“The Man Who Fell To Earth” Episode 7 revolves around Newton and the quantum fusion machine. Justin Falls is distraught with the way things are with her father. Spencer Clay moves ahead with his mission to track down Newton. Faraday realizes the truth behind his arrival on Earth.
Override the Past
It’s Chicago, 1987. A little kid walks into his house, makes himself a meal, turns on the TV, and starts eating while watching cartoons. A few minutes later, a group of policemen breaks into the house. An emergency news broadcast shows that a massive explosion has taken place at the Chicago Mercantile Market, with many dead and injured. The police ask him for his mother while he stares at a picture of her that was there beside the TV.
Spencer Clay is talking to Drew Finch over the phone. He tells her that Thomas Newton is on a mountain in Cambodia, and his team is already on the way, waiting for his signal to get Newton. But Finch doesn’t want to risk it turning into an “international incident” and denies it. But despite her clear order to not go ahead, Spencer overrides and greenlights it.
In Cambodia, a team of six men makes its way into the underground bunker but finds that it is empty. Suddenly, there is a high-pitched noise that starts causing interference in their comms. Lisa recognized it as some kind of radio signal, a message, being transmitted from somewhere inside that bunker. However, there are these unusual red flowers that get activated due to the presence of the men and begin to drop what seem to be seeds of some kind. As soon as the seeds fall to the ground, they begin dispersing a vapor that starts suffocating the soldiers. One by one, all of their faces begin to inflate until they burst, killing all six of them. Finally, a blast destroyed the whole place. Lisa digs a bit deeper and finds out that the concrete in the bunker is connected to three nearby dams via transformers, i.e., Newton, if he was there, was using hydropower for something. Just then, another guy comes in and tells Spencer that “the meeting” has begun.
The London Dream
Justin’s father, Josiah, is losing his human consciousness with time. He is able to remember every little detail from his early life, especially about his dead wife, but his feelings are disappearing. He is no longer the man who loved to play with his granddaughter Molly. He isn’t the man who gave his daughter reassurance that everything was going to be alright. He doesn’t even think that he has any purpose in staying in the apartment with his family. Instead, he wants to join Faraday, be useful, and work on the quantum fusion machine. At the warehouse, as they work on the machine, Faraday tells Josiah that he is becoming a “new” Anthean, and Faraday doesn’t know when his evolution will stop.
Hatch and Edie talk to Pressman Thorn’s representative, Mr. Khan, at Thorn’s new cancer hospital. They make it clear to Khan that Thorn needs Newton’s tenth design as much as he needs him. A meeting is held to decide upon the time when the machine will be introduced to the US Department of Energy (DOE).
At the meeting, there are Justin, Edie, Hatch, Wyant, and two other delegates, along with Spencer who arrives a little late. As per Justin, preparations are on track for the DOE testing by the end of the month. However, the board thinks that there are still lots of things to be taken into consideration before an actual DOE test can be carried out. Justin holds Spencer responsible for not carrying out the needful formalities, him being from the Bayfield Science Applications Corporation, or so he says. To test him, Justin even asks him a question to which he doesn’t know the answer, but he is saved by a text from Finch, who wants him to call back immediately. He excuses himself, and Edie brings the meeting to an end. Justin approaches Hatch to find out why Edie wants to “slow us down.”
Furthermore, she has also realized that Spencer is from the government and has been watching them the whole time. She has no idea how much Spencer knows about Faraday, which can be dangerous to her whole family. The other question is, if they know about Faraday, why haven’t they interfered? Hatch replies that they “need us to finish.” As for the question of whether she can get the machine out to the world, Hatch has only one answer that he can afford, i.e., for Justin to trust him.
Clay is Out of the Box
Clay comes out of the meeting room and calls Finch who is not at all happy with him. Despite her clear order to not go ahead with the mission, he went ahead, and it cost the lives of 6 American soldiers on foreign soil. He has been called for by the Principal’s Committee in Washington, DC.
Meanwhile, Wyant also shows Edie info on Clay, which makes it clear to her that Clay isn’t really a genuine guy, under whose watch, three years ago, when he handled the president’s policy on immigration and family separation, a kid, one of the many he put in cages, died on US soil. Wyant also tells her that his Social Security Number is one that the Witness Protection Program reserves to hide tracks. In other words, Spencer Clay’s identity isn’t real.
Back in Washington, DC, Clay and Finch are questioned by the CIA regarding the mission. While the board members make it clear that they know about Clay locating Newton, they want to know about the mission in Cambodia that was carried out against their strict orders. They then show Finch a document of approval for the mission with her signature on it. However, she didn’t sign it. It was clear that the signature was done by Clay. He further turns the whole thing on Finch by saying he fears that she has not given up a CIA video recording that shows Thomas Newton being interrogated that she has in her possession. She became obsessed with it, which was a possible reason for her to greenlight the mission in Cambodia. Clay then takes full responsibility for the video’s security, thereby making Finch, what they say, persona non grata. In return, Clay wants the authority to clean up the whole Quantum-Fusion/Newton issue once and for all.
