it the third?). Honestly though, Pope has a point about the precious Mason family. Not that I want Hal dead, but seriously, how much can the people of Charleston and the 2nd Mass be expected to accept?

Weaver tries to talk Hal down by telling him they know that Karen did something to him. Tom also tries to talk with Hal, to reach the good Hal inside. It seems to work for a moment but then Evil Hal takes back control and demands safe passage out of the city. When Weaver refuses, he opens fire on Weaver and the Berserkers fire back. Weaver runs back to cover and stops the shooting while Tom dives on Hal to protect him. It seems Tom may be in control for a moment but then Hal points his gun at him and instructs him to answer Weaver’s insistent calls. Weaver finally agrees to the Humvee (“one Humvee, coming up”). At this point Ben volunteers to scale the building to get to Hal. Weaver says no and then Maggie says she is going in. Once again, no. Pope interjects with another valid question, “Can somebody explain something to me? Why is it that if anybody else had acted like an alien and shot people, you’d have blown their brains out and used what was left of their skull for an ashtray”. Maggie responds that Hal didn’t shoot anyone, he could have killed Weaver but he didn’t. Pope, as usual, is not impressed with this logic. (“I’m just saying Mags, we can’t count on your boyfriend’s restraint”) it is at this point that Weaver sends Pope and his Berserkers packing. He wants cool, non Mason hating heads on the front line.

Marina asks Tector if he can make the kill shot if necessary. Tector agrees he can and Marina tells Weaver that they need to consider this option if necessary. Weaver insists it won’t come to that. Marina takes a stand here, she informs Weaver that if he can’t order the death of Hal (if necessary) she will relieve him of command. Still Weaver stands his ground, ordering Tector not to fire on Hal. There is a great moment here with Matt and Tector (who I don’t ever think I have seen interact prior to the Badlands episode) when Matt asks if Tector will shoot his brother and Tector response is “orders say not to” and Matt says “orders can change”. This little exchange prompts Matt to tell Maggie and Ben that he knows a way into the building unseen.

Meanwhile upstairs Tom is trying to connect with Hal, to make him see reason. He notes that Marina is most likely the one in charge and that she will order his death before she lets them leave Charleston. They banter back and forth, neither willing to concede.

While Matt, Ben, and Maggie are making their way through some tunnels to the building hall and Tom are holed up in, Pope is back at the Nest taking bets on the outcome of the standoff. Leave it to Pope to find a way to make some $$ off someone else’s misery. However Pope has his limits and when some random guy speaks up and offers to “take them out myself” he quickly and quietly lets him know that is not an option.

Tom and Hal are continuing to chat and Tom tries to reach Hal by talking about the past and the boy’s mother. He seems to be making an impact, Hal is definitely on edge when Maggie comes into the room followed by Matt. They all try to talk to Hal while he moves the gun from one to the other, including Matt. He is obviously struggling between good and evil, finally turning the gun on himself. He holds the gun to his jaw. The Ben steps into the room and grabs him from behind. A struggle ensues and the gun goes off.

Pope is still taking bets when Weaver walks into the Nest and all goes quiet. Weaver walks to the bar and orders a drink and after a moment Pope joins him. Weaver makes it very clear to Pope that “if anyone tries to affect the odds on that board one way or the other, I will personally mount your head on the wall of this establishment”. Pope takes a moment (to gather his courage?) and then says “I’d call that a safe bet”. After Weaver exits (and by the way, did you notice that Pope had his weapon drawn under the bar? He pulled it as he approached Weaver, and placed it on the bar when he left) Pope tells Lyle to “head over to the infirmary, you see any funny business you take the comedy right out of it”. I think he takes Weaver quite seriously.

Next we see Lyle sitting in the infirmary reading a magazine and eavesdropping on Lourdes report on Hal’s condition. The shot only grazed his head and he will be okay, if they can get the bug out of him. But how will they do that? Enter the rebel Skitters (it’s actually nice to see them again, they have been rather absent since the Volm showed up). The rebel Skitters have created a sort of anti-virus to seek out and eliminate the Espheni bug. It is designed for the Skitter biology though and there is no guarantee it will work on a human. That is to say, it will kill the bug, if there is one but it may also kill the host, in this case, Hal. The Skitter hands Tom a freakin’ huge amber “pill” that looks quite formidable. Queue commercial break.

After the break we find Tom at the Liberty Tree struggling to decide what to do for Hal. It really is an impossible choice, as he tells Marina. Either way he could lose his son. Marina tells him something her grandmother used to say “the minute we love the world has something to use against us.” and “Death is not the worst of all evils”. Her grandmother was indeed a wise woman, and I think that insight does help Tom to see that he really has no choice. They have to try to get the bug out.

Hal is strapped to a table in the infirmary when Maggie comes to see him. He tries to convince her, to beg her to release him. The bug is gone he says, if they do this he will die. He tries to use Anne and Lexi as bargaining chips, asking Maggie to release him and come with him to get them back. Maggie resists and ends up fleeing the room, close to tears. As she moves through the curtain Hal sees Tom on the other side and begins to beg his father not to do this, not to let him die like this. He begins to cry like a child, calling out for his father but as Tom walks away he turns angry, proving that Tom has chosen the right course of action.

The procedure begins with Lourdes drilling a hole into the amber (thank goodness, I was becoming concerned about the deliver method!) to release the Skitter “cure”. Maggie, Tom, Ben and Matt are watching on the other side of the glass as Hal curses them all. Tom asks Ben to take Matt out and the two younger Mason’s leave the room. Lourdes pulls a pod like object from the amber, it opens after being sprayed with some mystery spray and little black things come out and proceed to go into Hal through eyes. **This is very cool and very intense!** His veins turn black and he stops breathing. A silvery substance comes from his mouth. Lourdes uses a syringe to draw it up and an assistant burns it away using a blowtorch. Hal’s heart has stopped and Lourdes starts CPR and then uses an obscenely large syringe of Epinephrine to attempt to restart his heart. She looks out at maggie and Tom, who are helplessly looking on. Fade to black.

We return to the infirmary with Hal just coming to. He doesn’t remember anything at all from the past week, when Evil Hal took over. He is shocked and overwhelmed to realize what he has done. At this point Tom resumes his plan to go on the hunt for Anne and Alexis. The Skitters have been able to locate the Espheni outpost where they believe Anne is being held with the baby and Tom is getting ready to head out. He hands over his resignation and all the information he has on the Volm weapon to Marina. She in turn tells him that she will be doing things her own way, to which he responds, “haven’t you already?”. He is more than willing to leave it all in her hands. He offers her this advice: be straight with the Volm and to go to Weaver with any problems or concerns (does it seem that Marina and Weaver are being pushed together more and more?)

The Mason men are saddling up to go after Anne and Alexis. Maggie and the rest of the 2nd Mass are staying behind in Charleston. Of course Pope is on hand to deliver a parting shot, commenting that the next time he gets into trouble he needs to remember the “old eye bug defense”. And with that the Mason’s are off into the wild. We close with Marina being sworn in as the new president of the New United States.

Okay what did you think? Did you enjoy this episode? What was your favorite part? And do you think that Hal is truly the mole? Inquiring minds want to know! 🙂

Don’t forget to come back next week for Dawn’s review of episode 7!