“The Man Who Fell to Earth” Episode 2 picks up right where Episode 1 left off. It clears up our doubts about Newton and his relationship with Faraday. The episode also gives us proof of Faraday’s advanced cognitive abilities and powers. It also hints at Justin’s past, and directs her, via Faraday, towards her “aim.”
Newton and Faraday
Thomas Newton’s conversation with Faraday reveals a lot about their mission. Clearly, Newton is also an alien belonging to the same species as Faraday and hails from Althea. Newton had been on Earth for a long time before Faraday’s arrival, but he had been in hiding all this time, apparently because he was being hunted by the police. Why? But that is the reason why he had to contact Faraday in a way humans couldn’t find out. This means of communication is a dream state, according to Newton, which we do not know about. However, he reveals that he had been on Earth for 40 years and, according to Faraday, he too had the same objective, i.e., to bring water to Althea. Newton says that he got “distracted” and thus sent for his best “pupil,” Faraday. Newton tells him that he has to learn to be like a human in order to understand them better, but he should not become attached to them. And when they succeed in their mission, they will finally be able to return home. Newton built a company that seems to have been his first step towards his plan, but humans “stole” it from him, and he wants Faraday to steal it back. It is he who sent Faraday after Justin, who apparently holds the key to their survival.
We do not know the physical location of Newton yet. The jungle where they speak with each other isn’t it either. So, considering that this whole conversation is a dream, Newton isn’t real either. This whole means of communication seems commonplace among Altheans and, as Faraday says, is a “contextual download.”
A New Journey Begins
The tornado subsides, and Justin, who was stuck inside her car amidst the tornado, gets a glimpse of Faraday’s real appearance. This scares her to death, and she leaves hurriedly in her car, leaving him alone in the desert. He keeps on repeating the word “Origen.” With nowhere else to go, Faraday arrives at the very café where he and Justin halted for a while in “The Man Who Fell to Earth” Episode 1. There he requested the female waiter, who remembered him from the first meeting, to help him “Google” OriGen. And she agrees. This is when we, along with Faraday, learn about OriGen Global, a tech company based in Seattle, Washington (the one that Newton said he built). We also find out about Faraday’s cognitive abilities as he deduces the girl’s pregnancy by sensing electrical impulses and smelling fluids in her body. However, she gets him a taxi, but not before slapping him for shocking her with the pregnancy news, something she wasn’t expecting at all.
Langley Is Involved
We now move to a different location, i.e., the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Agent Spencer Clay receives a text from a woman named Drew, his “last friend in government.” They meet up for dinner, where Drew gives him a 40-year-old file that contains all the details about an “Anomalous Noise Event” that relates to the tornado that occurred “a few hours ago” in Los Alamos (the very tornado that Faraday was in). According to Drew, the tornado broadcast a signal at the same frequency as the one that another tornado did 45 years ago at the same location. Everyone associated with the investigation is dead except for one person, i.e., Gregory Papel, who lives in an undisclosed location in Denali, Alaska. Drew wants Spencer to go and talk to Papel to find out what he knows about these anomalies.
Faraday Is Back with Justin
Faraday arrives at the New Mexico airport, but his senses are troubled by all the radiation from the electrical machines there. He begins to lose his mental balance and approaches the ticket counter in that manner. The woman at the counter is unnerved by his unusual behavior and calls the cops. Faraday tries to come out of the airport and ends up being arrested following the vomit of gallons of water.
Justin, on the other hand, hasn’t come out of the shock of his tornado experience. We find out that she has her father, Josiah, (crippled in both hands) at an elderly rehab center. But she has been having trouble managing payments, and she is told that if she doesn’t clear her balance, they won’t allow her to keep her father there. Later on, at work, she tells her friend Portia that she is going through a lot of stress, including the house rent, her father, and his costly prescriptions. On top of all of this is the experience she had. She was talking to her about all this when she received a call from the police station. Sure enough, it was Faraday again.
After getting Faraday out, Justin reassures herself that she wasn’t hallucinating last time by asking him about the tornado. She is still in shock, knowing that she is talking to “someone from another planet.” Faraday replies, “So am I.” While we can try to understand Justin’s shock, Faraday’s helplessness transcends our feelings. We do not know how it feels to be on another planet that has a different species. My planet is dying. My species is dying. My mission is to save them.” It is beyond our comprehension to understand how heavy these words of Faraday really are. Carrying the weight of being the only chance for the survival of one’s whole planet sounds surreal, to say the least. And we can only imagine the cross that Faraday is bearing. It makes us think about ourselves and what we would do and feel if we were in his situation. Would the immense necessity drive us to do the needful, or would it overwhelm us and cripple us to the point of accepting the truth? To speak the truth, we are at that stage right now.
