'Falling Skies' Season 2, Episode 3 Recap - 'Compass'

It's cute how this show assumes that we care in the slightest about Jimmy, isn't it? Here's a tip, guys: if you want us to care about a character, you have to have them do something likeable first. You can't just have them nearly get everyone killed in season one because he wanted to save his dog and then assume we'll care what happens to him later.

In any case, spoiler alert, Jimmy dies at the end of this episode. Yeah, that wasn't a lot of warning, but I'm assuming since you read "recap" in the title that you're expecting spoilers. Yes, he dies. And I was more happy that there was one less annoying kid to worry about than sad that he was gone.

Remember back when Jimmy was given a gun in season one and was completely unable to handle military duties? Well, he still has them, and he and Ben are taking their weapons out to hunt skitters, making them the least likeable duo on the show (only because Ricky is gone).

That goes relatively well the first time, but the second time is an issue: they run into Ol' One-Eye, who freezes Ben and makes his spikes glow (that can't be good), and then throws Jimmy into a tree. Of course, he gets impaled by a branch, because this is "Falling Skies," and improbable but conveniently dramatic things happen.

And yes, later, Jimmy dies. Weaver is all sad and like "they were just kids, I shouldn't have given him a gun," and we're all like "yeah, duh dude."

There's bad blood between Pope and Tom, as the former has begun a new "I'm a big jerk" campaign. He's still distrustful of Tom, so he and the Berserkers kidnap Tom and tell him to scram. Ben and Jimmy break up that little party, but Tom argues to keep Pope and his unit around... only with him in their ranks, to keep an eye on them.

Obviously that goes terribly wrong, especially when Tom pulls rank on Pope during a mission, and ends up making the right call. Things escalate to fisticuffs later, when Pope steals and wears Jimmy's compass after the kid dies. Listen, I know Pope is supposed to be a heartless badass and all, but that's kinda crossing a line. Why would he ever choose to be that much of a dick?

The result of that is Weaver kicking Pope out of 2nd Mass, and Anthony decides to go with him to make sure he doesn't come back and cause trouble. Three fewer characters to focus on!

We also got a new character, though her appearance was brief: Avery Churchill shows up in a crop plane, telling Weaver that she came from Charleston, where there's a newly elected government, and the continental congress is attempting to reunite the U.S. military.

Weaver is distrustful, which is kinda understandable considering she's been flying around in a crop plane with aliens everywhere and hasn't been shot down. But if she is trustworthy, it means that not only are there other survivors and a working government in the United States, but there are also survivors in Europe as well. Avery's on her way to Amelia Earhart it over there now (except hopefully without the whole crashing part).

Weaver finally decides to move 2nd Mass in the direction of Charleston, which seems like a pretty obvious choice, but hey... there had to be some debate somewhere. Weaver and Ben have a moment about Jimmy, because none of the rest of us are, and Tom and Anne share a kiss, because it's been a while since we've had an update on the slowest-moving post-apocalyptic romance ever.

Slowly but surely we're getting new information about the aliens, which is usually the best part about this show: our most recent tidbit is that Ol' One-Eye can still control Ben, or at least subdue him. Is he the only one, or can other skitters do that? Does that make Ben a threat? Does it have something to do with the bug that was in Tom's eye? We'll find out later, hopefully after a few more unnecessary characters are killed off.