S04.E11: Space Oddity / S04.E12: Shoot The Moon

[Meredith Quill]

Episode 11 Synopsis:

Tom’s mission to destroy the Espheni Power Core is complicated by Lexi’s return. Lexi is forced to take extreme measures to save her father’s life – and her own – after a Beamer malfunction. Meanwhile, the 2nd Mass fears an impending Espheni strike by the scorched Overlord.

 

Episode 12 Synopsis:

With the weight of humanity’s survival on Tom and Lexi’s shoulders, they must defeat Tom’s mortal enemy and find a way to destroy the omnipotent Espheni Power Core. Meanwhile, a new, terrifying Espheni Bomb is dropped onto Chinatown, immobilizing the 2nd Mass and preparing them for Human Skitterizaton.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 12 Synopsis:

With the weight of humanity’s survival on Tom and Lexi’s shoulders, they must defeat Tom’s mortal enemy and find a way to destroy the omnipotent Espheni Power Core. Meanwhile, a new, terrifying Espheni Bomb is dropped onto Chinatown, immobilizing the 2nd Mass and preparing them for Human Skitterizaton.

 

The Espheni Power Core on the moon is now omnipotent ?  All-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful ?  That seems like an odd descriptor for a power station.

[sjohnson]

It sends power everywhere on Earth, so it's literally true. Also, I don't know a better word to use for that. Also also, omnipotence and omniscience are not the same.

[ottoDbusdriver]

It sends power everywhere on Earth, so it's literally true. Also, I don't know a better word to use for that. Also also, omnipotence and omniscience are not the same.

 

Omnidirectional ?  Or to go the Homer Simpson route, "You're everywhere. You're omnivorous."

[ganesh]

Ugh. It's a two parter? I can't take more than 45 minutes at a time. 

 

We're all agreed Matt is going to stowaway on the ship right?

Edited August 29, 2014 by ganesh

[ottoDbusdriver]

We're all agreed Matt is going to stowaway on the ship right?

 

Of course, and he will find a magic button to save the day at the last minute !!

[ganesh]

The Masons versus the Moon. Sunday.

[green]

The Masons versus the Moon. Sunday.

 

I am counting on you guys to fill me in on what happened because it comes down to a choice between this and Ice Road Truckers for me.

 

Ice Road Truckers pros = Lisa, Alex and lots of ice, roads and trucks.  Negatives = endless animated trucks falling through ice made of computer pixels.

 

Falling Skies pros = the season is finally over.  Negatives = Masons, more Masons, yet more Masons.  And none will ever die, damn it!

 

So it comes down to The Masons versus the Ice for me.  No brainer.  Ice over Masons any day.

Edited August 30, 2014 by green

[ganesh]

Yeah, but this is the season ender though. You should watch live and suffer like the rest of us. 

[shapeshifter]

I haven't been getting around to watching until Saturdays because Manhattan and The Leftovers take precedence, and since it's two frickin hours, I doubt I'll catch it earlier this week either.

[ganesh]

Even my dog rolls her eyes at The Leftovers. 

[bagert]

So...Tom's wife returns, possibly transformed into an alien?

[xaxat]

I want a Sarah/Pope/Dingan spinoff!

[thuganomics85]

Ugh, I don't know if I was just in a bad mood or something, but I honestly just found these two hours to be boring as hell.  The first part was just so obviously a hallucination, that I kept waiting for Tom to finally figure it out.  And, didn't they already do a hallucination episode last season?  Once is enough, show (unless your something like Farscape, that can make each one unique in it's own way.) Basically, it was an hour of Lexi all "Please forgive me, Daddy!", Tom being grumpy, and then, thanks to these hallucinations, "forgiving" her on some level.  Oh, yay!

 

As for the second episode, it's split between Tom and Lexi getting captured by the Evil Overlord, and everyone else having to deal with the Human Skitterzation Bomb.  Of course, the day is saved before anyone dies (except for a redshirt or two.)  Well, at least it looks like Lexi is dead; sacrificing herself, by flying the ship into the base.  It wasn't earned, but I rather Lexi have a "heroic death", then to live and be "redeemed" by the 2nd Mass.  So, now Tom has been taken by other aliens, and it looks like one of them... is his dead wife?  What the hell is going on?!

