Perspective and Boy Scouts. Retrospective: Falling Skies — “Search and Rescue”

Season 3, Episode 5

Air Date: Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 10/9c on TNT.

Rating: ★★★★★

“There’s only one thing on this planet I can’t stand more than you, Mason—that’s Skitters.” — Pope

After last week’s “At All Costs” crash landing in a remote, forested area, Tom (Noah Wyle) and Pope (Colin Cunningham) appeared to be the only survivors. Former U.S. President Benjamin Hathaway’s (guest star Stephen Collins) plane, carrying the Volm ally Cochise (Doug Jones), took a direct hit from the Espheni fighter ships and went down in flames but could they have survived, somehow? As “Search and Rescue” begins, Tom is pulling an unconscious Pope from the burning fuselage as an impaled General Bressler (Matt Frewer) is beyond saving.

Observations:

Col. Weaver (Will Patton) leads the search party for Anne and baby Alexis

Word gets out about Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and baby Alexis’ disappearance when Lourdes (Gabrielle Seychelle) and Roger Kadar (Robert Sean Leonard) recount their stories to an audience comprised of newly appointed VP Marina Peralta (Gloria Ruben), Maggie (Sarah Sanguin Carter), Col. Weaver (Will Patton), and Tom’s three sons, Hal (Drew Roy), Ben (Connor Jessup), Matt (Maxim Knight). The disbelief upon hearing about Alexis’ alien DNA is substantially divided, which I found quite odd. I thought more of them would have been in complete shock or vehement denial but with everything this crew has experienced, maybe nothing shocks them much anymore, which is sad.

Roger Kadar aka Charleston’s ‘Bill Nye’ but can he figure out the Volm machine’s true purpose?

Kadar is the go-to guy for anything scientific. He’s Charleston’s ‘Bill Nye, the Science Guy.’ Marina enlists his help with figuring out what the Volm are building based on the photographs she pulled from Tom’s files. Kadar’s intelligence may be superlative, but how does Marina expect him to decipher the purpose of the Volm machine just by looking at pictures of it? His conclusions are a bit surprising, even for Marina, which leads me to a wild hair theory – could Marina be the other mole? She seems a bit insensitive to Col. Weaver’s request for a few good men to help in the search for Anne and Alexis. While I appreciate Marina’s “perspective,” I feel like something else could be awry in her reasoning. And could I be mistaken in thinking she has a thing for Col. Weaver? After all, she makes it a point to see him off before they head out on their search mission.

Maggie begins to see more and more strange nuances about Hal, especially his behavior during the search mission when they find the body of a dark-haired woman. She could have easily been Anne. But we all know Hal knows differently. After all, he was part of Anne’s so-called disappearance. This darker version of Hal is the result of the probe Karen (Jessy Schram) implanted but I think there has to be darkness within for this Hal to emerge. That’s not to say Hal is an evil person, but given all the sacrifices and heartbreak everyone has had to make since the Espheni invasion of Earth, darkness always seems to find its way into everything.

During the search for Anne and Alexis, Col. Weaver’s daughter Jeanne (Laci J. Mailey) has a very pessimistic view of things. Granted, things look bleak but I fear she’s internalizing too much, which projects a gloomy future for all humankind.

Jeanne: “I’m just wondering if this is how it all ends.”

Weaver: “How what ends?”

Jeanne: “They {Espheni} can’t kill us; they can’t dominate us; so they just turn us into them—create a new species—half human, half alien?”

Thankfully, all the newborns in Charleston during the last six months are normal per Kadar’s DNA tests, and he concludes only Alexis has alien DNA. But the question remains – how?

Tom and Pope must work together if they want to make it back to Charleston alive

Tom and Pope become unlikely boy scouts as they try to survive out in the wilderness while trying to find their way back to Charleston. With Espheni reconnaissance ships checking the crash site and Skitter patrols looking for survivors, Tom and Pope need to put their differences aside and work together. Although, Pope may be justified in slugging Tom on the river bank after he tackles Pope, which hurls both of them into the raging river below. In Tom’s defense, however, they were surrounded by Skitters. What I found intriguing is the insightful look into both Tom’s past and how Pope changed from suburban dad to jail bird. But that doesn’t change the fact that Pope is right: “Charleston has a mole, everyone knows it.” And now, there may be more than one mole. With over 5,000 people in Charleston, the moles’ identities are anyone’s guess. As Tom awakens in a cozy hospital bed in Charleston, thanks to Pope—yes…Pope—he finally learns about Anne and Alexis being missing.

We are halfway through the season and things are as clear as mud. Is the machine the Volm are building really a weapon to destroy the Espheni or does it have a dual purpose – to get rid of the Espheni and change Earth into a new planet for the Volm? Will Cochise and Benjamin emerge virtually unscathed from their wreckage as Tom and Pope did or are they truly dead?

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Tune in to Falling Skies, Sundays at 10/9c, only on TNT.

For more on Falling Skies, go to http://www.tnt.tv/series/fallingskies.

Follow Falling Skies on Twitter @FallingSkiesTNT, and use hashtags #Resistance or #Aliens.

Follow some of the cast on Twitter: Matt Mason/Maxim Knight @RVRocket, Ben Mason/Connor Jessup @connorjessup , Maggie/Sarah Sanguin Carter @sanguin_carter, Hal/Drew Roy @drew_roy, Lourdes/Gabrielle Seychelle @seychellegab, John Pope/Colin Cunningham @CunninghamColin, Crazy Lee/Luciana Carro @lucianacarro, Anthony/Mpho Koaho @MphoAK, Karen/Jessy Schram @jschramer,

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Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.