Falling Skies Brings Out a Game Changer

Falling Skies managed to bounce back after last week’s disappointing episode. This week we got some nice character development for Weaver, some progress in the war against the aliens, and two very big reveals that will likely change everything.

For much of this first season, we only got brief glimpses of a soft side to Weaver. He’s stayed the most composed and focused of all the main characters, but in “What Hides Beneath” he essentially broke down. Having killed his daughter when trying to remove a harness from her was a dark addition to his backstory. I half thought they would kill Weaver in the episode with all his talk about having no hope and simply fighting for revenge. Luckily Weaver was given something to live for when he found evidence that his wife was still alive.

The episode had Fringe’s Blair Brown guest star as a woman who was once captured by the Skitters and was set free so she could feed the aliens information. The character was rather haunting and pitiable, and I wish she could have been explored further. I would like to see her pop up again if the writers can fit her into the story. We also got our first glimpse at Karen since she was taken by mechs several episodes ago in “Prisoner of War.”

Now for the big reveals regarding the aliens. The first one is an answer to a question brought up in the first couple episodes:  why do the mechs have two legs when the Skitters have six? We find out that the Skitters aren’t the aliens behind the invasion; they’re just the soldiers. The real masterminds are tall, skinny, silvery aliens that… wait for it… walk on TWO FEET! Now the mechs make sense from a design level. But does this mean the Skitters and the silver aliens are of the same species? Heck no.

The second big reveal was that the Skitters are what happens to harnessed people after a long enough period of time. Anne makes the discovery after noticing Ben’s skin becoming hard like the skin of a Skitter and then opening up a dead Skitter to find a harness underneath. I’ll admit it was a twist I saw coming, but it was still awesome. The best is that we’re not sure how long it takes for someone to transform, so in all likelihood some of the Skitters that have been fought could be human children, as well as other creatures the aliens have harnessed on other planets.

Falling Skies is heading towards a two-hour finale next week, which will include an attack on the aliens’ main structure in Boston. Pope figured out they can use and make more mech ammunition to actually do some damage against the aliens. Things are moving in an intense direction. Hopefully it will deliver an action packed finale to get me psyched for Season 2.