Review: True Blood "The Cold Grey Light of Dawn"

Non Spoiler Review:

Another character-focused episode brings us more heartfelt Bill/Jessica moments, as the vampires of Louisiana brace for an imminent attack by the resurrected Antonia. Sam finds out about Tommy's skinwalking, while Lafayette and Jesus deal with the revelations from their Mexico trip. 

The characters are beginning to take sides in the witch/vampire conflict, and it was interesting to see adversaries begin to work together, while others made curious choices for allies. Bill takes command, but makes some questionable decisions. It does seem odd he's the driving force to head off Antonia when he wasn't even alive during her first attack (compared to many of his contemporary vampires).

The storyline is in full throttle now with Marnie leading the way. But even Tommy and Arlene's baby are stepping up their game and have started to pique my curiosity with the new ghost. It's Sookie and Eric who remain the least interesting thing going on at the moment, vastly overshadowed by Bill's coolness factor and the charming bits with Jessica. It's a refreshing shift.

Spoilers Now!

Katie comes down to the cell to hear Marnie's screams as Luis appears to be attacking her. But she's in control—compelling Luis to glamor her to reveal the security layout of the house and allow her escape. Marnie has him kill Katie for her treason, then leaves, with orders to relay a message to his king that Antonia has returned.

Pam's attack on Tara is interrupted by a crowd taking pictures. Pam whispers to her that she'll hunt her down eventually, then departs in a flash. Traumatized, Tara tells her girlfriend that anyone she ever loved ended up dead, and so she wants to let her go and sends her away. She drives off, leaving Tara devastated.

Jesus' grandpa comes back into the room. Jesus is furious he risked his life, but the old man tells him he would never sacrifice him as he's the last of them left. He advises Lafayette that he has the magic. Tio Luca was Jesus' uncle, a healer. Lafayette, like Marnie, has the ability to channel the dead.

Alcide and Debbie are initiated into the pack in the woods in a rather mundane ceremony, but Alicide's mind is on Sookie and her safety, that does not go unnoticed on Debbie. She tells him they can spare a few minutes to go look for her. Unfortunately, they spy Sookie and Eric together, and Debbie notices Alcide doesn't look very happy. Later she confesses she thinks Alcide is in love with Sookie. He admits he worries for her, but that's it (...rrright).

Luis comes to see Bill, admitting he made a terrible mistake and that Antonia is back, then shoots Bill! But he gets his gun and fires back, then pins Luis down with a stake. Luis whispers resurrection and impales himself. Bill summons Jessica to explain the Antonia situation, and that her plan now may be to bring all the vampires into the sun. So he makes a bold decision and instructs his sheriffs to order all the vampires out of the state, and those that remain will bind themselves with silver to remain in their coffins. 

Jason continues to have fantasies about Jessica, but gets a visit from Hoyt, who is checking in on him given he was raped and all. He admits he feels Jessica is slipping away from him. 

Bill shows up at Sookie's after they get back from the woods, and she thanks him for letting Eric go. He's there to explain the Antonia situation, but he's offering Eric the choice whether to stay or leave. Eric will stay with Sookie, of course, so he leaves him with silver chains, and goes home to do the same with himself and Jessica. 

Tara walks home by herself (at night, by the woods!) and hears something from the trees. Marnie emerges, and informs her that she's now Antonia residing in Marnie. They're alike, she says, suffering at the hands of vampires. She allows Tara to have a vision of what happened in Spain, and promises she can avenge their torment and everyone else who has suffered, but needs Tara's help. Tara asks what she has to do.

Bill has his mansion secured while Jessica is painfully silvered (though the wounds will ultimately heal). Pam is getting injections to at least maintain her appearance despite the rotting inside her, and is also silvered in her coffin. Eric gets Sookie to wrap him in his chains. 

At the hospital Sam's informed Tommy had food poisoning. Sam calls Luna and gets an earful. So he comes to see her and he realizes she thinks he slept with her. He says Tommy was the only one in his trailer, then remembers her story about skinwalking and Luna getting sick afterwards. Both realize it was Tommy. Sam confronts Tommy about impersonating him, asking if he planned on killing him next. He nearly strangles him but opts to let Tommy leave as long as he stays away this time (which I'm sure he will).

