Grace (Falling Skies)
Encyclopedia
"Grace" is the fourth episode of the first season of the TNT science fiction
drama Falling Skies
, which originally aired July 3, 2011.
The episode was written by Melinda Hsu Taylor
and directed by Fred Toye
.
Tom and his team are sent to scout out an old motorcycle shop and Weaver insists he take Pope along. After arriving at the store, Pope manages to escape and attacks a nest of sleeping Skitters, attracting the attention of nearby Mechs. Meanwhile, Anne attempts to communicate with the captured Skitter.
Weaver is informed by Pope that there is a motorcycle shop nearby. He tells Tom to take a team to get the bikes. Tom reluctantly agrees that Pope accompany them.
Tom, Hal, Dai, Anthony and Pope set out on a country road. Tom speaks to Dai about how he worries for his sons. Tom mentions that his wife could have handled the situation with Hal better than he.
Anne, in the hope of learning more about the Skitter, shows him pictures, of which Harris argues is a waste of time. Scott shows Weaver a radio he made and that Matt is helping him with the radio.
On their hunt for bikes, the group see a group of Skitters sleeping upside down like bats. Pope requests they shoot them down but Tom disagrees.
Anne starts to give the Skitter water to drink as Harris walks in with the Skitter Pope and his gang murdered. This aggravates the alive Skitter. Before eating, Lourdes says a prayer. Weaver notices her and tells her she is lucky to still "believe in something".
At the motorcycle shop, the gang prepare to get the bikes. Hal notices a locket that Karen would have liked. Tom tells him that Hal's mother could have handled this situation better, Hal agrees.
Back at the High School, Harris plans to cut into the Skitter. Anne protests and tells him that it is a living creature. Later, Mike's son Rick wakes up, not recognizing his father. Mike confronts the Skitter about this, hoping it can understand him. Failing that, Mike puts his gun in the Skitters mouth, knocking it unconscious. At the same time this is happening, Anne, Matt and Scott hear interference on the radio Scott built. Dr. Harris tells Anne and Mike that he found a "pressure point" near the Skitter's soft palate. Anne believes the Skitter's have "radio's in their heads" as the interference came on Scott's radio at the same time Mike threatened the Skitter. However, while the Skitters communicate at radio-frequencies this only has roughly the same range as a human voice does, so the captured Skitter cannot alert the other aliens. Anne attempts to perform an autopsy on the old Skitter corpse from Pope's hideout, but it has been dead for too long and the insides have already rotted into unrecognizable goo.
As the gang prepare to leave the motorbike store, Pope knocks Dai out and takes a bike, escaping. He goes back to the sleeping Skitter's and blows them up.
Waking up, Rick attaches the "harness" to his back. Scott's radio experiences interference waves at this time and Mike runs in to find his son. Rick is helping the Skitter escape. Dr. Harris communicates with the Skitter by talking to Rick. Mike runs over and pulls the "harness" off his son, causing him to be knocked out.
A group of armed "harnessed kids" find Tom and the others. The kids fire, shooting Dai in the leg. Anthony suggests that they fight back but Tom says no. Tom believes that a Skitter is nearby, controlling them. The kids move together, only shooting when there is a target. Tom makes Molotov bomb using gasoline, cloth and a bottle. He ignites the cloth, then fires at a car. The car blows and the kids open fire on the car. Hal and Anthony get away but Tom and Dai are ambushed by a Skitter. Dai kills it and they drive away.
Tom talks to Weaver and tells him that he will look for the drugs needed for the operations and then go look for Ben. Tom speaks to Hal who worries that Ben will be a different person. Tom tells Hal that Ben is strong. Later, Tom goes to eat and is surprised to see fresh bread. Margaret tells him that it's a parting gift from Pope. Around the table, Tom, Hal, Dai, Matt, Anne and Lourdes hold hands and pray. Weaver, sitting at the next table, quietly whispers along with them, indicating that he hasn't lost all faith.
and it was directed by Fred Toye
. Melinda Hsu Taylor later writes the second part of the two part Sanctuary
episode. Fred Toye later directs Silent Kill
.
