Falling Skies: Season Five, Episode Three – “Hatchlings”

First Aired July 12th, 2015.

Tom (played by Noah Wyle) and Anne (played by Moon Bloodgood) inform the others about the large Skitter hive they found in the woods. Dingaan (played by Treva Etienne) uses a Volm invention to wipe them all out in a stealth attack.

Cochise (played by Doug Jones) sends a recorded message of Tom to the other human militias and reports that over 50% of Espheni technology has been destroyed. Tom and Hal (played by Drew Roy) go back to where the hive was and find just as many as before. Anne theorizes there may be so many because they’re breeding, because the Espheni aren’t able to use their machinery anymore, they are the only weapons available. Maggie (played by Sarah Carter) tries to connect with Caitlin (played by Julia Stone) who’s understandably pissed they lied about curing her mutated brother, Brian. Brian uses Maggie’s spikes to briefly communicate with Caitlin and Maggie is able to feel Brian’s internal pain about hurting his sister. Brian later escapes and drags Caitlin with him, Tom refuses to let anyone hunt them down but Maggie feels responsible for Caitlin and goes after them. Hal goes with her and they find Brian holding Caitlin hostage with an Overlord. The Overlord orders Brian to kill Caitlin before returning to his “pack” but Hal stabs the Overlord. Brian gets ahold of Hal’s gun and accidently shoots Caitlin and commits suicide out of guilt; Maggie comforts Caitlin until she dies.

Anyone who’s ever had a horrible bug infestation will tell you that getting rid of them is a huge pain in the ass. When it seemed the Skitter horde was destroyed in the opening scene I wasn’t fooled. Unless there was a dramatic drop in the writing quality they couldn’t have destroyed the threat that fast. Can I just point out how hilarious it is that the Espheni’s last resort is seemingly for the Skitters to get frisky and become baby-making machines? They might have won the war if they spent less time building machines and more time creating Skitter love nests. Caitlin and Brian were bit characters but they made a surprisingly strong impact on the show. In just two episodes they became engaging characters that I became invested in and they definitely had a memorable exit. Although they’re relationship was uncomfortably similar to that of an abusive husband and his spouse (Brian always hurt Caitlin, felt bad about it but kept doing it and in the end Brian killed her).

Pope (played by Colin Cunningham) and Sara played by Mira Sorvino) are patrolling in the woods when she’s caught inside a cement-like Espheni fog. Pope goes back to camp to get a flamethrower to free her but not before they exchange professions of love. Ben (played by Connor Jessup) and Maggie use their combined spikes to infiltrate the captive Overlord’s mind while it’s tortured by Tom (hurting them in the process). They learn the Overlord is close to creating enough Skitters to overrun the 2^nd Mass and that he is reporting a new “larger” boss. Pope demands a rescue mission go after Sara but Tom refuses to do anything until they destroy the Skitter threat. Tom leads a group to destroy a warehouse where the Skitters are being mass produced and blow it up, however Anthony (played by Mpho Koaho) nearly jeopardized the mission because he froze. When they get to where Sara is trapped, they arrive moments after she died in a devastated Pope’s arms.

I wasn’t expecting the Skitters to be born out of that weird sludge but I guess that’s more television-friendly than a Skitter breeding ground. The action piece wasn’t very drawn out but that’s because the real drama was whether they would be able to save Sara. Pope was right to call out Tom; if it had been Anne or one of his kids, Tom would have run out immediately to save them. I don’t see why he couldn’t send out a few other people with Pope to save Sara rather than leaving her out there alone. Pope and Sara’s love affair has been a great developing story, maybe even better than Tom and Anne’s love story. Her death was a huge shock because her new romance with Pope was just getting off the ground, I figured the situation was going to strengthen Pope and Sara’s relationship. Instead it’ll be the catalyst for Pope’s mental breakdown and it’ll lead to the return of Pope’s explosive behavior.

Anthony later kills the captured Overlord after thinking it was activating some kind of weapon. Although there is no weapon in sight Anthony believes the Overlord had it coming regardless, Anne believes that he is suffering from PTSD and he is removed from active duty. Meanwhile, Pope believes Tom’s decision to not save Sara first cost her life and he angrily stares Tom down at camp. That Overlord was clearly trying to die to keep Tom from getting any information, and I’m sorry but Anthony’s PTSD still isn’t very interesting to me. I feel like he’s a character I’m just getting to know even though he’s been here the entire time which makes me not care very much. I am, however, very much looking forward to watching Pope go on a rampage now that he’s lost the woman he loved.

Quotes & Thoughts

“That mutant has a name you know.” “Yeah, it used to have a name, now it’s a goddamned Espheni.”

Anthony should just have a very memorable, maybe even heroic death and be written off the show. He’s taking screen time away from more interesting characters.

“We get Sara first, Mason. This time my family comes first.”

I can’t wait to see Pope back to his old self, it should make things very interesting.

If you enjoyed Manny’s fall, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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