The Steven Spielberg/Robert Rodat alien invasion resistance drama cum Revolutionary War metaphor continues! In Episode 4, “Grace,” people yell at a caged alien, Pope blows some stuff up and our heroes cowardly elect not to murder children. Also, motorcycles.
Danny: A lot of this episode is about dealing with the captured alien — trying to communicate with it and trying to figure out how it works.
Rafael: Especially putting it into the hands of another character. It’s almost like they read our previous installments, as they get right to the John Pope stuff almost immediately post-credits. Which I have to say, is a necessary option to explore, and I think this show handled it well.
Danny: They even let Pope get in on the action.
Danny: Finding out what the harnesses do was my favorite plot development in this episode, as we find out that the aliens use the harnessed kids as their agents, speaking through them and gathering intel with them. The best reveal is how, after capturing the blonde resistance fighter teen in the last episode, now the harnessed kids know how to shoot a gun.
Rafael: Oh man, that didn’t even occur to me! That gives it a pretty good depth. I also liked the reveal that they might have beneficial elements when Moon Bloongood remarks that Rick’s previously serious cystic fibrosis is all but extinct.
Danny: The MVP of this episode is once again Pope, as the only character with any major agency on this show. But Steven Weber’s character got a major personality boost in this episode by getting to deliver some very Weber-esque quips. And by “Weber-esque,” I mean “dickish.” Which is why you hire that guy to begin with.
Rafael: Why get Steven Weber if you don’t want some acerbic commentary? In this one he turns into Joseph Goebbels, and to a lesser extent Neil Patrick Harris in Starship Troopers. His ease with wanting to hurt their prisoner doesn’t feel sudden — it’s almost a perfect reaction to his exposed cowardice in the last episode.
Rafael: Haha yeah, it has to be, considering that’s his major concern throughout. Wyle’s rationalized himself to be a familly man posing as a soldier, and not the other way around.
Danny: It’s like Gilligan’s Island, where their rescue attempts are thwarted in every episode. “No, not this week.”
Rafael: Who’s The Professor? This show needs a Sayid. And I say that exclusively because it was written by Melissa Hsu Taylor, a former Lost writer. Which I quipped earlier, is why so much of this ep must’ve read like:
EXT. VEGETATION.
Our heroes trudge through some vegetation.
Danny: This show needs a lot of Sayids. The Iraqis could teach the American resistance guys a lot about being a wily insurgent force.
Rafael: A Noah insurgent force, or a Wyle one? Though, as much as I think this episode was quite solid, seriously, they need to toss Mediterranean Olivia Thirlby.
Rafael: She’s cute as heck, but her character is unnecessary. There has been enough addressing of the issue of faith, we don’t need it hammered down every episode.
Danny: Speaking of Lost, they should pull a “Ben’s Daughter” on her and blow her fucking head off. WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW
Rafael: Maybe not so mean, because she’s pretty and I love her.
Danny: You can’t love every doe-eyed zealot that crosses your path in science fiction!
Rafael: I CAN TRY. But yes, her character is so forced and cloying. She hasn’t had a single line of dialogue that resonated. I just wanted her to get on with it so Steven Weber could say something snarky.
Danny: I won’t be lectured by a television writer channelling a prepubescent Jesus freak!
Rafael: Too much of her dialogue seems like ping-ponging with someone else:
“You have faith?”
“I have faith.”
“Why do you pray?”
“Because I have to.”
“Why?”
“Etc.”
That’s the Lost effect, too. She might as well be John Locke, though slightly less handsome than Terry O’ Quinn.
Rafael: We were expecting him to live up to his namesake the whole episode. So glad he didn’t!
Danny: This show needs more redshirts.
Rafael: Haha, as inclined as I am to agree, we’ve had quite the few, a.k.a. those kids Hal ran into previous episode, the ones that were killed in front of him.
Danny: That was pretty sweet. I’m thinking more about hapless resistance fighters to be blown up by alien robots.
Rafael: It’ll happen, don’t you fret. This is Episode 4 of 10. Someone has to make a grave tactical error!
Danny: Right now, the insurgents seem to be doing pretty okay. At least, they’re holding steady. They should be getting wiped out left and right!
Danny: Yeah, turning the underage into wi-fi routers is surely going to result in some blowing of cover.
Rafael: I keep getting the feeling their home base will be under siege.
Man, I’d never say this, especially in light of the Casey Anthony verdict, but I hope some fucking kids die on this show.
Danny: Not nearly enough kids get murdered in popular fiction. When the aliens killed that lineup of harnessed kids in the last episode, it really felt like they were trying to right that imbalance. Pretty soon our heroes are gonna find themselves forced to gun down some harnessed kids, you know it. And Falling Skies will take a tremendous leap in quality.
Rafael: It almost happened! I was so excited to see it, but then Noam Chomsky was like, “No!” They’re saving those levels for the finale, I hope.
Rafael: Yeah man — he’s totally in the right. When you’re under fire, you gotta react. They were essentially human turrets. But scripting always finds a way.
Rafael: True indeed. I love when they find the skitter, and they trade turns blasting at it. So Mario Kart!Man, that Anthony would love nothing more than to kill them kids. And I would love nothing more than to watch it!
Danny: He is from Boston. “Largest gang in the world!”
Rafael: Its okay to kill children for dramatic purposes. SHOOT KIDS, TNT.
Danny: THEM KIDS
Rafael: We’re living in a post-Russell Edgington world,
Danny: Dude, that’s for Saturday.
