Falling Skies: Be Silent and Come Out, You Are Running Out Of Ammo!

Welcome back Falling Skies fans,

This episode, “Be Silent and Come Out”, was strangely named. Although it does allude to the story line, it seemed clumsy to me. Please, writers, do not get lazy. That is often the death of a series.

Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) is back on his feet and mad as hell. His focus is to get Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and the baby back. Naturally, Karen (Jessie Schram) is holding them both.

Tom’s crusade continues when he does not get enough information from a Skitter to satisfy him, and he has no intention to wait around for more information. Weaver (Will Patton), of course, opposes Tom’s reckless behaviour. So do just about everyone else except for Hal (Drew Roy) who is entirely far too gung ho about heading out after Anne.

Fortunately, Weaver talks Tom out of racing off after Anne and the baby. This does not please Hal, who is definitely not acting very Hal-like. Marina (Gloria Reuben) pulls Tom aside to talk to him about what she has discovered about the Volm.

Her concern is that the Volm are keeping too many secrets from them. Tom Mason basically tells Marina to mind her own business about the Volm and the weapon.

Then, Hal re-appears. He has brought transport. He also punches Marina in the jaw, knocking her out. He then holds a gun on his father. This can only be described as a good old fashioned kidnapping. Maggie (Sarah Carter) happens to be nearby, so Marina tells her what has happened.

Maggie runs toward a large gun emplacement and fires the weapon at the tires of the get-away vehicle. This puts a stop to the transportation, but now Hal pulls Tom along with him as he attempts to escape. The two end up inside a wrecked third floor apartment overlooking the area Hal just left.

Tom puts things together quickly, “You’re not my son!” he demands. No, Professor, he’s not. So, despite a weak attempt to grab the weapon that Hal leaves against the wall, Tom does not manage to get away, but does get his leg stomped on by his son.  Hal does make an offer for Tom. All he has to do is tell Hal about the Volm weapon and he can have Anne and Alexis back. Tom’s answer is, ‘no’.

Anthony (Mpho Koaho) takes this opportunity to morph from investigative police officer to military officer as he fills Weaver in on the details regarding the latest “intel”. Hal has chosen his position well. He can see in all directions.

What caused Hal to go off the rails? That is what Weaver and Marina want to know. Maggie admits to them that Hal has been acting weird for a while now, and she should have told them.

Pope (Colin Cunningham), always the ray of sunshine, immediately blames Maggie that she is the reason their president is now being held hostage. Weaver announces that this is not the time for finger pointing. They need to figure a way to get Hal and Tom out of the building unharmed.

Pope, of course, does not listen. He seems to revel in the opportunity to verbally attack Tom and Hal Mason. He even takes a shot at Ben (Connor Jessup), calling him “spike boy”. This leads to a punch in the face and a fight. The fight does not last long as Pope and Ben get pulled apart. Weaver threatens to have them both removed. Eventually, I think, one of the Masons will really have a go at Pope.

At this point, the writers introduce something new to the story line. As Weaver asks Tector (Ryan Robbins) to cover him and shouts to Hal that he will be coming out unarmed, Marina seems more solicitous of Weaver’s well being than might be expected, causing Weaver to give her an odd look. Is Marina carrying a torch for Weaver?

 

The back and forth between Weaver on the ground, Hal watching from above and Tom, trying to reach his son, begins. Hal seems to struggle with the control of the alien mechanism inside of him. The alien wins and Hal demands safe passage to the perimeter.

Weaver tells Hal that he will not grant that request, so, in order to show that he means what he says, Hal begins firing at Weaver’s feet. Pope and his boys return fire. Weaver is not pleased by this, “I said, no shooting!”

Back in the apartment, Hal is lying face down on the floor, possibly unconscious. Tom, instead of grabbing the weapons, and then pointing them at his son, wakes him up instead without making any effort to reach the weapons.

Come on, writers, you can do better than this. This behaviour is not likely for anyone; even a parent.

Now that Hal is conscious, Weaver agrees to a Humvee to get them to the perimeter, but they will need to get a new one gassed up and ready to go. Meanwhile, Pope is still ranting.

Why is it, he demands that anyone else but the Masons who acted like an alien would get shot and killed. Weaver’s reply is to send Pope and the Berserkers away. Pope is more than willing to oblige.

Next, Marina asks Tector is he has the ability to kill Hal if it becomes necessary. Yes, he tells her. Marina continues to inform Weaver that if he cannot make the call to save Tom, if it comes down to it, she will relieve him.

Matt (Maxim Knight) gets his first opportunity to express his feelings about the current events. Maggie is also frustrated because she cannot get in without being seen. There is a way, Matt admits. Sometimes, the expression that, “a child shall lead them” seems very appropriate in this show. Ben also intends to come along.