 

Highlights were the Pope/Dingan duo, and Anne with the flamethrower, since Moon Bloodgood seem to be having the most fun with that.

 

I won't lie; I'll be back for the final season, but I'm keeping my expectations way, way low. 

Edited September 1, 2014 by thuganomics85

[random chance]

The first part was just so obviously a hallucination, that I kept waiting for Tom to finally figure it out.

I thought it might be but you never know with this show, it would be just like them to let the whole moon plan happen offscreen. Like they did with the invasion in the pilot - some kid narrated it via crayon drawings.

I won't lie either, I'll watch the final season, but this one was pretty dull.

[green]

Alas Ice Road Truckers wasn't on tonight (sniff).  But fortunately The Simpsons marathon was still on so I only checked into this show during commercial breaks mainly.  What did I see?  Well the blurbs said that weirdo Lexi was coming back.  Since the only way people or whatever she is get redeemed on TV is to die, that was an obvious given.  Of course with one season left, probably not a given as some totally implausible whatever saves/transforms this loser hybrid into another season of boring viewing.

 

Anyhow every time I flipped over Lexi and daddy were in full blown, over the top soap opera mode with some of the worst dialog ever penned and acting ever performed on a set that looked like it was out of a 1950's B reel movie.

 

Meanwhile, back on earth, the B reel continued with scary (not) theatre dry ice "cementing" people into a weird version of freeze tag.  Oh yeah there were some creepies in the theatre ice that looked like rejects George Lukas cut out of the trash compactor scene.  I really really can't believe how bad all the sets and "special" effects looked in both venues.  The long view of the spaceships looked like something out of a 1980's Commodore 64 game.

 

The premise the first year was decent enough.  A rag tag band of survivors from different walks of life thrown together to form the 2nd Mass fighting in their backyard against invaders of an alien kind.  How did it go from there to this overblown, sanctimonious, totally nonsensical dreck?  And totally boring besides.

Edited September 1, 2014 by green

[ZoqFotPik]

 

I won't lie; I'll be back for the final season, but I'm keeping my expectations way, way low.

 

I won't lie either, I'll watch the final season, but this one was pretty dull.

I'll be there with you two. I've invested way too much time in this show to not see how it ends.

[scrambled eggs]

i was able to stay awake for the full 2 hours and mostly understand what was going on (though I didn't catch how Ann figured out flames destroyed the Skitter Fog). The combination of the cocoon and Tom's hallucination dream reminded me a lot of the X-Files episode "Field Trip." 

 

Lexie looks so much better with dark hair. 

[LexiconDevilOne]

Ugggg, Lourdes, I thought we were well rid of ever seeing her on this show ever again.

[Bill C.]

So...I'd have to go back and watch that one S3 episode to be certain, but was the voice of the whatever-it-was Tom saw in the motel room from 20.01 (because it was way too cheap for 2001) that of his late first wife?

 

I want a Sarah/Pope/Dingan spinoff!

 

That's Leia/Han/Lando, thank you very much!

 

If nothing else, these last two episodes of S4--more so the actual finale--were fast-paced and kept everything moving.  And, dare I say it, I rather liked the idea of Tom being hoisted upon his own mental petard by his inner Lourdes (even if she was a special snowflake after her death, her point that Tom effectively gave up on Lexi when he didn't give up on any-friggin'-body else in his family was extremely valid by Mason standards).  If this had been a proper two-hour episode rather than two separate episodes, though, I do wonder if they could have been a little more graceful with his realization of that--and the mindscrew that accompanied it.  Seriously, is there a "let's dump Tom in the Matrix" episode every season or something?

 

And while Lexi was doomed as hell, at least we finally got to see Scarlett Byrne with a rational hair color and in normal...well, post-invasion normal clothing a couple of times before she went all ID4 Randy Quaid on the Espheni power plant.  It helped immensely.

 

Mira possibly being the new Zombie Karen (assuming she did indeed escape after Tom killed Scorch) could be interesting once Tom gets back to Earth in S5.  The remaining Espheni will need a face, after all, and Matt hasn't been put through the wringer enough yet.