A Legend Is Born
Justin arrives at the warehouse and asks Faraday about Newton’s next step and his plan behind making Faraday give shape to his 10th design. With the government knocking on the door, there is no way for either Faraday or Justin, or anyone else, to have any claim over the machine or decide what has to be done with it. There has to be something that Newton isn’t telling. And only Faraday could find it out. Justin takes her father, Josiah, and leaves for home to get Molly. Justin turns on his setup of televisions.
Faraday’s setup of television is the instrument that allows him to contact Newton wherever he is. As soon as he turns it on, Lisa, monitoring from the other side of the warehouse, loses her feed. Newton is angry, to say the least, as he has already had a bunch of men on his trail, and this connection with Faraday will only make him more vulnerable. However, seeing Faraday at his wit’s end makes him calm himself down and answer Faraday’s question. He tells Faraday that now that he is seeing the world through the eyes of humans, he has to give them what they need and “reaffirm their ideas of themselves.” The only way to outsmart the CIA is for Faraday to make himself known to the world. It will make him a “legend” and thus “unkillable.” Lisa, on the other hand, rushes towards Faraday’s room after realizing that he is talking to Newton, but by the time she reaches the door, Faraday has ended the transmission.
Justin’s friend Portia has come down from Los Alamos to meet her, and she is taking her to her apartment in London. As soon as she reaches home, she finds Faraday, who tells her that if they are going to fight the CIA, it cannot be in the CIA’s “arena.” Faraday will have to become someone new and introduce that new person and their achievements to the world. That way, the CIA will not be able to touch them. And the only way to do that is through Hatch’s friend from the Washington Post, Penny Morgan (the same lady with whom Hatch was speaking over a video call in Episode 5 of “The Man Who Fell To Earth”).
They arrange a meeting with the lady who, minutes into the conversation, realizes that she is their way of protecting their investment by revealing its story to the world. Faraday is able to convince her, but only after agreeing to show her “everything.”
No Way Out
Lisa approaches Justin at OriGen and shows her the video of the Cambodia mission, and tells her about the message that was being transmitted from the bunker. According to her, the message was being sent to space, Newton’s people, and it was connected to Faraday and the quantum fusion machine. The message can be a warning of invasion, but the only way to confirm it is via Faraday, since Newton is out of reach, which only Justin can do. Lisa also tells her that Faraday spoke to Newton a couple of days earlier. The fact that Clay will never allow the machine out until he has Newton means that all of Lisa’s work, which she did for her family, will go to waste. Thus, Lisa requests Justin to help her find Newton, and in return, she promises that she will keep the machine and Faraday safe as well as protect Justin and her family.
Justin confronts Faraday regarding Newton and his nature, but Faraday clearly states that Newton may have changed since he has been on Earth for a long time and years to go home, but he isn’t violent. Antheans aren’t a violent species. Back at the Flood residence, Edie tells Hatch that Thorn has said yes to the deal, and the DOE test is in 15 days. But neither Clay nor the CIA knew about it.
That same night, while Edie is at her home stable, soothing her horse, Clay approaches her out of nowhere. What follows is a passive-aggressive affectionate conversation between the two, with Clay, as expected, getting the better of Edie. He knows that Edie has found out about him, the 1987 event and that his mother left him when he has a child, and warns her that if she looks into his past again, he will “burn those horses.” Edie nods silently.
‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ Episode 7: Ending – What Is Newton’s Message?
In the warehouse, Faraday decides to interpret Newton’s message that was received from the mission in Cambodia. He hacks into the server setup by Lisa, which in turn takes away her feed yet again. In fact, Faraday’s system even takes control of the warehouse’s electrical system, locking Lisa in her room. He then listens to the transmission. As he hears, an expression of disbelief takes over his face, and he rushes home to Justin. Knowing that there are ears all around, he turns on the gramophone and whispers into Justin’s ears Newton’s message. Neither Faraday nor Newton will ever go home. Newton intends to bring the Antheans to Earth.
This shocking revelation will definitely have a ripple effect if it is let out. However, Justin will have to talk about it to someone, and that someone is Hatch. But Hatch is onboard with OriGen’s new deal, which will greenlight the machine’s introduction to the world. On the other hand, it remains to be seen what Edie does after being threatened by Clay. Furthermore, we have no idea what Clay will do if he finds out that the machine is a potential weapon for an Anthean invasion. Faraday’s life is in danger.
