Episode 'Falling Skies' Season 1, Episode 3 - 'Prisoner of War' Recap

If you've seen the billboards for "Falling Skies," you may have noticed that a lot of them feature the children with their harnesses on pretty overtly. While the harnesses didn't play a major role in the first two episodes last week, it looks like the fight for the children might end up being the crux of the show...or at least of this season.

This week's episode picked up where the last left off, with Tom and his squad heading out to find Ben and rescue him. But when the mission gets botched by a loose roofing tile (darned flimsy Boston buildings), the plans have to be put off. The good news is that there are more resistance groups across the country, and 2nd Mass just got itself a doctor that claims to know how to remove those pesky harnesses.

That brings Dr. Michael Harris in, who turns out to be kind of a dick. Tom knows him, and it's revealed that Michael was actually with Tom's wife, Rebecca, when she died. In fact, Michael turned tail and ran when he and Rebecca were attacked, which means that he's responsible for her death. That earns him a punch in the face, but he notes that Tom was supposed to go out for provisions that morning instead of Rebecca, so he's responsible too. Tom chooses not to punch himself in the face.

Michael wants to try a new method to remove the harness, but he needs a test subject. So, Tom heads back with his squad to go get Ben. But when fellow resistance fighter Mike sees his son Ricky harnessed up, he starts yelling and runs in to grab him. Geez, these guys are truly the worst militia ever. They screw up every single mission!

That means they don't get Ben, and Hal also gets left behind where he is forced to watch a Mech kill a group of harnessed kids and is then released. A history lesson from Tom explains that Axis soldiers did that to Allied POWs in WWII to send a message: take one, and we'll kill the rest.

But Tom manages to grab his own POW, in a particularly bad-ass moment where he goes hand-to-hand with a Skitter and beats it unconscious with the butt of his shotgun. He drags it back, Will Smith style, so they can lock it up and study it.

Welcome moments of levity came throughout this episode thanks to Pope, who is becoming surprisingly likeable (though they still have him be racist when possible to remind us that we hate him). When Pope is served some chicken and rice, he goes off about how you should marinate it first, and how you shouldn't use paprika on it. It turns out that Pope is a cook...sorry, a "certified culinary artist," so it looks like he's going to be of some use.

Dr. Harris manages to remove the harness and keep Ricky stable, but a chilling moment at the end has the Skitter waking up while Ricky's eyes also open sharply. Do the Skitters have a psionic bond with harnessed kids, even after they're de-harnessed? It would be awfully bad if Ricky goes and unlocks that cage. We'll have to wait until next week to see what happens.

In any case, it seems clear that the harnesses and the children play an important role in the series. Saving the children is quickly becoming a focus, and meanwhile they're mysteriously being used for slave labor in collecting scrap metal. Is it for the alien structures? What are those things anyway? Will Tom ever rescue his son? What will Pope make next week for dinner? So many questions!