Jessica and Bill lie together in their crypt, waiting for the dawn. Bill apologizes for causing her so much suffering, but she says she's lived more with him than she ever would have as a human. He tells her to think of Hoyt, but she admits she doesn't know if she can go back to him. She doesn't love him the same way given she doesn't have a human heart anymore. 

Andy shows up at Merlotte's with roses for Holly for their date. He's acting a bit strange given he hasn't had any V. They barely have a few minutes of conversation before he excuses himself and leaves her, saying it was a mistake. 

Lafayette is back cooking, and when he smiles at Arlene's baby he notices him looking past him. He turns and sees the same black woman from last week. She appears startled he can see her, then gestures for him to keep quiet and sings to the baby, before Lafayette frightens her away. 

Tara later speaks to Holly about returning to the group to fight back against the vampires. Holly has a lot on her mind with the fire, but agrees to come back. They all have to bring in at least one more to make the circle bigger. At the coven, Antonia greets them and explains who she really is. She only wants the assistance of the willing, so a couple of them leave after hearing the plan. The remaining ones vow to join her and perform a new, more powerful spell.

Eric wants Sookie to remove the silver, but she won't. He doesn't want his memory back if she can overlook all he's done. Jason (in uniform finally) shows up at Sookie's just when the effect of the spell appears to pass through Bon Temps. Eric begins yelling to be freed from the basement. She tells Jason to go on, and he realizes that Jessica, as well, may be in danger. Across town the vampires try to break out of their crypts. Maxine sees her neighbour go out in the sun and burst into flames. 

Jessica manages to break her chains and gets out of their cell. Bill commands her to unchain him, but her compulsion is too strong to see the sun, and she goes upstairs while Jason rushes to the mansion. Jason gets tackled by the guards as Jessica throws open the doors to meet the sun.

The Verdict:

A tense episode, with Antonia's imminent attack looming over everything. It did play on a few coincidences, with Bill's (correct) assumption that the witch would immediately try to bring the vampires into the sun the next day, but then depended on her conscripting a bigger coven within a few hours. But aside from those elements, the threat provided another opportunity for a great Jessica/Bill scene. Everything worked—Luis' suicide attack, the silver binding scenes, Antonia's casual escape—to convey how desperate the vampire situation is and their shock at humans being able to mount such a formidable threat.

It was refreshing to see Sookie, Bill and Eric making peace for the time being and dealing with the greater issue rather than petty bickering. King Bill has the fate of all his subjects on his mind, and doesn't easily let himself get bogged down in Sookie's drama anymore.

How Sookie will deal with Tara's firm commitment to the witch's side remains to be seen, but I hope it doesn't end up with the two chatting over ice cream again. The werewolves still have to make their decision (including Alcide), and I'm sure his choice will go against the pack and cause him some trouble.

I have no idea where Andy's storyline is going, if not to simply screw up something at a critical juncture for the other characters. I half expected Holly to bring him into the coven before he abruptly ditched her.

If Lafayette is now a necromancer like Marnie, where does that leave Jesus, and his grandfather's plans for him? Can their relationship survive one magic user (or two?). With the introduction of the ghost girl, I will admit Arlene's crazy storyline has at least become somewhat interesting.

I was surprised that Sam and Luna figured everything out so quickly, but happy it avoided all the drama that could have been involved watching Tommy play Sam for another couple of episodes. But here we are yet again with Sam and Tommy having a falling out and Sam just telling him to get out of town?

My poor Pam seems to be made to suffer this year. She's become quite a wild card acting on her own despite Bill's commands, so I hope she doesn't get too much to handle that it forces his hand to deal with her. A lot of the current problems are stemming from her impulsive actions provoking Marnie and Tara.

Review: Falling Skies "What Hides Beneath"

Non Spoiler Review:

Events begin to accelerate towards the season finale as Weaver and Tom go on a recon mission back to Boston to observe the alien super structures. While there they encounter several surprises, including a revelation about the invaders. Anne, meanwhile, has a hunch about the Scitters and ends up doing an operation on the corpse which reveals another shocker with loads of ramifications.

