What I’m Watching: Falling Skies

Falling Skies: Season 2, Episode 5 “Love and Other Acts of Courage” (B-)

Well, here’s a curveball. The introduction of a group of rebel aliens is rather unexpected given that there’s been little to indicate that, and it seems like a necessary device to get the plot back on track so that the Second Mass doesn’t get annihilated on the way to Charleston. Even if that is the case, aliens fighting aliens is cool, and I’m all for it. It’s a shame that Weaver won’t listen to reason and that even Tom took a while to convince. Rick’s return was short-lived but decently crucial, especially because it seems to have woken both Weaver and Tom up to the fact that the harnessed kids essentially just do the bidding of the aliens, meaning that they can’t be trusted. Tom won’t have to worry about leaving Ben behind since he’s all set to head out anyway, which will hopefully be a productive decision rather than a devastating separation given the lengths Tom went to in order to find his son last season. I cannot believe that it’s taken Hal and Maggie this long to get together, though it seems that they didn’t even do it now since she’s so adamantly opposed to a relationship. Bringing up Karen was a rather cold move, though Maggie hasn’t exactly proven herself to be considerate, demonstrating more emotion in this one hour than she has in the entirety of the series thus far. Hal’s become wound a bit too tightly, and he could use a bit of romance to loosen himself up.