“The Man Who Fell to Earth” is a sequel to the 1976 movie of the same name, one that explores what humanity can look like to an outsider from another planet. In the film, the alien’s name is Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie). Newton, hiding in a human form, seeks help from other humans to bring water to his home planet, Anthea.
In the 2022 sequel, this alien, Faraday (Chiwetel Ejiofor), also has somewhat the same mission and a connection to Thomas Jerome Newton (played by Bill Nigh). He is looking for Justin Falls (Naomi Harris), who is the only chance at saving Anthea.
Hallo Space Boy
Directed by Alex Kurtzman and written by Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman, Episode 1 of “The Man Who Fell to Earth” shows separate timelines where we meet Faraday, one with him as a tyrant, king, and tech god Will Wonka, speaking about evolution to a crowd rapt in attention; this presentation goes side by side with the other timeline where we see him when he first came to Earth. After his ship crashes-lands in a desert in Los Alamos, New Mexico, his skin adopts a human form before he sets off on his yet-unknown path.
Faraday reaches a garage, where he finds a water hose. He is thirsty and ingests the whole pipe. A guy at the garage notices this, mistakes him for a “tweaker” (a drug abuser), and immediately calls the police. A police car arrives, and one of the two police officers literally pulls the hose out of his mouth and then takes him into custody. The next morning, he is questioned by a female police officer about his background. He empties a bottle of water in one go and then reveals that he is from Anthea, pointing to the skies, and that he is on a 9-hour mission. It is here that he learns the word “Faraday” (surname) from the badge of the officer interrogating him. When asked if he wants someone to get him, he mentions the name, Justin Falls.
A Face From The Future Past
Justin Falls is a woman who is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her family, which includes her ailing father and her daughter. One day, she is thrown out of work, and while she is returning to her car, she receives a call from the police department that tells her that she has someone who wants to meet her. Upon arriving at the police station, she reveals that she has never seen Faraday before and has no idea who he is or where he is from. However, Faraday starts quoting her MIT graduate thesis from 2013 and also mentions a mission and coordinates of a geographic location. Justin is clearly scared and tells Faraday that she will shoot him if he tries to contact her or her family again. After this, she leaves. After this, the woman officer also lets Faraday go, but not before warning him to not go looking for Justin again.
On the way out of the police station, Faraday steals a phone, which he then uses to find a pawn shop. He miraculously throws up golden rings that he then sells at the shop in return for money. He also gets his hands on some gadgets, out of which he makes a new one that apparently captures the sound that will lead to a particular direction (to his coordinates). However, while on his way, he has money flying out of his pockets, which is noticed by two guys who beat him up and try to steal it. Thankfully, Justin was driving home when he notices the guys beating Faraday, and despite not wanting to get involved with him, she decides to help him anyway. She approaches the two with a gun and somehow manages to get rid of them. But Faraday’s gadget is broken, so he requests her to take him to the coordinates and even offers her money after realizing that the guys wanted the same thing from him. He also mentions that they have less than 7 hours to get there and that she “is necessary.” Justin takes the little money Faraday had in his hand and decides to help him.
When Two Strangers Meet
In the car, Faraday asks Justin about her research and why she stopped working. But Justin clearly states that she doesn’t want to “engage” with him about it. However, we do get bits and pieces about her experiment, especially the fact that there is nothing on Earth capable of storing the plasma energy she was experimenting with. After this, Faraday falls asleep. We see visions from his dream of his wife and daughter while Justin speaks to her father on the phone while driving. She reassures her father that she has money and that it will help them a lot with paying the rent (to Marcus) and his pills.
Faraday wakes up only to find that Justin has stopped “for gas.” There he finds an icebox and dips his face in the cold water. His craving for water makes it clear that his body requires it much more often than the human body does. He buys the icebox. After this, he observes some horses, and the scene establishes that he can connect with them. He also tells Justin that on his planet, horses are predators.
They resume their journey, and Justin tells Faraday that they will have to make a quick stop. This is when Faraday starts repeating Justin’s father’s words from the time Justin and her father were speaking on the phone before stopping by the gas station. This enrages Justin, and she tells Faraday to look for another ride because her mission is to take care of her family and not help some random guy reach some random coordinates. So she gives him two options: either hitch another ride or say yes to her. Ultimately, Faraday agrees, and they make a stop at a café. Here, Faraday writes something down on a piece of paper and gives it to Justin, which she recognizes to be a third-millennium number system, base 60. Upon asking how he knows about it, he reveals that his “adept” taught him this, who goes by the name of Thomas Jerome Newton. Justin looks up the internet on her phone, and we find out that Newton was the founder of World Enterprises, a tech company founded 40 years ago. Faraday reveals that Newton sent him to her because Justin’s research is vital to their mission. Here, Faraday also reveals that where he is from, there are two chambers (probably sects): adepts, who design, and drones, who execute. This is when a guy enters, and we find out why they made their stop at the café, i.e., Justin is there to get his father’s pills from an illegal drug dealer.
Meanwhile, Justin notices two police officers who seem to be observing them. This alarms Justin, especially with Faraday continuously mentioning their “mission,” which the policemen have apparently heard. They leave the café immediately.
While on the road, Justin gets scared out of her wits when she sees a cop car following them. However, she breathes a sigh of relief when it overtakes them and drives off. This fear makes Justin change her mind about helping Faraday. She returns his money and is about to drop him when Faraday reveals more about the mission. He mentions how his “adept” miscalculated the energy required to save “themselves” (their species). He also reveals that many lost their lives and that his children are waiting for him to return, but he doesn’t even know if they “survived.” Upon being asked, “survived what?”, he replies, “When the clouds disappear, you all disappear.” This seems like some kind of Armageddon. He even warns that the people of Earth do not have much time left.
‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ Episode 1: Ending Explained – What Is The Message?
Faraday and Justin finally reach the location of the coordinates. But Justin doesn’t want to leave Faraday there all by himself and so offers to take him somewhere safe. Faraday replies that both he and Justin are “supposed to be” to ensure the survival of Faraday’s species, that of Anthea, a terrestrial planet that lies beyond our solar system. Then he reveals that the “message” he mentioned earlier is a piece of instruction that will direct him toward his next step. This scares Justin, and she decides to leave. Faraday tries to stop her, but she points a gun at him and drives away. Then Faraday starts walking in the direction of a tornado that is starting to form nearby. Again, as if written in Justin’s fate, she sees the tornado and rushes back to save Faraday. Ultimately, Justin is stuck inside her car in the tornado while Faraday is teleported (mentally) to a different place. Here, he meets Newton, who apparently isn’t the person Faraday mentioned to Justin. Yet, this guy tells Faraday that he will become a god and that humans won’t be able to “ignore” him.
“The Man Who Fell to Earth” 1 ends with the alternate timeline where we see the tech god Faraday about to introduce “the next step to the great timeline” to the rapt crowd.
It is clear that Faraday has heightened senses and is probably a bit more powerful than humans, if not a lot. However, what’s crucial is the message that this Newton guy is supposed to give Faraday. From the way he speaks, it seems that he isn’t the one Faraday was expecting. But then who is he? And has Faraday teleported to another place? If he has, has Justin arrived there too? If not, then is Faraday experiencing all this inside his mind? The latter seems more like it, since the whole thing is but an instruction. Only Episode 2 will reveal the answers.
“The Man Who Fell to Earth” is a 2022 Science Fiction series created by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet.
