And were back! TNT’s most anticipated series (that is not some sort of cop/lawyer show) returned this past Sunday with a 2 hour season premiere. As you may or may not remember, we ended last season with the 2nd Massachusetts having a successful attack on the Boston alien station, and our main man Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) boarding an alien ship under the premise he will find out more about saving his previously harnessed son Ben. 
The season picks up 3 months after the end of season 1, with resistance caring out ambush attacks on the alien invaders trying to kill as many as possible until they receive new orders from high command. It becomes apparent during the ambush attack that Mason has yet to return from his alien adventure, since he is not among the fighters participating in the attacks, but his sons Hal and Ben are. Thankfully we do not have to wait very long at all for his return, since at the end of the attack guess who shows up out of now where?!?!? BOOM – Tom ‘Mother F’n’ Mason! But wait, there is a twist. Tom has just been accidentally shot by his son Ben when he was shooting at skidder, and is losing blood fast. Don’t you worry your pretty little head though, he’s not going anywhere. We just needed a way explain/relive what has happened to Tom over the past three months through a series of cliché dream sequences why we wait to see if he pulls through.
Spoiler Alert!!! – He lives…
Anyways, through the series of dream sequences we learn that Tom did NOT in fact learn about what is happening to his son from being harnessed by the aliens. Rather, he has been held captive for sometime until he is taken to speak with one of those lanky new aliens we saw the skidders bowing down to towards the end of season one. While the alien admits to Tom that the resistance put up by the remaining human fighters was more than what the expected to face, they are willing to let the remaining humans live in a controlled concentration camp if they agree to surrender.
Tom’s response…. F U SON!
In fact, Tom shows us how truly bad ass he is by sucker punching the skidder guarding him, taking his tazer-staff, and shocking the shit out of the alien before being knocked unconscious. Tom is then dropped off in the middle of a field, along with other human captives that the aliens rounded up in their attempt to locate all the pockets of resistance. After the ship clears the field, we see a skidder and mech have been left behind to kill all the prisoners the ship just dropped off. Of course, the only one to survive the mech, is our man Tom.
Shocking. Anyways, the rest of the episode is spent between showing the Tom’s journey back to the 2nd Mass. and the conflict brewing between Tom’s sons Hal and Ben, whose effects from being harnessed are coming more to light. Hour number one comes to an end with the awaking and recovery of Tom. In order to set up hour number two, the first part also ends with questioning of Tom’s whereabouts by resident badass Pope, who voices his concerns to Captain Weaver in attempt to plant a seed of doubt. This part carries over and establishes one of the main themes of part two of the premiere.
Remember, Tom has yet to share any of what happened with anyone in the 2nd Mass. In part two not only is Pope’s questioning what REALLY happened to Tom on his alien adventure, but come to find out Tom is just as paranoid as Pope. He becomes convinced that the aliens might have done something to them during his 3 month stay and he has not returned as himself. 
As it turns out, he’s right. Taking a page out of the Matrix trilogy, the aliens implanted some sort of parasitic device in Tom which is discovered after Tom passes our from some sort of seizure and his eye begins to bleed. Thankfully for Tom, Dr. Glass is able to remove the device from………………. TOM’S EYE!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
I’m not going to lie, that scene did kind of turn my stomach a bit. There is just something about going in to, or being pulled out of ones’ eye is unsettling to me. Anyways, we don’t really find out what exactly was implanted in Tom in this episode, but we do see that parasite device does escape from its mayonnaise jar, fly to the nearest skidder, and implant itself in the skidders face at the end of the episode. All in all, I would have to say I am pretty happy with the premiere. I am extremely pleased that they decided to not drag out the return of Tom and reveal what happened to him on his alien adventure over several episodes, and give to us all in one shot. Kudos to you. I also like that they keep a healthy dose of action in each episode, along with the character development.
Something I could have done without is the suspense they tried to create with the possibility of Tom dying in both episodes. I’m pretty sure no one bought in to the idea that they would kill off THE BIGGEST NAME in the show in the second season. But hey, TNT knows drama, right?
I give the 2 hour premier 3.5 out of 5 grizzlies.
Grizzly Bomb 