Weaver figured prominently again and continues to evolve in likable ways, which was no small feat given how he started. Pope also contributed a lot, and all the myriad side stories with Ben/Rick, Hal/Karen, Matt/Scott, and Anne/Lourdes all get some screentime. 

I'm excited to see how it all ends up, especially the implications with the Scitters and what's been discovered. And it looks like things are going to end on an explosive note (and I'm hoping they blow their effects budget for the finale).

Spoilers Now!

Porter returns to update Tom and Weaver on the situation on the ground. A major offensive is being planned against the structures over Boston (as well as others), as the aliens appear to be pulling back to them for the moment. Tom seems to think this is in preparation for a greater offensive, but there's no way of knowing. He wants the 2nd Mass to send a team in on reconnaissance in preparation for the assault, which will involve blowing up the four legs of the super-structure to bring it down.

Porter is brought to see a recovering Pope, who learned a lot from an ex marine when it comes to makin' s'plosions. Porter wants him under observation at all times, but okays it. Weaver happens to notice Rick's drawings that Anne has encouraged through her art therapy. He drew a row of townhouses that look familiar, but won't answer Weaver when he asks where he saw it. Rick gives the picture to him. Weaver, unable to sleep, continues to obsess over the image.

Pope is sent to collaborate with Scott on explosives and manages to insult everyone on the way. Scott's been busy trying to deconstruct pieces of a blown up Mech, but they find its gun section can still fire rounds. Pope realizes the Mech bullets have just been refurbished from existing bullets the aliens have scavenged on earth—refitted with the tougher Mech metal.

Hal comes across Ben exercising again (for two hours), which is a stark contrast to his days as a math nerd. Ben brushes it all off. He later has a check up with Anne, who seems to notice that he has no feeling on his back around the areas of the implants (which aren't disappearing on him as they were on some of the more recently harnessed kids). Ben tries to make friends with Rick and get him to talk about his dad. Rick doesn't believe the Scitters have abandoned them, but Ben says he hates the Scitters and doesn't want to think that they'll come back.

Weaver accompanies the scouting mission into Boston, despite Tom's concerns he hasn't had enough sleep. But Weaver says he had a construction business, so knows a thing or two about where to set the charges on the alien structures. Weaver realizes the superstructures are constructed of earth materials—all the scrap metal the harnessed kids were collecting, so there is nothing otherworldly about them at all.

Suddenly they spy some Scitters and then two tall, bipedal creatures approaching them—a different kind of alien none of them have seen before. Tom is worried if they are coming out now they might be feeling they've won.

They then run into Sonja, an older woman who has been surviving in the city by herself. She invites them in, as she's been watching the aliens and offers some observations. Weaver sends Tom and Hal in and remains outside to keep watch. She seems to have a lot of supplies on hand at her house, but explains the aliens took her away in the early days to the internment camps, but just for a brief time. She was let go because they didn't care about someone like her. She was told this through the harnessed kids. Then Weaver abruptly drives off and sabotages Hal and Tom's bikes so they can't follow. Sonja wants to make sure they're coming back.

Anne is very pensive about Ben's implants, so enlists Lourdes' aid in doing an autopsy on the dead Scitter. They cut it open and deep inside they find another harness. The Scitters might not have always been the way they appear now.

Weaver has gone to his old home which matches the row of townhouses from the picture. Tom and Hal show up and find Weaver in his back yard, but notice a lot of old blood on the floor. Weaver and his wife had split the year before the attack. He gives Tom the picture of his house and wants to know what it means, wondering if Rick and the Scitters can read their minds. He then confesses when his daughter was captured, his exwife and her husband were killed, but he managed to find his harnessed daughter. He attempted to remove it—unsuccessfully. He wants to stay and tells them to go on without him.

