Zo'or comes under literal and journalistic fire during a live appearance on a TV talk show.

Quotable Moments

Zo'or: No one likes to be looked down upon, Agent Sandoval, even metaphorically.

Story by Paul Gertz and Cory Tynan
Teleplay by Cory Tynan
Directed by Brenton Spencer

The Northwest, four years ago. Reporter Shelly George runs through a forest. When a companion catches up to her, she tells him, "I am not losing this story."

When presenting her stock footage truths about the Taelons to the world audience, Shelly George concludes that the people of Earth are being prepared to fight a war on the aliens' behalf.

As regular viewers know, this is absolutely true. This fact lies at the root of most, if not all, of Zo'or's schemes.

There's just one problem -- the facts that George had at her disposal hardly justify her coming to such a specific conclusion, whether the viewers know it's the right one or not. A simpler message along the lines of "the Taelons have a hidden agenda, and we're part of it" would have been more realistic.

It's case of the writers giving a character insight or information to which they would not naturally have access. It advances the plot, but it's weak storytelling.

Unfortunately, this is largely a clip show, and the reused footage highlights the fact that similar weaknesses have plagued this series from the beginning.

The footage of Taelon shuttles in flight is transitional material. Not only are these clips about nothing more than getting the plot from point A to point B, but we see no independent observer to these flights, so it's difficult to determine how George archived the footage.

Not only were there no cameras available in the mayor's brain, but it's extremely unlikely that either the Taelon or his Protector would have had a cameraman filming the confrontation. It's another storytelling choice, and a poor one.

All too often, conflict in Earth: Final Conflict turns on the issue of selective security. To its detriment, "Interview" maintains this ignoble tradition.

It's hard to believe that Da'an would trip an alarm while pilfering the Taelon archives. It tips the audience off to key information, but Shelly's use of archival data to present the truth about the Taelons would have more dramatic impact had it come as a surprise.

Even more egregious is the idea that the Volunteers would allow Troy Sarrazin to get as far into the theater as they did. His toupee and beard were so clearly false that it should have raised concerns long before Renee Palmer identified him.

This isn't to suggest that people guilty of the crime of wearing a bad hairpiece should have their civil liberties violated, but detaining someone with such an obvious disguise would have been in keeping with the Volunteers' "act first, think later, if at all" approach.

Once again, the characters are so busy playing at Borgias and Medicis that they fail to notice they're running around in circles. There are so many plots, counterplots, betrayals and negotiations going on that nobody is actually getting anything getting done.

We're at the halfway point of what needs to be Earth: Final Conflict's defining season -- the exact midpoint of the series, if it runs five seasons -- and that definition has yet to make its presence felt.

Where did the "footage" of Taelon shuttles in flight come from? Where was the "archival camera"?

Will there be any fallout from Shelly's revelation of the mayor's marital infidelities?

Did Da'an intend to make a hero out of Zo'or? Would Zo'or approve of his motives for doing so?

Shelly George and Eli Hanson promised Zo'or an audience of 5 billion, a number which puts even World Cup Soccer to shame.

It's an unbelievable claim given that most our of our current global population of 6 billion has no access to television, and even if Taelon-inspired prosperity put a TV in front of every viewer, it's unlikely they'd all be watching some U.S. tabloid news show.

Once again, the EFC powers that be promise us a new episode, but check your local listings for confirmation. The race to the season finale ramps up as new episodes begin again. In "The Fields", Liam and Renee go undercover in the Church of the Companions and learn that humanity is being used to produce sustenance for the Taelons. Scary!