'Falling Skies' season 5 spoilers, episode 2 plot: Skitter attack leaves regiment without food in first episode

Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) and his crew are back in an all-new season of "Falling Skies."REUTERS/DANNY MOLOSHOK

"Falling Skies" Season Five returned early this week, with Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) at the center of events and the brewing battle over Earth.

In the show's premiere episode, titled "Find your Warrior," resistance leader Tom returned to the planet after an extraterrestrial space encounter. The unknown entity that used his memories of the past as a method to communicate in last year's season was back, influencing his mind.

Episode One saw Tom having another vision of his dead wife in the bedroom of their Boston home, which was destroyed ages ago. International Business Times hinted that it could be the Espheni who was responsible for the former history professor's hallucination.

With the second episode to air Sunday, Cartermatt reveals that humans will be lacking a crucial component for survival - food. A surprise skitter attack will leave the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment without anything to eat. Maggie, Ben, Pope and Sara will then go on a precarious mission to find supplies for their people.

In an interview with Yahoo TV, Wyle, 44, revealed that the new season of "Falling skies" would get "much darker," especially for his character, Tom.

"There is a darker turn to the character for sure this year, but it was inevitable. We have a scene where Tom does something fairly brutal, and then the network looks at the dailies and goes, 'What are you guys doing? It's so dark! This is Tom Mason we're talking about -- he's supposed to inspire us! You can't do that!'" the actor said.

He added that while the scene was toned down, the characters would still be "pushed in ways they have not been in the past."

"Now that humans have the tactical advantage for the first time, Tom's going to have to help people tap into their more aggressive, more base selves. Instead of being the kind of quarterback who lifts his team to a victory, he's going to kick his team down the field to victory," Wyle explained.

Only nine episodes are remaining for the show's current season, but fans are eagerly expecting it to end with the ultimate battle of all -- humans versus aliens over Earth.

"Falling Skies" airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on TNT.