 

OTOH, the fog and the Space Seymour Plant and Elise the redshirt kindasorta pulling a Lourdes before she got suckered by it and Anne pulling a Ripley...was it just me or was a lot of that played a little bit lighter than it should have been?  Which admittedly worked pretty well WRT Pope and poor Dingaan, but not so much with Ben and Maggie and Hal?  And how many more of the 2nd Mass got ganked because of that plant?

[BooksRule]

For some reason, my DVR cut in and out while recording last night and I found out this morning when I sat down to watch that the second part was interrupted five times. So, I had to watch in bits and pieces, but I don't feel like I missed much in that minute or two that I missed on each 'part'.  I had already figured out that either Lexi would sacrifice herself or would magically be turned back into a little baby by the end, so there were no real surprises there.  I did think that at least one of the 'regular' characters would be lost, so it was a pleasant surprise when none of them died (I thought for sure that Weaver was a goner).

 

I plan to watch the final season next summer just to finish out the series, but I have to say that IMO the show was much better when it was just the humans fighting the skitters and cool Mechs (the first gen Mechs--not the new bad-CGI super-Mechs).  The Volm aren't too bad, but except for the first scary glimpse we got of them, I don't care for the Espheni much.

Edited September 1, 2014 by BooksRule

[tv echo]

I came across these EW recaps and kinda liked their subtle bits of sarcasm:

 

'Falling Skies' finale recap part I: The daddy-daughter dance
http://community.ew.com/2014/08/31/falling-skies-finale-pt1-recap-season-4/

Pope is suddenly consumed with the need to avenge all the dead and buried. Tom realizes Pope’s heart has grown three sizes that day.

'Falling Skies' finale recap, part 2: Moon or bust
http://community.ew.com/2014/08/31/falling-skies-finale-recap-part-2-moon-or-bust/

Tom protests that they not hurt her because of him. Pretty sure they’re hurting Lexi because she flew the Espheni coup, but go ahead and make it all about you again, Tom....  Unmoved, Scorched Overlord tells Tom he’s going to burn Lexi the way Tom burned him. Guess it is really all about Tom.

 

Just needed to add:
- Well, that lottery was a total waste of time.
- Again the Volm reveal necessary info late in the game (I defied Daddy and stayed to help).
- I like snarky Hal better than morose Hal (his Lourdes comment to Lexi was just snap).
- That dreamscape sequence with Tom seemed to go on forever.
- Was Falling Skies this Tom-centric before Noah Wyle became a producer on the show?
- Why, oh why, did the 2nd Mass stay in Chinatown like sitting ducks when they know the location is known to the Espheni?  They should've left as soon as the beamer launched, or at least moved a short distance away if they wanted to wait for Tom to return.
- The 2nd Mass is further decimated but miraculously all three Mason sons and Mason love interests survive.
- Looks like Hal is going to take over for Tom, in Tom's absence, with his ending rah-rah speech, because Hal is a Mason and Weaver is not.
- Weaver should just've died because he has no real role on the show anymore.  He's not the leader of the 2nd Mass anymore and anything he says or does could just as easily be said or done by one of the Masons.

 

I do have to give Falling Skies credit for bucking the current trend of TV shows killing off major characters.  Instead, this show is following the old formula of having the main cast members survive all kinds of deadly dangers, while extras get killed left and right, no matter how unrealistic it would be in real life.  Lexi's death (if she is indeed dead and won't rise like Dark Phoenix) doesn't count because she really wasn't a Mason and was doomed from the start to be a one-season plot device.  (If she had survived, she'd be a pretty potent weapon and could defeat the remaining Espheni on Earth in 1-2 episodes, leaving nothing much for the Masons to do next season.)

 

Checking off this week's use of sci-fi tropes:
* Alien creatures with tentacles attach to human beings like parasites and render them immobile (Aliens)?  Check.
* Hero finds himself communicating with avatar-like important person in dreamscape (Harry Potter)?  Check.
* Heroic redemption by making suicidal run straight into enemy target (Independence Day)?  Check.
* Friendly ship swoops in at last minute, shooting guns at enemy ships and saving the day (Star Wars, BSG)?  Check
* Hero expecting to die instead wakes up on bed in fantasy dimension and sees alien being (AI, Farscape)?  Check.

