| "Silent Kill" | |
| Season 1, Episode 5 | |
 | |
| Episode | 5 |
| Air date | July 10th, 2011 |
| Written by | Joe Weisberg |
| Directed by | Fred Toye |
| US Viewers | 3.9M |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous Grace |
next Sanctuary (Part 1) |
| Cast Guide | |
| Starring | |
| Noah Wyle as Tom Mason Moon Bloodgood as Anne Glass Drew Roy as Hal Mason Maxim Knight as Matt Mason Seychelle Gabriel as Lourdes Delgado Peter Shinkoda as Dai Mpho Koaho as Anthony Sarah Carter as Margaret Connor Jessup as Ben Mason Will Patton as Daniel F. Weaver | |
| Also Starring | |
| Bruce Gray as Uncle Scott Steven Weber as Michael Harris | |
Silent Kill is the fifth episode of Season 1 , and overall the fifth episode of Falling Skies. It was written by Joe Weisberg and directed by Fred Toye. It first aired on TNT July 10th and drew 3.9 million US viewers.
Plot Synopsis[]
Hal comes up with a risky new plan to rescue captured teenagers from the aliens, but it might require putting someone at risk. Meanwhile, a sudden tragedy causes Anne to make an enormous discovery that proves instrumental to Hal’s risky plan.
Plot[]
Hal and Maggie return from a night of scouting and end up bringing back a bag full of pharmaceuticals for the medical ward. Tom wants to know if all the drugs will be available for use by tomorrow night, when the group plans on rescuing the harnessed kids. Anne mentions that that specific procedure is Dr. Harris' field of expertise, not hers. She wants Tom to have realistic expectations for Ben's operation -- including the possible outcome of failure.
The following morning, Tom sits down with Weaver to discuss their next move. He shows his rescue plan to get Ben and the other harnessed kids away from the skitters and back with the 2nd Mass. Weaver see holes in Tom's plan and that when Hal steps up with his own ideas. He suggests the group keep the skitter asleep while they enter the area quietly, and then kill the alien while it unconscious.
Back in the medical ward, Dr. Harris and Anne disagree about how they should be treating the imprisoned skitter Tom captured a few days ago. Meanwhile, some of the civilians believe that keeping a Skitter alive on campus is a mistake. Maggie meets one of these people, a pregnant woman named Sarah.
Anne's uncle, Scott, continues to experiment on skitter communication -- discovering that the aliens use radio waves. As Scott works in his lab, he plays music, which Weaver overhears. The tune stirs something deep inside the commander, and he takes the record away from the older man.
Back on the field, Tom and Hal practice their archery skills. But it seems that Maggie is the expert. She also knows a lot about Franklin Pierce Memorial Hospital -- the place that Ben and the other harnessed children are being held. She's able to map out the perfect path for Tom and his men to follow for the mission.
Dr. Harris is left alone with the imprisoned skitter; he notices the creature making new sounds and acting differently. Nearby, Scott pulls Anne aside to address his niece's denial about her own loss, specifically Sam, her son. Before she gets a chance to respond why she's not ready to post a photo of him on the missing person's board, a scream interrupts their conversation.
The scream originates with Dr. Harris, as we see the skitter has him pinned against the cage. Anne finally tasers the creature in order to release Harris but it's too late -- the surgeon is dead.
Weaver fears that the news over Dr. Harris's death will create a panic, but Anne believes there's still merit in studying the creature. Weaver offers her 24 hours to gather all the information she can about the alien before he kills it himself.
Back in the courtyard, Hal spots Ricky sitting alone on a bench. He tries to make small talk with the young man and asks what it's like to be harnessed. Ricky seems like a shell of his former self, unwilling or unable to divulge much about his alien captors. He warns Hal that rescuing Ben will be a fatal mission.
Lourdes runs into Maggie and invites her to the baby shower she's throwing for Sarah. Maggie resists and turns down the offer. Meanwhile, Tom also suggests that Anne post a photo of her son on the board, to celebrate his short life, but the pediatrician ignores his suggestion.
Hal approaches Weaver with an entirely new idea to save the kids. He wants to enter the hospital with Ricky's harness strapped to his back. The concept seems crazy, but it's definitely original. Tom doesn't want Hal taking this giant risk, but Weaver is on board, saying that making yourself invisible to the enemy is one of the oldest tactics in the book.
Before the squad attempt Hal's risky plan, they want to be certain that silently killing a skitter is even possible. Anne puts the theory to the test: The team previously discovered that the alien's nerve center is located in its soft palette. So, she tasers the imprisoned skitter, knives it in the soft palette and kills it relatively quickly and quietly.