He tells Justin about OriGen Industries and that it stores a design for a machine that can save Anthea. And Justin, a specialist in Nuclear Fusion Plasma Modeling, is the only one who will be able to help him build the machine.
Spencer Meets Gregory
Spencer Clay arrives in Alaska and finds a cabin that seems to be the home of his point of contact, Gregory Papel. While looking for the cabin, he sees a butterfly sitting on a tree and crushes it with his bottle of water. He does locate the cabin and even meets Papel, but their conversation begins on the wrong foot.
Spencer is hit on his forehead by a blunt weapon, and he gains consciousness only to find out that he is tied to a chair. He sees Papel, who isn’t really happy to see him, and rather interrogates him about why he is there. And then, one by one, Papel begins to say things that start to make some vague sense to us, but none whatsoever to Spencer. He talks about someone who was trying to send a message and how someone finally answered. He also mentions a film, a “sweet” Newton (which seems to be our guy, Thomas Newton), and that they turned him into a psychopath. Papel is clearly scared to death of something and ultimately shoots himself in front of a shocked Spencer, who has no idea what’s going on or what he was talking about.
From what we can infer, Newton was the one who sent the message 45 years ago, and it has finally been answered by Faraday. The film probably has some kind of footage of Newton. Addressing Newton as “sweet” makes sense since Faraday is, in a way, more like a baby trying to learn new things (on a new planet). However, realizing what Newton was after, maybe Papel and his peers decided to make use of him for their personal means and gains, thus “taking his eyes” too. But now that Papel has come to know that Newton’s message has been answered, he realizes that his death is near. Perhaps the reason behind the deaths of the people associated with the 45-year-ago event is Newton himself, and Papel was somehow able to make it out alive. But now he feels that his time has come (since someone like Newton has arrived), and he warns Spencer about it too.
A Father Healed
Meanwhile, Justin has picked up his dad from rehab and the whole family (Justin, her daughter Molly) along with Faraday, come home. Faraday reads from Josiah that he too was a scientist at the Los Alamos National laboratory, and so was her daughter Justin. That’s when Josiah mentions a mistake that involved Justin and which led to their present state of living.
During dinner, Josiah starts complaining about how his whole life changed after the palsy hit him. He overreacts, and this makes Justin’s daughter leave the dinner table and run outdoors. Meanwhile, Faraday tells Josiah to his face how his life is preventing his daughter Justin from achieving her full potential. And Josiah agrees too. But Justin doesn’t like these words at all and takes Faraday out. He makes Faraday go inside her car and wait while she drops Molly off at her friend Portia’s place, safe and sound. However, she returns only to find Faraday not inside the car anymore.
Inside the house, we see Faraday observing a sleeping Josiah. Faraday reaches out to Josiah’s throat. And the next moment, Justin, who was outdoors, noticed all the lights around her flickering. In fear, she runs inside only to find her father, who is now standing on his feet and able to move his arms. And they both find a crippled Faraday lying on the ground, shaking. He asks Justin the only question that he has on his mind, “Can we go to Seattle now?”
When Faraday puts his hand on Josiah’s throat, we are made to think that he is about to kill him. But all he did was absorb Josiah’s palsy inside himself. Justin will now have one less problem to worry about.
‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ Episode 2: Ending Explained – Is Newton on Earth? Is Faraday Dangerous?
From the words of Gregory Papel, Thomas Newton probably turned on them. However, he wasn’t able to cause much harm (other than killing Papel’s friends all those years ago, if at all) and went into hiding, but not before sending a message. This message is what brought Faraday to Earth. But the question is: Is Newton on Earth? He probably is. But then why didn’t he reach out to Faraday physically? Or did he? From the looks of it, the “dream” did seem real after all.
With Faraday following Newton’s orders, it is possible for Faraday to turn against humans as well. Newton might just manipulate Faraday, based on the treatment he received 40 years ago. But Faraday has Justin, who is helping him figure out more about human life and learn more about humans. Although this is something Newton told Faraday to do, it isn’t highballing to think that Faraday won’t brew bad intentions, especially with someone like Justin, who, despite all her struggles, is helping him all the same. From the ending, it seems that Justin will take Faraday to Seattle, wherein lies the machine that can lead to Anthea’s salvation.