 

Anyone notice Noah Wyle in The Librarians promo that interrupted these episodes?  I remember that trilogy of Librarian made-for-TV movies.  I guess TNT is giving him year-round employment.  Seeing that Librarians promo made me think of the saying "nature abhors a vacuum".  In the TV-verse, as soon as one show leaves, something similar takes its place.  Syfy Channel cancelled Warehouse 13.  But now TNT is debuting The Librarians.

Edited September 1, 2014 by tv echo

[iMonrey]

Everything about these last two episodes - hell, this entire season - felt very derivative of other sci-fi shows and movies. The fog, the crawling slug things, everything. I also don't get how destroying the power station killed all the crawling slug things.

 

At least Lexi is dead now, so I'll give them that. But I never understood the point of turning her blonde. That just never made any sense to me, and she looked so much better with dark hair.

 

I don't know what or who the hell that was supposed to be that Tom saw at the end. Total WTF ending.

 

I wonder if the next season will have yet another show runner. There's just no consistent vibe to this show, I feel like they might come back next year having thrown everything that happened this season out the window.

[Latverian Diplomat]

We interrupt this vital mission, for yet another session of Mason family therapy. Sigh.

 

Lexi's sacrifice was still a waste. Once the Volm arrived, they could have destroyed the evil tower of power. We were told they didn't do that when they were here before because they didn't know where it was (How a big mining operation with a glowing tower that shoots bolts of green light could be so unnoticeable is a separate issue).

 

Also, Tom's had so many dreams and hallucinations, he should have it down to a system by now: "OK, I just woke up, am I hallucinating? Step 1: Pinch myself. Step 2, try to trick any bystanders into saying ridiculously optimistic things like healing radiation or sudden sweeping victories with no casualties.. Step 3 Quick quiz: all you possible hallucinations, let's play the 'Celebrity: Alive or Dead' game, I'll start: Dr. Kadar -- alive or dead?"

 

Really don't care for the character of Matt, and now the character of Weaver is being destroyed by having no other role than Matt's pal..

 

Nerd nitpick #1: If you are down to your last weapon and it''s a knife, throwing it is about the worst idea ever. Especially if you are stuck to the floor and can't retrieve it.

 

Nerd nitpick #2: I think they blew the count of people who have been to the moon (they said 24). They seem to be including the people who just orbited, which is fine, so that's 3 for each of the six missions that landed. Apollo 8 famously orbited, and Apollo 13 famously slingshotted around it, so that six more for 24. But, Apollo 10 also orbited the moon (it was a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11) so the correct answer is 27, and I suspect that Apollo 10 is the one they forgot. Oops. My mistake, helpfully set straight by dankesean below.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Latverian Diplomat

[DrLar]

Man, the characters stuck to the ground should watch more TV/Movies, why just not take your shoes off and leap to safety? Bad where one of the guys was being moved like he wasn't stuck by the worm attached to his chest, and Sarah making that show from that angle and hitting the worm on the side? magic bullet!

 

Of course Tom is still on dreamland, with a female skitter that speaks English.

[BooksRule]

When Maggie reached down to pull Ben up to the bus roof (and later when they both were trying to rescue Hal), all I could think of was the earlier episode where Maggie didn't know her own strength and beaned Mira Sorvino's character (Sarah?) with the debris.  If I were Ben (or Hal) I would be worrying about being torn apart when they yanked.  (On the other hand, did anyone else get a vision of Hal being catapulted off into the horizon like a pebble from a slingshot when Maggie and Ben pulled on the fire hose?  I would have watched that again and again.)

[Joimiaroxeu]

 

And while Lexi was doomed as hell, at least we finally got to see Scarlett Byrne with a rational hair color and in normal...well, post-invasion normal clothing a couple of times before she went all ID4 Randy Quaid on the Espheni power plant.  It helped immensely.

Yep. I couldn't believe how much better she looked as a brunette. That fried white hair wasn't doing her any favors, IMO. Kudos to the show for managing to pull the character away from her original Khaleesi Lite imitation.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Joimiaroxeu

[ottoDbusdriver]

I don't know what or who the hell that was supposed to be that Tom saw at the end. Total WTF ending.

