Well, that was interesting, wasn’t it?
Episode 8 of Falling Skies not only had the best title of the season, but quite possibly delivered the best episode. Not that we could have got to this point without the previous installments, but things look like they’re coming together after a hit and miss first season.
While most serialized TV episode titles contain dual-meaning, “What Hides Beneath” was particularly fitting as it harnesses many of the episode’s big reveals. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at them, shall we?
Beneath The Bullet
In this episode we discover that the aliens are “big on recycling”, re-using human bullets and coating them with Mech armor. Very resourceful of them, and a very fitting reference to the episode title. If a little surprising that the humans took this long to figure that out. They must have come across lots of Mech bullets since the invasion, and none of our army guys noticed? What’s Weaver paying them for!?
Beneath The Flesh
And then there’s the other big reveal — the discovery of a harness attached to a Skitters spine — which, coupled with Anne noticing Skitter-esque skin developing on Ben‘s back, suggests that the Skitters went through the same process as the human children. A link to my earlier theory that the Skitters aren’t ruling the roast (a few of our readers have also shared similar theories).
This opens up several possibilities, such as:
- The Skitters themselves are enslaved aliens who underwent transformation once they were harnessed, and have since been forced(?) to carry out the same process on the human children (with some displaying empathy towards the children, as illustrated in “Silent Kill“).
- The Skitters used to be human (or human-like life-forms), with the harness causing them to transform into the creatures we see today.
It raises the question, if the Skitters are indeed under the thumb of the other aliens, does the same fate await the harnessed kids? Will they be sent out to other planets to fight and harness other life-forms (not that I ever see the show going there) — or is there something very specific about Earth that the aliens are here for, beyond recruiting kids?
Beneath Their Commanders
We got a taste of the third big revelation prior to the episode, but it was still interesting to see these previously unseen aliens in the..flesh. They are more human-like to the eye than the Skitters, and appear to be their ‘commanding officers’.
We can assume at this stage that they are responsible for the design of the bipedal Mechs — since it makes sense for them to build robots that resemble their own anatomical structure.
The human-like structures also make more sense now. Were they hiding out in the structures until it was safe, like Tom suggested, or have they only recently arrived? The former would make a lot of sense to me, though those structures do indeed resemble aircraft runways, like Weaver said.
Either way, this is another good example of that ‘what hides beneath’.
Which brings us to Karen. I’m really glad to see her again, in fact I’m not sure who was more happy, me or Hal? (as I’ve said before, the emotional follow-through on her abduction hasn’t been great). It was interesting that one of the alien commander’s accompanied her to Nina’s apartment (she’s Nina to me). Is there a reason why that was, other than for the surprise moment at the peek-a-boo hole?
Other points of interest:
- Rick still with aspirations of being a Skitter. He seems to have some kind of knowledge, perhaps because the harness was in for too long, allowing him to intuit certain things about the aliens and their intentions?
- It’ll be interesting to find out whether he knows about the other aliens? He’s big on Skitters, but does he know about their commanders/rulers? Where does he fall on the whole ‘new alien’ situation?
- Still on Rick, did he really pluck the image of Weaver’s old house from his brain? As well as incredible stamina, is intuition or mind-reading part of the ‘transformation’ gig? And why did he tell Weaver to ‘keep it’, apart from giving him a memory device in the absence of flashbacks?
- The Mechs are Machines — without organic interface (no ‘little green man’ inside). Pope jokes that they might have a “made in Japan sticker” somewhere inside. A possible hint towards human-involvement, or the writers playing with natural viewer suspicions.
- Good to see Nina from Fringe in this episode. Now we know where she really got her bionic arm from — she’s part Mech.
Have I missed anything out? Have any interpretations or theories on the recent developments?
PERSON OF INTEREST Renewed For Season 2
TERRA NOVA: Season 2 Decision Delayed Until 2012
ONCE UPON A TIME: The Comprehensive Character Guide
BREAKING BAD: Bryan Cranston Confirms Season 5 Will Premiere In July
FRINGE OBSERVATIONS: 4.22 Brave New World: Part 2
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ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.22 A Land Without Magic
ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.21 An Apple Red As Blood
FRINGE OBSERVATIONS: 4.21 Brave New World: Part 1
ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.20 The Stranger
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, did we get to see what lies beneath in the character Weaver? And maybe other characters?
