A renegade Resistance cell steals the skrill queen, and Liam Kincaid and Renee Palmer find themselves at cross purposes when searching for the thieves.

Written by Howard Chaykin
Directed by Ross Clyde

Lori Alter - Sylvia Eringraf
Richard Eden - Noah

A trio of Volunteers -- humans sympathetic to the alien Taelons -- enters the offices of Earth Abides in Georgetown, VA. When the female Volunteer leader confronts the director with unspecified complaints, he resists, denying any ties to the Resistance.

Let's begin with the big question.

Why, oh why did Renee Palmer tell Liam where Black Wednesday was holed up if she had every intention of stealing Sylvia Eringraf and the skrill Queen out from under him? By the time this conversation took place, it was obvious to the viewer that she and Liam were working at cross purposes. Having him on the scene only made it that much more likely that he might catch her in the act and attempt to thwart her plans.

For someone who's been Resistance "since day one," Renee doesn't seem to have learned all that much in the way of covert operations or even basic common sense.

Her methods aside, it was refreshing to see Renee Palmer does indeed have her own agenda, and that her version of resistance to the Taelon presence won't always be in lockstep with Liam's.

Even so, the conflict between these two Resistance leaders fell victim to "one-hour-itis," that terrible plague of episodic television -- Howard Chaykin's script covered so much ground that there wasn't any time left over to resolve the admittedly minor differences between these characters.

Speaking of refreshing -- albeit odd -- sights, Liam and Sandoval working cooperatively, even cordially, was a nice change. Granted, they were working toward different ends as usual, but scenes with these two men are usually full of the same tension that occurs when two dogs try to mark the same territory.

The theft of the skrill Queen once again demonstrates the situational nature of Taelon security: For a race of hyper-advanced aliens, it is entirely too easy to bypass their defenses when the plot demands it.

Of course, this assumes that the defenses were meant to protect the Queen in this case. If you want to be paranoid, it is entirely possible that Da'an engineered the entire situation. His conversation with Zo'or implies that he had some level of oversight over the Skrill Development Center. Could Da'an have deliberately left the Queen vulnerable in order to set up a situation where her theft led to her ultimate liberation? It's not a great plan, as it leaves entirely too much to pure chance, but it is definitely in keeping with the Machiavellian tendencies the Taelons have demonstrated in the past.

Whether it's the Taelon arsenal or Augur's fortune -- and by the way, let's hear it for parallel construction, that hallmark of quality television writing -- imposing limits on characters' access to their toys usually makes for more interesting storytelling. Speaking dramatically, a resource that has to be conserved has a lot more going for it than one that exacts no cost.

That said, of the two losses seen in this episode, it seems a safe bet that Augur's lost fortune, by virtue of being character-driven and hence fun to write and watch, will get more mileage during the season. The skrills, on the other hand, have served their purpose and will probably be left alone in the rain forest, at least for the time being.

What will happen to the prisoners Sandoval has in custody? Will they "disappear" like so many others?

How many other races have the Taelons subjugated?

Where is Jonathan Doors these days? We haven't seen him since he made that deal with Zo'or.

Who is Augur's not so silent partner?