 

A multi-legged being with a humanoid upper body -- I'd almost take a guess that it looks like a Vedran from 'Andromeda' (only the Vedrans had pale blue skin)

 

http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Vedran

[sjohnson]

Some of the dialogue was appalling. Saying that vacuum somehow affects Lexi's powers was especially clunky. Arbitrary depowering in plot service is bad enough but the lack of style in the fictional science is appallingly tone deaf. 

 

Almost everything with Pope was grotesquely stupid, from shouting maniacally to Sarah's save-the-day appearance. Somebody needs to tell writers that hanging a lantern/lampshading only works when you have a deft touch. SG-1 writers could usually manage it, but not this crew. Pope biting the umbilical cord was the only time I've ever seen his supposed gonzo fighting used rather than asserted. 

 

The triangle was also bad. If they wanted Hal to say something snarky, at least he should have said Ben deliberately banged him against the side of the bus. 

 

The fake suspense of the Volm "rescue" was bad enough. But if they were going to pretend that there was any chance Lexi couldn't get through, they could have showed the Volm exposing themselves to prompt Espheni vessels guarding the power core to leave the site to counter-attack the Volm threat...leaving an Espheni Overlord's personal vehicle to land in safety at the power core!

 

But when all is said and done, Falling Skies eschewed any science fictional conceptual originality from the beginning. It's always been about the execution. As to that, I have to say that the execution of Tom/Lexi's dream sequence was very strong. (Obligatory Hollywood sentimentality about families means the show was playing in its comfort zone.) Defiance wishes it could do Nolan/Irisa with half the emotion. And I thought Dan/Matt also very effective. To be honest, I wasn't blown away by Ann's heroics but I did enjoy them, except for her insistence on spouting cliches about kryptonite to the air (aka audience.) I always found Shakespearean monologing more believable in pensive moments. 

 

PS The reversion to normal hair in the dream sequence establishes very clearly I think that the white was always "bleach blonde=Evil."

Edited September 1, 2014 by sjohnson

[Gudzilla]

 

 Even my dog rolls her eyes at The Leftovers.

Dogs don't do to well on that show.

 

 

That fried white hair wasn't doing her any favors, IMO. Kudos to the show for managing to pull the character away from her original Khaleesi Lite imitation.

For me this is true of original recipe Khaleesi too.

 

I can't wait to see what Matt's hair looks like next season.

[xaxat]

Everything about these last two episodes - hell, this entire season - felt very derivative of other sci-fi shows and movies. 

 

Even worse, it wasn't entertaining. There was nothing in last night's episode of The Strain that I hadn't seen used in another movie or television show. But it was a lot of fun!

 

This show, not so much.

[DrLar]

Another fact, name a character Lexi and have her die in a season finale in a vehicle crash..

[terrymct]

* Hero expecting to die instead wakes up on bed in fantasy dimension and sees alien being (AI, Farscape).

I really think they're going for 2001 A Space Odessy gravitas. Mason will probably end up as the human link to the wonders of a massively advanced civilization etc etc etc.

[Ottis]

Well, you could tell Lexi was a Mason. Who else pauses while in the midst of a key mission to save humanity to pout that no one will ever forgive her?

 

And Tom Mason was true to form. No, Tom, the Espheni overlord wasn't going to kill Lexi to "get back at you." She was a loaded cannon who could hurt them. It wasn't about you (hard to believe, I know).

 

Of course, you somehow snuck by both Mira and the overlord to stab him in his ... side? Which seemed to suddenly incapacitate him. You could have at least said the Volm gave you some Espheni physiology pointers.

 

And Ann and Matt ... nothing like falling asleep when faced with mortal danger while Weaver was inches away from being turned onto a Espheni creation. Why keep trying when you can take a nap?

 

But you know, where was all the anger coming from toward Lexi from Tom? He bent over backward to defend her when she was a threat. Now that she isn't, he hates her. Props to Lexi for acknowledging their pod conversation was the longest conversation they had ever had. Mason's earlier "not my daughter" defense was indeed senseless. 

 

Every single thing that happened in these two episodes we called as soon as possible. Espheni ship captures beamer? "They will crash the ship into the ore mining device." Followed immediately by, "Lexi will do it and sacrifice herself." Followed seconds later by, "Tom will be lost as a cliffhanger." The only guess we had wrong was that Tom would pull a "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn!" when Lexi crashed the ship. But then we were too busy saying uh, the Volm could blow that up now, you know.

