Small Victories and Perplexing Situations. Retrospective: Falling Skies, Season 3 Finale

Season 3, Episode 10/Season Finale

Air Date: Sunday, August 4, 2013 at 10/9c on TNT

Rating: ★★★★★

“Congratulation, Colonel. The Volm have just done what the Fishheads never could – brought us to our knees.” — Pope

Since the beginning of the season, I had my suspicions about the Volm and why they wanted to help Earth escape the wrath of the tyrannical Espheni. I didn’t think they were a malicious race but I did think the Volm had other plans in mind and I was right, in a sense. As the season ends, questions are answered only to be replaced by more complex queries that will make waiting for season four torturous, at best.

Observations:

Falling Skies - Season 3 Finale - Brazil

Cochise (Doug Jones) at the helm of the Volm weapon as Tom (Noah Wyle) looks on anxiously as they strike

The intensity of the collective anticipation from aboard a barge ship carrying not only the Volm weapon but part of the 2^nd Mass and Dr. Kadar (Sean Robert Leonard) becomes agonizingly painful as they launch the first strike against the Espheni tower in Boston. Meanwhile, a decoy train headed for Chicago using Lourdes (Gabrielle Seychelle) as a transmitter of sorts leads the Espheni as far away from Boston as possible. I love the way the writers set up the initial scene as you see a speeding locomotive rolling along in the dark of night with Col. Weaver (Will Patton), Anthony (Mpho Koaho), Pope (Colin Cunningham), and Lyle (Brad Kelly) in the engineer’s caboose. It isn’t until the next scene that you see the barge carrying Tom, Kadar, Cochise (Doug Jones), and others that you understand the necessity of this diversion. If not for the distraction, the mission to destroy the tower will fail. Thankfully, the somewhat unimposing blast from the Volm weapon does its job – it topples the enormous Espheni tower, thereby disabling the power grid. With the grid down, the other Volm ships are able to enter Earth’s atmosphere; however, the kind of help the Volm are offering throws everyone for a shocking loop.

Col. Weaver (Will Patton) lets Cochise know he isn’t happy about this relocation plan

Relocation. The Volm have a protocol in place for assisting other races, having “relocated” the indigenous peoples to other parts of their dying planet so the Volm could eradicate the Espheni. For the Volm to ask the 2^nd Mass, along with the citizens of Charleston, to simply stop fighting for themselves and go quietly into the Brazilian sunset is preposterous. While retiring to Brazil sounds nice, humans categorically value their free will, freedom of choice, and right to bear arms, but forcing them to give up their freedom, albeit in a gorgeous locale, will undoubtedly yield resistance. You know these humans aren’t going down without a fight.

By all appearances, the Volm seem like a new enemy but, in fact, the Volm has vowed to protect those who have been invaded by the Espheni and to make sure they come to no harm. Allowing Tom and his group to leave Boston instead of going to Brazil makes Volm leader and Cochise’s father, Waschak-Cha’ab (voiced by John H. Mayer), very uneasy. Who else thought it was a bromance moment between Tom and Cochise when Tom bids him farewell? I hope Cochise and the Volm will return for season four.

Karen (Jessy Schram), leader of the Espheni, tries to wave the white flag of surrender but it is futile.

Going into this season finale, I had high hopes for resolutions of some key points, one being that Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and baby Alexis aren’t really dead. While my conclusions are correct and they, in fact, are alive and well, Alexis (Erika Forest) is no longer a baby. After being gone for two months, Alexis returns as a sixyear-old. How is this possible? Well, she has alien DNA, although that still has not been thoroughly explained at this point. I hope the dichotomy of Alexis’ DNA will be explained in season four. And if you think Alexis talking at two weeks old was amazing, then her being able to extract the alien bugs from Lourdes will blow your mind.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Karen’s (Jessy Schram) failed attempt at waving the white flag of surrender. Does she really think Tom or Hal (Drew Roy) will listen or believe anything that comes out of her mouth? Karen’s warning to Tom about the Volm and how they are not as they appear is a day late and a dollar short. And the gift she brings is met with another gift, courtesy of Tom’s gun. Is it wrong I was clapping and cheering when Tom shot Karen? I think a lot of us were happy to see her bite the bullet. Nothing against Schram as an actress, but she played her part well making me loathe her as the Espheni overlord. I think Maggie (Sarah Carter) is a bit perturbed by Hal going down on bended knee to comfort a dying Karen but I think she feels justified in adding a few bullets of her own to finish Karen off. I guess Hal may have to rethink the big house with spacious back yard for his and Maggie’s future now that the tides of this war are changing. Who will replace Karen as the new Espheni leader? Will the Espheni retreat and leave Earth? If they do, will the Volm stay to help the humans rebuild? Sadly, we have no choice but to wait until next summer.

What are you looking forward to seeing in season four? Tell me your thoughts – leave a comment here or tweet me @judybopp.

Falling Skies returns for a fourth season summer 2014, only on TNT.

[important] UPDATE 4/18/14: Season 4 Premieres Sunday, June 22 at 10/9c on TNT[/important]

For more on Falling Skies, go to http://www.fallingskies.com.

Follow Falling Skies on Twitter @FallingSkiesTNT, and use hash tags #Resistance or #Aliens.

Follow some of the cast on Twitter: Matt Mason/Maxim Knight @RVRocket, Ben Mason/Connor Jessup @connorjessup, Maggie/Sarah Sanguin Carter @sanguin_carter, Hal/Drew Roy @drew_roy, Lourdes/Gabrielle Seychelle @seychellegab, John Pope/Colin Cunningham @CunninghamColin, Crazy Lee/Luciana Carro @lucianacarro, Anthony/Mpho Koaho @MphoAK, and Karen/Jessy Schram @jschramer.

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Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.