DJariya

Synopsis:

When the 2nd mass destroys a crucial Espheni base, a relentless enemy is taken down and the Mason family is reunited with those who had been lost. But the arrival of more interstellar players puts the fate of the Earth's remaining survivors in doubt. Robert Sean Leonard guest stars.

Directed by Greg Beeman

Written by Remi Aubuchon


Episode 10/10


Remember this was already renewed for a 4th season. Will be back next summer.

Joe Schmoe

When the episode started, it felt like one of those episodes where it was going to flashback to "48 hours earlier" (or whatever) to explain current events. But that never happened. When did the 2nd Mass get a hold of a train? Good thing it had enough power to run, and someone knew how to drive it. Where was the President during the attack and subsequent celebration? Why did the Volm commander speak with Tom and Weaver rather than the President? Most of the episode I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop since the 2nd Mass's victory came too early in the hour. And, of course, if the war were really over, so too would be the show. Overall, I wasn't very excited about this season. Anne was in it too little. The Volm were in it too much. Hal and Lourdes were both compromised by mind control (which I don't care for). And the final moments of this episode tied a few things up a little too conveniently (Lourdes, Karen, Anne and Alexis). I enjoyed the special effects, and I'm curious enough that I'll tune in next season, but I really wish this show would take advantage of the fact that it's on cable TV and make it a darker, grittier show than the family drama that it is. Oh well.

chowderhead

Lourdes killed the President already. Seems like everyone forgave Hal and Lourdes after they were controlled by the aliens but everyones hated Karen and wanted to kill her.

Evan Meadow

Which was actually brought up on the after show that Wil Wheaton hosts exclusively on EW.com

Wyle's answer was saying that Karen completely bought into the alien's ideology and she's not even bonded in the back with them anymore. Her decisions he's saying are now completely her own.

SmithsGuy

I recall references to clearing tracks in earlier episodes but getting a train (or a barge) all the way to those cities without notice? Do the ETs have no regular surveillance? I wasn't surprised by the "hey they aren't in a box car" switcheroo as lots of shows do that these days ...

I wonder if since the Volm and the 2nd Mass were up north (Boston was it? Now flattened by the Volm mothership), they didn't flash back to the folk in Charleston? (Convenience by the writers) Hence no involvement with the folk back there.

And will they ever use the Army folk in the uniforms? All these missions seem to be 2nd Mass irregulars ...

Red Dog

I was also waiting for the flashback to happen.

For all the buildup to the Volm weapon, it didn't do anything overly special (just firing some pulse). It was over and done with just like that.

The hybrid baby/child seems to be a complete rip-off of the Star Child from the original V miniseries/series.

Rob V

I watched S1 but quit after that... last night I flipped over to this episode and saw an alien -- speaking perfect English, with normal human mannerisms... wtf??

devilshalo

So the Volm are like the US in every skirmish between two warring nations?

I like that they gave the 2nd mass back their original weapons, but none of their Volm tech.

Not feeling any sympathy towards Anne and their Sil daughter. How do they know she's not some plant of the fishheads?

Deftones

The 2nd Mass did get that gun that Cochise gave them, but nothing else. Sort of a letdown season finale. We learned pretty much what most of us suspected, that the Volm had ulterior motives. Hopefully we get some more explanation as to why they liberate planets, but then put people in camps. I'd assume it's so there's no resistance from the locals when they rape it for the resources. I was also confused at how they have a train and a barge and was trying to remember if they mentioned it. It's like they just glossed over those facts.

JTH182

Same thing happened to me with LOST. I watched the first season, then came back a few years later and they were off the island and time travelling... wtf??

Joe Schmoe

You're talking about President Hathaway, right? I meant Gloria Reuben's character. Is she dead too? I don't remember her dying.

devilshalo

She's probably back at Charleston.

andicus

The other thing about the train is that all switches on the rail line would have to be set correctly for them to get to their desired destination.

Had to laugh when Tom was bitch-slapped by Cochise' father.

