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You know, although the improvements to this show keep on coming, leaving the dodgy pilot far behind, I really wish I could say the same about the dialogue. It's like playing cliche bingo half of the time. The worst offender has to be Ironhorse, but everybody gets in on the act occasionally. Except Suzanne's daughter, mostly because everybody keeps forgetting she exists.
A reporter covers a story about radioactive material being shipped across the country in trucks. She's worried what might happen if there's a road accident. Naturally enough, a road accident is the last thing she should be worried about.
I love the aliens' new, home-made encounter suits. They look like steampunk Vorlons. This week the aliens are excited about - you guessed it - radioactive material in trucks. Sadly this particular alien proves incapable of saying "nuclear", which is a bit unfortunate given how many times it crops up.
A really annoying clerk, in charge of the schedule for the radioactive truck journey.
An alien wants the schedule.
Which seems to involve giving the clerk newly painted eyebrows, which is certainly an interesting form of torture.
Yeah, he annoyed the hell out of me, too. I sympathise.
Back at the safe house, everybody's glaring at each other again. This week, Suzanne tries to get in on the game. She's annoyed with Harrison for being too Harrisony.
And with Norton for being too Nortony.
Norton doesn't care, though; he's had a computer upgrade. No more rubbish games! Now he can stream live video of murdered clerks.
Some friendly truckers.
Some friendly truckers being taken over by aliens.
Norton has told his computer to look out for anything in the news, or other spy-on-able sources, that might indicate the presence of aliens. This is one of his key words, he says. Hopefully he's also organised a scan for it spelt right, or he might not get very far in his search. Today's weirdness is the reporter from earlier, who filmed part of the alien takeover of the truckers. Ironhorse, as ever, refuses to believe that there's aliens involved.
They're planning computer wizardry, honest. I know it looks like they've got something else on their minds, but it really was just computing. Improving upon the camera footage that Norton has intercepted, they reveal that aliens are, indeed, involved. Surprise!
Ironhorse, as ever, then has to grumble that okay, maybe aliens are involved after all. He should just put that on tape, rather than repeating it himself every week.
Alien FBI agents!
The aliens need bodies. They still have their thousands of barrels with hibernating aliens in, and they need humans to inhabit. So the alien FBI agents round up citizens, and ship them all off to a little ghost town, where they begin murdering vast swathes of the American population. And hoard dangerous radioactive waste there while they're at it.
Everybody remembers that Harrison's quirky, right? Just checking.
Meanwhile, Ironhorse is completely randomly showing off his specially designed war tomahawk. Gee, do you think maybe he'll be using it later this episode?
It's glare time again! Since the aliens have nabbed the truckers, and the team know that the aliens have grabbed the truckers, Harrison would quite like a way to find out where the trucks have gone. Ironhorse refuses to help him get satellite access, on security grounds.
And even more glaring. Harrison decides that he and Norton will just have to go a-hacking, to find out the information for themselves. Ironhorse and Suzanne point out that this would be illegal. I love how much everybody but Harrison would rather obey the law than stop the aliens from taking over the planet. It's reassuring, isn't it.
Having found out where the trucks are, Harrison and Suzanne set off there alone. Because, after all, sending two scientists off to a place where you know there are both aliens and radioactive waste is so much more sensible than having Ironhorse go too. That man has to be the world's most rubbish head of security.
The tuning fork puts in its first appearance. This is Harrison's favourite toy. Here he's using it to hypnotise himself, to remember why the town they're in sounds so familiar. He remembers that it's a ghost town - and yet now it's full of people. People and huge trucks full of radioactive waste. Living happily side by side. Ah.
Harrison and Suzanne realise that they're completely surrounded by aliens again. And that they're completely unprepared for this again. And that they're pretty much totally screwed. Again.
I bet Suzanne's really glad by now that she answered Harrison's advertisement for an assistant.
The reporter, who has also followed the trucks, is reunited with the friendly truckers. Now no longer quite so friendly.
Ironhorse turns up, in a cunning disguise.
And oh look, he's brought his tomahawk with him, which he promptly uses to take out an alien guard.
Although it's a different tomahawk, but we're probably not meant to notice that. Or possibly he's got dozens of the things. I must admit that the cultural stereotyping of Ironhorse frequently makes me very uncomfortable.
The team sneak into a warehouse, chock-a-block full of aliens.
Whereupon Harrison decides that a really good idea would be to wander off alone and unarmed, and find out what the warehouse is for. He soon sees the piles of barrels being opened, and the dozens of aliens clambering out.
And the dozens of humans being taken over on a production line. Harrison then decides that it would be a very good idea to leave, extremely quickly.
And not at all subtlely, because subtlety is dull.
The entire town gives chase.
Fortunately for the team, they don't own a convertible. Pretty much every other TV hero would be dead about now.
Ironhorse calls in a military strike. This makes him extremely happy.
Although I've got to wonder why he's bothered camouflaging his tank. For one thing it's a tank, which isn't exactly easy to hide; and for another it's rumbling down the high street. I don't think sticking some twigs on it is really going to help.
But the aliens have all gone. Now there's a surprise. Harrison has a lovely scene here, where he realises that they've lost another battle, and that countless aliens have now been revived (and countless humans killed in the process). Sadly the dialogue is really awful, but the sentiment was good.
And any and all rumours about aliens are neatly dismissed by the newly taken over newsreader. Although I'm guessing she's not going to be getting much TV work once the rotting sets in.
A good episode, this one. Some painful dialogue, and they used that old clunker of zooming in on a photograph, and getting perfect results, which automatically loses them points. Good plot, though, and I like how the heroes have so far never once had a real victory. Partial ones, to avoid it being completely depressing, but never anything concrete. Meanwhile the aliens keep massing their forces, and spreading out across the country.
