Falling Skies

? Falling Skies 1x03 ? Prisoner of War Original Air Date on June 26, 2011

== sync, corrected by elderman ==

Tom: Ben's on the roof.

Looks like they're scavenging scrap metal.

That's exactly what they're doing.

They flew here in spaceships and turned kids into slaves

just to collect old toasters and copper wire?

Well, there must be some reason for it.

You think they know what's happening to them?

I hope not.

How many kids are you trying to grab?

Tom: As many as we can.

Okay, let's see what we're up against.

Anthony: Okay, we got two Mechs

patrolling in front of the building.

Hal: And there's that one behind the back.

Skitter by the collection bin.

And another one inside the building.

Six of us, five of them.

I like those odds.

All right, we do this now --

tired as we are, low on ammo, low on supplies --

I mean, losing Click was enough, wasn't it?

That's my son over there. I know.

But we may only get one shot at this. Okay, Tom?

They're gonna be here tomorrow and the day after that.

Okay. How about we do this?

Dad, come on. We'll be back.

We'll get him, Dad.

Welcome home.

Love what you've done with the place.

Did you find Ben?

Ben and about a dozen others, yeah.

Is he all right?

He's alive.

Look, there's some really good news.

What's that?

Excuse me. Um, did you, uh, see my daughter?

No.

No, no, I'm sorry. We didn't really get that close.

Our son -- he's been missing since the second week.

Maybe you saw him. No, I'm sorry.

Man: Please. No, I -- Okay, everybody, just --

Hey, hey, hey, hey. Come on. Break it up. Give them some space.

We've got the right to ask!

Hey, no one's saying you don't.

But we all have missing kids, including Tom here.

And you.

That's right -- my boy, Rick.

Okay, look, everybody, I know what you're going through.

We all just want to get our kids back.

And I promise that we're gonna do everything possible

to make sure that that happens.

Wait, look. There's a --

there's a school-announcement board here.

Why don't you guys take your pictures

and post your missing kids up here?

Yeah. Great idea. Anthony: Yeah, and write their name,

hair color, weight, height...

Last time that you saw them.

Yeah, anything that you guys can think of

that'll help us identify them.

I promise that all the squads will check this board

before each and every mission.

Okay?

Thank you -- both of you.

Mike: Porter's here.

He's not due back for another couple weeks.

You know that good news? He brought it.

He's delivering a briefing in the command post.

Take a seat.

The picture in this war is changing.

One of the runners that we sent west

ran into a contingent of resistance fighters

just outside of Chicago.

But they've made contact

with other groups in Texas, Oklahoma, even California.

What that means is...

We're not in this alone anymore, people.

That's the good news.

The bad news...

Is that alien structures like the one that's over Boston

are going up over every city that we know about.

Anybody figured out what they're for?

No, Weaver.

So as of now...

we're in a full-court press

to gather intelligence on the enemy.

I want to know about his plans.

I want to know about his tactics.

I want to know about his weapons and his technology --

everything.

Now that you people have a secure operating base,

I want you to start collecting war material.

That means motorcycles.

That means weapons, explosives, camo gear --

anything and everything

that could be used to support a growing insurgency.

Weaver, put 'em to work.

All right, start breaking your units down

into search-and-requisition teams of four to six fighters.

I'll give you your assignments tomorrow.

Dismissed.

Hey, Tom.

Got a report that you spotted a bunch of harnessed kids.

Yeah, we were tracking my son Ben. We found him.

At night, they've got them in a hospital off Route 9,

and by day, the Skitters have them salvaging scrap metal.

Yeah, we've gotten reports like that before.

They seem to use them as some sort of slave labor.

Yeah.

Look, Tom, our science team

is struggling with this harness thing.

They were able to get it off of three kids,

but they died a couple hours later.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Yeah, well...

The chief surgeon thinks he's got an answer to the problem.

But in order to test the theory, he needs a kid.

Ben?

Look, Tom...

I'll understand if you want to say no.

But this is probably the best --

hell, it may be the only chance

Ben and any of the other kids have got.

Yeah.

Yeah. Um...

I can't go back and just rescue one kid,

even if it's my own son.

We need to rescue them all.

We will, in time. The time is now.

If it were up to me, you wouldn't be going at all.

Our priority has to be winning this war.

There are hundreds of people out there with missing kids.

We rescue those kids, as many as we can, we keep their hope alive.

We give up on those kids, those people are gonna give up hope, too.

We save a few dozen kids and lose the war,

they're no better off than they were in the harness.

Well, they'd die free.

I think we're wasting time and resources,

but it's not my call.

That's right. It's mine.

Just Ben this time.

That's it.

Right.

You okay?

Did you know I was due to retire when all this happened?

Nothing to look forward to but golf and travel and...

A stack of spy novels on my nightstand.

Listen, Tom...

You go out there and get Ben.

But, damn it, be careful.

Hey, buddy.

Hey.

I'm back.

Did you bring Ben?

No, not this time, but we found him, and he's safe.

We're gonna go back for him.

What's the matter?

Come on. I can take it.

At school today,

some kid said that when you take those things off their backs,

the kids die.

Yeah.

Well...

That was before.

Before?

Before a really smart doctor figured out

how to take them off safely.

What doctor?

He came here today with Colonel Porter.

He's gonna teach Anne how to do it, too.

So Ben's gonna be okay?

Hey.

Hungry?

You bet I am.

Here you go.

Everybody's got a right to eat.

Thank you.

You got a problem?

What is this -- Skitter a la king?

Chicken and rice.

Are you sure?

Look, if it's not up to your usual high standards,

you'll have to make allowances.

We all take turns in the kitchen.

Let me guess -- it was your turn.

First of all, the chicken shouldn't bleed like this.

It's way undercooked. That, and you got enough salt in

here to give my kid a stroke.

And what is that? What is that -- paprika?

Paprika? Nobody puts paprika on chicken.

What are you -- Hungarian?

You do realize you're a prisoner, right?

Before you grill it, fry it, put it on a barbecue,

you poach the chicken first,