Falling Skies Season 2, Episode 4 Young Bloods

Falling Skies Season 2 Ep. 4  Young Bloods

Recap:

The cold open shows Matt being stalked by Skitters.  Just about the time you start to think he might be dreaming, the Skitters’ heads explode all over Matt.  I guess Matt is now working as Skitter bait for two redneck doofuses, Tek and Boone.

Ben and Hal get their bikes stolen, so Ben uses his super hearing to track them.  Tom and Doc share an intimate moment over a chocolate pie, until they are cockblocked by Lourdes.  Aw, it’s good that they didn’t spend too much time dragging out their relationship.  I think in any disaster scenario, you’ve got to take your joy where you can find it.

Ben and Hal find an enclave of kids.  After the requisite dick-swinging with leader of this gang of malnourished ruffians, Diego, they decide to talk rather than shoot.  He accepts Hal’s offer to get the group some food.  Tom finds out that Matt was involved in the Skitter hunt and he puts both the doufuses on latrine duty.  Tek is respectful and apologizes; Boone is defiant.   Matt is embarrassed and runs off.  Later Tom tries to apologize, but Matt blows him off.

Hal brings some of the ruffians back to camp, and in a pretty good surprise, the girl turns out to be Jeannie, Captain Weaver’s daughter.  He apologizes for not finding her before her mother and sister died.  Lourdes asks Diego about some family in Mexico and he tells her that the town was wiped out.  Diego bonds with Matt a little.  When they return to the ruffian hideout, the Skitters have been there and taken everybody.  Only one kid is left to sledgehammer the plot.  The 2^nd Mass realizes that the new building they have been scouting is a harness facility.   Diego defies Weaver’s orders and Weaver flips out a little.  Jeanie takes exception, yells at Weaver, and leaves with Diego to rescue his people.  Matt, with something to prove, comes along for the ride too. 

Weaver talks with Tom about his family and his regrets.  Tom tells Weaver that if he could just talk straight to her, he could change their relationship.  Weaver, Tom, Ben, Hal, Dai, Margret, and Tek go on the rescue mission.  In a plot turn that surprises nobody, Diego’s band was all captured and is now headed to the harnessing chamber.  Matt, Jeanie, and a redshirt kid are all tied up face down like on a massage table.  Even though this is really predictable, it is still pretty scary.  Being face down like that just adds to the helpless feeling.  The harnessing bug crawls down a chute—yes crawls!  The things are alive and sentient.  Double yuck!  It takes over the redshirt boy.  We see for the first time this season a matronly Skitter who runs the facility.  Also creepy.  Tom busts in and kills the Skitter, then the harnessing bug before it can get Matt and Jeanie.  Man, I thought for sure they would get taken.  J  Ben reacts to the pool of fluid where the harnesses are kept.  Hal sees his spikes glow blue, then Ben and the others destroy the harnesses.  One of the harnesses attacks the captain and bites his leg.  It’s not made out to be a big deal, but who knows?  Dai and Margret rescue all the other hostages.    

Weaver gives his daughter the compass from episode 3 and apologizes for being a jerk.  Diego and the others are leaving, which surprised me, I figured they would be joining the 2^nd Mass.  Jeanie talks to Weaver about saying goodbye to Diego, but it’s pretty clear she is saying goodbye to him.  Ben and Hal share a rare stick of gum.  Ben doesn’t want to talk about his glowing spikes and swears Hal to secrecy.  Ben is afraid that he will be killed by the survivors if 

                                                                                       they knew. 

Tom puts Tek back on active duty and tells him to keep Boone in line.  Jamil comforts Lourdes.  Jeanie leaves a note for Weaver and takes off with Diego.  Weaver weeps.  Matt decides he could use a little comfort too, and sleeps in the same cot as Tom.

Opinion:

They are doing a much better job of breaking the tension in these episodes than they did last year.  It was still a really long, slow conclusion, but there were quiet, more tender moments in the middle too.

No Red-eye or Pope at all in this episode.  Dai has no lines either.

I love the scenes with the mother Skitter.  There was a really creepy one last year where a mother Skitter was cuddled up with a half dozen harnessed tweens.  The idea of a nurturing monster like this is really innovative.  Solid work.

They show Tom and Hal helping the harnessed redshirt boy, but we never see what becomes of him.  He looks too similar to Matt to be on the series, I’d guess.  

The battlin’ Mason boys all did pretty well this week.  Even Matt was good in his scenes.

They are going with a very slow build on the Hal/Margret relationship.  I think that is working.

Grade: 

Another solid effort here.  The scene with the harnessing center was quite tense, even though the outcome was pretty obvious.  I was surprised that Diego and Jeanie didn’t become a part of the 2^nd Mass.  I’d like to see this episode as renewing Weaver’s desire to get the aliens off the planet, since now he has something personal to fight for.  B+

Second Watch Review:

Noah Wile and producer Greg Beeman are there with Wil.  He reveals that the harness creatures are mostly puppets with some enhanced CGI.  Noah and Wil discus the perils of giving your child freedom versus keeping them safe.  They then discuss the changes in Tom and Weavers’ characters.  Wil tries to get a spoiler on the return of Jeanie, but nothing is forthcoming.  Wil then asks about whether Tom can be trusted, and Noah refuses to give any real info, but he does reveal some insight into Tom’s character.  

This episode is not live, which I think the others were, and the audience seems like a bunch of ringers.  However, that means that the questions are a little more coherent than usual, so I guess I don’t really mind.  Greg reveals that Connor Jessup, who plays Ben, was not a naturally athletic kid, and he really had to work hard to bulk up and be the warrior character he needs to be.  

Wil seemed really comfortable on this episode.  He was not using cue cards and spoke with his hands in a very Wil-like fashion.  I enjoyed this episode more than the other two, but to be honest if I didn’t want to support Wil and write about it in the reviews; I doubt I would bother watching.  The info from the actors is just not that compelling.  They aren’t going to be able to join in on the speculation with us, since they know how it all ends, and that’s really the fun part. 

Thanks to Fanpop.com, wn.com, tv.com, for the pictures!