‘Falling Skies’ Review: “Be Silent and Come Out”
‘Falling Skies’ season three rains down its sixth episode of the year with “Be Silent and Come Out,” as Hal's bug is finally revealed in taking Tom hostage, while Pope creates a dangerous situation for the group, and Marina Peralta shares her suspicions about the Volm weapon.
Previous ‘Falling Skies’ episode “Search and Recover” saw Tom and Pope struggle through the wilderness to return to Charleston, while Weaver led a search party to find the missing Anne and Alexis, so what does the latest episode bring?
Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Falling Skies’’ newest episode, “Be Silent and Come Out”!
With knowledge from the rebel Skitters of Anne and Alexis’ capture, Tom frantically prepares a rescue mission, against the advice of Weaver and the others. Weaver successfully talks Tom into waiting 24 hours, but Hal seems particularly angered by the decision. Marina privately confronts Tom on her suspicions of the Volm device, but Hal soon interrupts by knocking Marina out, and taking his father at gunpoint.
Before Hal successfully leads Tom out of Charleston, Maggie manages to overturn their vehicle and force the resulting confrontation to a stalemate, as Hal takes Tom hostage in an abandoned building and demands knowledge of the Volm device. The following morning outside the building, Maggie admits to Weaver that Hal had been having dreams of Karen, leading Pope to grumble that she’d known the danger all along. Weaver steps out to negotiate with Hal, explaining they know about the bug, but the discussion soon gives way to bullets flying back and forth, while Pope and the Berserkers abandon the effort.
While Matt, Maggie and Ben devise a secret plan to infiltrate the building, Tom assures Hal that no one will hesitate to shoot him, making his ultimate escape meaningless. Meanwhile, Pope leads a betting pool on the outcome of the hostage situation, suspiciously eying a bar patron who gets it in mind to place his bet and kill Hal himself.
Back in the building, Tom laments that he should have seen his son’s plight earlier, before mentioning how proud Hal’s mother would be to see what her son has become. The real Hal starts to regain control at the thought, as Maggie and Matt enter the room and urge Hal to continue fighting the bug. Struggling, Hal finally regains enough control to aim the gun beneath his own head, though Ben wrestles him to the ground before he can successfully pull the trigger.
The hostage situation resolved, Pope prepares the bar for the bet on Hal’s trial, before Weaver’s appearance in the establishment silences all. Weaver tersely orders a drink, and threatens to kill Pope should anyone from the bar attempt to affect the outcome of the bet. Meanwhile, Lourdes professes to have found no evidence of Hal’s bug, while the rebel Skitters provide a biological weapon designed to eliminate bugs, potentially at the cost of the subject’s own life.
Tom wrestles with the decision, while Hal insists to Maggie that the bug has left his body, and he can take them to Alexis and Anne as proof. Tom appears as Hal pleads for his life against the procedure, to no avail. When the procedure finally begins, Lourdes releases a silvery metallic liquid that enters Hal’s body and gruesomely eliminates the bug, stopping Hal’s heart in the process.
Having been administered epinephrine, Hal revives shortly thereafter, having no memory of the events of the previous week, and dismayed to find himself the mole. Later, Tom prepares to undertake the dangerous mission to rescue Anne and Alexis, resigning the office of the President to Marina and handing over the full details of Project Orange.
Tom and Hal say their goodbyes to Hal and Weaver respectively, before all four Masons set out to leave Charleston in search of Anne and Alexis. All the while, officials swear Marina in as the President of the New United States.
Well, that was certainly intense, wasn’t it! Much as “Badlands" delivered a surprisingly emotional punch from what we've come to expect of 'Falling Skies,' "Be Silent and Come Out" features some legitimately impressive dramatic tension from Drew Roy's Hal, and genuine suspense for the ordeal's ultimate outcome. It hasn't fully been proven that Hal committed every action the mole undertook, a point hammered home by the episode's ominous focus on Marina Peralta's rise to the presidency, but tonight's 'Falling Skies' offered a surprisingly rewarding payoff to what began as a stock "Evil Hal" storyline.
Elsewhere, the war between the Espheni and human resistance hasn't progressed any further than it did in last week's side-tracking "Search and Recover," though we've at least got a bit of closure to Hal's ordeal, and potentially the mole storyline as well. Only four episodes remain in the season, atop this past week's official season four order, and "Be Silent and Come Out" definitely improves the odds of this proving the best season yet.
Did you get your fill of Skitter-y ‘Falling Skies’ action? What did you think about tonight’s episode? Join the discussion in the comments, and be sure to check back next week for another recap when ‘Falling Skies’ returns with “The Pickett Line” on TNT!