Greg Beeman
stated in his blog that a difficult production problem the crew faced were the scenes involving the caged Skitter. The Skitter was designed and built by Todd Masters in Vancouver. Beeman stated that the alien "really looked real on set and it worked flawlessly." In Prisoner of War
the Skitter that attacked Tom was a full-scale animatronic puppet. It took five people to operate it. The crew shot the episode in the summer and "the guy inside the suit was buried beneath six inches of foam rubber." The Skitter suit caused him to heat up quickly. He could only go ten or fifteen minutes between takes, at which time he would need to take a break, which was time consuming.
. "Grace" received a 1.4 rating among viewers between ages 18 and 49, which is down a tenth versus the previous episode’s 1.5 rating.
Matt Richenthal from TV Fanatic said of the episode: "Not every episode can feature a major battle between the survivors and the aliens, for both production reasons and storyline reasons. The show wouldn't last half a season if that were the case.
But Falling Skies has done a strong enough job building up characters that "Grace" felt like more than filler.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
drama Falling Skies
Falling Skies
Falling Skies is an American science fiction dramatic television series created by Robert Rodat and produced by Steven Spielberg. The series picks up six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion...
, which originally aired July 3, 2011.
The episode was written by Melinda Hsu Taylor
Melinda Hsu Taylor
Melinda Hsu Taylor is an American television writer and producer. She has worked in both capacities on the series Lost. She was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for best drama series for her work on the fifth season of Lost, as well as a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for the series'...
and directed by Fred Toye
Fred Toye
Frederick E.O. Toye is an American television director and producer. He has directed several episodes of the ABC series, Alias, as well as for the FOX science fiction series Fringe...
.
Tom and his team are sent to scout out an old motorcycle shop and Weaver insists he take Pope along. After arriving at the store, Pope manages to escape and attacks a nest of sleeping Skitters, attracting the attention of nearby Mechs. Meanwhile, Anne attempts to communicate with the captured Skitter.
Plot
The Skitter that Tom captured is being held in a cage. Anne and Harris are given the task of studying it. The Skitter seemed to become angrier by the sight of Tom, who tells it that he remembers him.Weaver is informed by Pope that there is a motorcycle shop nearby. He tells Tom to take a team to get the bikes. Tom reluctantly agrees that Pope accompany them.
Tom, Hal, Dai, Anthony and Pope set out on a country road. Tom speaks to Dai about how he worries for his sons. Tom mentions that his wife could have handled the situation with Hal better than he.
Anne, in the hope of learning more about the Skitter, shows him pictures, of which Harris argues is a waste of time. Scott shows Weaver a radio he made and that Matt is helping him with the radio.
On their hunt for bikes, the group see a group of Skitters sleeping upside down like bats. Pope requests they shoot them down but Tom disagrees.
Anne starts to give the Skitter water to drink as Harris walks in with the Skitter Pope and his gang murdered. This aggravates the alive Skitter. Before eating, Lourdes says a prayer. Weaver notices her and tells her she is lucky to still "believe in something".
At the motorcycle shop, the gang prepare to get the bikes. Hal notices a locket that Karen would have liked. Tom tells him that Hal's mother could have handled this situation better, Hal agrees.
Back at the High School, Harris plans to cut into the Skitter. Anne protests and tells him that it is a living creature. Later, Mike's son Rick wakes up, not recognizing his father. Mike confronts the Skitter about this, hoping it can understand him. Failing that, Mike puts his gun in the Skitters mouth, knocking it unconscious. At the same time this is happening, Anne, Matt and Scott hear interference on the radio Scott built. Dr. Harris tells Anne and Mike that he found a "pressure point" near the Skitter's soft palate. Anne believes the Skitter's have "radio's in their heads" as the interference came on Scott's radio at the same time Mike threatened the Skitter. However, while the Skitters communicate at radio-frequencies this only has roughly the same range as a human voice does, so the captured Skitter cannot alert the other aliens. Anne attempts to perform an autopsy on the old Skitter corpse from Pope's hideout, but it has been dead for too long and the insides have already rotted into unrecognizable goo.
