108 replies to this topic

[TWoP Howard]

From ZAP2it:

Hal comes up with a plan to infiltrate a skitter's lair and rescue Ben and other captives.

Please keep in mind that this thread is only for discussion of the episode. If you have spoilers, or want to speculate or discuss the seas as a whole, take the discussion to the appropriate thread. Thanks.

Edited by TWoP Howard, Jul 24, 2011 @ 1:52 AM.

[AimingforYoko]

So of course Harris gets his dumbass killed, just as he's about to be useful. Ah well, he gave good snark.
That was pretty badass when Anne killed that skitter.

[surfer]

Wait, how did Rick survive his father ripping his harness off? I thought that caused the kids to die.

Poor Karen. Everyone seems to have forgotten about her. I'm sure she'll resurface about the same time Hal and Margaret hook up. Another television love-triangle born. How great.

Dr. Harris' death was pretty uneventful. No one seemed to miss the guy. I thought he was going to stick around for a while.

At least they finally rescued Ben. Tom's constant "I'm going to save my son" was starting to remind me of Michael and Walt on Lost.

The skitter caressing the harnessed kids while they slept was pretty creepy.

Edited by surfer, Jul 10, 2011 @ 10:09 PM.

[Doom]

I love how the skitter perked up when they brought in the drugs. Way too many touching moments. Way too much casual use of resources. They have candles lit during the day, they have lamps running at night for hanging out. And how the hell do they know how much water the skitter needs to stay hydrated?

Most of these people look like they go their clothes from Kohls yeserday. Except Tom. Tom always looks like utter shit. Whoever Hal is about to be dating looks way too clean. Was that Maggie?

Greatest moment of the show to that point - Dr. Anne killing the temporarily dazed skitter, followed by the worst possible follow-up, a teary whine fes where she loses all credibility for what she just did, and of course her action was driven by motherly emotion. Dear science fiction writers, I am sick of this shit. Women can do things without bursting into tears. Did Alien teach you nothing?

The scene where they got Ben back was great though. I give them an A for that. It would have been better without the music ruining the suspense of Hal going through the hospital, but that was a really good scene. Also I give them credit for not making the "hiding in plain sight" thing too corny and like the Mummy and The Walking Dead. Keep that up, show.

I was explaining the show to someone who caught the end of it and they said "They're having a baby shower? At the End of The World??" I had to muffle my laughter with my fingerless-gloved hands. Maybe the difference between the fighters and the civilians is just whoever got to the stash of fingerless gloves first.

[fester01]

Judging from the peek at next week's episode, the last half of the season will consist of the Skitters trying to "rescue" Ben back from the evil humans.

Pluses: Less of the Annoying One. Dr. Anne killing the Skitter. Let Lourdes be the doctor. Give Anne a weapon and this whole thing will be over by episode 7!

Negatives: [snip] I know I'm in the minority, but I wish Pope was in every episode. Also, when Anne told the captain "I'm making progress" in understanding them. Huh? You showed it pictures of Earth and gave it water in a doggy dish, so don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

Edited by TWoP Howard, Jul 11, 2011 @ 8:37 PM.
Boards on boards

[Mikita]

A very slow moving episode. I need to know what's going on with the skitters. The scene with it caressing the kids heads as they went to sleep seemed very motherly to me. Although it wasn't too smart as it didn't realize that it had an extra kid when Hal showed up.

Did not expect Dr. Harris' death at all. Anne was so bad ass and so heartbreaking in the corridor during her meltdown.

Ben sure did wake up fast. It took Ricky much longer. Ricky seems so sad. Poor kid. Where was his dad this week?

[bodielovesbetty]

The stupidity and sappiness continue. If studying the Skitter is the lady doc's highest priority, why was rarely in there with it? She was thinking about going fishing with Uncle Scott. Why would Dr. Wings get so close without anyone else in the room? I loved how the first thing Weaver does after Dr. Wings is found dead is to call for the guards!

They not only let Rick roam around unsupervised, Hal flat out tells him their plan. I so wanted the conversation to go like this:
Hal: How was it there?
Rick: Don't remember. You going after Ben?
Hal: All the kids.
Rick: Thanks for the info. (Skitter at hospital's ears perk up).

Would have served them right.

Anyway, I now know I better stop watching at 5 to the end or I might go into sugar shock.

