Mikes Film Talk

With last week’s climatic showdown, Respite; the Falling Skies episode this week, ends up giving Tom Mason a break from all things 2nd Mass. During his shoot out with Pope, after being shot in the leg, Mason gets carried off by a giant hornet. Hal escapes his captor with Jessica’s help and he immediately sets off to find his dad. Pope is left out of the equation this week and the show focuses on the Masons with a little time set aside for the Marty/Weaver story arc, the transmitter, and the Ben/Maggie thread.

Tom Mason wakes up in a bed, with a woman he thinks at first is Rebecca treating the wounds on his face. He has been reacts badly to her presence and the woman leaves the room locking the door behind her. Mason finds a weapon, something that looks like a big emery board, and a older man enters with a rifle. After a brief standoff explanations are given from both sides.

The leader of the 2nd Mass is in a part of North Carolina that has not been touched by the war. The man, his daughter and her three children are staying out of the fight. Mason gets a break from the war, and it is overwhelming; he cries at dinner and tells the family that he is fine when asked.

The woman is Alicia (played by Chelah Horsdal) and she lost her husband to another war and she wants to protect her family. Her oldest son, Kyle, strains boundaries and wants to know what is really going on. When he learns about the conflict from Tom the 15 year-old wants to join the effort.

Back at the 2nd Mass, Weaver is having a hard time accepting the fawning gratitude of Marty, the grief-stricken and slightly mad father from last week’s episode, who shot Daniel. As they bivouac for the night, Marty is so intrusive that he is making Weaver uncomfortable; arranging his backpack and tent, and finally Weaver asks Marty to find him a bottle of whiskey.

They have followed the signal to a distillery and Weaver has split the 2nd Mass into separate groups to search for the source; the transmitter. Maggie asks Anne to take out her spikes, that Ben gave her, and Anne says no. Glass tells her that later they can talk about removing them, but now she needs her “super soldier.”

Cochise tells the girl that he will take them out. Later, he attempts to remove the three spikes and on the last one, problems arise. The final spike attempts to dig in further and starts cutting of Maggie’s spinal cord. Cochise gets Anne who steps in to finish the procedure. The spikes are successfully removed and Ben is upset that Maggie had them taken out.

“I gave you part of me,” Ben says, “and you threw them into the trash.” Ben also tells Maggie that he loves her. Meanwhile Tom continues to heal and bond with the little family who saved him from the giant hornet. Hal and Jessica are also bonding as they search for Tom. On the way they find the giant hornet, it is wounded but still alive. Hal empties his gun’s clip into the creature and Jessica tells him that it is dead.

At the hornet’s body, Jessica notices wheeled tracks that lead away and they follow the trail. Earlier, Jessica revealed that her father was a diplomat who taught her people were essentially good inside, she tells Hal that she learned differently. These two could turn into an item, they certainly relate well, and use humor in their conversation. Hal mentions Jessica helping him to “escape” and she replies “you mean when I rescued you…”

Back at the distillery, Marty has gone off to find his hero and savior a bottle of whiskey. Just as he finds the elusive item, he sees something glowing underneath some wooden flooring. He pries a board up and finds the Espheni transmitter. Telling Weaver, Marty gets more praise for his find than for the whiskey and it looks like this may turn the tide of the war.

Back at the “farm” or at least a good rural facsimile of a farm, Tom has to tell Alicia’s oldest son about the war that she has hidden from him. The boy finds remains of a Megamech and Kyle tells Tom that he wants to be a fighter like his late father.

The episode ends with the family staying where they are, Hal finding Tom and returning to the 2nd Mass. Ben is upset, as is Anne; although she is angrier at Cochise, “you want to explain to me what you thought you were doing,” she asks him and he replies, “Not really.” Jessica may have bonded with Hal, but when they get back to the new camp, the existence of Maggie, who she was aware of, puts the dampers on this burgeoning relationship.

Director Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction) does brilliant job at his third stint in the director’s seat for the show. Frakes also directed Journey to Xibalba (2013) and Door Number Three (2014) for the series. He exhibits a deft touch at the family scenes and with allowing Noah Wyle’s character to relax and reflect for a moment.

This final season of Falling Skies is moving rapidly along and setting up for a big finish. Several questions remain, will Hal and Jessica become an item? Is John Pope going to spring up later like some evil jack in the box? Will Ben forgive Maggie and will Weaver get fed up with Marty’s hero worship.

Perhaps the only real problem with Respite, was the presence of Alicia’s father who felt quite a lot like a Hershel Green retread. Certainly the character was not a carbon copy, the chap had both of his legs for a start and he was not an alcoholic. In terms of filling the “wise old man” role, however, Alicia’s pop was a dead ringer for Hershel from The Walking Dead. This comparison, which springs immediately to mind when watching the episode, took away from the story although not enough for the viewer to not “well up” when Tom breaks down later at the family meal.

By the time the end credits roll, Tom has learned about the transmitter and Weaver is excited about the thought of defeating the enemy. Falling Skies airs Sundays on TNT and fans of Noah Wyle, Will Patton, Sarah Carter and Moon Bloodgood will not want to miss this final season.