emerged from her cocoon, but that's okay,
because that's what her Espheni family is for. Fed
up with the war-mongering 2nd Mass, Lexie
claimed to be so over their B.S. and ready to
return to her alien extended family. She took out
Lourdes on the way (finally!) and left the Masons
reeling after Annie's claims that Lexie was totally
harmless turned out to be less than true. Annie is
still clinging to the idea that Lexie is being mind-
controlled or brainwashed, that she's not acting
of her own volition, and given the way
that Falling Skies likes to make sure its
protagonists are right about everything always,
that'll probably be the case. But in the meantime,
a botched battle plan has left half the 2nd Mass
dead—including quite a few familiar faces—and
after seven episodes of wandering and finally
reuniting after Charleston, our heroes are in no
better shape than they were, well, ever. I guess
that's probably how an alien apocalypse would
indeed go down, but I'm starting to wonder
if Falling Skies isn't starting to suffer from
the Supernatural syndrome, in which nothing but
awful stuff ever happens to the characters and
tuning in becomes an exercise in masochism for
the audience.
However, I can't fault Falling Skies for taking the
brutally honest angle. The series is comfortable
with its current set-up in a way it really hasn't
been since Season 2—before the 2nd Mass
settled in Charleston and teamed up with the
Volm and forged increasingly surprisingly
complicated relations with other bands of human
survivors. That level of comfort has
allowed Falling Skies to more deeply explore the
nuances, motivations, and tics of its characters;
not only do we have Hal joining in on questioning
Tom's leadership in a role that previously
belonged almost exclusively to Pope, but it seems
that everyone has a bone to pick with their
fearless leader. And yet, Tom Mason is in no real
danger of being usurped by his charges.
Particularly where the disagreements with his
family are concerned, the dissent is contained and
remains in perspective of the larger problems at
hand. The ongoing struggle to survive has granted
the members of the 2nd Mass the ability to
question without necessarily destroying, which
means they can more freely display their
dissatisfaction without fear of inadvertently
making things worse. Hal is angry at Tom for
failing to protect their followers from Lexie, but
he still loves and respects his father. And
during an exchange with Sarah in the heat of
battle, Pope confirmed what we've all known this
entire time: He talks a good game, but at the end
of the day, he's as loyal to the 2nd Mass as any
member of the Mason family (besides Lexie, of
course).
With Lexie no longer a fixture in the Hippie Camp
of Horrors, the Espheni have resumed their
attacks on humanity's fleeting remnants. Ben
snuck out to find Lexie while the rest of the 2nd
Mass stayed behind to execute what was, in all
honesty, a pretty decent plan until a ruptured gas
line took out half the troops. Among the more
prominent casualties were Lourdes, Dr. Robert,
and possibly Maggie—who spent half the episode
MIA only to reappear during the final frame of the
episode's death montage. Tom was buried alive,
and the surviving members of his family and his
forces have retreated underground to fake their
deaths and hope the Espheni take a hint and walk
away. Those who did survive the disastrous battle
are both mentally and physically wounded, and
there's no guarantee that even if the Espheni
believe that the've all perished, they won't come
back a'knocking (especially given Lexie's
apparent psychic-whatsit connection to her
mommy.)
At this point in the season, it's usually safe to say
we're at a turning point for the story arc, but if
that is truly the case as of "Saturday Night
Massacre," then I don't believe the needle has
moved in a direction that immediately favors the
humans... which is fine. It's still entirely too early
for a decisive human victory, and given that we
know Falling Skies will conclude with a fifth
and final season next year, we can also rest
easy knowing that the scraps of humanity won't
be completely decimated at the end of this season,
either. Probably.
Of course, that doesn't mean the Espheni still
can't pack in a whole lot of hurt in the meantime,
and "Saturday Night Massacre" had hurt for
days.
All in all, it wasn't a bad follow-up to the
snoozefest that "Door Number Three" gave us
last week.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.