Falling Skies: Strange Brew, Review

You have got to be kidding me.

There are literally 3 episodes left in the season, and the writers decide to waste time by not furthering basically any plot points whatsoever and spending the entire episode on an St. Elsewhere it’s a dream within a dream take the pill to go down the rabbit hole into the Matrix bullzhizzle. Seriously. The entire episode more or less is Tom on one long Eshveni-caused trip.

So last episode, Tom was caught between a skitter and a huge mech and this episode opens with Tom—NO BEARD—waking up next to his dead wife. So automatically we know there’s some alien psycho-hooey going on.

Then we spend the next half hour or so (and this is an hour long show people, so that’s a lot of time to waste) with Tom wandering around an alternate universe where aliens haven’t invaded, but all the characters from the show in his “normal” life are there. Colonel Weaver plays a bum “trying” to wake him up, Anne is his mistress, his kids are, well, his kids except the youngest, thank god, doesn’t have his stupid douche hair. Then, of course, it just get weirder and weirder until Tom finally wakes up (fully bearded) to evil Overlord Karen trying to get info out of him via evil Evsheni tech.

Ok, seriously people. You waste HALF OF THE SHOW building a lame alternate universe that we all know is just a psych-trip alien set up anyways—so couldn’t we have gotten to the punch line, oh, say, maybe 15 minutes in?

The rest of the episode has Tom being manipulated into different scenarios and having to “snap” out of them and not reveal the location of the weapon they’re building to Karen. Oh, she also shows him the covered “bodies “of Anne and Lexi and he flips out on her, but then he escapes and, oh yeah, has an emotional moment in a house that sorta looks like his pre-invasion and having to “let go” of his old life. So, basically, his entire storyline builds up to him crying. Yeah. Ok. That was completely worth my time and oh, btw, WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHERE ANNE AND ALEXI ARE.

Back in Charleston, Weaver and Maggi have an argument about invading the Eshveni front line, she saying she wants to kill Karen, he saying slow down killer, and then she saves his life from a bomb mole Lourdes sneakily sets off and he gives in. Nice. Way to show that military command, Weaver.

Peralta spends the entire episode trying to prove to people she’s not the mole and she backs the Volm weapon now. Yeah. We know Peralta. We back you and realize that the writers are just trying to build dramatic tension between you and Weaver before you have a breakthrough moment and suck face. Please. That’s so happening.

Then the Mason kids all come back to Charleston and say oh yeah, we’re back, Dad’s fine and coming. Um. All right. First, weren’t you children supposed to be going on ahead to find/rescue Anne and Lexi? Doesn’t seem like you tried very hard. Second, wasn’t Tom captured and he left you guys and how do you know he’s ok?

The episode ends and we’re basically left wondering how a show can possible waste an entire hour not really going anywhere.  Anne and Lexi are still missing, Lourdes is still the traitor, Tom is having a moment, and the Volm weapon has not been used. AND half of the episode Noah Wyle didn’t even have a beard! Come on, TNT. You gotta know that one of the selling points of this show is his facial hair. It’s so balanced between not too scruffy but not too well groomed. Perfect television apocalypse look.

Den of Geek Rating: 2 out 5

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