Falling Skies: Splitting Up Again

I'm really not a fan of dramatic episodes that don't seem to add much to the overall story arc, and I feel as if "Mind Wars" was one of those. Something happens with Tom, Matt, and Weaver as they're on a journey, but they're back to status quo by the end of the episode. Hal gets his group further on their trip to join Lourdes & Co., but they don't make it all the way there and who is going to care in the future how they crossed the road? Lexi gets sick, Lexi gets better. Where's the carry-over material? Plus, although we had some merging of the groups recently, which allows the viewer to be more relaxed as they watch the series (fewer entirely different plotlines to follow), the potential of Tom running separately on his own again was a bit daunting. It's bad enough that it seems as if Anne and Lexi won't be able to co-exist for much longer...

Falling Skies "Mind Wars" (S04E05): Matt doesn't want Tom to shoot a rabbit, even though they haven't eaten in three days. [great. just what this environment needs... a conscientious objector!] They come upon a shack with a message of where to go, and narrowly escape some supernatural critters.

BETTINA STRAUSS

They're still with Weaver, but Chochise separates to head back to his own group. The trio come across a pair of brothers who idolize Tom, but the free food is too good to be true, and they kidnap Tom in the night, telling him Matt and Weaver were shot. [seriously??!?] Tom tries to get them to turn on one another, then appeals to the humanity of one who was a father. [yeah, they really do need a term to describe people who have lost a child...] Meanwhile, Weaver and Matt track them and prepare to kill the captor, but Matt can't do it. [I didn't think he could.] One of the brothers admits he killed the other's children so the two of them could survive. [O.M.G.!!] The childless father kills the murderer, then is about to shoot Tom when Weaver comes up and saves his friend. [phew!]

Hal tries to find a way to cross a road being patrolled, and Pope and Sara help out. Then, they find out there's a real-time way of tracking the patrols, and are able to travel to set a course for Lourdes, Anne, Lexi, Ben, Maggie, and the Espheni-Free Zone. [but will it actually be that simple...?]

Anne interrogates an Espheni, who hurts Ben through their spike connection. [ouch!] Then, when she talks to Lexi, the girl hurts her, before falling ill and developing a fever over 120 degrees. [yep, she's not human!] When the Espheni won't help Lexi, Anne starts to beat on one, but he's connected to Ben, who suffers the internal injuries. [that was pretty horrible!] The Espheni suggest flower tea, which brings Lexi to consciousness. She suggests that she's been forced to choose between Anne and her Espheni father, so she protects him. [and that might cause another divide...]