We
pick up where we left off at the end of last season – in the aftermath of
the failed mission to destroy the structure over Boston and with Tom, for
reasons unfathomable, deciding to go play with the aliens.
Captain Weaver, Pope, Hal, Maggie and just about everyone
else are all playing shoot the alien (and those Mechs seem to have got rather
more dynamic than last episode) it’s a
victory but Ben (Tom’s second son, who was harnessed) – who is now fighting is
driven to finish off wounded Skitters even when the retreat has been called;
hunting down another Skitter he and Hal find Tom! Back from his alien road
trip. Who promptly collapses.
Regroup and back to the camp where Ann is tending the
wounded. Turns out Tom collapsed because Ben, in shooting the Skitter, hit Tom
who was stood behind it (awfully close). Naturally Tom, wounded and being
carried, is quick to assure Ben it’s not his fault with every noble breath. It’s
time for everyone to have a tense moment while Tom goes into surgery
And we get a flashback of what it was like for Tom in
alien captivity – including cramped and slimy prison quarters and Skitters with
tasers. Careful, skitter, that’s the Big Damn Hero you’re shocking. Karen is
around, trying to convince him in her alien monotone that she’s still the real
Karen despite the Harness. To further reassure you of her Karen-ness she has a
lovely speech on the futility of resistance and why the humans should just
surrender – yes, the Borg did a better job at being persuasive.
To further prove her “I’m still Karen" one of the tall
alien leaders uses her as a puppet to speak to Tom. He has a peace treaty for
Tom – surrender and they will relocate humanity into designated areas where
they can rule themselves – and if that sounds familiar, yes they have lifted
that straight out of history and they overtly say so. The alien uses the
blackest points in human history to justify their atrocities against humanity.
Tom demands to know why they didn’t try to negotiate for
what they wanted before attacking, why they invaded – the aliens say it was
never a negotiation and ask why Tom expects the aliens to be better than humans
are? Tom refuses to take the humans to a “neutral zone” and then has a Big Damn Hero moment, taking
the taser from the Skitter and using it on the tall leader alien. They knock
him out and later drop him off with several over captives in a field. In an
object lesson, they also drop a Mech that slaughters all the captives – except Tom
Tom was dumped in Michigan and slowly works his way back –
along the way finding a large stash of cash that he burns for heat – showing how
civilisation has fallen that money is no longer useful. He also saves one young
girl, Teresa, from a thief. She has clearly been brutalised and had everything
she has managed to save been taken from her repeatedly and her mother has been
murdered. He offers to take her to Boston with him. They go but when they
arrive at the fire-fight, Teresa refuses to go any further. She’s going to the
mountains to hide, not where people are fighting the aliens. This is where he
catches up with Ben and Hal – after he is easily killing the Skitter they end
up shooting with just a piece of metal, because he’s a Big Damn Hero.
At the camp Hal and Weaver are discussing Ben, showing
there’s still doubts about his loyalty, Tom’s improved chance of survival and tactics
– since the ambushes they’re inflicting on the aliens are supposed to be
holding actions waiting for further orders – but none are arriving and they’re
getting harder. All the other regiments are silent – they may be the last ones.
Ben and Matt have a brother moment and the kid again
assures his brother he can fight – Ben agrees to show him how (which is
reasonable. In a dystopian world like this, you can’t be raised unable to
fight). Ben has to go out again to stage another ambush to keep the aliens away
from the camp. Hal also buttonholes Ben for not following orders and not
following chain of command – though Ben makes it more a sibling rivalry thing
with a snide “you’re not dad.” This
continues with Ben giving Matt lessons without talking to Hal. Ben says Matt
needs to learn how to shoot to defend himself – but Hal wants to let Tom make
the decision. They end up sniping at each other, crossing lines – and Ben uses his
Harnessed strength to knock Hal down.
They arrive at the ambush point – but one of the alien
spaceships catch them – they have to run to cover as it blows up their truck
and bikes (the ships detect heat). Losing the bike causes the ever-sensible
Pope to lose it and try to bring the ship down with a magnum (really? He loses
it over a bike?) Returning to the camp, they discuss what happened with Weaver –
and they conclude the vehicle was the target more than the people. With air
patrols there’s no way they can keep holding ambushes.
It seems uncle Scott has dropped out and we have his
replacement, Jamil, a new character who is tasked with the job of disguising
the heat from their vehicles. Ann and Weaver also discuss how a bottle of 30
year old Glenfiddich would have to be left behind if they run – so obviously
they must drink it. Weaver blames himself for allowing Tom to get on the ship
and second-guessing his decisions to keep fighting without Tom to give him the
reassurance and even his historical anecdotes. They are interrupted by Jamil
with his fibreglass insulation to mask the vehicles and Ben telling Ann that
Tom has started bleeding again.
Arthur and Pope have a moment which seems to be bonding
or at least confused fumbling around Pope both killing Click and saving Arthur’s
life (his redemption moment) but it’s interrupted by Hal running in with
reports of aliens approaching. The convoy has to move, but they can’t move the medical
bus until Tom is stabilised – so Hal, Dai, Maggie and Ben volunteer to stay and
defend it while Ann and Lourdes operate on Tom by torchlight. They all stay low
and silent in a very tense scene as the Mech goes past.
Tense scene averted they return to the main force in the
medical bus and all is happy and shiny. We’re also treated to more interaction
between Tom and Ann where I still see zero chemistry between them. We get the
touching re-union scenes between him and the rest of the camp to show how loved
and known and respected he is.
Why is Weaver discussing tactics with Hal? Tom is his
second in command – I don’t think second in command should really be a
hereditary position, especially since he has an awful lot more older and more
experienced soldiers in the camp. At least include them in the council as well –
is Hal more informed than Dai or Arthur?
I do like the way the aliens use history. By pointing out
humanity’s atrocities, they’re not excusing or brushing over what mankind has
done in the past – but emphasising and highlighting it. The question of why we
expect aliens to be more compassionate and understanding than we, ourselves,
have been to vulnerable people is a very powerful and telling one – and also
begs the question, if humanity achieved space exploration and found a vulnerable
species, what would we do? It’s a nice twist to see the atrocities in human history
included in speculative fiction in a way that doesn’t try to remove blame.
Teresa again brings us back to what it is like to survive
in a dystopian. While we’ve seen the loss of the people in the 2nd
Massachusetts and their grief, because they’re with the group they’ve managed
to preserve some level of civilisation and the limits that brings. Teresa gives
us a glimpse, along with Maggie and Pope in the last season, of what happens to
those survivors who don’t have that shelter.
I normally am not very impressed by tension created by
putting a protagonist in peril. Protagonists are, in general, immortal, we know
they’re not going to die so both the cliffhanger from the last season and the
bullet wound in this episode fell a little flat with me. I think it does work,
to a degree, with the first episode because there’s always a chance of a season
reboot with a new protagonist, but it’s still unlikely and lacks the tension.
