3.9 Journey To Xilbalba The Charleston Mole, whom we all know is Lourdes after events of episodes past, has been quite busy in her efforts to destroy the human resistance for reasons unknown. She’s planted more bombs, has somehow managed to destroy the underground mall structure that Charleston retreats to when beamers and mechs come marching in for battle, and she’s even managed to destroy the Volm weapons factory and most of the Volm not named Cochise in the process. The explosion leaves our cast scattered. Hal and Maggie are trapped in the armory, Tom, President Peralta, Anthony, and others are trapped in the cafeteria and infirmary, and others, like Weaver and Pope and the rest of the Mason clan, are trapped above ground, separated from their friends and family and on the lookout for more mole-centric explosions. It’s a good idea for an episode, fairly well written by Battlestar Galactica and DS9‘s Bradley Thompson and David Weddle (who are apparently writing every sci-fi show on television) as it allows the cast to be broken up into smaller, more manageable groups. In turn, that gives us a lot of chances for characters to talk to one another about character-specific things, which is an improvement for this show. The back-to-back scenes in which Tom goes to Weaver and Pope and tells them both to shoot him if he starts acting funny, and the way those two characters reacted to Tom’s request – Weaver looking sick and Pope practically giggling at the honour of being trusted to off Tom – was illuminating and one of the better pairings of the night. However, despite not killing off two of my least-favourite characters (to be fair, they’re the two worst-executed characters these days), the show actually turned itself in an interesting direction. Things in Charleston have seemed pretty hopeless as of late, but they have found some successes in recent weeks. Sure, they lost the help of the Volm, but they still have the weapon… maybe… and rather than being overwhelmed by the long odds of their successful strike, they all seem to be filled with renewed anger at the alien invasion and what it has taken from them all. For two seasons, Falling Skies has been focused on the strength of the human spirit, which Cochise has identified as humanity’s strongest trait, but now it seems like that strength is taking a new form. No longer does it depend on being trusting, believing the best in people, and loving one another. Now it seems to be taking the form of that indomitable human desire to crush those that stand in our way and get revenge on those who wrong us. Here’s hoping Tom’s new burning anger lingers with him even after the inevitable reveal that Anne and Lexie aren’t actually dead (because there’s no way Falling Skies would let THAT happen). US Correspondent Ron Hogan would never survive being trapped underground with limited oxygen and no way out; he can barely stand long car rides. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Please, if you can, support our charity horror stories ebook, Den Of Eek!, raising money for Geeks Vs Cancer. Details here.
