Strange Brew

"Strange Brew"
Season Three, Episode Eight

Episode	28
Air date	July 21st, 2013
Written by	Robert Rodat & John Wirth
Directed by	David Solomon
US Viewers	3.74 million
Episode Guide
previous The Pickett Line	next Journey to Xilbalba
Cast Guide
Starring
Noah Wyle as Tom Mason Moon Bloodgood as Anne Glass Drew Roy as Hal Mason Connor Jessup as Ben Mason Maxim Knight as Matt Mason Seychelle Gabriel as Lourdes Delgado Mpho Koaho as Anthony Sarah Carter as Margaret Colin Cunningham as John Pope Will Patton as Daniel F. Weaver
Also Starring
Jessy Schram as Karen Nadler Gloria Reuben as Marina Peralta Laci J Mailey as Dream Jeanne Peter Shinkoda as Anne's husband (dream) Jennifer Ferrin as Rebecca Mason Brad Kelly as Lyle Megan Danso as Denny

Strange Brew is the eighth episode of Season 3, and overall the twenty eighth episode of Falling Skies. It was written by Robert Rodat & John Wirth. It was directed by David Solomon. It first aired on TNT July 21st, 2013. It drew 3.74 million US viewers.

Plot Synopsis[]

Things seem much too calm for Tom, making him suspicious of his surroundings. On his way back to Charleston, he makes a number of discoveries, some incredibly surprising and others utterly horrifying.

Plot[]

The episode starts with a very clean-shaven Tom Mason waking up from a dream next to his long-dead wife. They chat about mundane stuff and Tom mentions that he had a nightmare about an alien invasion. It's Christmas time and he makes several comments about how much he loves his wife. His sons are around and we get to see what Matt would look like with his afro toned down.

Tom gets in his car and pulls up to a stop light. At the light, a bum carrying a sign that says “The End Is Near” bangs on his car hood and says, “Open your eyes!” The bum looks exactly like Col. Weaver. Later, Tom is at work at his college and as he runs into various other professors and the such, they are all people from the real Falling Skies timeline including Pope, Lourdes, and Maggie.

The only real life character who has not shown up yet is Anne, though people keep on telling Tom that someone named Anne is trying to get in touch with him. At one point, someone who claims to be Anne’s husband accuses Tom of having an affair with Anne. Outside, Tom keeps on seeing the Weaver-bum with his “The End is Near” sign. The other thing that keeps on coming up is that people keep on talking about Boston, New York, Jacksonville, and Chicago. Tom can sense something strange is going on. He looks in the mirror and sees the real version of himself looking back – the version with full beard.

Tom talks to Pope about how things seem strange and Pope tells him about a condition where you can’t tell your dreams from real life. As he rambles on, Tom again sees the bum-Weaver outside. After talking with Pope, Tom goes to a coffee bar and Anne is waiting for him there. She says she is all ready to go to whatever city he wants for their special weekend – Boston, New York, Chicago, or Jacksonville. Outside the coffee bar, bum-Weaver is trying to get in. He is trying to get away from Anne but she keeps on asking him which city he is going to. Things start to get really weird and then, suddenly, we see the real world where Tom has some kind of alien technology attached to his face. Clearly the Espheni were trying to get information out of him but it did not work.

The probe is pulled off of Tom’s face and Karen, the Espheni Overlord, is there. She wants to know which one of the main Espheni ships Tom and the Volm are planning to attack – the one in Boston, New York, Chicago, or Jacksonville. “Go to hell,” is Tom’s response. Just then, machine gun fire rings out as a rescue party bursts in and shoots the surrounding Skitters. The humans grab Karen and Tom asks her where Anne and Lexi are. She says other Overlords took them and Tom says, “Then you are of no use to me!” He pulls out a gun and shoots Karen between the eyes. Everyone starts to evacuate and Tom gets knocked out.