A Mech shows up so Hal takes cover. Weaver insists on staying but then finds a pair of glasses that makes him think twice. They manage to blow up the Mech and assume Sonja gave them up to the Scitters. They return to her apartment and she gets a visitor outside her door—a harnessed Karen (!) delivering food. Looking through the peephole, Hal nearly freaks. Sonja says she's been coming there the last few days. Then one of the new bipedal aliens shows up at the door, but Sonja just gets them to leave the food outside and that the others have long gone. Both it and Karen leave her alone. 

Sonja confesses they promised they wouldn't hurt them, and told her she'd have company again like she used to. They always promise to bring them back, which is why they let her go in the first place—to turn in anyone who might be passing through. Tom says she can come along if she wants, but she wants to stay, wrapped up in her delusion that the Scitters will bring people to stay with her. He gives her some false intel about another town being clear in case she tells the aliens.

Anne is pondering all the drawings of the harnessed kids. Lourdes doesn't know if she can keep it all quiet, but Anne says it would create a panic, though she will tell Tom. Rick and Ben could still be lost. 

Tom agrees to keep Weaver's secrets between them, but wants to know why he changed his mind about coming back. Weaver explains he found his wife's only pair of glasses in the house, and they weren't there after the attack, so there's a chance she could still be alive, and maybe even his oldest daughter. He has some hope again.

As Tom and Weaver return to base, Pope summons everyone to a demonstration (Matt's been hanging out with Pope during his research into the Mech, much to Tom's chagrin). Pope fires a regular round against Mech armor, to no avail, then replaces a standard bullet with a Mech metal slug in a .45 and blows a hole in it. Rick watches and quietly slips out, but Ben sees him go. Pope advises Weaver he can make more with metal making tools by melting down the armor. Everyone gets a big boost to morale.

The Verdict:

The introduction of the bipedal alien race was half-expected, but effectively eerie shaking up the characters' perceptions about the invasion. I'm not as sure about the implication of the harnessed Scitters—that Rick and Ben will turn into Scitters (if that's what the discovered harness suggests), or if it simply means the Scitters are an additional slave race beefed up by their overlords. 

Okay, so Pope is slowly becoming an acceptable character, and it's probably a good thing that he remains so acerbic and outside the main group for awhile. It does seem a bit of a stretch that he's the only one who thought using the alien armor to coat their bullets might come in handy?

Weaver's had some sappy scenes lately, but he has certainly evolved from his one note military commander role from the first episode. Falling Skies has pretty much made every annoying character at least bearable, including Sarah and Lourdes.

Finally we had Karen's return, made especially creepy now that she's in the company of the real alien powers. Once again, I'm proud of my boy Hal for not freaking out and putting the entire mission at risk when he saw it was her. 

We really haven't gotten a lot of detail on these internment camps (that Sonja experienced) and what went on there, aside from the mass executions. If they don't want the humans around one would think they could be more thorough if they wished. That emphasizes one of my main gripes—more talk about what happened in the last six months. Not the alien agenda, which is sure to unfold over the series, but just actual flashbacks to what characters experienced during the initial days. Now that we see that the super structures are just plain old earth materials, it seems extremely unlikely even these aliens could construct such massive architecture over multiple cities in just six months.

The revelations open up a lot of potential for where the series could go. Might there be an attempt to work with the Scitters against their common threat? How safe are all three Mason children? Can they actually bring down the super structures? I'm hoping for some spectacle for the two hour finale to carry on the momentum of what's been a pretty good close to the season.

Review: True Blood "I Wish I Was the Moon"

Non Spoiler Review:

I Wish I Was the Moon brings a lot of character focus in lieu of action, but it makes for a really satisfying hour, and continues this season's spell (pun!) of successful episodes. Sookie rediscovers that she has a brother as Jason comes to terms with the possibility of turning into a werepanther. The moon figures prominently in the background as Tommy also makes a self-discovery, Tara and her girlfriend have a heart to heart, Bill has to make some decisions about Eric, and in Mexico, Jesus and Lafayette deal with the evil grandpa brujah. 

There were a few pleasant surprises here in how some characters behaved and actually made good choices, or at least evolved in some way. And I have to say I was really happy (for once) about Jason's storyline direction.

