Falling Skies Season 2 Ending Explained: Who is the New Alien?

Created by Robert Rodat, ‘Falling Skies’ chronicles humanity’s resistance in the face of alien invasion, particularly one that pits people against each other through a series of sinister ploys. Tom Mason, a former professor, takes up arms to protect his family and pave the way for a future generation. However, as more is learnt about the mysterious aliens, their origins, and their motivations, the less Tom knows what the correct course of action is. In the first season of this science fiction series, the 2nd Mass militant group devises a way to kill aliens in one go. However, Tom’s small but significant victory goes south when he is approached by an alien Overlord for a talk aboard the spaceship. Season 2, as such, explores the immediate and long-term aftereffects of this fated exchange. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Falling Skies Season 2 Plot Recap

The sophomore season of ‘Falling Skies’ begins three months after the events of the season one finale. Weaver, along with the rest of the 2nd Mass, has gotten much better at taking down the alien fighters, but his biggest surprise is yet to come. While battling a Skitter, the group accidentally comes across Tom, who has not been seen since entering the spaceship. A flashback reveals the inhumane torture he had to endure on board, due to refusing the Overlord alien’s proposal for putting humans in safe camps. Sometime later, he was unceremoniously dropped off to serve as an alien messenger and was soon found by his team. In the present, many are wary of Tom, including himself, and the surreal happenings around him only add to his paranoia. Still, with the 2nd Mass running short on brains and brawns, he joins right back in.

While Weaver plans to shift the entire regiment to a nearby forest stretch, a broken bridge creates problems. Tom proves his worth by staying behind as the rest of the community leaves. And despite falling into the water, he manages to survive. Elsewhere, the situation worsens for his son, Ben, who has been taken over by an immense rage against the aliens. This prompts him to go on more and more dangerous missions, and things only come to a halt when his partner, Jimmy, dies in one such exchange. However, not all Skitters are out to kill humans, and on one of his excursions, Ben comes across a Skitter named Red Eye, who reveals the existence of a secret rebellion force within alien ranks. Although the 2nd Mass has mixed opinions on joining hands with this group, its existence alone proves to be a threat to the Overlords.

Red Eye and Skitters Join 2nd Mass Against the Overlords

Red Eye explains that the Overlords are called Espheni, a colonizing alien species that turns humans into Skitters over time and discards any children who don’t meet their standards. On one of their lookouts, Hal and Maggie come across one such dumping ground, but are surprised to find Karen in there, alive and unharnessed. However, this turns out to be an elaborate ruse on her part, as once inside, she attempts to recruit Ben into the alien forces but narrowly fails. Realizing that the Overlords are hot on their trail, the 2nd Mass is forced to seek out a new hideout, and opportunity arrives in the form of Charleston. The South Carolina town has seemingly been transformed into a successful community, as the aliens believe they have already killed every human here.

While Tom and the rest of the 2nd Mass acclimatize to this new reality, Ben breaks away from the group and joins the Skitters rebellion, understanding their motivations. Elsewhere, Tom slowly comes to realize that peace in Charleston is maintained by an autocratic military dictatorship. As an independent and revolutionary team, the 2nd Mass clashes repeatedly with Charleston’s army, and a complete diversion occurs when Ben returns with Red Eye and several Skitters, determined to strike the aliens where it hurts. With this, the 2nd Mass sets out to take down the Espheni Overlord, but is defeated by Karen, who tries to torture information from Tom and company. However, a last-minute interruption by the Skitter Rebellion army changes fate once again.

Falling Skies Season 2 Ending: Who is the New Alien? Why is it Smiling?

‘Falling Skies’ season 2 ends with the 2nd Mass winning against an Espheni Overlord and buying more time for humanity, only to meet a new type of alien lifeform landing on Earth. The new aliens look completely different from the entities we have encountered thus far, and are noticeably more humanoid, likely belonging to a different species altogether. While their entire body is armored at first, one of them takes off their helmet, only to reveal a curious smile. With this, the possible explanations for the aliens’ origins are now blown wide open, making it entirely probable that these new creatures are not here to wage war with humanity, but to help. The alien’s ability to smile suggests at least some familiarity with human expressions and their generally associated meanings, which it may be conveying intentionally.

Notably, the alien does not descend upon Earth alone and is accompanied by at least a dozen more space capsules. As it is likely that each of these extraterrestrial entities is similarly armored, it should not have been a difficult task for the aliens to wipe out the 2nd Mass immediately. However, their refusal to do so is a further indication of their interests. In that vein, the season’s final scene perfectly contrasts the season 1 ending on many levels. While back then Karen was used as a forced intermediary between humans and aliens, here the entity chooses to communicate directly. Its readiness to take off its facial protection can be interpreted as a gesture of peace. Once again, it is Tom who has the choice to trust the alien forces or return to humanity, but this time his chances look much better.

