“The Man Who Fell To Earth” Episode 6 shows Faraday, Justin Falls, and Hatch Flood trying to make the quantum fusion machine work. Josiah Falls undergoes changes in himself. Faraday explores humanity as he searches for an answer to Thomas Newton’s riddle. Spencer Clay finds his target.
Episode 6 is basically a message that Faraday sends to his wife in Anthea. The message entails everything that Faraday has learned about humans and their nature and how different it is from that of the Antheans. And it is this process of enlightenment that has led him to the moment where he can finally send his wife this message.
The Search For Power
None of the traditional or known power sources can be applied to Newton’s design. It is one thing to build the machine, but a whole other thing to power it. And though the machine has been built, it is just a waste without its source of power. With the survival of two planets depending on Faraday’s success, there is no way Newton would have brought him to Earth only to do what was impossible. But one single sentence of Newton’s bugged him more than anything else, i.e., “humans… you have to see it with their eyes.” Thus, Faraday begins to explore humanity. From the choices we make to our everyday doings, to our feelings, to our very “self,” he observes and analyzes everything. And the whole episode is this journey of his enlightenment.
According to the Anthean concept, Justin Falls, an adept, is one of the few minds that fall under the spectrum of “natural selection.” Natural selection means variations in behavior to increase one’s ability to survive or perish. In simpler words, the people who fall under this spectrum are the inventors, scientists, and philosophers whose inventions, discoveries, and words have propelled humanity’s evolution and are still doing so. She is the one who theorized an algorithm for fusion decades ahead of its time. She is the reason why Faraday was sent to Earth by Newton.
Justin’s complex algorithm will help the fusion maintain coherence. However, the algorithm requires quintillion computations every second, the supercomputer for which doesn’t exist. And if the algorithm is simplified too much, it will result in an explosion of a huge proportion.
Josiah’s First Crack
Faraday healed Josiah’s dystonia and he appeared to be completely fine until here in “The Man Who Fell To Earth” Episode 6, where we see the first crack in his psyche; a change in his behavior that is quite unlike usual. One night, while talking to Justin about her experiment, as they all have dinner together, he suddenly pauses for a second and walks over to his gramophone and turns it on. And the music that is playing is Jazz, call-and-response music, perhaps the most beautiful product of humanity’s talent to improvise. In another instance, while taking Molly to school, he again loses his sense of reality, walks into a musical instrument shop, and starts playing the guitar, something he never knew earlier. He suffers a stroke right there and is rushed to the hospital. The doctor wants to run more tests on him since it has been discovered that he has come out of dystonia, which is a miracle. But Justin doesn’t want this as it would risk Faraday’s identity to the world. She rushes to Faraday, who is in the warehouse looking for ways to run the machine. She confronts him about her father and wants to know what he has done to him. According to Faraday, Josiah’s genetic code is changing. Basically, he is changing into a different person, a person unrecognizable to Justin.
Hatch also returns to the warehouse after finding out from Edie that she is about to partner with Pressman Thorn. Thorne is the owner of Thorn Oil, and, according to Hatch, is an uncontrollable “monster.” But for Edie, he is the only protection for OriGen against the CIA. The meeting has already been fixed, and Edie needs Hatch to be present. After finding out about Justin’s father, Hatch decides to help him and brings them to Teddy Sloane, who seems to be Hatch’s boyfriend, probably ex. He agrees to help Josiah.
The third incident with Josiah follows, with him observing a beehive in the middle of a street. We see him jot down sequences of numbers on the walls of their London apartment. But neither Faraday nor Justin can make sense of it. Furthermore, Justin is distraught with what Faraday has done to his father.
An Artificial Tornado
Spencer is already fed up with Drew and the CIA trying to pull him out of the operation. However, after knowing how close he is to bringing Faraday in, Spencer gives in for one more week. He then finds out from his assistant Lisa that the tornado in Los Alamos was created by Newton as interference so that no one could intercept the message for Faraday. The signal was traced back to somewhere in Southeast Asia. She has also been able to find the flight attendant who assisted Hatch, Justin, and Faraday on their flight to London. Spencer tracks her down and finds out that Faraday asked her if the cabin in the plane was pressurized. He then deduces that Newton and the likes of him need a low-gravity location to survive long-term; places with high altitudes, e.g., mountain ranges. Lisa tracks down Teddy and grabs hold of Josiah Fall’s medical file. This makes it clear that Lisa knew about what Faraday had done to Josiah. From Josiah’s file, she finds out that beings like Faraday need twice the oxygen as humans, which can only come from dense vegetation. And such elevated jungles in Southeast Asia can only be found in Cambodia. She tells Spencer all this. She has even found an underground bunker among the Cambodian ranges, made of two hundred thousand tons of cement. In other words, they have located Newton.
A Super Computer Called Jazz
After thinking for a long time, Faraday realizes the meaning behind Josiah’s unusual behavior. The guitar and the beehive have only one thing in common, i.e., waves. Not electromagnetic waves, but sound waves. And the sequences of numbers are the frequencies of the sound waves. All this while, Josiah was trying to break down Justin’s equation. The sound waves will make the atoms in fusion work in harmony, just like bees work in harmony by calling and responding. It is the same harmony that Josiah loved to listen to. The supercomputer they needed that would be powerful enough to align atoms for quantum fusion is Jazz. Josiah simplified his daughter’s equation and wrote it down in the form of a song.
‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ Episode 6: Ending Explained – Do Justin & Faraday Make Quantum Fusion Work? What’s On Spencer’s Mind?
Faraday, Justin, Josiah, and Hatch arrive at the warehouse, and they turn on the quantum fusion machine. Josiah begins to play his song on a piano. Justin observes on the computer as the sound frequencies are fed to the machine. The machine is on the verge of destruction, but Faraday insists on continuing. He plays the piano with Josiah, and finally, the machine achieves stability. After a few seconds, the machine is able to “play jazz” by itself. It is self-sustaining.
As Hatch comes out of the warehouse after experiencing what is no less than a miracle, he meets Spencer. Spencer tells him that Hatch cannot put the machine out for the world to see because it belongs to Spencer. And if Hatch tries to do so, Spencer has proof that Hatch betrayed his sister Edie by trying to smuggle Newton’s 10th design from OriGen seven years ago. A helpless Hatch watches as Spencer walks away.
“The Man Who Fell To Earth” Episode 6 ends with Faraday’s final words in his message to his wife. For the Antheans, their progress is their God. For humans, meaning is God. Humans enjoy the moment and its meaning, which is what makes it eternal. “Humanity is quantum. “Humanity is jazz.”
Now that the machine is self-sustaining, Faraday’s days on Earth are coming to an end. However, with Spencer knowing Newton’s location, there can be no doubt that he will leave no stone unturned to find him. He already has the machine functioning, and once he finds Newton, he will have both Newton and Faraday at his disposal. This won’t be pleasant. Be that as it may, “The Man Who Fell To Earth” Episode 7 will most probably bring us face to face with Thomas Newton.
See More: ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ Episode 7: Recap And Ending, Explained – Where Is Newton?
