And now we know why Jamil was so indisposed; he was chock full of those alien roaches, like E.G. Marshall in Creepshow. They're trapped like Rodentia, and Matt crawls off down a ventilation shaft at the same time Tom and Pope - once again in the good graces of the 2nd Mass - set off to find them. Anne has to motivate Lourdes (who's taking Jamil's terminal case of the roaches badly) to get her shit together. Luckily, Matt finds Tom and Pope before the Cock-A-Roaches can burrow into him.
Oh look, Karen's back. And she returns Boon, sort of. He's greased by a Mech in front of the 2nd Mass as, I guess, a warning (will anyone besides Tector miss that wannabe Eminem?). Afterwards, Karen tells them they're out of time.
Anne constructs a makeshift flamethrower out of an oxygen tank and she and Lourdes escape the basement. Bummer about Jamil, though. Tom, on the other hand, would like to have words with the Overlord. And he does, through Ben. The Overlord tells him the massive kill-off of mankind wasn't genocide but "a correction," thanks to our election of a Kenyan socialist masquerading as an American mishandling of our planet's resources. He refuses to divulge the aliens' ultimate plan, and asserts the humans are too weak and sentimental to defeat them. To prove his point, he gives Ben the mother of all nosebleeds, telling him to release him before it's too late. Tom responds by shooting the Overlord.
Post-apocalyptic America. Fuck yeah.
Weaver's not happy. But then, when is Weaver ever happy? He and Tom decide the best course of action is to let Karen see the wounded Overlord's body. Karen behaves insufferably, and is rewarded with the sight of her fallen master. Tom's deal: let the 2nd Mass evacuate without interference, and they won't blow him (and Karen) back to God, as René Belloq might say.
So the 2nd Mass escapes the alien siege for now. They've got just about enough gas to make it to Charleston. Tom and Anne share another tender moment. Meanwhile Lourdes is rather bitter. Turn that frown upside down, Lourdes. God is great, and all.
Of course Ben leaves. Tom wants to stop him, but Ben convinces him (I don't want to know what Ben saw in the Overlord's mind). Will we see Ben again? Oh, I think so. And I doubt it will be how everyone expects.
After missing the last two weeks, last night's installment actually renewed my interest in Falling Skies. We had some deaths, a few disquieting revelations, and the possibility of outcomes as-yet unforseen (detente, perhaps?). The alien cockraoches added a nice survival horror element that I think needs to be emphasized if the show's going to rise above summer filler, while Tom's decision to plug the Overlord was a welcome change for a character who often behaves inexplicably at odds with his (and the surviving humans') best interests.
Then again, we still don't know what exactly happened to him on the mothership. I bet didn't spend the whole time listening to Parliament-Funkadelic.
Next week: Are you for real? No Falling Skies next week. Even the Overlords won't go against the power of the 2012 Olympics.
In two weeks, then: The road goes ever on. Plus: aliens.
