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Episode 2.08
Writer: Heather V Regnier
Director: Seith Mann

THE ONE WHERE: En route to the promised land of Charleston, the resistance encounter a harnessed girl. Baited by Pope, Maggie shares the secrets of her past with Hal.

THE VERDICT: Quite a comedown after last week’s exemplary slice of Skies, this sets out to be a self-contained character study but ends up as grindingly talky, built from bluntly written monologues and on-the-nose personal revelations. The sub-plot of the harnessed girl’s brother goes nowhere while Maggie’s confession of a pregnant junkie thief past feels weirdly underwhelming after all the tantalisingly dark hints dropped by Pope. The episode’s lifted by the wonderful, hope-shattering visual of the ruins of Charleston (or what the resistance believe to be Charleston – that’s a neat piece of misdirect too).

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ALIEN LORE: The harnessed child refers to her Skitter as her guardian, and reveals that alien enslavement carries a powerful appeal for anyone craving a family.

BEST LINE: Maggie: (to Pope): “I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’d rather swallow glass than be a part of it.”

Falling Skies is now showing on FX.

Nick Setchfield is the Editor-at-Large for SFX Magazine, writing features, reviews, interviews, and more for the monthly issues. However, he is also a freelance journalist and author with Titan Books. His original novels are called The War in the Dark, and The Spider Dance. He's also written a book on James Bond called Mission Statements.