Has it been six episodes already? At the halfway point it seems there's still a lot that can happen with the witches, and even a lot more simmering on the backburner—Alcide and Debbie? Andy? Portia's Compton ties? Even evil baby storyline took an interesting turn this week.

Spoilers Now!

Bill arrives at Sookie's to interrupt the tryst before it gets too far, arresting Eric. Eric goes willingly (though manages to toss Bill across the room first), confessing he has heard of all the bad things he's done in his previous life. Sookie follows them back to Bill's mansion, where Eric is taken away and silvered. They have words, and he tells her to stay out of this, and has her banned from his house. Sookie leaves in a huff, refusing to recognize Bill's auth-or-i-tay.

Eric's taken to Pam's cell where she's still rotting away and smelling like death. She wants to escape and get the witches who did this, and reminds Eric that he hates Bill's guts and was a viking who didn't take any guff from nobody. He remembers nothing of their life together, and he doesn't want it back.

Bill calls up Nan to advise her he has Eric and asks permission to execute him, given he's been infected. Score extra points, as he has the necromancer, too. Nan is impressed with his thoroughness so will get back to him.

Terry and Arlene are woken up by smoke, given the bedroom is on fire. They manage to get out, and the kids have already escaped with the baby. But the fire damages both their house and Holly's, as well as Sam's retirement plans. The baby looks behind him and sees a young black woman smiling back, who vanishes.

Sam suffers through Andy's V-induced accusations of being a slumlord, but Andy is distracted by flirting with Holly. Sam goes off to deal with the fire and asks Tommy to look after things while he handles business, but Tommy is suffering the after-effects of his parents' deaths...which means turning into a skinwalker and taking Sam's appearance (!). 

Sookie tries to get a hold of Jason to get some help, and goes to see Sam, asking if she can have the day off. Tommy fires her and gives her a lecture about her bad work ethic and always getting into trouble, and sends her on her way. He then heads out into the restaurant and runs into Maxine who wants him to let his no good brother know that he can stay away for abandoning her. And he was stupid and useless. 

Later, Luna shows up deciding it's time to throw herself at Sam, so the two have sex. She tells him it was exciting, like they'd just met. Immediately after he wants her to get the hell out, and kicks her out of the house before changing back to Tommy and collapsing.

Sookie finds Jason handcuffed to his bed at his house, so he explains the whole thing about the werepanthers, which even she finds hard to believe. But she vows to help him through it. The two of them stay up at night to wait out the change and discuss Sookie being special and what it's all entailed. When she goes into the house he takes the opportunity to run off into the woods, wanting to protect her from his pantherness should it suddenly come upon him.

Tara's girlfriend shows up asking for some s'plainin', so Tara gives her the lowdown on her miserable first three seasons. She eventually concludes she likes the new Tara better, so they go out to dinner, only to run into Jessica as their waitress, who abruptly takes off like lightning.

Jessica finds Jason in the woods, given she can detect when he's in trouble, so he explains the situation and the two talk all night and discuss what it's like to be special. When it's apparent that he's not going to change, Jason appears disappointed, but Jessica assures him he's special (as in she's got a major crush on him). He thanks her, and both agree that it's best they not tell Hoyt.

Alcide comes home to find Marcus visiting with Debbie, given she's gone ahead and joined the pack—her sobriety needs a support system. He's not impressed, but agrees to go along with it to support her. They go off into the woods for the full moon, only to run into Sookie. She asks him some questions about were-animals, and Alcide admits they're all more alike than not, and that both wolves and panthers can't be infected—they have to be born. So Jason won't become one. Happy with that, she runs off to find him.

Bill has been given permission to execute Eric, so he's brought to him outside the mansion. Bill has difficulty dealing with Eric's agreeableness and his desire that Sookie be happy. He raises the stake above his head to deliver the true death, but it appears Bill's heart has grown three sizes bigger.

In her cell, Marnie cuts herself to try to summon Antonia, and receives another vision of the burning where the witch summoned all the vampires from their sleep into the sun. Marnie awakes to being full-blown possessed by her. Luis watches her on the security cameras and goes down into the cell to see her (big mistake). Antonia knows him, given he got all rapey with her back in Spain before she was burned. He recognizes that she's in Marnie, but Antonia casts a spell that forces him to submit on his knees. 

