S05.E02: Hunger Pains

[MostlyC]

Hunger Pains A surprise skitter attack leaves the 2nd Mass without food; Tom and Anne make a discovery

 

 

Please don't post until after the episode has aired or we'll send some skitters  to your house.   (Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure you can kill them with a fly swatter and some soapy water).

[CarpeDiem54]

Cool! Flying skitter skeeters with human eyes!

Where the hell are all of these skitters coming from?

[TVSpectator]

Cool! Flying skitter skeeters with human eyes!

Where the hell are all of these skitters coming from?

 

It looks like that next week we will get more info about the where and how those hybrid bugs came from. 

[thuganomics85]

OK, I'm actually interested in these flying skitter hybrids.  I actually don't blame Anne for freaking out, because bugs with human eyes would be fucking disturbing as hell.

 

Weaver clearly doesn't like how Warrior Tom is allowing things like Anthony and the rest to beat up and torture imprisoned skitters. Glad that not everyone is on board with this new Tom.  Speaking of Tom, it looks like he's still hallucinating his wife and now can kind of predict the future.  First, he had visions about them running out of food last week, and tonight, he sees a wounded Hal and sure enough, Hal collapses at the end.  Have no idea what this "friendly" alien did to him.

 

Ben/Maggie and Pope/Sarah go on a food run, after the first Skitter attack destroyed their food supply.  Mostly a success, although they did get briefly held hostage by a girl, with a Skittered brother.  I actually don't blame them for lying to her: it really did look dour, and the only other options would have been death or, if they were lucky, break out and kill her.

 

I feel like this show wants me to think of Pope and Sarah as a "cool" couple, but it's hard to buy into that, when they actually show interest in that stupid Hal/Maggie/Ben love triangle.  At least Pope still treats it flippantly, but that is still too much.

 

Matt gets a love interest, that he almost wrecks before it even gets started.  He really isn't good at this, is he?  At least Dingaan helped him out, because along with being an expect at tech and weapons (flying drone for the win!), Dingaan apparently is decent at the art of love as well.  Go figure!

[Julie23]

Definitely a better episode than last week. Where did all those skitters come from? And the bug skitters? I think I'd pack up and move. That was impressive that they have enough ammunition to keep killing the hoards of skitters. Still hate the love triangle. Warrior Tom is growing on me. 

[tv echo]

I don't know which was less believable - Tom Mason acting like a ruthless badass, or Pope/Sarah discussing the love triangle with Ben/Maggie.

 

Is it bad that I'm hoping Caitlin (the girl with the Skittered brother) will pull Ben out of that love triangle?

 

What's with the dead wife hallucinations?  First with Rick Grimes on TWD.  Now with Tom Mason.

Edited July 6, 2015 by tv echo

[BooksRule]

Where did they get all of that ammo?  Did we see anything that showed them finding a huge stockpile?  (I kind of blanked-out on many of last season's episodes.)

 

Was Anthony the one who actually destroyed the food supply?  Wasn't that him that fired the big honkin' whatever-it-was weapon at the building to hit a skitter and blew it up?  If so, why didn't the others seem angry at him for doing this?

[iMonrey]

I couldn't figure out who fired the shot that blew up their food supply either, and I'm also wondering where they're getting all of this ammo. They have no food but a seemingly endless supply of bullets.

 

I thought this episode was a step back after the first one and devolved into tedious romance stories that really have no place on this show. There is far too much going on for anyone to care who winds up with who. Pope setting up a little candle-lit romantic dinner for Sarah was laughable. And Matt does not need a girlfriend. This isn't a soap opera.

 

It was also terribly convenient there just happened to be a working truck right there at the food warehouse, big enough for them to stuff full of supplies and drive back to camp.

 

Then there's this thing with Tom's hallucinations about his dead wife. I was willing to give it a pass last week, because they set up that cliff-hanger at the end of last season and had to deal with it somehow. But I was hoping they were going to sweep that nonsense under the rug, not drag it out all season long. 

 

Well, at least the insect with the human eyes was kind of cool.

[ganesh]

I actually don't blame them for lying to her: it really did look dour, and the only other options would have been death or, if they were lucky, break out and kill her.

