Episode Summary from Falling Skies Wiki:
[i]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 Pres. Peralta and says everyone in the hospital has an alibi… except for the 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.[/i]
Please use this thread to discuss the series’ twenty-eighth overall and third season eighth episode Strange Brew. Rule: Please keep spoilers limited to those revealed during the series up to this episode only.