Some time, our heroes are going to have to think about telling some other people what's going on. Or not bothering, whichever turns out to make the better story.
A reporter covers a story about radioactive material being shipped across the country in trucks. She's worried what might happen if there's a road accident. Naturally enough, a road accident is the last thing she should be worried about.
I love the aliens' new, home-made encounter suits. They look like steampunk Vorlons. This week the aliens are excited about - you guessed it - radioactive material in trucks. Sadly this particular alien proves incapable of saying "nuclear", which is a bit unfortunate given how many times it crops up.
A really annoying clerk, in charge of the schedule for the radioactive truck journey.
An alien wants the schedule.
Which seems to involve giving the clerk newly painted eyebrows, which is certainly an interesting form of torture.
Yeah, he annoyed the hell out of me, too. I sympathise.
Back at the safe house, everybody's glaring at each other again. This week, Suzanne tries to get in on the game. She's annoyed with Harrison for being too Harrisony.
And with Norton for being too Nortony.
Norton doesn't care, though; he's had a computer upgrade. No more rubbish games! Now he can stream live video of murdered clerks.
Some friendly truckers.
Some friendly truckers being taken over by aliens.
Norton has told his computer to look out for anything in the news, or other spy-on-able sources, that might indicate the presence of aliens. This is one of his key words, he says. Hopefully he's also organised a scan for it spelt right, or he might not get very far in his search. Today's weirdness is the reporter from earlier, who filmed part of the alien takeover of the truckers. Ironhorse, as ever, refuses to believe that there's aliens involved.
They're planning computer wizardry, honest. I know it looks like they've got something else on their minds, but it really was just computing. Improving upon the camera footage that Norton has intercepted, they reveal that aliens are, indeed, involved. Surprise!
Ironhorse, as ever, then has to grumble that okay, maybe aliens are involved after all. He should just put that on tape, rather than repeating it himself every week.
Alien FBI agents!
The aliens need bodies. They still have their thousands of barrels with hibernating aliens in, and they need humans to inhabit. So the alien FBI agents round up citizens, and ship them all off to a little ghost town, where they begin murdering vast swathes of the American population. And hoard dangerous radioactive waste there while they're at it.
Everybody remembers that Harrison's quirky, right? Just checking.
Meanwhile, Ironhorse is completely randomly showing off his specially designed war tomahawk. Gee, do you think maybe he'll be using it later this episode?
It's glare time again! Since the aliens have nabbed the truckers, and the team know that the aliens have grabbed the truckers, Harrison would quite like a way to find out where the trucks have gone. Ironhorse refuses to help him get satellite access, on security grounds.
And even more glaring. Harrison decides that he and Norton will just have to go a-hacking, to find out the information for themselves. Ironhorse and Suzanne point out that this would be illegal. I love how much everybody but Harrison would rather obey the law than stop the aliens from taking over the planet. It's reassuring, isn't it.
Having found out where the trucks are, Harrison and Suzanne set off there alone. Because, after all, sending two scientists off to a place where you know there are both aliens and radioactive waste is so much more sensible than having Ironhorse go too. That man has to be the world's most rubbish head of security.
The tuning fork puts in its first appearance. This is Harrison's favourite toy. Here he's using it to hypnotise himself, to remember why the town they're in sounds so familiar. He remembers that it's a ghost town - and yet now it's full of people. People and huge trucks full of radioactive waste. Living happily side by side. Ah.
Harrison and Suzanne realise that they're completely surrounded by aliens again. And that they're completely unprepared for this again. And that they're pretty much totally screwed. Again.
I bet Suzanne's really glad by now that she answered Harrison's advertisement for an assistant.
The reporter, who has also followed the trucks, is reunited with the friendly truckers. Now no longer quite so friendly.
Ironhorse turns up, in a cunning disguise.
And oh look, he's brought his tomahawk with him, which he promptly uses to take out an alien guard.
Although it's a different tomahawk, but we're probably not meant to notice that. Or possibly he's got dozens of the things. I must admit that the cultural stereotyping of Ironhorse frequently makes me very uncomfortable.
The team sneak into a warehouse, chock-a-block full of aliens.
Whereupon Harrison decides that a really good idea would be to wander off alone and unarmed, and find out what the warehouse is for. He soon sees the piles of barrels being opened, and the dozens of aliens clambering out.
And the dozens of humans being taken over on a production line. Harrison then decides that it would be a very good idea to leave, extremely quickly.
And not at all subtlely, because subtlety is dull.
The entire town gives chase.
Fortunately for the team, they don't own a convertible. Pretty much every other TV hero would be dead about now.
Ironhorse calls in a military strike. This makes him extremely happy.
Although I've got to wonder why he's bothered camouflaging his tank. For one thing it's a tank, which isn't exactly easy to hide; and for another it's rumbling down the high street. I don't think sticking some twigs on it is really going to help.
But the aliens have all gone. Now there's a surprise. Harrison has a lovely scene here, where he realises that they've lost another battle, and that countless aliens have now been revived (and countless humans killed in the process). Sadly the dialogue is really awful, but the sentiment was good.
And any and all rumours about aliens are neatly dismissed by the newly taken over newsreader. Although I'm guessing she's not going to be getting much TV work once the rotting sets in.
A good episode, this one. Some painful dialogue, and they used that old clunker of zooming in on a photograph, and getting perfect results, which automatically loses them points. Good plot, though, and I like how the heroes have so far never once had a real victory. Partial ones, to avoid it being completely depressing, but never anything concrete. Meanwhile the aliens keep massing their forces, and spreading out across the country.
Some time, our heroes are going to have to think about telling some other people what's going on. Or not bothering, whichever turns out to make the better story.
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