 

It was 100% the right call. What else could they have done. Now, they got her back at camp, obviously outnumbered, and the brother is secure. I get that she didn't know what to do and she's not going to kill her brother. Maybe they may actually communicate with him. 

 

I suppose that maybe because the skitters have no control anymore, they revert to their beast state and breed like rabbits. Clearly, the Esh wouldn't want them to breed uncontrollably because it would be such a strain on resources. 

 

So is there a mothership for the Esh in Earth orbit? Or are they coming back? Or are they still in control in other parts of the continent? This bothers me on TWD too. There's not one person that the main cast comes across that's part of a communications network at all? 

 

If this were a different show, it would be kind of cool that in cutting the power and beating the Esh back, the humans actually are risking their own extinction. They're clearly not the dominant life form on the planet. 

 

Come to think of it, why not just drop a bunch of uncontrolled skitters on what ever world you want to take over and let them do all the work. 

 

I don't have a problem with the men torturing the skitter. In a prolonged war with no end, these things will happen. It's absolutely the wrong call for Tom to allow that to happen. You still need some level of discipline. 

Edited July 6, 2015 by ganesh

[Gudzilla]

Was it my imagination or did Pope really cook a 5 course meal for him and his girlfriend right after the food shortage ? 

[TVSpectator]

 I still can't figure out why the 2nd Mass would keep their food supply so darn close to their gate, where before hand they figure that the Skitters will  attack from?

[Mikita]

Is it bad that I'm hoping Caitlin (the girl with the Skittered brother) will pull Ben out of that love triangle?

 

 

Deni could have done that. But they killed her instead.

[BooksRule]

Was it my imagination or did Pope really cook a 5 course meal for him and his girlfriend right after the food shortage ?

 

I was trying to see what food he had, but all I could make out was an iron skillet of what looked like cornbread.  I want to know where he got the unbroken candles and the pristine white tablecloth.

[ganesh]

I thought the meal was a lot of canned goods. Wasn't there a plate of beans or something?

[SFoster21]

I was trying to see what food he had, but all I could make out was an iron skillet of what looked like cornbread. I want to know where he got the unbroken candles and the pristine white tablecloth.

They were in a warehouse with many kinds of goods.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I still can't figure out why the 2nd Mass would keep their food supply so darn close to their gate

And why did they keep it all in one place? You'd think they would have split it up into at least two locations just in case one of them got compromised.

[Ottis]

Where did all those skitters come from? And the bug skitters?

 

 

The only logical response to those questions is, why does it matter? So Skitters have bred since being freed, and perhaps mutated while on Earth, and there may be some that were mutated in experiments by the Overlords (just as they did to humans). So what? Is this information supposed to be horrifying, or meaningful in some way? Animals adapt to their environment, and these are fictitious sci-fi aliens that could change in any kind of fantastical way. We already know the Espheni did experiments. Can we move on to something meaningful?

 

Such as ... what happened to the resistance skitters? How were they able to act with free will and these skitters don't? Are the Overlords still communicating? What happened to the mysterious bigger threat that was alluded to in past seasons? Is the Earth changing climactically or in any environmental way that will require evolution by humans?  

 

And why is Tom Mason such as ass? During the skitter torture scene, I wanted to shoot Mason when Weaver looked at him and Mason stared over Weaver's head arrogantly, as if he was saying, "Boys will be boys! See, be a warrior!" Why the show chose to take the least warrior-like character and emphasize the thing he isn't is beyond me. It would be like making Hulk Hogan into an astrophysicist. if anything, it makes Mason even more of a douchebag.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Ottis

[xaxat]

And why is Tom Mason such as ass? During the skitter torture scene, I wanted to shoot Mason when Weaver looked at him and Mason stared over Weaver's head arrogantly, as if he was saying, "Boys will be boys! See, be a warrior!" Why the show chose to take the least warrior-like character and emphasize the thing he isn't is beyond me. It would be like making Hulk Hogan into an astrophysicist. if anything, it makes Mason even more of a douchebag.

 

That scene pushed Tom into irredeemable for me. I don't care where the story heads from here, he's ruined.

[iMonrey]

Such as ... what happened to the resistance skitters? How were they able to act with free will and these skitters don't? Are the Overlords still communicating? What happened to the mysterious bigger threat that was alluded to in past seasons? Is the Earth changing climactically or in any environmental way that will require evolution by humans?

