FALLING SKIES Digs Out

Episode 408: “A Thing With Feathers”

[photos by James Dittinger/TNT]

The survivors of last week’s massacre come out of the bunker to look for survivors amongst the large rubble field (it was pretty rubble-y before the explosions of the previous night, now it’s REALLY rubble-y).

Ben Mason (we’ll call him “the Mason that no one is bothering to look for”) comes to in an Espheni warehouse, with Lexi by his side. He can hear screaming coming from beyond the door of the room he’s held in. Lexi refers to the activity in the warehouse as the “evolution of the species” and mentions that the “peaceful solution” has begun, as this is one of the locations where humans are skitterized and genetically manipulated against their will.  Ben witnesses humans being dragged around the floor of the warehouse by skitters and exposed to some sort of gas/technology.

Ben, a formerly harnassed victim of the Espheni himself, is repulsed by what he sees.  He argues with Lexi and, given that she doesn’t take criticism well, she takes control of his spikes.  He dares her to kill him like she did Lourdes. Her bluff at least temporarily called, Lexi mentions that she’ll soon be leaving for “training” but Ben leaves her, heading back to what’s left of the enclave (apparently it isn’t that far from the enclave).

Matt Mason, along with Anne, is looking for Tom in the rubble.  Dan Weaver and Matt work together, as their bonding this season continues.  Anne finds a piece of Tom’s Ghost mask.  Matt, however, hasn’t given up hope on finding his dad alive.

Hal finds Maggie in the rubble, but she can’t move her arms or legs.  Anne very quickly exhausts any human treatment option to help her, so they turn to the unconventional Espheni variety.  Hal, grasping at straws, suggests using Deni’s spikes in some way to heal Maggie, as it’s already displayed superhuman healing power already.

Cochise of the Volm suggests draining some of the fluid contained with Deni’s spikes to then inject into Maggie’s body. There are more cons than pros to this option for a Ben Franklin close, as the process could kill Deni, Maggie, or both, in addition to not even working if they do successfully extract and inject it. Anne’s operational condition is that she won’t inject Maggie unless Maggie consents to the procedure. Hal goes to ask her and Maggie declines the procedure, saying that she doesn’t want to become like one of them.  Hal lies to Anne, giving her the go-ahead for the extraction procedure.

The fluid extraction procedure doesn’t have any effect on Maggie’s wounds.  Ben arrives back at the enclave just in time to tweak the love triangle between him, his brother, and Maggie, and suggests transferring some of his spikes to Maggie.  Cochise provides them the technology to remove the spikes, which are then successfully implanted in Maggie.  But there is obvious biofeedback between Ben and Maggie when, during the procedure, both their spikes light up and they convulse simultaneously.  Then it’s “hurry up and wait” to see if it takes effect.

Meanwhile, Tom Mason is where we left him last episode – buried under a bunch of rock. Conveniently, he’s not alone as apparently Dingaan was also trapped as the building fell after the Espheni ship crashed into it last episode.  Tom helps get him out from underneath a large piece of fallen masonry.   Once free, they both begin to look for a way out.  Oh, and that pipe wrench that received its own specific shot at the end of last week?  Nowhere to be seen.

After a little maneuvering, they find themselves underneath what remains of the crashed Espheni ship.   Conveniently, they find themselves near a hatch into the craft.  Tom sticks his arm into a biomechanical access port on the craft (it looks like he’s shoving his arm up a frog’s rear end) and in the spirit of “never put your arm in things you don’t fully understand”, he is “bitten” by the craft which surreptitiously injects something into his arm. Luckily, the hatch opens and he and Dingaan can enter the craft because anywhere is better than being under a large pile of rubble. Once inside the craft, whatever dug itself into Tom’s arm goes haywire, forcing Dingaan to dig it out before it kills Tom.

Unfortunately, while looking for a tool to “operate” on Tom, Dingaan reactivates the ship, including arming some unexploded ordnance on the ship. Tom and Dingaan leave the ship and build a hidey-hole to survive the explosion. The incessant beeping of the bomb causes Dingaan to go into a depression and he shares the circumstances in which he lost his family.  Turns out he lost his family before the invasion, with the beeping of the Espheni bomb resembling the sounds of the emergency vehicles that took his son to the hospital after he was buried in an accident.  Dingaan believes that he is being punished for that reason.   The bomb explodes, conveniently blowing up a hole through the rubble for the two men to be rescued.

In the meantime, Sara and Pope encounter a wounded skitter in the rubble and Sara offers to kill it, smashing its head with a rock.  Sara has a harder edge now, so much so that even Pope notices.  While out on a patrol together, they each awkwardly express their feelings for one another, share a heartfelt smooch, and then recline out of camera range for a little out-on-patrol whoopee.

At the end of the episode, our survivors are toasting their fallen comrades and those that survived.  Maggie joins the group, walking on her own two feet, the spikes apparently having done their job.  Hal and Tom talk and under the moonlight, the remains of Espheni technology within the rubble, lights and powers up, apparently powered by the light.  The mysterious green flash from the moon makes a re-appearance and more than one Mason sees it this time.

So, some logic plotholes this week – you’re telling me the Espheni did this big assault and then abandoned the area, so the humans can move around, make as much noise as they want, all without incident less than 12 hours later?  If that’s how the Espheni secure a war zone, it’s no wonder they lose a lot to under-powered, under-manned forces.  The Espheni Torch is a strategic moron from all appearances.

Also, the unexploded ordnance presents its own pitfalls – Tom and Dingaan hide outside of the ship, under the pile of rubble, behind a stone slab…and the explosion, which blasts through some 10-15 feet of rock to the surface doesn’t also manage to kill them in the process, by either causing the pile to resettle on top of them or the concussion wave from the explosion blowing out their eardrums.  Thank goodness these Espheni bombs are so tidy.

Now, on to things I liked.   Dingaan has been something of a cipher since he was introduced and it’s refreshing to encounter someone whose personal tragedy occurred before the Espheni ever arrived.  Again this week, Sara and Pope provide some of the simplest, yet most profound moments in the show.  What I mean when I say that is, when some of the other characters speak, it’s obvious they are pontificating to one another and they don’t talk like normal humans would talk to one another.  Sara and Pope, on the other hand, talk like real people.  They don’t mince words, they make snide comments, put their feet in their respective mouths.  When they interact, it has the feel of real, awkward people.

Not a dynamic episode this week with not much happening to move the overall plot forward (the most pertinent thing arrived in the last 20 seconds of the episode).   There are only 4 episodes left in the season to give some sort of satisfactory temporary closure and to set the stage for Season 5.  Tick tock, tick tock.

Woodchuck sez, “Check it out.”

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