Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
Matt’s need to get himself in serious trouble is unrivaled. At this point, I’m more worried about Matt’s thirst for danger than Ben’s strange connection with the Skitters. Either way, Tom needs to teach his two younger children some discipline, something that isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do in a world gone to hell. Matt has proven that he isn’t ready for any sort of mission so I’m hoping Tom keeps him out of harm’s way for now. I’m still not exactly sure why Tom, who has been very protective of Matt thus far, would suddenly let his youngest son go out on a mission without him. I’d rather not see Matt used as a plot device to setup a rescue every week. Maybe next season, kid.
As for Ben, this is the first time they’ve started to get his story right. Letting Hal in on Ben’s continued connection with the Skitters expands the story just enough that we can get some dialogue about what Ben is going through. Not surprisingly, Ben is afraid and it’s completely understandable why he doesn’t want to talk to anyone about his condition. But just like Matt, some bad decision making is undoubtedly going to get the 2nd Mass in trouble at some point down the line. I’d rather Hal make the right call and talk to Tom or Weaver, but I’ll be surprised if either happens, which is a shame because it could save a lot of people a headache, not to mention a few lives, down the line. Needless to say, if Hal wants to look out for his brother, he’d talk to someone.
Maybe the Skitters have put something into the air to make anyone under a certain age do something stupid that will lead to them getting caught? That’s what happens to the entire group that goes on a rescue mission to save a few kids from being harnessed. Weaver’s daughter, Jeanie, calls her father out on being a control freak prior to the mission. Well, stupid is still stupid, even after aliens have invaded the planet, and while Weaver isn’t the best of leaders, his idea of ‘formulating a plan’ before running into the alien facility made a lot of sense. It’s another frustrating situation of people not thinking things through. Weaver may have let his anger get the best of him, but he was absolutely right and I’m not sure why it was such a stretch for his daughter or even Diego to agree with him. Waiting five minutes more could have led to a completely different situation.
This series, and this episode in particular, are trying to stress the struggles of raising a family in the aftermath of an alien invasion. Still, there are logical leaps and some decisions being made that can be infuriating as a viewer. Diego’s decision to go in without a plan, Ben deciding to keep his situation quiet, Tom letting Matt go out on a mission and even Diego’s entire group leaving at the end all seem like the wrong decision in service of the plot. Obviously, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Diego’s group or Ben’s situation as they are setting something big up down the line, but to get there we’re seeing some infuriatingly poor decision making. Not as infuriating as some of the decisions made in The Walking Dead Season 2, but still frustrating.
Despite my frustrations with some decisions being made, there are a few great moments that salvage this episode. Matt being used as bait did lead to a gruesome scene with two Skitters having their heads blown off. Matt covered in blood was a great visual as well.
The entire scene within the harness facility was creepy. We got to see the harness slugs moving a lot more than we have previously. Seeing one of them actually be applied was handled really well as we got to see the entire thing from Matt’s perspective. It’s an incredibly frightening scenario for a small child to have to go through and I thought the scene did a great job of capturing that. The rest of the rescue was pretty much by the numbers. I’d love to know how they got by the mechs but I’m going to assume that’s a budget saving measure. It will be interesting to see if there is any fallout from Weaver being bitten by a harness slug.
Both Weaver and Tom experience some tough family moments. At the end of the day Tom is at least able to still have his sons while Weaver is left with a note from his daughter who decides to leave with her boyfriend. I tend to give Weaver a hard time but he gets the short end of the stick this week. I get the sense the writers like dragging Weaver through the mud as much as possible. The pain killers last season, the death of Jimmy and now having him reunite with his daughter only to take her away in the span of an episode. His emotional breakdown at the end of the episode was well-earned and I’m starting to like the character a lot more this season.
Source : ign[dot]com
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