Her emotions run high after killing the creature. She says that she used her family for motivation, when stabbing the skitter. She then finally admits why she hasn't posted any photo or toy to represent her son, Sam, on the missing person’s board -- she simply doesn't have any physical object of his. So instead, she angrily wipes the Skitter’s blood from her hands onto the board, signifying her loss.
Later, the rescue mission goes into action. Tom and his crew hide out in front of the hospital, with the harness strapped to Hal's back. Tom's nervous about losing his son, but he still offers a much needed pep talk, and hug, to Hal. The young soldier is taking a huge gamble with his life entering the building alone.
Hal runs right into the hornet's nest, as the team awaits his signal. He enters the hospital and sees the harnessed kids. He joins the group and tries to blend in, presenting a vacant look in his eyes, just like the others.
Tom is impatient and no longer wants to wait for the signal from Hal. He and Maggie, who knows this hospital like the back of her hand, split off from the rest of the group and look for another way in.
Meanwhile, Hal lies down with the rest of the group, who are being guarded by a skitter. He takes a quiet moment to get out his pocket knife and attack the alien. During the commotion of the attack, the harnessed children join in the fight against Hal. Tom and Maggie enter right in time and help Hal kill the skitter, eventually leading the group of zombified, harnessed kids reluctantly out of the building.
Tom's crew brings the kids back to Anne and her medical staff. It's up to her to perform the harness removal operation now that Dr. Harris is dead. She starts with Ben. As was witnessed in Ricky's surgery, Anne uses a blowtorch to remove the harness needles from Ben's back. It seems that the kids instantly start showing signs of withdrawal -- a drop in blood pressure, labored breathing, faint pulse. It's a race against time to save all six kids. Unfortunately, one child's life slips through Anne's fingers.
While Hal waits to hear how Ben's surgery went, he comes across Maggie in the hallway. She finally divulges the real reason she knows so much about pharmaceuticals and hospitals -- she had cancer when she was 16 years old, and beat the odds to survive.
Eventually, Tom comes out of the OR and tells Hal the good news -- Ben is recovering. He tells his oldest son how proud he is to watch him grow into a brave man others can count on.
At the baby shower, the women offer their hope, support and well wishes to Sarah -- including Anne; and in the medical ward, Tom, Hal and Matt sit around an unconscious Ben. Weaver looks on, happy, and perhaps a little jealous, that the young father is finally reunited with all his children.
An exhausted Anne enters the medical room. Tom tries to comfort her, reassuring her that she was the one who saved the lives of all those harnessed kids. And as he finishes his talk by gently holding her hands, we see Ben wake up for the first time.
Other Cast[]
Co-Starring[]
Uncredited[]
Deaths[]
- Michael Harris; a.k.a. Dr. Harris
- Rescued Harnessed kid
- Captured Skitter
- Hospital Skitter
Significant Events[]
- Hal Mason and Margaret retrieve the needed drugs from a drug dealer's stash.
- While trying to give the captured Skitter a lethal injection, Doctor Michael Harris is killed.
- Hal devises a plan to sneak into the hospital where the harnessed kids are kept and kill the guarding Skitter while it sleeping using Rick Thompson's dead harness.
- Doctor Anne Glass is able to figure out how to silently kill a Skitter by stabbing it in its nerve center through the soft pallet of its mouth. She tests this by killing the captured Skitter.
- Aided by a team led by his father, Hal infiltrates the hospital to rescue his brother. With the help of his father, Hal kills the guarding Skitter and six children are rescued, including Ben.
- Anne is able to perform the de-harnessing operation successfully on five of the six kids, including Ben. However, one dies.
- Ben eventually wakes up and appears to recognize his father.
Trivia[]
- The scene where Hal enters the hospital with Rick's harness was shot in an abandoned hospital in Toronto.
- During the scene where the actors had to react to the Mech walking by, a crew member walked through the space with a large pole with a light on it to simulate where the Mech was.
- When Hal goes on a mission to save Ben, Hal runs across a bloody room where the skitters experimented on the children, killing several, as they learned how to successfully control the children. This scene was cut and was never shown on screen.
Gallery[]
| Falling Skies Season 1 | ||||||||
| #01 | "Live and Learn" | #09 | "Mutiny" | |||||
| #02 | "The Armory" | #10 | "Eight Hours" | |||||
| #03 | "Prisoner of War" | |||||||
| #04 | "Grace" | |||||||
| #05 | "Silent Kill" | |||||||
| #06 |
"Sanctuary (Part 1)" | |||||||
| #07 | "Sanctuary (Part 2)" | |||||||
| #08 | "What Hides Beneath" | |||||||