Welcome back rebels! Last week we learned of the resistance from Ben and ol’ Red Eye. It seems the Skitters have had it with the fishhead Overlords and want the humans to help. They’ve enlisted Ben and Rick to help.

SYSTEM WARNING – SPOILERS

The episode opens with a nice quiet moment between Dr. Glass and Tom as they wake together. They share moments of happiness past and reflect on how ‘normal’ things are getting. They’re so happy together even with the pain of losing their spouses. This is what they have now and it feels nice.

But all hell breaks loose during the unit briefing. Weaver is fussing them all out about the slack in the ranks when he goes into a seizure. It starts with his hand shaking but then it slams him against the wall and drops him to the floor.

They’re able to get him restrained in a hospital bed. The hella nasty wound from the harness bite has gotten worse and the rash is spreading all over his body. He pledges with Tom to take over the 2d Mass; to make sure they get to Charleston. Dr. Glass has tried everything from antibiotics to antiviral meds – nothing seems to help. Tom thinks they need to get Weaver to Charleston ASAP and his more than a little ticked that Anne hadn’t told him sooner.

Meanwhile, Hal and Maggie are on patrol. She’s not entirely healed from that blast shot to the gut but she hates hospitals enough to get out as soon as she can walk. Hal jibes that she’s out there on patrol with him because she likes him. The teasing hits a nerve. Maggie wants to talk about it; she needs to talk about it. Hal gets it – they can’t be together because she doesn’t like him. She just rolls her eyes. She’s asked Weaver to be moved to another unit. We might have gotten a bit more info out of her had it not been for Hal tripping over a dead person! There’s not just one! It’s a mass grave of children with their harnesses removed. As they check to see if there are any survivors they find Karen! (Oh god! Poor Hal!) She’s alive!!

Tom briefs the soldiers on Weavers condition. Dr. Glass is working on him but the situation is serious. He thinks they have no choice but to get back on the road and head to Charleston. Jamil breaks the bad news that they don’t have enough fuel to get to Charleston. Captain Weaver had ordered him to drain all the vehicles to keep the hospital generators running. Dai’s been scouting for fuel but hasn’t found any sources. The second bit of bad news – there’s only enough fuel to keep the generator running another 12 hours max. Well that means the only thing they can do is find more fuel. He sends Dai out with three other scouting units. He has Jamil shut down all the power in the hospital except ICU, that will give them a bit more time. Matt rushes in with the news about Karen.

Hal is trying to carry her into the hospital but Ben tells them to stop. He can hear that she’s still connected. Tom orders her taken to the psych ward to be locked up until they know for sure.

Karen wakes frightened out of her mind. She doesn’t seem to know anyone until Tom comes in. She feels so bad because she couldn’t do anything to stop it the aliens from torturing him. As far as the dead children, the only thing she remembers was going to sleep in her pod then waking up to Hal. (I don’t trust this one bit!)

Ben wants to stay behind and talk to her. He has the best chance of sussing out the truth. Hal warns him to remember that’s a friend in there. Ben never knew her but he knows that she isn’t who she used to be and he warns Hal to steer clear. She can manipulate him because of his feelings.

Weaver is getting worse, fast. Tom and Anne get into a fight over what to do with him. Tom wants him ready to move ASAP while Anne wants him to stay still. The argument escalates to yelling and ends with Tom calling her Rebecca. It was bound to happen at some point. Anne is hurt but she suggests an alternative – give her until midnight and if she hasn’t got him to change then Tom can speed him to Charleston. Tom agrees.

Karen tries to chat with Ben. He is so full of hate. He spits out to her that he can hear the connection. She asks if that’s the white noise she hears? Then she asks is he remembers the feeling when he was harnessed? Does he remember the feel of hopelessness when his body was forced around? He was harnessed to a skitter so multiply that by 10 to understand how she felt harnessed to an Overlord. Ben softens a little. The sneaky look on her face as he leaves proves she’s up to no good!

Lourdes figured out that the organism in Weaver was slowly dropping his temperature, opposite of a normal infection. When they piled on the blankets and heaters they found that it indeed slowed the pathogen but didn’t stop it. They think if they pump out all of his blood, heat it over 100 degrees then pump it back into his body it should kill the pathogen. Tom says go for it. Jamil will help rig up a heater.

Outside – One of the diesel scouts returns. He didn’t find any fuel instead he found POPE and Anthony unconscious on the road!! Anthony wakes to tell them the tale – they split up while looking for a set of wheels. He heard gun fire but by the time he got back to him Pope was being chased. A Mech got a shot off that took Pope out so Anthony picked him and carried him as far as he could.

Ben returns to give Karen breakfast. Ben begins to warm up to her. (Or is he playing her as much as she’s playing him?) She revels in her new found strength and elevated senses. To demonstrate she lifts her bed with one hand. Ben rushes over to stop her but as he gets close both of their spikes begin to low. The sparks begin to fly as well. She leans over and kisses him. And as though on cue, Hal walks in. He doesn’t really see the kiss – all he sees is Ben standing way too close with his spikes glowing. Karen looks from one to the other then promptly pass out. (That was SO over the top faked!)

Jamil was able to rig up a blood heater. Tom apologizes for his outburst earlier. As they’re talking, the power goes out. Jamil rushes off to get it back up. Meanwhile, Tom has to manually run the blood pump. Jamil’s able to find a portable generator.
Tector returns from his acouting mission with a truck load of fuel. Payday!

Hal is freaking out about Karen. He thinks Ben is trying to hurt her or recruit her. Maggie thinks that if anyone is in danger its Ben. She sends Hal off to find Ben while she pays Karen a visit. Maggie calls her out and tells her to stay away. Karen starts playing mind games on Maggie. She starts poking her about the time she spent with Pope and how she probably felt more comfortable with those monsters. Maggie moves to take aim and Karen scales the wall. Maggie opens fire but Karen’s able to dodge out of the way then pick her up like a rag doll to slam her against the wall. Maggie falls to the floor in a wheezing heap of pain. Karen can hear Ben coming so she slams herself against the wall. She convinces Ben they aren’t safe there. Ben knows a place where they will be accepted. Maggie wakes as they leave.

Ben takes Karen to the roof. Hal tries to stop them. Ben chokes Hal until he passes out. (This is NOT good turning brother against brother.) Their spikes begin to glow and they take off into the woods.

Back in ICU – the treatment seems to be working. Weaver’s stabilized but Dr. Glass doesn’t know if there will be extensive damage. He finally wakes and gives Tom hell for burning all that fuel to save his sorry ass. Tom takes the blame like a trooper. Somebody else has woken up – Pope and he wants to talk to Tom; he says it’s a matter of life and death.

Pope says the fishheads are coming for Tom and Ben. He says he was pinned down when one of them wanted to know where they were. He says that girl Hal was screwing was talking for it. The fishhead also said Ben was part of some skitter rebellion. All of this happened a little over two days ago. They all run back to the psych ward to find Maggie moaning on the floor then they find Hal out cold on the roof.

This is what I’m talking about! How great was this writing?! We all knew Karen was bad but I kind of hoped she wasn’t then really hoped she was. I love this stuff! There’s got to be a backstabber! She manipulated Hal and Ben like the puppets she complained about. What did y’all think?

Keep the resistance strong!

Did you miss an episode? Check out our recap of last week’s ‘Love and Other Acts of Courage‘.