The penultimate episode of the Taken mini-series first aired on 12 December, 2002. Leslie Bohem continues delivering a solid script that picks up exactly where the previous episode left off. Looks like we’re on the end run of the series now.

Mary Crawford (Heather Donahue) has entered the crashed alien craft, while General Beers (James McDaniel) oversees the military’s attempt to secure the vehicle.

Charlie (Adam Kaufman) and Lisa (Emily Bergl) are still trying to get onto the military/farmhouse site to rescue their daughter, Allie (Dakota Fanning), who seems to be in a heightened state with everything happening around her.

Strange encounters at the base begin to abound. One of the soldiers is stunned to see his mother come out of the ship and offer him cookies. As we know the aliens can manipulate things telepathically and make us see what they want. What’s the plan here?

Well, our man, Roger Cross as Captain Walker take his men inside. This is the first time we’ve gotten a prolonged look at the ship interiors, and they’re simple, but well framed, lit and shot. It makes for an eerie experience.

Also inside the ship, Mary is having encounters of her own. She meets her grandfather, Owen (Joel Gretsch), and they hav a long conversation that shows Donahue has some chops. Is Mary actually interacting with an alien, Owen Crawford or a side of herself?

They can use our loves, our fears, and more against us if they want to. Do any of those inside the ship actually encounter the ship’s inhabitants, or are they all being manipulated?

The ship has had enough time to power up again and take off, with Allie aboard, and Mary, Walker and his team returned.

The fallout of the event begins. Mary and Wakeman (Mat Frewer) seem to be on the outs with each other and the government, and Beers seems to assist Charlie and Lisa escape… but is it Beers?

Nope. Mary realizes and orders the return to the site. Nothing they saw was real. It was all orchestrated by Allie’s abilities.

Charlie, Lisa and Allie are reunited and are on the road, trying to keep their heads down. They have a few options. Allie is anxious about things she know will happen in the future, and how she fits into the plans at work.

Mary and Wakeman also reunite, and Mary has a plan of her own. She’s proving to be colder and more calculating that anyone in her family, and she’s all in. She and Wakeman work on the artifact that has been in the Crawford family since Roswell. Theey believe they may be able to decipher it.

In an attempt to recapture Allie, Charlie and Lisa, there are news reports nationwide. And while they may be able to hide from the government, they may not be able to hide from Them, and Allie encounters John (Eric Close), her great-grandfather. And we get the earring callback as he proves who he is. He joins them on the run, after being injured, and it looks like things are coming to a head.

A lot happened in this one, and the series is definitely racing to its conclusion. Let’s see what happens in the final episode!

I do like the alien vfx in this one. I think they look good, and the ship is amazing. This series is really well made, and while we don’t know what these beings are up to… Bohem’s speculation is entertaining and thought-provoking.

He and the UFO researchers involved in the project have taken everything, the good and the bad, relating to the topic, and made an interesting interpretation. Here we are in 2026, with governments confirming UAPs are real, but with no real answers… yet.

What will the final episode reveal? And how will it stand against what may or may not be actually happening in the world around us?