Falling Skies - S3E9 - Journey to Xibalba
Previously on Falling Skies, ‘Strange Brew’
Tom floats back into Boston to no fanfare at all, having commandeered a sailboat. He reunites with the boys informing them that Anne and Alexis are dead. Everyone is upset. He instructs the boys to bottle up their anger to use against the Espheni.
Tom meets with General Porter and Weaver to discuss the intel he’s gathered on his trip back from Boston. He mentions that he’s encountered countless lifeless mechs, reasoning that this is due to the destruction of the nuclear plant earlier this season. He wants to change the target to Boston, now that it’s clear that Boston is the base of operations, though it’s clear that what he really wants is to repay Karen for killing Anne and Alexis. While General Porter agrees that killing Karen would cut the head off the snake, he has doubts about the change in plans. When Tom asks to come along on the attack, Weaver makes it clear he is suspicious of Tom, as Karen could have bugged him. Tom acknowledges the suspicion but denies that he is bugged, going on a tirade that makes it clear that, bugged or not, he is coming unhinged. After Tom is dismissed, Weaver and the general discuss the likelihood that Tom is telling the truth about the toll the reactor has taken, and whether or not to trust him, given that he very likely could be a mole again. They agree that if he is telling the truth, Boston might be the best target.
Tom runs into Cochise on the way out of the war room, and they walk together discussing grief. Cochise says more wise things, and seems to calm the crazy out of Tom for a bit.
Tom goes to meet with Pope. He wants to be certain that Pope will shoot him should he do anything that indicates he has been bugged. As Pope promises that he will, the entire Volm complex explodes!
Tom and Pope find a gravely injured but still breathing Cochise. They rush him to the infirmary, where Lourdes begs off being able to treat him, due to her lack of knowledge of Volm physiology (and her still-hidden Espheni motives). Cochise informs them that his body will regenerate if left alone, letting her off the hook.
Cut to Lourdes below a stairwell in the Charleston complex, planting a glowing red pod/bomb, which quickly begins to creepily grow roots. She closes up the door just before Weaver passes her by. He gives her a curious look, but is too busy to follow up on it. He tells her to get back below and be ready for more casualties.
Hal runs into Maggie in the armory. They discuss making Karen pay for what she’s done, as we cut to the pod/bomb, still growing, its roots creeping further and further and beginning to glow the same red as the pod. The building begins to shake and the armory ceiling caves in. Hal recovers, finding Maggie unconscious and not breathing. Some quick CPR brings her around.
We soon discover that more than the armory was affected as we see Tom and Marina crawling out of the rubble. Cut to Weaver and Ben organizing a team trying to dig people out of the wreckage. Ben’s super-hearing has given them hope that some folks managed to survive the blast. Much to Weaver’s surprise, Pope’s team is working the hardest to dig through. Matt suggests checking the drainage tunnels, so Weaver sends he and Ben to go check them.
Tom and Marina find Lourdes unconscious. They carry her to the infirmary where they find General Porter, who informs them that all the main exits to the south have been blocked off but there may be some northern exits left open. Lourdes is wheeled away, and we discover she’s playing possum, her plan successful, apparently to get close to the incapacitated Cochise.
Anthony and Tom discover that the northern exits are blocked as well. The two investigate a scratching sound coming from the ventilation system, and almost throw a grenade in the face of Dr. Kadar, who is disappointed to discover that he has not found his way to the surface.
Hal and Maggie fight about the best way to get out, eventually arguing their way around to their real issue, which is Maggie being upset that Hal didn’t take her along to help rescue Anne and Alexis.
Back in the infirmary, Tom, Anthony, and Dr. Kadar discuss blasting their way out using explosives, and Dr. Kadar channels his best MacGyver, and gives them a list of miscellany to collect to complete his grand escape plan.
Lourdes gives Tom a big crybaby show about blaming herself for Anne and Alexis, and almost sells it, until she drops a line about Anne dying back where this all started. Tom pauses at the phrase, but lets it go. He leaves her, and she gives Cochise an evil glare, producing a scalpel from her pocket.
More Maggie and Hal trying to dig their way out, running out of air, and making no headway. Hal starts wondering if he planted the bombs when he was bugged. There’s a lot of out-of-breath whining and feeling sorry, and they hug.
Dr. Kadar has completed his Rube Goldberg escape bomb, only to notice at the last minute that a critical support beam nearby has a crack, which could cause the explosion to collapse the entire hall, rather than breaching their way to safety. Anthony pouts that they’re right back where they started, and Lourdes’ comment from earlier clicks in Tom’s mind.
Tom catches Lourdes just as she is preparing to kill Cochise, but doesn’t let on that he’s seen anything. He tells Lourdes that there’s an emergency, and he needs her help. He leads her quickly through the fallen rubble to a seemingly injured Anthony. Lourdes bends over to treat him, and Anthony puts a gun in her face. There ensues some frantic back and forth, as Lourdes in a panic tries to explain her way out, but she finally pulls her Espheni pistol. She and Tom wrestle over it, and it goes off, the blast throwing her back and knocking her unconscious.
Matt and Ben are searching the tunnels for a way in, when Maggie begins tapping on a water pipe in her delirium. Ben tracks the noise to a broken pipe, and gets Maggie to break the pipe on her end (with the pipe wrench that of course they have, because they’re in the armory; a traditional storage location for plumbing supplies.), giving them fresh air. Matt runs to get a team to excavate them.
Back in the infirmary, Jeanne, Anthony, and Tom discuss how Lourdes could have been bugged. Lourdes wakes up and begins to berate Tom for his decisions, playing the usual Espheni mind games, trying to undermine his confidence. Tom apparently takes that as a call to make another questionable decision, as he grabs the Espheni pistol, and shoots Kadar’s makeshift bomb. Amazingly this kills no one, and blasts a hole to the surface.
Reunions are made, and the fact that Lourdes was the mole spreads through the camp, much to the relief of Hal.
Cochise is now fully recovered, and he and Tom look upon the wreckage of the Volm complex. Cochise is the only surviving Volm, and though he is convinced that the weapon remains unharmed beneath the wreckage, all his engineers are dead, and he does not possess the knowledge to operate it himself. Tom offers Dr. Kadar’s help, because, you know, he’s smart and stuff.
Jonathan Frakes does the best he can directing this episode, but apparently not even Number 2 can completely hide the smell of poop that’s starting to emanate from this show. I was again disappointed in the writers’ complete lack of anything resembling testicles in regards to the risks they are willing to take with the plot line. Their complete refusal to enact the death of any but the most vestigial characters is boring me to no end. If everyone is safe, where’s the tension? We would be in a much more interesting scenario if ALL the Volm died. The death of Cochise, being a character we have come to care about, would make the attack that much more tragic, and Kadar having to figure out the Volm equipment all on his own would be much more compelling television.
Join me next week when the Volm engineers rise as alien zombies, and we take an animated romp through Pope’s head when he is rendered unconscious by accidentally tying his ponytail too tight.