[roybokhade]

The good news: Dr. Carter finally got his kid back. The bad news: the upcoming 4 ep arc where he now has to go back and rescue his goldfish. Sorry, but you can't shoehorn a sci-fi/PA show into the Hallmark Channel demographic.

[peridot16]

At the beginning, I didn't catch what they needed the heroin for. Were they going to use it on the kids?

When Maggie was showing Hal how to shoot, why was Tom laughing in the background? His son's girlfriend was kidnapped and he's laughing at how cute they are?! Poor Karen.

I had to laugh at the close-up of Weaver sewing the patch on his jacket. So patriotic. I thought it was strange for him to be blasting that loud music at night when they are trying to keep a low profile.

One interesting thing this episode was the motherly way the Skitter covered the kids. I want to see more aliens.

[Doom]

Poor Karen. Everyone seems to have forgotten about her.

And Mike! Didn't Mike jeopardize the mission in the first place by running out to get Rick? Didn't he sit there and hold him on the ground, talking about how that was all the family he had left? And since that moment, he has been (a) nowhere around when Rick's surgery started (b) left him alone in the surgery room and then Rick put the harness back on © nowhere to be found as his kid sat in a courtyard being creepy and not eating. Show fail.

I thought it was strange for him to be blasting that loud music at night when they are trying to keep a low profile.

This really is just a camp outing. The alien thing is just a test. How great would it be if in the end we'll find out it was all a cool immersive viral video game experience for a movie. It really is getting to be time for shows to go to the level where they have actually interesting twists.

[Oldgeek]

Moon Bloodgood is too bloody good for this show! The only interesting part was the skitter petting the kids and surrounding them. I am finished with all this saccharine family-love stuff. Give me Sarah Connor over this any day. I really am disappointed with this much hyped program.

[bodielovesbetty]

Am I a terrible person for kinda hoping that the motherly Skitter was actually nurturing the eggs implanted in the kids? Ben seems fine, eats some corn bread, and then has a little Skitter burst out of his chest. But since this is the Hallmark version of a sci fi show, I guess the most to hope for is he'd just puke one up.

[thuganomics85]

Better then last week, actually had some good moments, but it's still not living up to it's potential.

Well, farewell Dr. Harris. I figured he wouldn't be around forever since Steven Weber was only a guest star, but I'm surprised he went out that quickly. But it ended where I figured it would; he's gone and now Anne has to step-up and be the top doctor now and finish what he started. That said, Anne killing the alien was all kids of badass. The crying after not so much, but I'll just ignore that. Although, have they mentioned before that she had a missing child? If not, I find it kind of strange they waited this long to do so.

Glad they finally got Ben and hopefully they will move from that story. The method to get him (and the other kids) was pretty neat and I liked the scenes between Tom and Hal. Really, Hal is actually becoming one of my favorite characters on the show.

Heh, oh poor religious girl; Hal has already forgotten about Lauren, but he still doesn't want you; it seems like Maggie has caught his eye. I guess he has a thing for blondes. Although, I can't blame him on this one. Sarah Carter is all kinds of hot (and rocking what I'm assuming are fake tattoos.) Really, I will stick with this show for her and Moon Bloodgood alone. Speaking of which, it looks like next week Maggie will be teaching Annie how to shoot. Yay to Moon and Sarah being in the same scene! Yes, I'm that shallow.

No Pope tonight but at least Weaver made me laugh when Tom was all "This is insane!" about the plan and Weaver was like "Well, we're being invaded by aliens right now, so sanity has left the building a long time ago, buddy." Not sure what the deal is with the music though; I'm assuming it means something to him. And they had that brief shot of him popping some pills, so I'm assuming he's secretly sick or something.

Edited by thuganomics85, Jul 11, 2011 @ 12:27 AM.

[taiko]

At the beginning, I didn't catch what they needed the heroin for. Were they going to use it on the kids?

We are suppose to believe that all of the traditional supplies of food and medicine are gone. So they are using street heroin in lieu of pharmaceutical morphine.

What is up with the 300 aimlessly circling the halls of JFK High? It looks like The West Wing

[MDKNIGHT]

Maggie and the Doctor are the only characters I find interesting at all. This ep strengthened that for me. I feel like if they could only have cloned them off a few thousand times the species wouldn't be in this mess. Hee.