In Mexico, Lafayette and Jesus have an awkward visit with his grandfather. He berates Jesus for having no pride coming to him for help, but does ask for a sacrifice, which means Jesus and Lafayette have to wait in the country for an animal to come to them. A rattlesnake slithers along, so Jesus takes it back to his grandfather. He says Marnie is using similar spells—blood magic—to open the spirit realm. 

He throws the snake at Jesus and it bites him. He tells Lafayette to protect him and leaves. Lafayette tries to save Jesus, and is suddenly possessed by the spirit of someone named Tio Luca, who manages to calm the poison. Lafayette then awakens free of the spirit, and Jesus appears okay.

Tara and her girlfriend leave Merlotte's only to be ambushed by a vengeful Pam. Sam comes home to find a sick Tommy on the floor. Sookie meets Eric in the woods, and he tells her Bill let him live. The two finally make love in the grass, which must certainly be full of bugs. Bill stands on his porch, very sad. 

The Verdict:

Sookie finally remembered she had a brother (!). It was refreshing to see them actually be a family again and look out for one another (Gran would be pleased). The full moon vigil to await his transformation allowed for several great scenes with her, as well as with Jessica, and culminated in the refreshing fact that he can't be made a werepanther. What more could I ask for? I'm even kind of torn whether I prefer Jessica with Jason now.

Antonia appears to be the big villain of the season at the moment, taking over Marnie to have her revenge on the vampires. Getting the bits of the history lesson in Spain was cool, as was her power over Luis. Now I'm wondering if she'll inflict a new spell to bring the vampires into the sun again, which could lead to a cast cull by the end of the season. On the other side, what's Jesus going to do? Will he gain the power he needs to fight Marnie/Antonia, and will it corrupt him? Could his grandfather eventually end up being the main villain if/when they dispatch Marnie? 

Sam Trammell did a bang up job with his Tommy imitation. While it's a cliche having the doppelganger banging the girlfriend and ruining the friendships, it did add some great humour to the episode. Alcide's storyline grows a little bit each week, but must surely be building to something for the latter half of the season. And even Arlene and Terry's drama actually broke out and managed to impact some other characters, with the curious ghostly appearance of the (thankfully non-René) young woman. 

All in all, a bang up job, considering it was mostly character development. I'm really loving this season's dynamic.

Review: Falling Skies "Sanctuary Part 1 and 2"

Non Spoiler Review:

Falling Skies delivers a two part episode dealing threats closer to home for those who have survived the invasion. The 2nd Massachusetts gets a visit from a survivor from another militia, who advises of an imminent sweep by the Scitters to get rid of the resistance. With the suggestion that they should send the children ahead to a potential safe haven, Tom, Anne and the rest are forced to come to terms with separating their group. Meanwhile, Ben is back, and just totally awesome, which doesn't sit well with his older brother. Are the unharnessed kids secret spies?

Sanctuary managed to avoid all the annoying sappiness of past weeks in favor of some genuine emotion resulting from the storyline. Anne and Weaver (and yes, even Lourdes!) continue to evolve in leaps and bounds, and the sense of ominous desperation really permeated the entire two-parter. The audience can certainly feel that things are not right from the start, until the reveal at the end of the first half. It all works quite well and comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Spoilers Now!

Anne is seeing to a young boy, Eli, while his parents watch. Suddenly the father pulls a gun and demands she give them all the antibiotics so they'll have something to trade when they go off on their own. They believe it's too dangerous after what happened with the Scitter. Anne fights back, but gets hit, and the family takes off.

Weaver's in hot pursuit, though, and has them pinned down with gunfire. That's when Clayton, another soldier, arrives and disarms the father, takes the antibiotics back, then lets the family run off. Weaver is happy to have them gone.

Clayton was with the 7th Massachusetts and served with both Weaver and Mike in the past. He's one of scant survivors after the aliens took them out. A few fighters and civilians are held up in a farm for the time being. He reports that Porter thinks the Scitters are sweeping through to get slave labour for their construction projects. The 3rd Massachusetts is to rendezvous with them and then move on together, but it will be about 72 hours, a long time to wait.