 

Does anyone know if there's (yet) another show-runner this season? It seems like they change every season. If so, it seems like whoever's in charge now just sees Skitters as the go-to alien monsters without any variety or distinction.

 

I was trying to see what food he had, but all I could make out was an iron skillet of what looked like cornbread. I want to know where he got the unbroken candles and the pristine white tablecloth.

 

It doesn't matter what kind of food Pope prepared, it was that he did it all AFAIC. Were we supposed to think this was sweet and cute, that he prepared this romantic dinner for Sarah, when just a few hours earlier everyone was starving to death? Priorities, people. 

 

That's why I kind of liked the season premier: everyone was in war mode. This week everyone had to stop and talk about who they liked. Do you like Ben or Hal? Do you like Sarah? Does Sarah like you? Here's a dying girl - oh look, Matt's got a new girlfriend! Jeez you'd think this was The Bachelor. These people are supposed to be fighting for their lives and saving their planet, not asking each other out on dates.

[xaxat]

That's why I kind of liked the season premier: everyone was in war mode. This week everyone had to stop and talk about who they liked. Do you like Ben or Hal? Do you like Sarah? Does Sarah like you? Here's a dying girl - oh look, Matt's got a new girlfriend! 

 

I can't remember, did she survive? 

 

Unless your name is Maggie, anyone in a relationship with one of the Mason boys is pretty much destined to suffer an awful death.

[Bishop]

I think this final season has been fantastic so far.  I love the fast pace, the action, and the conversations and dialogue going on with the characters.  I'm not sure how I feel about Tom embracing his darker side, but I think he has a valid pov.  His current attitude will ensure a future for the next generation and the one after that.  Weaver couldn't argue that point, but Weaver also had the point that every person only has one soul and one life to lose.  I loved all the scenes with the characters and even that Tom let Pope off the hook regarding the guy eating the skitter and dying.  Pope wasn't to blame.  Like Tom said, people are desperate.  

 

I like that Ben is vying for Maggie's affections.  He's just getting on with the business of fighting, and I like that the writers aren't spending all that much time with the triangle.  I surprisingly liked the scenes with Matt and the new girl.  It was simple and easy and not a lot of time was devoted to it.  I think the show has set up the episodes very nicely.  I am intrigued as to what is happening to Tom.  I am curious to see how far the 2nd Mass will go to win the war and what will they sacrifice to get there.  

 

Next week looks good too.  So far, this season is all "A's" for me.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Bishop

[Ottis]

Next week looks good too.  So far, this season is all "A's" for me.

 

 

Talk about your grade inflation! :-)

 

I'm not sure how I feel about Tom embracing his darker side, but I think he has a valid pov.  His current attitude will ensure a future for the next generation and the one after that.

 

 

So did his earlier attitude, which was also about creating a future, but was a lot more intelligent and in line with his character.  Going all Xena is comical.

 

I like that Ben is vying for Maggie's affections.  He's just getting on with the business of fighting, and I like that the writers aren't spending all that much time with the triangle.

 

 

Hasn't it appeared in every episode so far this season? That's too much time, IMO. The older brother is a dick about it, and the younger one is more caring and is linked to Maggie thanks to the spikes. There shouldn't be a debate over who makes more sense to be with Maggie.

 

The weird thing about Falling Skies is, they keep applying plot tropes to the wrong characters. Tom as "The Ghost" last season was howlingly funny. And yet that come back and now he is Mr. Warrior. Meanwhile. Weaver, who has personal reasons for hating the skitters and wanting all out revenge on them, is now the voice of humanity. The older Mason son acts immature, the younger one acts more mature than he is in every way. One minute Anne is Rambo and inspiring the troops to attack, the next she is Dr. Pacifist. Meanwhile, Skitters go from being organized resistance to hunger-crazed, breeding bugs. Nothing makes any consistent sense. And yes, they are survivors struggling after an alien invasion, I get that people change. But not in illogical, random ways.

 

I don't think anything can redeem Tom Mason/Noah W's playing of him now. If I were in his band, I would pay no attention to him at all.

[ganesh]

Weaver I can at least buy. He's let his hate go and can move on. The rest is all over the place.