5.8 Stalag 14th Virginia It hasn’t been all bad. The Katie Marshall story line has been okay, thanks to Melora Hardin’s ability to act frigid and weird when appropriate, and it’s been nice to see the Second Mass caught by surprise, but it plays out exactly the way it’s supposed to. There are betrayals, there are reversals, people escape, people come storming in to the rescue, and only the bad guys really seem to die aside from one martyr to the cause of justice (and he spent most of his time on the show being a jerk to the Masons). Tom, Hal, and Ben Mason face the firing squad after being found guilty for treason thanks to their various and sundry alien run-ins, from eye worms to beamer flights and neck spikes. All they’ve done, all they’ve said, all their heroism, is meaningless to Katie Marshall, and her word is the only one that counts among the soldiers left in Norfolk’s naval base. After all, she’s the boss. A paranoid, dangerous, strangely different boss who is under the sway of an overlord, but the boss nonetheless. What she says goes, at least until Tom and Weaver start picking out sympathetic people and winning them over to the Second Mass side with an assortment of rousing speeches and convincing arguments courtesy of scripter Jack Kenny. Of course, the fact that a few days before these arguments fell on deaf ears isn’t exactly rectified, but I guess the commanding officer’s slow descent into paranoia and willingness to scrap trials for summary executions might change some minds. All in all, the end result is the Second Mass pick up some extra fighters and guns, a couple of terrible people end up getting killed, and two new types of alien are introduced – one being a humanoid-type with black blood (possibly a pod person) and the other being some sort of semi-mythical uber-Overlord type that, until now, has remained unmentioned by Cochise and the other Volm. It’s pretty convenient how that works. Also, one of the turncoat soldiers escapes from camp after nearly getting Anne killed and runs smack dab into Pope and his Woodbury Jr. fight club establishment. This week definitely had its moments, but for all the rah-rah speeches, it still doesn’t feel like the alien threat is being taken seriously enough, and characters seem to be making dumb decisions for drama-based reasons. After all, Anne spilling the guts about her weird alien child is probably a bad idea around strangers, particularly ones looking for any reason to call you a traitor and put a round into your head. Still, perhaps the Second Mass are compromised by their insular nature and their lack of contact with people who don’t understand their unusual history. I’ve turned on this series slowly, but I’ve turned. One step forward, two steps back, and the occasional Charleston from side to side in between. I can hope for a great finale all I want, but I’m not confident at all that it’s going to happen. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, Everybody Has Their Reasons, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan is just waiting for the finale to be a let-down. Maybe not, but… let’s not kid ourselves. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