I wonder if the word “lies” is meant to have a dual meaning of “deception” as well?
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So … what was that with the Skitter harness? It was inside them? Which way was it facing … because to me it appeared that they were digging into the Skitter from the front. If so, the harness fleshy part we see on the outside of hte back on the humans had gotten turned around on the spine of hte Skitter? No, I must be seeing that wrong. So … if it was facing hte proper direction, that means “skin” grew over and covered it eventually? Fascinating in a dark disturbing way.
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The different bipedal aleins … they looked almost aquatic/amphibious. Also they didn’t appear to have any armor (or a stitch of “clothing” for that matter, I don’t think the Skitters do either,but their skin is obviously tough like a crab or insect) or any weapons! huh!
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Rick says they (skitters) would never kill one of their own, but now we know they themselves are harnessed (reminds me of “Dark Skies”!). So, do they not kill their own as part of harness programming? You can’t very well have a proper army if the soldiers want to fight among themselves, can you?
Could it have a secondary meaning … as in could the Skitters have been a relatively peaceful race BEFORE being harnessed? We have seen human harnessed children being made to take up arms against other humans, did something similar happen on their planet?
Yeah … best episode so far (but the pilot did get me hooked!) and it really got me thinking!
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“Well, did we get to see what lies beneath in the character Weaver? And maybe other characters?
I wonder if the word “lies” is meant to have a dual meaning of “deception” as well?”
Good shout. We definitely got a look at what Weaver was hiding beneath that cap of his. I suspect the revelations in this episode will strengthen the bond between Weaver and Tom. They have more in common than was initially thought.
Interesting that he now has some hope that his wife and eldest child could still be alive — hope that can be traced back to Rick. Although perhaps he would have went home anyway.
“So … what was that with the Skitter harness? It was inside them? Which way was it facing … because to me it appeared that they were digging into the Skitter from the front. If so, the harness fleshy part we see on the outside of hte back on the humans had gotten turned around on the spine of hte Skitter? No, I must be seeing that wrong. So … if it was facing hte proper direction, that means “skin” grew over and covered it eventually? Fascinating in a dark disturbing way.”
Yeah, it looked like the latter to me. I assume the skin/flesh eventually grows over the harness. I agree, equally fascinating and disturbing!
“Also they didn’t appear to have any armor (or a stitch of “clothing” for that matter, I don’t think the Skitters do either,but their skin is obviously tough like a crab or insect) or any weapons! huh!”
What’s up with that? I’d like to think it tells us something about them — little clues to give us deeper insight.
“Could it have a secondary meaning … as in could the Skitters have been a relatively peaceful race BEFORE being harnessed? We have seen human harnessed children being made to take up arms against other humans, did something similar happen on their planet?”
That’s definitely one of the big questions. We have contrasting depictions of the Skitters thus far. One where they give the order to slaughter harnessed kids to send a ‘message’ to the Resistance (not to mention generally ripping humans limb from limb). And the other where they comfort the kids. And of course, we have Rick who just can’t say enough good things about them.
Perhaps the Skitters are like humans — neither wholly good or bad. Or, like you say, perhaps they were a somewhat ‘peaceful’ race prior to being harnessed.
There’s also the question as to whether the Skitters are even in control of their own actions (what with them being harnessed) — which would add another layer of complexity.
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>>> (…) It was interesting that one of the alien commander’s accompanied her to Nina’s apartment (she’s Nina to me).
Good to see Nina from Fringe in this episode. Now we know where she really got her bionic arm from — she’s part Mech.
<<<
Got me thinking: this is Her side project, over which she is very misterious on Fringe.
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“Got me thinking: this is Her side project, over which she is very misterious on Fringe.”
I think it’s a one episode gig, but I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing her pop up again next season.
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