So maybe Maggie got used to using weed when she had cancer, continued the habit after she was better and was at her drug dealer's when civilization fell leading her to be sold to Pope's gang? I would say that Pope was her drug dealer but I know Pope wouldn't have left the drug stash where Maggie now found it so I'm going with the former scenario. I kind of like that she isn't all warm and fuzzy especially about the baby shower. It wouldn't fit in with what we know about her. BTW something that I don't think they deal with much in apocalypse stories is that there would be one heck of a high percentage of people walking around with PTSD. Everything you had is gone and everything you knew has changed and there aren't resources from the outside who are healthy and able to help you. Every big disaster we've ever really experienced was manageable in the big picture because outsiders came in to rebuild and fix things. In real life Maggie would probably be a wreck but I'm digging her strength and preserverance. I think we are to take it that if she beat cancer she can beat anything. I have no clue why she would be good at crossbow hunting though. Do you think that Pope's gang were bow hunters before the fall and taught her after they figured they'd terrorized loyalty into her?

[taiko]

Heh, oh poor religious girl;

Well to be fair I didn't hear a prayer and she is also now an intern and the anesthesiologist.
[snip]

Edited by TWoP Howard, Jul 11, 2011 @ 9:01 PM.
Off topic

[emziez]

Moon Bloodgood is too bloody good for this show!

Oh damn, that's exactly how I feel about Noah Wyle who is giving it 120% but still cannot make the cornstarch hugging scenes and trite "you're a man" dialogue bearable. I still laugh every time I see him with Drew Roy, who looks about 29.

Moon is indeed gorgeous, and I've been waiting to see if she could act. Tonight she was given an emotional scene and some solid backstory and I was left completely cold.

[Yvaughn]

Oh, Dr. Harris, it's called the buddy system. First graders know it. Why don't you?

[Danny Franks]

Dr. Wings is dead. Yay! Glad they got rid of him, there was no need for an asshole human antagonist in the show. The Skitters are antagonistic enough. Plus, this means no silly love triangle between Tom, Anne and Wings.

That conversation about Anne caring, and surgeons not considering that a plus? Hmm, where have I heard that before? Oh right, Doctor Carter second guessing his choice of specialty in E.R. I wonder if that was a deliberate shout out.

Not sure what to make of her suddenly badass, 'punching the Skitter in the throat' routine. Though I did giggle at the Skitter's moment of, 'what the fuck is she doing?' when Anne opened the cage door.

It's nice to see more of Anne's background, and she's a lot more messed up than we've seen so far. Moon Bloodgood and Noah Wyle were both pretty good in that scene where she's admitting she doesn't have anything to remember her family by. But that memorial wall thing isn't anywhere near as touching in this show as it was in Battlestar Galactica.

I really like Maggie (or is it Margaret now?). Lots of character, lots of strength, she's not trying to upset people or make an issue out of her past, like Pope was. There are some odd beats though. Sometimes she seems interested in Hal, despite knowing he's a teenager, and other times she seems interested in Tom (especially at the beginning of this episode, where she looked pissed at Tom and Anne's rather formulaic flirting). Now that would be a love triangle to end all love triangles. Ugh. I really hope they don't go there with Hal and Maggie though, because she seems like she's about 30, and he's (supposed to be) 16.

Still, if Sarah Carter wants to walk around in skin tight jeans and t-shirts for the rest of the season, I'm really very OK with that.

The sentimental scenes of, 'isn't Tom a good dad' aren't so cloying when they're between him and Hal. The awkwardness of a dad saying that stuff to his teenage son offsets the saccharine sweetness just enough. I'd still prefer Tom to be a bit more stoic and silent, though. I can't help but think the whole thing would be more effective if Tom had been a bit more of a distant father figure, before this all started.

So not much Matt this week. Perhaps that was why I wasn't as irritated as with previous episodes. Yeah, keep that kid cranking the radio like he's in a Dickensian workhouse. Best use for the annoying little moppet.

And was the mech singing to itself, while it was on patrol? Probably not, but that's what I choose to believe it was doing.

The Skitter affectionately stroking the kids was, by far, the most disturbing thing they've had on this show. And then it slept alongside them, cuddling them! More of that, less of dads hugging kids, please. But if the Skitters are able to psychically connect to the harnessed kids, like the now dead one did with Ricky, then why didn't Skitter Dad immediately know that Hal wasn't really harnessed?

