Falling Skies: "What Hides Beneath"

Season 1, Episode 8

The calm before the storm could use a little more spark

Tonight’s format – the slow burn that leads up to next week’s two hour finale – was a slightly frustrating one, even if it was vitally important to the season’s narrative. The past seven episodes have mostly been about immersing the audience in this post-apocalyptic world, that in the grand scheme of things, not much has really happened to move the story forward. Certainly things have happened (despite my criticisms to the contrary), but most of these events have been small in scope – the rescuing of kids, mostly. And while these small scale stories have worked well in some cases to play up the show’s human focus, the lack of “big” plot pieces isn’t exactly befitting the show’s large sci-fi scope.

So I was pleasantly surprised when “What Hides Beneath” gave us two pieces of key mythology to move the show’s larger arc forward. The first reveal – that the Harnesses turn people/other sentient beings into Skitters – wasn’t exactly surprising to anybody who’s been paying attention over the past eight week, and here it felt a bit perfunctory, as if the show was just trying to find a place to dump this information. However, this was the first sign of the show engaging with the “big” nature of its premise, and that shows both growth and promise. As an added bonus, this reveal finally gave a little extra depth to those Ben/Rick scenes that the show still insists on doing, even if they still felt like a waste of time (just less so now). The potential that Ben and/or Rick are still transforming into Skitters does hold some promise, but until I see actual results, I’m not holding my breath.

The second reveal – that the Skitters are working for another alien life form – was something that I doubt anyone saw coming, but which has its own problems. On the positive side, introducing these new aliens  - and the strange hierarchy that they set up including human sentries like Sonia ( played by an always game Blair Brown) – would seem to point to a much deeper alien conspiracy (for lack of a better phrase). This gives the show room more wiggle room for season two, as it means that the human will (hopefully) be doing something else besides just fighting off Skitters. The show’s world has now been set up, and it’s just time to let the characters play in it. The only potential downside to these new aliens is that without having seen future episodes, it’s hard to know whether or not this will need to new plotlines, or if next season’s storylines are going to be practically the same, just replacing Skitters with New Aliens in their place.

Yet even when the episode wasn’t dealing with the larger arcs, it got some good mileage playing up the shorter terms arcs, as it did so with Pope and his fiddling with the Mech equipment. After finally learning that the human plan a strike on the structure in the center of Boston and yes, the Skitters are collecting scrap metal to continue you building the structure, we finally have an endgame for the season, something that will feel like an actual end to a storyline without closing off the series as a whole. This allows Pope, and eventually the rest of the 2^nd, to be forced to come up with a way to defeat the Mechs (by using technology the Skitters developed based on our own ammunition, natch), and this allows them now to launch an attack on the structure. It may be a short lived development, but at least it’s movement. (Though I have to wonder: Why is it that Tom seems so cool with this sudden burst of ultra-violence?)

Of course, that didn’t mean that tonight’s episode was perfect, and it was all pretty much brought down by Weaver. Now, I like Will Patton as an actor, and I think of him as a fine actor, which is why it’s irked me that the show has used for so little besides barking orders at people. I get that he’s good in that mode, but his character’s time in the background really bit this episode in the ass as he was suddenly shoved into the forefront for no other good reason than “we have to kill some time”. Honestly, I don’t know what bothered me more – that Weaver’s actions, especially his sudden insomnia, seemed so unmotivated, or that it took up so much of our time. Okay, maybe it was only a small fraction of the episode, but something about having to watch Tom go after Weaver and watch him have an emotional break down WHILE THEY’RE THREE DAYS AWAY FROM AN ASSUALT seemed to just kill any momentum this episode was achieving, and there wasn’t much to start off with. It’s not that I’m against character building, but this was neither the time nor the place. The rest of the show is gearing up for battle, so why wasn’t Weaver?

Next Week: A two hour finale, because apparently such a length is necessitated. So be sure to tune in an hour early, because you maybe kinda sorta don’t want to miss it (probably).

Leftover Thoughts:

Oh, so Karen popped up again, and now she’s harnessed – not like that was a surprise after the “previously on” segment. While I like Karen, this was kind of disappointing, as it just left me wanting more of her presence, and not the harnessed-up version.

Seriously, Blair Brown was awesome tonight, and I like how she represented the Post-Apocalyptic crazies. I hope they bring her back.

So Matt’s hanging out with/looking up to Pope. Well, we all know where this is leading….

Man, the writers just have to keep coming up with ways to keep the 2^nd at that school, don’t they? You know, sometimes it’s okay just to say “This is their base of operations” and leave it at that writers. Nobody would questions you if you would just stop bringing attention to it.

“Great, maybe you can NPR on that thing and we can bore the aliens to death.”

“Why don’t you roll Radio Free Europe there into the hallway and let me play with the heavy stuff, huh?”

“It’s going to sound like I’m joking, but take two and call me in the morning.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a ‘Made in Japan’ sticker in there.”