Invasion: Redemption

I really liked this episode. Thus far, this show has lacked a solid flashback episode to shed some light on the backstory of our main characters and that's exactly what we got last night. Up until now, we've had an idea of what went one between Russel, Mariel, and Tom nine years ago after Tom's plane crash - but now we got to see it play out.

Tom and Mariel have been arguing like crazy. Mariel is beyond pissed off because Tom banished Jesse and Rose to Russel's house. But all is forgiven when someone sneaks into their house and puts three bullets in Tom's stomach. Cue flashback.

He's rushed to the hospital but the entire time he's dreaming of nine years ago. Back then, Mariel was still married to Russel but the marriage was rocky as we learn from their bickering in the hospital hallway. Tom, the sole survivor of the crash, is healing ridiculously fast and the doctors have no idea why. But he takes quite the liking to Mariel and she seems very responsive to his words.

Meanwhile in present day, Tom is bleeding out and the transfusion that doctors hooked up isn't working. Mariel remembers how her blood didn't help Jesse when he was in the hospital, but it'll obviously help Tom. So she has the doctors give him her blood. It works and Tom pulls through. This was good news to Russel who had received a call from Healy (the older black guy who had been examining Tom's skeleton with Priya, the woman who got shot by a sniper). If you recall, Healy had described other areas attacked by "the lights" and all the people killed each other. Healy reasoned that since Tom had been dealing with his transformation for nine years, his presence must be acting as some kind of stabilizer for the other infectees... keeping them balanced.

Back in time again, Tom meets Russel who had come to see his wife. Russel was working with the recovery effort down at the crash site. He wouldn't agree to take Tom down there but Mariel did and Tom had some creepy words for her... stuff about being together and "remembering the moment." Meanwhile Larkin is considering breaking the news story about everything she knows up to this point (which is more than enough to cause a panic) and Russel actually goes to Tom for help in keeping her quiet, via her editor who happens to be one of Tom's "friends." But Larkin holds out and keeps her mouth shut.

At one point, Larkin was reviewing old footage of Tom's press conference after he was released from the hospital nine years and Mariel had her hand on his arm. It was definitely something, which leads me to the big revelations that the episode gave us:

• What's locked in Tom's closet? Mariel gets the keys and finds out. There was a small wooden jewelry box. She brought it to Tom in the hospital. It contained a dried up rose. The same rose that Tom saved from his stay at the hospital nine years ago. It was a token of his first meeting with Mariel.
• At one point, in the flashback, Mariel is telling Russel why she's unhappy and she mentions that she loves their son but no mention of Rose. Which makes sense since Rose is probably only 6, 7 maybe 8 years old putting her birth at maybe 1998? Earlier in the flashback, we met young Kira and guess who she looked like? Almost identical to Rose. Perhaps Rose is justified in calling the Sheriff "Daddy Tom." Maybe Tom and Mariel... well you get what I'm suggesting. Plus the whole thing with the rose that he saved and the coincidence that it's also the daughter's name.
• Russel actually went to meet with Healy after the phone call. Healy confesses that he's ex-CIA and that the government knows about the aliens. His old partner was taken when they were investigating the threat in Cuba. Healy is convinced that he's returned to try and start a power struggle with Tom. Maybe this was our shooter? He also says that he's sick... very sick. And the aliens are wise enough to not grab anyone who's frail.

Okay, I just wrote a ton so try and digest it. But every week I like this show even more. I know it's slow to reveal, but the way they do let stuff out... really well done. I'm impressed.