They probably wore masks so that, if their victims somehow wandered onto their farmstead afterwards, they can be all, "Wha? Huh? That sure wasn't us! Must be some aliens with black cotton faces."

Maybe Hal transferred some to her at one point during the break between seasons. I mean, other than Tom Mason, only Hal has been shown to carry an eye worm into the human encampment. The eye worm from Tom went back to Red Eye (leader of the Skitter resistance), so presumably that wasn't a malevolent worm, whereas the…

This episode answered a couple of my gripes, so I'm good with the B- grade. I would've given it a C+ myself, just for the pointless Mason subplot, but I'm not gonna quibble. The only thing the subplot accomplished was make me disdain that family even more.

I'm trying to figure out what point Pope was trying to make in that conversation with Maggie. Is he saying that when victims don't report their situation out of fear and/or helplessness then the blame falls on them? Did he then follow that up with the insinuation that Maggie should be grateful he helped her survive,…

It's looking like the moles were simply a delaying tactic meant to slow down the human resistance. The Espheni needed just enough time to get their grid up, so Lourdes is there to ruin Charleston's momentum (either by fracturing the alliance, or by sending intel to allow the Espheni to move a step ahead of…

I thought maybe the Gulanee they're referencing is Dy'Dekuso from the game, but I'm just guessing on that. I think Gulanee are dependent on their exosuits, so that's how you attack them. I only paused and read the Wanted poster because it was prominently featured in that scene and got me curious.

LOL, well, I wasn't expecting them to fit a bunch of mythology stuff into that transfiguration sequence. In fact, I'm saying they tried too hard and it fell kind of flat. They would have been better served by a Sailor Moon power up sequence instead, and let all that metaphysical stuff play out next season when they…

You know what else qualifies as an extraordinary event? The Volm landing planet-side and developing a super weapon to take down the Espheni. Congregate! Party time! ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ

That's because Tom and Weaver like to pretend that no one else but the 2nd Mass exists. Weaver told Peralta he was gonna do that retarded search party for Anne even though he would never have done such a thing for random Charleston resident #123. Even Lourdes likes to pretend she's the only doctor available now and…

They finally did reference a Gulanee in this episode. It was on the Wanted poster at the beginning of the episode (a player named Zachary Prast was on the poster while Alak Tarr was doing his DJ schtick). So, uh, yeah, at least they were name-dropped in print onscreen. (¬__¬)

I don't mind magic tech (Neon Genesis Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain are two magic tech franchises that I totally and completely worship), but this episode presented that concept in a really clumsy way. I actually like metaphysical stuff blended in with science (like in Paprika), but it requires a level of…

I think the 2nd Mass no longer exists as a formal unit after the seven-month jump. They've been absorbed into the the existing Charleston military structure, and the civilians have been integrated into the larger population. It just so happens that the senior members of the 2nd Mass have now taken over key positions…

@avclub-caaa25a4a561499fd972075b3d706d9e:disqus Yep, until the show actually reveals the Espheni war machine in greater detail, we're all just really fanwanking what Karen and the Overlords are doing and/or achieving. They've been shown to congregate before, so I don't even know why there's only Karen in North America…

Hah! Yes, William Tenn's The Liberation of Earth would be a good underpinning for Falling Skies, though I'm dubious that the show would pursue such a bleak future. The series would have to essentially declare humanity an incidental and trivial footnote that is irrevocably devastated by forces beyond comprehension, and…

@avclub-0ae7484a9f3bbd2a21df420050c032ae:disqus Oh, I suppose I should edit my post to be clear that I'm referring to Season 3 of Falling Skies. The "bait-and-switch" comment is specifically about this season. I understand that the show is about the resistance, but Season 2 ended with the arrival of the Volm and … I…

Re: the Falling Skies comparison

I agree that it didn't really maintain the rising trajectory of the previous eps, but it was still okay overall for me. I think mostly it felt kind of rushed. Like they really wanted to live up to the title and wanted to make sure everything broke before the end, so the writers went about knocking things down left and…

Okay, so Karen really is alone in her weak efforts against the Volm in North America. That's kind of reckless, isn't it? They still need to back her up 'cause now she's fighting on three fronts in a war that the Espheni already realize is more difficult than usual.

I understand that they want to show character progression, but Lourdes is coming off a bit haphazard. Maybe that's on purpose. Maybe she's supposed to be searching for an identity after everything's gone to hell. It's just really abrupt and comes across as you say: a totally different character.

@Kumagoro I think the show is trying to get a more epic feel by introducing a lot of side characters. This gives the illusion of a population larger than their current cast. Unfortunately, with a limited budget and only 10 episodes to show their goods, this pretty much marginalizes a bunch of characters (both…