As the gang prepare to leave the motorbike store, Pope knocks Dai out and takes a bike, escaping. He goes back to the sleeping Skitter's and blows them up.
Waking up, Rick attaches the "harness" to his back. Scott's radio experiences interference waves at this time and Mike runs in to find his son. Rick is helping the Skitter escape. Dr. Harris communicates with the Skitter by talking to Rick. Mike runs over and pulls the "harness" off his son, causing him to be knocked out.
A group of armed "harnessed kids" find Tom and the others. The kids fire, shooting Dai in the leg. Anthony suggests that they fight back but Tom says no. Tom believes that a Skitter is nearby, controlling them. The kids move together, only shooting when there is a target. Tom makes Molotov bomb using gasoline, cloth and a bottle. He ignites the cloth, then fires at a car. The car blows and the kids open fire on the car. Hal and Anthony get away but Tom and Dai are ambushed by a Skitter. Dai kills it and they drive away.
Tom talks to Weaver and tells him that he will look for the drugs needed for the operations and then go look for Ben. Tom speaks to Hal who worries that Ben will be a different person. Tom tells Hal that Ben is strong. Later, Tom goes to eat and is surprised to see fresh bread. Margaret tells him that it's a parting gift from Pope. Around the table, Tom, Hal, Dai, Matt, Anne and Lourdes hold hands and pray. Weaver, sitting at the next table, quietly whispers along with them, indicating that he hasn't lost all faith.
Development
The episode was written by Melinda Hsu TaylorMelinda Hsu Taylor
Melinda Hsu Taylor is an American television writer and producer. She has worked in both capacities on the series Lost. She was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for best drama series for her work on the fifth season of Lost, as well as a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for the series'...
and it was directed by Fred Toye
Fred Toye
Frederick E.O. Toye is an American television director and producer. He has directed several episodes of the ABC series, Alias, as well as for the FOX science fiction series Fringe...
. Melinda Hsu Taylor later writes the second part of the two part Sanctuary
Sanctuary (Falling Skies)
"Sanctuary" is a two-part episode, consisting of the sixth and seventh episodes of the first season of the TNT science fiction drama Falling Skies. The first part aired on July 17, 2011, and the second part aired on July 24, 2011...
episode. Fred Toye later directs Silent Kill
Silent Kill
"Silent Kill" is the fifth episode of the first season of the TNT science fiction drama Falling Skies, which originally aired July 10, 2011.The episode was written by Joe Weisberg and directed by Fred Toye....
.
Greg Beeman
Greg Beeman
Greg Beeman is an American director and producer best known for his work on television series Smallville, JAG, and Heroes. As well as numerous comedy films.- Career :...
stated in his blog that a difficult production problem the crew faced were the scenes involving the caged Skitter. The Skitter was designed and built by Todd Masters in Vancouver. Beeman stated that the alien "really looked real on set and it worked flawlessly." In Prisoner of War
Prisoner of War (Falling Skies)
"Prisoner of War" is the third episode of the first season of the TNT science fiction drama Falling Skies, which originally aired June 26, 2011.The episode was written by Fred Golan and directed by Greg Beeman....
the Skitter that attacked Tom was a full-scale animatronic puppet. It took five people to operate it. The crew shot the episode in the summer and "the guy inside the suit was buried beneath six inches of foam rubber." The Skitter suit caused him to heat up quickly. He could only go ten or fifteen minutes between takes, at which time he would need to take a break, which was time consuming.
Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "Grace" was seen by an estimated 4.07 million household viewers, according to Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
. "Grace" received a 1.4 rating among viewers between ages 18 and 49, which is down a tenth versus the previous episode’s 1.5 rating.
Reviews
The A.V. Club gave the episode a B-.Matt Richenthal from TV Fanatic said of the episode: "Not every episode can feature a major battle between the survivors and the aliens, for both production reasons and storyline reasons. The show wouldn't last half a season if that were the case.
But Falling Skies has done a strong enough job building up characters that "Grace" felt like more than filler.