 

Now we assume Tom Mason will make a "brave" all or nothing gamble so the Volm notice his ship in the knick of time.

 

This show. It has pieces. It just can't seem to write them well. And it wouldn't know a surprise if it attached itself to its chest and made the show into an Espheni hybrid. But next season is the last, so there is that.

[ganesh]

Ugh, I don't know if I was just in a bad mood or something, but I honestly just found these two hours to be boring as hell.

 

Not boring, but predictable. Which can be ok, if fresh and fun. This was neither. It was more, let's get this over with.

 

Again the Volm reveal necessary info late in the game (I defied Daddy and stayed to help).

 

I think this was alluded to earlier because it wasn't a surprised to me. 

 

I don't know what or who the hell that was supposed to be that Tom saw at the end. Total WTF ending.

 

I assume it's the "You don't know what's coming," alien that the Overlord told Tom when they were in the ghetto. The problem is, I don't really care. Nothing here is particularly original, so this one is probably The Ancients or some shit. 

 

Dogs don't do to well on that show.

 

That was the joke. But my dog barks with annoyance at the dogs on the show. 

 

I've got nothing but meh for this season. I'm glad it's over. 

[dankesean]

Nerd nitpick #2: I think they blew the count of people who have been to the moon (they said 24). They seem to be including the people who just orbited, which is fine, so that's 3 for each of the six missions that landed. Apollo 8 famously orbited, and Apollo 13 famously slingshotted around it, so that six more for 24. But, Apollo 10 also orbited the moon (it was a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11) so the correct answer is 27, and I suspect that Apollo 10 is the one they forgot.

 

Except several astronauts made the trip more than once. (Jim Lovell, for example, was part of both Apollo 8 and 13, being denied an actual moon landing twice.) As much as it pains me to defend anything on this show, they got their math there correct.

Edited September 5, 2014 by dankesean

[anstar]

Maybe the 'beautiful' thing Tom saw was an un-mutated Skitter. We know they were also harnessed by the Espheni. Since Tom said he 'had no idea', he must have recognized something about her. 

Someone in another forum said that Lexi clapped her hands just before she crashed the ship.  I didn't see it.  Any guesses what that might have been? Creating cocoon goo probably wouldn't have done much good.

[Latverian Diplomat]

Except several astronauts made the trip more than once. (Jim Lovell, for example, was part of both Apollo 8 and 13, being denied an actual moon landing twice.) As much as it pains me to defend anything on this show, they got their math their correct.

Great catch! I stand corrected, thanks. The other two were John Young and Eugene Cernan from Apollo 10 who each got to walk on the moon on Apollos 16 & 17 respectively.

[shapeshifter]

All of Tom's final space ship scenes felt very Arthur C. Clarke.

...It wasn't earned, but I rather Lexi have a "heroic death", then to live and be "redeemed" by the 2nd Mass....

Highlight[:]...Anne with the flamethrower, since Moon Bloodgood seem to be having the most fun with that.

I won't lie; I'll be back for the final season, but I'm keeping my expectations way, way low.

These 3 points sum up my take too, thuganomics85.

...

* Friendly ship swoops in at last minute, shooting guns at enemy ships and saving the day (Star Wars, BSG)? Check...

I can't count how many times that happened on SG1 and SGA--and all of them were more entertaining and believable.

Scarlett Byrne (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2906885/) and Sara Hyland (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0405103/?ref_=tt_cl_t9) from Modern Family should be cast as sisters somewhere. Maybe they made her have white hair so people wouldn't be expecting comedy from her character because they look so much alike?

Edited September 2, 2014 by shapeshifter

[mythoughtis]

I thought Tom's wife was actually dead, in that Tom actually saw her body.  I might be mis-remembering my Mason back-story though.

Definitely ended on a 2001 note.   Of course, its the season finale, so Tom has to be separated from the 2nd mass... like every season finale. 

 

Triangle continues to annoy me.  Actually enjoyed the Pope -Sara reunion.  Not sure that Lexi is actually dead, maybe the Volm teleported her onto their ship at the last second.   Was really annoyed at the amount of Lexi-Tom hallucination time.