Clayton says Porter has suggested they move all the young people on ahead to ensure their safety, but that doesn't go over well with the parents at all. Weaver assures Tom he's not dragging kids away yet, but if an attack is imminent they will have to consider it. So he puts Tom in charge of arranging it with the civilians. Meanwhile, the camp is barricaded in case of an attack.

Maggie notices Anne is feeling edgy, and suggests she learn to protect herself, so gives her a gun to practice with. She applauds her for fighting back, and Anne gets some lessons on how to shoot.

Ben is feeling great. In fact, he's fitter than ever consider he was a big math nerd before the invasion, and adjusting much better than Rick. Matt wants to know what it was like being harnessed, and Ben says it felt like everything he could ever want was given before he asked for it. He felt like they were family, not monsters. Hal doesn't like the sound of that and consults with Anne. Ben's acting like a different kid. She later asks Tom how he seems, but he's really just happy to have all his sons back.

Jimmy asks Weaver to be put back into rotation (after his screw up). Weaver agrees to have him go on watch with Parker that night.

The civilians are getting up in arms at the suggestion to send the kids away. Tom has to smooth things over yet again. Added to that, Ben's having some problems fitting in given many of the civilians don't want a razorback in their midst, feeling the Scitters are attacking because of them. Hal steps in to defend his brother.

Jimmy and Parker are on watch when a Mech shows up and blows the hell out of the bus they're in. Parker's killed, but Jimmy manages to make a break for it into the school, only to run into a Scitter. He's rescued at the last minute by Weaver. There are no other patrol ships spotted, so Weaver and Tom agree that it's time to follow Clayton's plan.

Ben has a chat with his father to convince him that sending them away is the most logical move, citing the exodus of British children during WWII as an example. Tom is leery of his motives, and needs to hear that Ben is happy to be back. Ben assures him he is.

So Tom tells the civilians he's sending his own kids ahead with Clayton and they should reunite with them in a day or two. Clayton will take the kids on foot in a small force, under the Scitter's radar. Mike will accompany them, along with two other men. Hal still isn't sure he can trust his brother, so asks Tom if he can go, too. He confesses that the morning their mother went missing, he and Ben got into a big fight.

Jimmy thanks Weaver for giving him another chance and they share a father/son moment, and Clayton heads off with the group, leaving Tom the map to the safe haven. They arrive at the peaceful farm, which seems like a paradise to what they've been used to.

Meanwhile, Clayton goes to a room and visits Eli (!) who wants to see his parents. So he takes him into the woods where a young girl is waiting. She says she'll take him on to his mom and dad, but Eli gets nervous. She leads him off anyway, but he pulls away, only to be stunned by a Scitter weapon. The alien comes out, and the harnessed girl addresses Clayton about their deal, asking how many he got. Enough, he says, and he's ordered to bring more children in a few days. The Scitter carries off Eli.

Clayton returns to the barn, where he thanks his captive for the helpful intel about the school and all the kids there. It was a good idea to keep him alive. It's Pope!

Weaver is getting their own camp ready to move, but Sarah is about ready to deliver. Maggie assures him they'll make sure she keeps up. Tom wants to go find Clayton given the escorts haven't come back and the Scitters haven't attacked yet. Weaver reluctantly lets him go, but wants him back.

At the sanctuary, everyone has settled in to the relaxed atmosphere and the kids are enjoying a game of soccer. Hal is being hit on by one of the girls, but her dad tells her not to like him too much. Jimmy isn't impressed with Ben being super-athlete and doesn't trust him.

Clayton takes their fighter escorts to the main road (to shoot them, as we later learn!). He and his cohort, flirty girl's dad, go to see Pope again, who thinks they're crazy to deal with the Scitters. Clayton tells him it's just about surviving. Pope had broken into their supply shed, which had led to his capture (and stabbed the guy's brother). When Clayton leaves, Pope manages to overpower the guy and gets away, but finds the two escorts Clayton shot.