He wakes up in a Charleston hospital. Matt tells him he has been out for 2 days. Tom rushes to a military planning room and Weaver asks him if he told Karen where the attack would go. Tom says no and Weaver asks him to explain the plan to everyone in the room. Tom approaches a series of maps – of Boston, New York, Chicago, and Jacksonville and he realizes that he is still in a Espheni-controlled dream. He wakes up again and is still Karen’s captive. He laughs and says she must be really scared to be doing all this. Karen threatens to hurt Anne and Lexi if Tom will not talk. He grimaces but says nothing.

Back in Charleston, Anthony is trying to figure out who the mole is. He is speaking to President Peralta and says everyone in the hospital has an alibi except for Peralta herself. She says she was in her room, but no one was with her. Maggie and Weaver are talking about a attack that is about to be launched on Karen’s headquarters. Maggie wants to be in the front lines because she wants to kill Karen. Weaver says that’s why he is going to put her in the rear. As Maggie starts to protest, a bomb goes off, knocking both of them back.

Back at Karen’s base, she takes Tom to see two covered bodies. She says it is Anne and Lexi and that she killed them. Tom flips out.

In Charleston, Weaver and Maggie are going to be OK. The explosion took out Weaver’s radio. He comments that he would have been dead if Maggie hadn't slowed him down. She asks him again if she can be at the front of the assault and he agrees.

Karen tells Tom that the Espheni defense grid is about to be activated. It will gradually change the atmosphere of Earth and kill all the humans. She takes him outside so he can see it beginning to work. Tom seizes the opportunity as he grabs a Skitter and jumps off the ledge they are on. He uses the Skitter to break his fall and then he is free from Karen.

Back in Charleston, Peralta passionately tells Weaver that she is not the mole. She says that despite her earlier concerns about the Volm weapon, she knows they must use it now to take out the Espheni grid.

On the outskirts of Charleston, the Mason boys come back. Maggie runs out to give Hal a big kiss. Tom is not with them, but they seem confident that he will make it back at some point.

As Tom is wandering through the woods, he comes across a house that looks just like his home from his dream. He goes inside and starts to cry. He lies on a bed and sees his wife. She cradles him and talks about how much she loves him. Then she tells him to leave. "There is nothing here for you anymore" she says… and she is gone. Tom goes outside and begins to walk away as we see a giant Espheni ship in the background.

Other Cast[]

Co-Starring[]

Uncredited[]

Significant Events[]

It is revealed Tom met Rebecca sometime before Tom went to grad school.
Weaver and Maggie are almost killed by a bomb.
It is believed Anne and Lexi were killed by Karen. This leads to Tom taking revenge on Karen in Brazil.
The Grid is activated, it will later be destroyed in Brazil.

Tom's History Lesson[]

In his dream Tom gives a lecture about Paul Revere and the inaccurate poem by Henry Longfellow which led to many of the present-day myths about Revere and his famous ride.

Trivia and Outside References[]

During the scene with the Mason family eating breakfast, Ben is reading The War of the Worlds, a science-fiction novel about an alien invasion on Earth.
In Love and Other Acts of Courage Hal describes Rita in jazz pants, in Tom's dream sequence Rita is seen wearing jazz pants.
Doug Jones, who plays Cochise, has a makeup-free cameo as one of the professors in the university lounge.
Dream Maggie is studying women's role in the American Revolutionary War, this could be seen as a parallel to the real Maggie who is playing a significant role in the current resistance.
Many references from the Masons' lives before the invasion mentioned in previous seasons are mentioned here again. These including Hal and Ben's sibling rivalry, Rebecca being the peacemaker between them, Hal's lacrosse, and Tom working at BU.
Part of Tom's lecture includes references to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his poem Paul Revere's Ride.
Dream Pope mentions social theorist Jean Baudrillard and the philosophy of Simulacrum


		Falling Skies Season 3
#01	On Thin Ice		#09	"Journey to Xilbalba"
#02	Collateral Damage		#10	"Brazil"
#03	Badlands
#04	At All Costs
#05	Search and Recover
#06	Be Silent and Come Out
#07	The Pickett Line
#08	Strange Brew