 

I have decided that we get all these new red-shirts every year, because TPTB refuse to spend any money on anyone whose character isn't a Mason, dating a Mason, or co-leading the unit with a Mason.  So, we can't bring anyone else in for more than 1 season because we might have to give them a raise.

Edited September 2, 2014 by mythoughtis

[WearyTraveler]

I thought Tom was seeing his first wife (the Mason boys' mother).  They showed us the family picture twice: the first time Tom gets it out f the book and cradles both to his heart before presumably going to sleep; the second time, it's brand new again in a picture frame on the nightstand.  They could have picked a picture of all the boys on a camping trip, if they only wanted to show Tom holding on to what's left of his family (Mason picture + book Ann gave him) while preparing to die.  But they took the time to include the wife, to show her twice, and to have Tom say: "you look beautiful" as if he recognized the creature standing by the door.

 

If so, props to the show for setting that up all the way back in season one when Tom told Ann (IIRC) the story about how he'd lost his wife and Ann told him how she'd lost her son.  Tom said that he'd gone out for food and when he'd come back his wife was gone.  So, nobody saw her die.

 

I don't mind all the clichés, the tropes, plot driven character moments or the hugging all that much.  What I don't understand is why everyone in the whole frakking UNIVERSE is so interested on Earth.  I know the Volm have ages of history with the Espheni, so, their explanation for the Volm showing up is, at least, natural.  But I still don't understand why the Espheni came to Earth.  What do they gain? Soldiers? Resources? What?

[tv echo]

Someone in another forum said that Lexi clapped her hands just before she crashed the ship.  I didn't see it.  Any guesses what that might have been? Creating cocoon goo probably wouldn't have done much good.

Lexi didn't clap her hands just before she crashed the ship.  My recollection is that she clasped her hands together on her breast like in prayer.  (I think she also closed her eyes but I'm not sure.)

Edited September 2, 2014 by tv echo

[terrymct]

All of Tom's final space ship scenes felt very Arthur C. Clarke.

 

 

Exactly.  Just with New England-ish bedroom furniture rather than French provincial.   Will Tom turn into a giant space baby and bat away Espheni space ships?

[Ottis]

Lexi didn't clap her hands just before she crashed the ship.  My recollection is that she clasped her hands together on her breast like in prayer.

 

 

I only caught a glimpse of it, but I wondered if she was trying to make an emergency coccoon.

 

I don't mind all the clichés, the tropes, plot driven character moments or the hugging all that much.  What I don't understand is why everyone in the whole frakking UNIVERSE is so interested on Earth.  I know the Volm have ages of history with the Espheni, so, their explanation for the Volm showing up is, at least, natural.  But I still don't understand why the Espheni came to Earth.  What do they gain? Soldiers? Resources? What?

 

 

The biggest trope of all ... if they weren't interested in Earth, there would be no story.From what I remember from the show, they need soldiers and resources to fight whoever the mysterious enemy is who is still to appear, and they may well need another planet to colonize depending on whether the volcano planet was their ruined homeworld. But really, does it matter? if a bully wants your lunch money, do you care what he does with it? The point is the conflict. The issues this show has is with the stuff you say you don't mind - the execution.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Ottis

[ganesh]

But I still don't understand why the Espheni came to Earth.

 

The point is the conflict.

 

Yeah, but that's kind of a cop out. At the start, it seemed like the Esph wanted Earth for the resources and as a staging area and that's fine. But they never really said, and TPTBs used the absence of a real reason to bounce all over the place. It looked like they underestimated human resistance and realized that they were putting more resources into fighting than might have been worth. 

 

The point might be the conflict, but with no concrete reason, it takes away from the story. If all they wanted were resources, and thought to just come in an take them, there's a point of negotiation. You fight humans to a stalemate and realize maybe a partnership is a better bet in your fight than master/slave. You get the humans on your side, so when the Volm come, you have allies on the ground. 

 

The enemy of my enemy is my friend is a cheap cliche that doesn't work here because it inherently assumes three equals with distinct motivations. That's not the case. Humans didn't have any part in the overall fight and aren't nearly on the same tech and military level. 

 

If I make my enemy my friend, he is no longer my enemy is more apt. Because they never really got into what the Esph were doing, and it's stupid because Tom has interacted with enough of them for TPTBs to show motivation. Now the Volm come, and they're nice to humans, and the Esph have an even harder fight. 