And do the kids start to die if their Skitter Dad is killed? Doesn't bode well for those kids at the motorcyle shop last week.

Baby shower at the end? Yeah, didn't care about that. I'm starting to come around to Weaver's initial opinion that the civilians are an unnecessary drain. Regarding Weaver himself, I hope he keeps his moments of humanity a complete secret, not softening at all in front of the people he's in charge of.

Finally, they got Ben back! Thank god for that, I was worried that they'd drag this story out for the entire season. But now we're probably in for a whole load of family drama where Ben angrily declares, "I wish Skitter Dad were here. He'd let me wear my harness whenever I wanted!" Oh joy. Still, now that Tom's got all three sons back, it looks like time to starting working on stepmom.
[snip]

Edited by TWoP Howard, Jul 11, 2011 @ 9:24 PM.
Off topic

[Homo_Sapien]

Glad the "must get Ben" story line has reached an endpoint.

Glad not to see Pope, but I'm sure he'll be back. There's a crazy master chef escaped convict renegade on the loose. He must be suffering, not having anyone to hear his not-very-witty comebacks.

I know the show is low budget, but now that they have settled into JFK High summer survival camp, the show has settled into a rut of the same scenes with the same characters in the same rooms.

[Isazouzi]

I'm only watching because I want to know what is up with these mother hen aliens. All the rest is boring/stupid IMO. Except Hal. I like him.

His harness was the only one not glowing orange in the dark, so I guess the Skeeters' eyesight isn't that good. And as others have mentioned, what about the psychic link? And how can the doctor say she was making progress with the POW Skeeter? Seriously, all she did was giving it water. Those people piss me off.

I don't understand how Rick can be ok after his dad yanked off his harness. I thought they didn't have any morphine left. Maybe he had it for such a short time, he didn't go into withdrawal the second time. Well, it can probably be fanwanked one way or the other, but still, lazy writing.

And the wall of pictures crack me up, which is not a good sign. "Our son is greatly missed". Really? Your son has been kidnapped by aliens and you miss him? I don't know why I find this so stupid and laughable.

[Danny Franks]

And the wall of pictures crack me up, which is not a good sign. "Our son is greatly missed". Really? Your son has been kidnapped by aliens and you miss him? I don't know why I find this so stupid and laughable.

That's not nearly as bad as "please save our babies". How about you get up off your lazy, civvy asses and save them yourselves? I'm finding I just can't stand the idea of some people not fighting for no good reason. Not in a situation like this. If you're young enough to have "babies", then you should be in good enough shape to do something of use.

Glad not to see Pope, but I'm sure he'll be back. There's a crazy master chef escaped convict renegade on the loose. He must be suffering, not having anyone to hear his not-very-witty comebacks.

That's how he'll come back into the show. He'll have thought up another high-larious racist joke to try on either Dai or Anthony, and won't be able to stop himself.

[Make It So]

Aww, Skitters wuv the chirren, too!

Doc Anne was giving the Skitter quite a bit of water. Umm, the cage should smell like I don't know what in the real world; unless Skitters have a completely unique excretory system.

As intense as Doc Anne's killing of the Skitter was, it did seem a bit out of the blue for me. She had been fussing the whole time with Dr. Wings about preserving it alive. She even fussed about it after it killed Dr. Wings. Then, a total reversal based upon a flimsy reason and fueled by emotion? Granted, I thought it was unusual that she fought for it to live in the first place, seeing that they wiped out her family. Perhaps it’s a note to her psychological state – how her suppression of her feelings erupted in that violent display. Or it could just be more poor writing. (Btw, Moon is rocking in this show! Lurve. Her.)

Dr. Wings bought it in a pretty ignominious way. It almost makes me wonder why he was introduced in the first place. Just to teach Doc Anne how to remove the harnesses? She could’ve learned that without stunt-casting. Save the money on that and spend it on good writers and special effects, show.

The Skitter not recognizing Hal as a NKOTB was unbelievable. These beings traveled through outer space and virtually decimated the entire human race, and yet they portray them as gullible, almost instinct-driven creatures. (Unless they really aren’t the overlords, of course.)

So Maggie and Hal are becoming chummy? How old is she supposed to be again? (Even though the actor that plays Hal is 30 years old if he’s a day.)