The fact that these new aliens are differently dressed and armed strongly suggests that they may be a different strand of species than the Espheni. To that end, their wrinkled appearance is closer to that of Kritters, who underwent a complete overhaul of their identity this past season. As such, this new species has an equal chance of being another ploy by the Espheni to infiltrate human society or a completely different kind of alien. The idea of two different alien life forms warring against each other is not entirely out of the ordinary and can also work in humanity’s favor. Playing on the principle of an enemy’s enemy being a friend, humanity, best represented by the 2nd Mass, might go on to join hands with this new alien force, and that is bound to boost their collective offensive capacity by orders of magnitude.

What Was the New Alien Weapon For?

Although the season ends on a curious note regarding a new possible species, many questions about the Espheni themselves remain unanswered. The biggest one thus far is, naturally, the purpose of their Earth invasion. While it is generally believed that the aliens simply want to take control of Earth, that idea is disproven in episode 1 of the season, where the Overlord reveals to Tom that human suppression is merely a part of the puzzle. This detail plays into the season’s endgame stretch, where the stakes are defined by a new Overlord weapon, pointed skywards. In the season two finale, the 2nd Mass destroys this new weapon and kills its officiator, the Espheni, rendering the entire process irreversibly void. However, several clues presented in the show suggest multiple theories.

While killing humans may not be the foremost goal of the alien species, they nonetheless rely on human scrap and material to fulfill their geological ambitions. To that end, it is bizarre for their magnum opus weapon not to point towards Earth at all. Given its upward trajectory, it is possible that the aliens’ target is not land or humans, but the sky itself. This adds a unique twist to the show’s title itself, turning it into a potential foreshadowing of sorts. No matter the aliens’ ultimate goal, it is undoubtedly one that will bring humanity ruin, which makes the 2nd Mass’s actions, to an extent, justified. Furthermore, as the Espheni leader of this frontier is now dead, Charleston and its surrounding regions are expected to experience a brief period of peace before the aliens likely intensify their efforts.

Has Hal Been Possessed? Is he Under Karen’s Control?

Unlike Tom, who ends the season on a hopeful if not dangerous crossroads, Hal seems to be doomed by Karena and her sinister ploys. In his last appearance on-screen, we see Hal looking into his mirror, only for a small alien creature to exit his eye and enter his ear. This seemingly marks the completion of Hal’s possession, as his expression rapidly changes from one of concern to that of cunning and evil. As these are unlikely expressions for Hal to carry, the chances of him being under Karen’s control are at an all-time high. This springs from her previous abduction of Hal and family, wherein she puts physical and psychological pressure on all of them. As such, her sexually assaulting Hal was likely a cover to plant the small alien into his body, giving her complete access to his consciousness and possibly other senses.

Notably, this is not the first appearance of the small alien, as it was previously embedded inside Tom’s body, specifically his eye. Unlike his son, however, Tom managed to retrieve the creature just in time, but still remained paranoid of being an alien pawn. Hal appears to have bypassed this stage and is now fully under alien control. While Karen is most likely pulling the strings from behind, what is even more ironic is that she herself is a harnessed individual. Thus, there are several layers of suppression at play, with the Espheni’s cruel practices at the heart of it all. While humans have proven themselves capable of releasing a person from alien control, the small alien might be inside Hal’s brain, making detachment far more difficult than in Tom or Ben’s respective cases.

What Happens to the Skitter Rebellion? Is Red Eye Dead?

The death of the Espheni Overlord marks the Skitter Rebellion’s first victory, even if it comes at a considerable cost. In the final saga, the rebellion’s leader, Red Eye, is impaled by the Overlord, who himself meets his end at Tom’s hands not long after. Still, Red Eye’s wound is fatal, and in the end, he lies on the floor slowly bleeding to his death. His final words, directed towards Tom and spoken aloud by Ben, are an urgent plea to keep the rebellion going, so that all Skitters can one day be free of alien control. This exchange operates on multiple narrative levels, not only echoing the general spirit of resistance but also providing closure to Red Eye’s main arcs involving Tom and his son. Although Tom and Red Eye start out as enemies on the Overlord’s ship, the duo ends up forging a strong dynamic, recognizing a common enemy at the source of their conflict.

As such, Red Eye’s conclusion helps Tom track down how far he has come in understanding the Skitters’ perspective, as well as deepening his own sense of humanity. This is again represented via Ben’s arc, as much of the season one finale hinges on him seemingly being cured of his alien nature. In this run of the story, however, he and his family come to terms with his partial alien nature. This same attribute is key to his alliance with the Skitter Rebellion, given that they identify with him through their loss of agency. In the absence of Red Eye, Ben will likely take the lead of the alien force and work closely with the 2nd Mass to give them the upper hand they need against the Overlords. To that end, the arrival of a new alien species can either be the cherry on top or another disaster in the making.