Falling Skies 1x07 Review

Episode Title: Sanctuary(Part 2).
Overall Season Rating: B
Episode Rating: B+

It's rare for shows to have two part episodes in the middle of a season like this, and I think it was a cool idea here. Doctor Who does it all the time, so why not Falling Skies. This episode continues to show the improvement of certain characters, but also has several moments that make you scratch your head. I want to point out here, that last week I called Clayton "Clinton" by accident. The fact that no one pointed this out suggest either no one cared, or no one read the blog. Since I know the latter is not the case thank you for understanding a simply mistake.

There are a few surprises in the episode too. One of them is shocking, and really shows what the show is willing to do. This is not a nice happy show where everyone comes home at the end of the day. The other surprise was suspected beforehand, but was revealed in a very creepy way. Read on for the episode recap.

The episode starts with the kids playing soccer at the new compound of the 7th Mass. During the game one of the girls tells Clayton that she likes the new people. He tells her "Don't like them too much". This was a cool way of showing us that this deal isn't all Clayton. The entire compound knows about it, and is going along with it. When you actually think about it, it's very horrifying. These people gave up their own children so they could survive. I don't know about anyone else, but I would think most parents would rather die than see their kids in the hands of the Skitters. Later Pope mentions that he really must have used some Tony Robbins stuff on them to make them so along with it. For those who may not remember, Tony Robbins was a motivational speaker who was quite popular several years ago. You may remember him as the freakishly tall guy who appeared in the movie Shallow Hall. They Tell Pope that "It's not about winning or losing, it's about surviving". If the Skitters take all the kids the Human race won't survive for very long, so I don't get the logic there.

One again, amid all the action there was the B-plot that is clearly there for the small group of the audience who only want Oprah moments in their Sci-fi. The pregnant lady is about to give birth, but there is a complication. Conveniently, one of Weaver's two daughters had the same complication so he's an expert. The baby is born perfectly fine. This served no purpose, and I think that assessment is proven true by the fact that Weaver went from delivering a baby, to the 7th's Compound with no scene in between of the birth. This was just fluff. I hope that baby turns out to be a Human-Alien hybrid. Now that would be cool!

Meanwhile, Pope escapes the clutches of Clayton's forces with no trouble at all. He runs into the woods, to return later. Tom is not pleased either, and he decides to leave and check up on several things on Clayton's map. When it turns out Clayton has been lying to them he gets very worried. At the Compound things seem all sweet. They are sitting down to dinner, and Rick isn't eating. In fact, he's acting very creepy. He turns to Ben and asks "How can you eat their food?". There is a clear, and creepy difference between the two former Harness kids.

Later, while Hal is macking it to another girl(this guy gets around), religious girl shows him Eli's backpack. Hal then tell Mike that no one is watching the perimeter, and it looks like they are more concerned with watching them. Mike isn't sold yet. Then, Mike finds a whole bunch of old clothes. Clayton is there, and explains the situation to him. He tells him that when they were running from the Skitter attacks they lost a girl named Meagan. A few days later she came to them with a message. The deal is they give the kids to the Skitters, and they get immunity from attack. Mike is not pleased, but he does seem to understand a little bit.

Thankfully, he decides to tell the rest of the group, and take off. During the escape Mike and Rick are pinned down. Mike asks Hal to take Rick, and from a distance we hear Clayton execute Mike. I thought this was pretty shocking. Mike wasn't a main character, but he was pretty important. He had been Tom's right hand man, and had been an important story since rick came back. This event showed me that Falling Skies will not tread lightly.

On the run, the group stops at a house on the side of the road. They hang there for a while, but Ben elects to run back to the school, and tell them what has happened. Hall agrees to let him go. On the way, Ben meets up with his dad who had been searching for some sign of them. At first I thought this was a large coincidence, but then again it would make sense they would be taking the same road. They both used the same map after all. Back at the house, the 7th Mass has found the house. I have no idea how they did this. They were hiding in a house in the middle of the suburbs. There were literally thousands of houses near by. This did bother me.

The 7th is about to shoot Hal when Pope arrives and starts gunning people down. Tom then arrives as well, and gets Pope to put down his gun. Tom gives himself up, and has the 7th take him, and the group back to the compound. I thought this was a strange move to I figured something else was up. I also liked how I lied, and said he told Porter what has happened and he's on the way too. You could see this idea scared Clayton. When they get to the compound Weaver and the other are waiting for them. They ambush them, and most of the 7th's men are killed including Clayton. He was about to shoot Hal just to stick it to Tom. That is a truly evil man.

The episode ends with a service for Mike. This includes a song from the religious girl. I have to hand it to Falling Skies for not having her sing "Amazing Grace". Maybe even they thought that was too cliched. This is not the end yet though. We see another conversation between Rick and Ben. Rick keeps acting strange, and asks why Humans kill each other. He then makes a couple more comments that suggest his mind is actually that of a Skitter. This is a very interesting development, and with Mike dead there really is no one who will protect Rick if things get bad.

I'm interested to see where this goes, and if this was part of the original plan, or if it just happened some how.