[Homo_Sapien]

The bulletin board of sappiness is unintentionally hilarious. Who did they get to write those quotes?
"Bless our precious babies" (or something to that effect..)

They should have post-it notes on the board, explaining why they cannot do anything besides fret and light candles:
"Please save our children. I would help search, but am on decoration detail for upcoming baby shower.. Thx.

Also, it's disheartening to see that blonde girls are interchangeable for Hal. "Karen who? I'm only here looking for Ben. Ben, my brother, who I last saw dragging a blonde girl away."

Edited by Homo_Sapien, Jul 11, 2011 @ 8:57 AM.

[bagert]

So Maggie and Hal are becoming chummy? How old is she supposed to be again? (Even though the actor that plays Hal is 30 years old if he’s a day.)

Drew Roy is 25 according to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2397366/ Something related to that: a former student of mine is a cousin of his, and told me that he thought Drew had been cast as Noah Wyle's brother, not son. (Of course, he was probably remembering Wyle as young Dr. Carter on ER in the 90's.)

[Rickster]

I fast forwarded through all the sappy conversations and was able to watch the show in 20 minutes. Now that we seem to have finished the initial story arc of the show, I'm curious where it goes next before I give up on it.

[Accord64]

Okay, so Hal gets sent into the hospital in a carefully planned route that exploits (supposedly) his fake harness. He becomes overdue and Maggie apparently remembers an even more effective way into the hospital that allows her and Tom to stroll in undetected. D'OH! Probably shouldn't depend on her for directions anymore.

Note to Hal: Bring a longer blade next time!

So far, I think these episodes have been moving the plot along way too slow. There's just way too much over-scripted bonding with the characters. If they'd just pick up the pace (stop all the talking & hugging), we could get to know the characters throughout the action. But that would require competent writing.

Anyone else notice the big 'NFG' on the component sitting in the radio room towards the end? I wonder if it was something that they threw in as a joke because it was production equipment that broke during the shoot.

Edited by Accord64, Jul 11, 2011 @ 11:34 AM.

[3headedmonkey]

Also, it's disheartening to see that blonde girls are interchangeable for Hal. "Karen who? I'm only here looking for Ben. Ben, my brother, who I last saw dragging a blonde girl away."

Oh, Karen. Maybe Ben can tell them where he stashed her. Or she'll just come back after she's blown up the skitter fortress from the inside.

[Imonrey]

Anyone else rooting for the Skitters? I know I was rooting for the Skitter that killed Steven Weber, and I don't think I was supposed to be. So there's that. OMG, they killed Hermie! You bastards! But, c'mon. I couldn't believe the noise Hermie made when Anne opened it's cage. It was practically a "ruh-roh!" all Scoobie-Doo style.

That said, I thought this was probably one of the strongest episodes thus far. At least we finally got Ben back so they can stop talking about it already. And the scene with the Nurse Skitter and the harnessed kids was pretty decent. I think we've got confirmation through what little they got out of Hermie that the Skitters are not, in fact, the new alien overlords, and are probably enslaved drones themselves.

They just really need to can it with the Kumbaya "up with family" endings. You can do that once or twice a season but when you end every single episode that way it's overkill and off-putting.

I don't understand how Rick can be ok after his dad yanked off his harness. I thought they didn't have any morphine left. Maybe he had it for such a short time, he didn't go into withdrawal the second time. Well, it can probably be fanwanked one way or the other, but still, lazy writing.

I don't think it re-attached to Rick in the same way it originally attached. It seems to be some kind of organic creature or material that "dies" once it's removed. The organism itself can still serve as a communication link between Rick and Hermie the Skitter, but I think the fact that it had been lying immobile in that tray suggests it's "dead" or at least no longer active. Which is why Hal could put it on his own back and it did nothing. It couldn't attach itself to Hal, or glow, or whatever it originally did.

[Make It So]

I thought the tendrils reattached when Ricky put the harness back on, indicating that it was alive. I'm so confused.

They seemed to learn so little from Hermie. I hope the radio connection and Hermie's statement that "I will be punished" are really significant in the future.

RIP, Hermie. We seriously hardly knew ye.

Oh, right, the doctor died, too. But RIP, Hermie.

Edited by Make It So, Jul 11, 2011 @ 2:57 PM.