We get a good look, in this episode, at Pope’s enterprise. He has created a bar of sorts and is happily laying odds on the Masons. However, one fellow sees this as an opportunity to make the wager go whichever way that Pope would want it to. Pope immediately tells him that this is just a friendly wager and not a call to action. Is he serious or just protecting himself?

While Ben, Matt and Maggie sneak up to the apartment unseen, Tom talks to Hal about how he blames himself for not spending enough time with Hal. Tom also pulls at Hal’s heart strings with the, “I wish your mom could see the man that you’ve become”, line. Hal does not offer the quivering lip image, but he is pretty close with the furrowed brow.

Maggie, Matt and Ben arrive outside the apartment. Maggie enters, giving Hal two targets to choose from. Ben, on the other hand, has disappeared into the next apartment. Matt is left alone outside.

Maggie gives Hal the, “you’re stronger than Karen”, speech. Then Matt enters. If it were me, I would be very upset that my youngest child put himself in harm’s way like that.

As Tom tries to convince himself as much as Hal that Hal is not going to hurt his family, Hal turns the weapon on himself, aiming it upward through his jaw. That is when Ben reappears from behind and grabs the weapon.

A struggle ensues; the gun goes off. Hal is now bleeding from the side of his face where he fired the weapon. Down on the ground, Weaver has obviously heard the shot. He tells Anthony to lead his men into the building.

Hal has made it. He is alive. As Pope adds, …”and kicking”. He will not be paying out any winnings until the family drama is sorted out. That Pope sure is a nice guy…or not. The next pool, Pope announces, will be if Hal Mason is charged with espionage, murder, or if he will walk.

Then, Weaver walks in, not looking overly pleased. He orders a whiskey while everyone in the bar, including Pope wait on pins and needles for what may happen.

Pope gets tired of waiting and approaches Weaver at the bar. It looks as if he may be attempting to make peace. Weaver will have none of it. He grabs Pope roughly, “If anybody tries to affect the odds on that board one way or the other, I will personally mount your head on the wall of this establishment”. Weaver leaves.

Quietly, Pope tells Lyall (Brad Kelly) to head over to the infirmary and make sure that no one tries to do anything to Hal.

At the Infirmary, Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel) makes her first appearance. She tells the Mason clan that Hal’s wounds are not fatal. However, if there is something in his head causing him to act the way he did, the best people to ask are the ones who put it there.

Since the “fish-heads” are not overly friendly, the next best choices are the Rebel Skitters. The Rebel Skitter leader gives Tom the means to destroy the bug. As with all dramas though, the writers add the, “if it doesn’t save him, it will kill him”, story line tactic.

As Hal waits for surgery to commence, he pleads with Maggie, then his dad, Tom Mason, not to do this to him; the bug is gone, he says. It must be the hardest thing to do not to listen to Hal and let him go. Instead, they stand tough and let Lourdes go through with the procedure.

Then, Hal’s heart stops and Lourdes administers CPR and epinephrine. Fortunately, that works. The scene moves to Tom dozing in the chair next to Hal’s bed.

When Hal wakes up, he remembers nothing of his adventures under the control of the alien bug. Maggie informs Hal that his last memory was a week ago. “I’m the mole”, Hal says, still confused. Tom tells him, “Not anymore”.

Later, Marina finds Tom inside his office, getting ready to go after Anne and the baby. He tells her that although it could be a trap, he is fighting for the people he loves, with the people he loves, and that should give him an edge. He also hands her a file. It is all about “Project Orange”, everything she needs to know about the Volm weapon. He tells her that it also contains his letter of resignation, effective, immediately.

Hal says goodbye to Maggie and Tom says goodbye to Weaver, not quite in the same way, thank goodness. They do show, however, that they are very good friends and that they depend on each other. They ride off into who knows what as Marina is sworn in as the new President of the New United States.

This was not one of my favorite episodes. It really did not move the story forward much and it made Pope seem even more horrible than usual.

Yes, he is a prickly personality, but he should have been written with a bit more class. No one is miserable all the time.

If his character is to stick around, he needs to show that he can be a decent guy from time to time. Otherwise, in reality, he would end up with a bullet in his back.

Tom Mason also seems to have been given too much to handle. As President, he spends more time looking after the mistakes his boys have made, than running the New United States. Then, he seems to constantly feel guilty and apologetic to his sons for not being there for them. At the end of the episode, Tom finally makes a decision to focus on his family instead of trying to run things. Finally! How about Pope for President? Now that would be a cool episode.

As a final comment, I would like to congratulate the special effects team for this week’s episode. the creepiness of the “cure” for Hal’s bug and how it was administered was Grade A+ horror at it’s finest. Well done.

Thanks to Kenn for assisting with the audio embeds for my Falling Skies review and analysis. And thanks to you for stopping by WormholeRiders News Agency!

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Regards.

ArcticGoddess1 (Patricia)