DJariya

Pretty much agree. Overall it was an okay season. A little better than season 2. But, as you said, the only big revelation was the Volm's ulterior motive. And of course the finale served to bring back Anne and Lexi.

at the "Cliffhanger" with Lexi taking the bugs out of Lourdes.

So she was born 2 months ago and is now 5-6 year old? The aging thing might be interesting with her. How long before she turns into a 20 something super model?

Seems like there is room to bring back Robert Sean Leonard next season as well as Gloria Reuben.

I hope when David Eick and his writing staff start working on season 4, that they will realize they only have 10 hours of story to tell and they can't waste it on filler episodes.

Thos19

At least they finally shot and killed Karen.

But I see how people think the whole show was rushed (excellent questions by Red Dog). And the whole scene where Anne was just hanging out in the trees (and left behind by the Espheni), made me feel that there was to be a more elaborate scene envisioned originally.

So if Ally is some Alien hybrid, does that mean Anne is really an alien (since with all the background on Tom given to viewers, it is apparent he is not)? Or was Anne (or Ally) infected with alien "DNA" somehow.

Meh, I'll probably be back watching next year anyways.

TGM

I thought the opening scene where they shot that cannon was actually pretty well done.

this show is a hot mess tho. I will be back, because it's the summer, but man, I loathe myself for continuing to watch.

Shady12

This show has all sorts of issues as mentioned just in this thread, but I'm still entertained by it more than other cheesy sci-fi-ish shows like Revolution and Defiance(which I gave up on early).

Gambit

From the conversations they showed, it didn't seem like the Volm had any ulterior motives per se. Just that they were a bit secretive on their approach. They seemed to be genuinely interested in protecting the indigenous species of the planet. Not putting them into concentration camps to be slaves or so they could ransack the planet after they took over. Was there something hinted at that I missed?

I really never liked the use of the bugs to control people. Why did they need to put so many into Lourdes? And couldn't you just send out a lot more and take control of all the leaders of the group? Of course, now they have a convenient way to do away with that plot element altogether since they introduced Lexi's power.

Shady12

I'd said it in another thread, but yeah why not drop millions of bugs from the sky to take over every human. Instant slaves and no war.

And regarding Lourdes, I know the situation was a bit tense at the time, but they could have at least asked the Volm to quickly remove Lourdes bugs before they took off considering how much she was suffering. Course Lexi took care of that later anyway, but they didn't know that would happen.

devilshalo

Well, if using that thing a few episodes back to take out just 1 that Hal had might have killed him, imagine the stress and strain of removing the handful that Lourdes had. Besides, cruel Tom was using her as bait anyway.

Shady12

True dat, forgot that it was only one and almost killed him.

aynrandgirl

I wasn't aware the Espheni had an ideology.

aynrandgirl

The big question is why would the Espheni create a hybrid that could disable Espheni technology, and then give her to the humans? Makes no strategic sense.

darkdaze73

Too much filler and not enough answers for this season. As mentioned earlier in this thread, I too was waiting for some type of flashback or explanation as to how they came upon the train and ship. And just like the first episode of the season where they seemed to skip ahead a few months from the previous season after meeting the Volm, nothing was given.


Maybe the aliens infected Tom's sperm when they put that bug in him and they just haven't realized it yet. Hopefully it gets covered next season, but considering how much was overlooked this season I wouldn't count it.

I do hope the writers get the show back on track as I enjoyed the first two seasons but struggled to watch it this year.

TheBang

It wasn't the Volm that had the bug-killing nanites, it was the rebel skitters.

I think this season had some interesting concepts (Volm, Volm weapon, hybrid baby), that they just totally failed on with execution. I look forward to next year's show runners and hope they can make the show better.

I find it amusing how many times people have traveled long distances across the country to get back to Boston/Charleston, seemingly without encountering any alien obstacles on the way:

Tom by motorcycle after being dropped off in a field by an Espheni ship
Tom & Pope by truck after escaping the plane crash
Cochise & the President by foot after the plane crash
Tom by boat from Boston, after jumping out of the Boston tower