@Kumagoro:disqus Yeah, I hope whatever is limiting the show from actually having the Sensoth participate in brawls is resolved next season. Otherwise, that bodyguard will come off as really useless (he does gunfights though). If they could have the Bioman's superfake neck muscles get into a fight, I'm sure they can…

I think that whole fight was something Datak's wanted to get into for a while now. It also conveniently fits with the narrative he was trying to weave. The fact that he got his ass kicked probably wasn't the plan, but he can spin it in his favor, especially since Irisa jumped in to kick him in the face.

I was expecting some dirt from his past, since that fulfills the archetype that Nolan is playing, but I'm surprised it's as big as an actual massacre. I wonder if he was acquitted or if he actually had jail time or what. I bet that ended his military career.

I wish more of the human characters would adopt some Votan aesthetics in return. I think the Castithan hooded fashions could transfer to some of the human characters. Maybe Rafe can rock Stahma's bathing suit…

@avclub-13d7df3c17502af69aafccc758195f96:disqus Yes, I agree that the Irathients seem to collect clothes the way birds collect bright shiny objects. They also end up looking like frilly birds showing off their colors.

@avclub-0ae7484a9f3bbd2a21df420050c032ae:disqus Hah! Yes, I only watch Falling Skies for the aliens. I already miss the fishhead overlords, and I wish the Skitter rebels were more prominent. The Volm are okay.

@avclub-0ae7484a9f3bbd2a21df420050c032ae:disqus Okay, but that means all tribes must use the dot and arc on their brow as part of their tribal marks. Like, every Irathient we've seen has it, which might just be because every Irathient we've seen has been a Spirit Rider—though I think Irisa already had it even before…

I didn't see the preview, but I'm gonna guess… Christie! Alak's character development has left her in the dust, and Datak is already colluding with Earth Republic to take over the gulanite mines despite Rafe's will. That means she's kind of useless narrative-wise.

I do suspect the artifacts are tied to the terraformers. I think they're ark brains or something similar. Irisa was supposed to become a goddess, and Nicky wanted to transform the world, so I think some literal shaping of the environment was the common goal.

I agree that it's kinda clumsy to turn on Nolan over such a specific incident. Datak has strong-armed a lot of people, so it should have been really easy for Amanda to turn it back on Datak and hold up his own misdeeds over the years. The script really should have instead tried to paint Nolan as a newly-arrived…

I too cannot watch TV and diddle with an app in the process. I can't even handle live-Tweeting (how do people watch the show and pay attention to the producer's/actor's Tweets?)! Also, most of my TV watching is DVRed, so I'm not even able to participate due to timing conflict.

I agree that it's good the characters aren't talking like they're all in history class or something.

Re: "…I've been waiting all season for the show to explain just what the hell happened with the arrival of the aliens, the terraforming, the decline of civilization, etc. …"

Yep, I'm constantly see-sawing on what Stahma is doing. On the one hand, I still think she understands that ruling with fear is bad news, so she mitigates Datak's brutality in order to ensure that the public respects him rather than bristles under his heel. On the other hand, this episode makes her out to be more…

It's possible that the Sensoth just got hit at the right angle with just the right amount of force. I've seen MMA fights where one good blow suddenly takes out someone who was otherwise in peak form a few seconds before. I think the show just didn't want to mess up the Sensoth costume and prosthetics.

Yes, I don't think the group chasing down the artifact knew Irisa had one embedded in her back. Hers came from a Castithan who didn't seem like he's involved with the search. Although he suspiciously ended up in Defiance (just like Irisa), I think he was either trying to hide the artifact from the others years ago, or…

I like how Alak has become worthwhile to the narrative. Meanwhile, I don't know why Christie remains kinda ehh. As for her brother, Quentin looked like something was happening with his development for a bit … then he whined a lot and left. Maybe next season we'll understand his hallucinations (perhaps he inherited his…

Yep, this was the kind of Nolan-specific character development I was looking for. While the episode wasn't Nolan-centric, they finally brought in something that had to do with Nolan himself, rather than just someone else's problem as usual. I actually thought the dude from the West Coast who Nolan and Irisa cheated…

Yeah, they seem to fuse New Age hippy with thrift store steampunk. Their under layers seem to be more of an Old World ethnic pastiche, whereas their outer layers are more modern and industrial. The female elder who Datak killed was more on the hippy end of the spectrum, while Sukar was on the steampunk end.

I actually wish aliens on these types of show weren't such anthropoids. I understand that the viewing audience needs something that emotes in ways that we recognize (grimacing in disgust, flailing arms in distress, etc), but I've always favored non-humanoid designs like the bugs from Starship Troopers. Of course, that…