 

"Just because" is an ok motivation if it's strictly the Esph v humans. Or when one bully takes your lunch money. It's another when there's multiple sentient races. Each has their own motivations and politics that TPTBs have woefully fallen short on.

 

If there's multiple bullies, you find another bully who doesn't like yours and you tell him that if he stops your bully, you'll give him half your lunch money. So, you both eat and you don't get beat up. 

Edited September 2, 2014 by ganesh

[terrymct]

After watching the finale, something has been bugging me.  Why didn't the Volm figure out that the base was on the moon?  Couldn't their ships pick up the big blasts of energy heading from the moon to various spots on Earth?  Probably for the same reason that the Espheni aren't able to pick up infrared (aka heat) signatures and find the humans when they're hiding.

[AV8n]

So, the creature that Tom saw at the end of the episode was either:

1) His dead wife

2) The Arch-Enemy of the Espheni

3) An Unmodified Skitter (or Skitter-cousin)

4) All of the above

 

I vote for #4.  In Season 5, we will find out that Tom's wife was a Skitter spy who assumed human form in order to monitor Espheni plans to attack Earth.  The harnessed Skitters were not from the Skitter home world, but rather outlying planets in the Skitter system.  The Skitter Empire is the Big Bad that the Espheni warned Tom about.

Mrs. Skitter Mason will inform Tom that the original plan was to unleash the Mason boys as an impulsive, daft Weapon of Mass Destruction against the Espheni overlords in order to bring their intergalactic war to an end.

 

If the New Aliens are serious about the "enemy of my enemy" thing, one must wonder how they feel about the Volm.  Surely the two have crossed paths - although we can be certain Cochise will save that morsel of information until it is almost too late to care.  That's just how he rolls.

[iMonrey]

 

Saying that vacuum somehow affects Lexi's powers was especially clunky. Arbitrary depowering in plot service is bad enough but the lack of style in the fictional science is appallingly tone deaf.

 

You know, I could almost buy the reason why Lexi couldn't use her magic mind powers to blow up the lunar power station, because of gravity blah blah blah. What I didn't understand is why she couldn't use her mind powers to blow up Scorch and Miri once they got on board the mother ship. Because, artificial or not, there's gravity in that room. Otherwise they'd all be floating all over the place.

 

So yeah, Lexi's powers work, except when they don't.

 

Also, how long does it take a Beamer to fly from the Earth to the Moon? Because assuming Eshpheni have FTL capabilities, shouldn't it only take a few minutes? The entire cocoon building process seems like something that would take several hours. They should have been able to get to the moon and back before she finished something that massive.

 

Finally, I don't understand how Tom is "Lost in Space" all of a sudden. I mean, how far out of orbit did the Beamer spin? It's not like a needle in a haystack unless he went into warp drive and traversed the galaxy. He spun out of control in a very direct course, between earth and moon. Are we to believe the Volm don't even have the technology to track something as specific as that?

[DavidJSnyder]

Also, how long does it take a Beamer to fly from the Earth to the Moon? Because assuming Eshpheni have FTL capabilities, shouldn't it only take a few minutes? The entire cocoon building process seems like something that would take several hours. They should have been able to get to the moon and back before she finished something that massive.

 

I don't know there's any reason the Beamers which are relatively small have FTL, but I think Lexi said to Tom the reason it felt like 1G is that was how fast they were accelerating, which means if they needed to get half way then turn around to decelerate,  they should have been able to reach the moon in about three and a half hours.

 

I had been assuming that there was no faster than light which is why the Espheni haven't brought in any reinforcements, but then the Volm started disappearing to other planets and reappearing so quickly.

[KLovestoShop]

I can't believe how much stuff this show borrows from other movies.  The fog carrying the goo reminded me of the fog scene in the Ten Commandments when the angel of death was coming around to kill the first born.  The red that Lexi was wearing reminded me of the use of red in the Sixth Sense.  When Lexi was training with "father" I kept waiting to hear "Use the force young Jedi".  And in the final scene where he wakes up in a bedroom, that was taken from 2001 A Space Odyssey when the old man and the star child were interchangeable---remember when the old man woke up in the fancy bedroom?  That was directly from there.