Clayton plans to make the next kid exchange the following day. They all sit down to dinner, which is made awkward by Rick refusing to eat and insults Ben for eating their food. Ben walks off. Mike berates his son.

Lourdes helps flirty girl with the dishes, but finds a bag with Eli's name tag on it. She tells Mike and Hal. Mike tries not to make a big deal out of it, but Hal notices there are a lot of people guarding the barn and house, but not the sky or the road. Mike used to fight with Clayton, so he's not convinced.

He goes to the barn himself and has a look around, finding a whole bunch of clothes and belongings, including Eli's jacket. Clayton pulls his gun on him, explaining that when the 7th Mass went down, the Skitters tore them to pieces. A young girl with them fell behind and was harnessed, and the Scitters stayed away for a week. She showed up with a message, saying all they wanted were the kids. The Scitters have quotas too, so they made an arrangement to supply kids in return for immunity for his men and their families. The 3rd Mass' rendezvous and Porter's orders were all a lie to get them. He asks Mike to think it over.

Mike goes back and tells Hal everything and gets everyone together to make a break for it. They get pinned down outside the farm and Mike sends Rick away and sacrifices himself to give them a head start.

Tom returns to tell Weaver Clayton's map isn't right. They found no sign of the sanctuary. Weaver is reluctant to think about disobeying orders, but Tom tells him it smells like a set up and goes off in search.

Hal, Lourdes and the kids arrive in a town and set up in a house. They need to warn Tom, but Ben suggests he's the only one fit enough who can make the trek in enough time to get help. Hal pauses, but lets his brother go.

Sarah has a breached pregnancy, which alarms Anne given she's not a surgeon. But guess what? Weaver had his own, so knows all about home delivering breached babies. The two of them manage to deliver a healthy kid.

Ben is able to avoid Clayton's party and runs into his father on the road. He tells him when Hal and the kids are holed up, and then goes on back to camp to warn Weaver.

By the time Tom gets to the house, Clayton's men have arrived and have Hal and the kids pinned down inside. Pope fires on them from the woods, but Clayton's men manage to shoot him in the leg. That's when Tom shows up, asks why Pope is there, and then tells him to stand down while he goes to talk to Clayton. He tells them Pope is dead and orders the kids to come out to avoid bloodshed.

Everyone surrenders, so Tom and the kids are led back to the farm—where Weaver has already arrived, thanks to Ben saving the day. They secure Clayton and his men after shooting a couple. But Clayton is too much of a double-crosser, pulls another gun, and gets shot by Tom.

As for the collaborating civilians, Weaver takes their weapons but won't have them in the 2nd Mass. He sends them away and threatens to kill them if he finds they've been dealing with the Scitters. Jimmy makes nice with Ben now that he's the hero. Weaver thinks they have a few days given Clayton told the Scitters he'd secured their kids.

At Mike's funeral, Ricky seems aloof to the whole thing and doesn't understand how people can kill one another. It's in their nature—they being humans. Ben should understand that.

The Verdict:

The mystery surrounding the harnesses continues to hang in the background. Compare Rick's morose and near despair at being separated from the others to Ben's sudden maturity—Is he secretly trying to get them all back to the Scitters? It's really hard to tell, but it created some good tension wondering if Ben would run off and abandon them. Luckily he managed to save the day, but I'm sure that's not the end of the story.

The new reality of the collapse of civilization really made its appearance this week with the infighting among the survivors, the collaborators and the sense that everyone could easily betray one another in the right set of circumstances. Clayton came off as pretty slimy from the start, though. And it was poetic justice to know that Eli's dad came to a bad end after roughing up Anne.

Lourdes scored some major points by finding Eli's backpack and not talking about her religion at all. Even Pope's return brought a little bit of redemption for his character. Weaver and Jimmy's interesting relationship also felt quite genuine, with further insight into Weaver's family background. Both Tom and Weaver have evolved their leadership styles, realizing that there's a time and place for strict adherence to orders, and sometimes it has to be made up as they go along.

It looks like leaving Acton is a no-brainer for next episode. It's still a bit confusing why the Scitters just don't launch aerial assaults against the resistance, considering they're hanging around in the open all day.