Stop me if you've heard this one before: An alien arrives alone on Earth and learns about human culture. Along the way, they befriend a human or two and have to hide from dangerous government forces. Sounds familiar, right? I could be talking about anything from E.T. to The Iron Giant. Instead, I'm thinking of Showtime's new series, The Man Who Fell to Earth, which executes this classic science fiction storyline with a clear, fresh vision.
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a sequel to the 1976 film of the same name (which is itself an adaption of the novel by Walter Tevis) but it is by no means redundant. It uses the trope of the lone alien to its fullest potential, examining what humanity looks like from the perspective of an extreme outsider.
In The Man Who Fell to Earth's case, that outsider is Faraday (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an alien from the drought-riddled planet Anthea. We meet him twice in the first episode, first as a "tech god Willy Wonka" giving a speech to a rapt audience about evolution. This presentation is intercut with images from when Faraday first crash-landed on Earth, some unspecified amount of time prior. His skin mutates and his snake-like eyes change as he adopts a human form and wanders, dazed, through the New Mexico desert.
How Faraday goes from confused alien to confident mogul becomes one of The Man Who Fell to Earth's most intriguing mysteries, although there are many others to ponder. Critics only received the first four episodes of the series for review, but those present a taut sci-fi thriller that is also a compelling fish out of water story, all elevated by Ejiofor and Naomie Harris's leading performances.
A sequel that does justice — and then some — to the source material
If you are familiar with Nicolas Roeg's original film, you probably think of the titular man who fell to Earth as Thomas Jerome Newton, played by David Bowie. In the movie, Newton seeks humanity's help to bring water to Anthea, but he hides his alien form.
Our new man who fell to Earth, Faraday, has a similar mission, as well as a connection to Newton (played in the series by Bill Nighy). With Anthea still in danger, he's looking to enlist the help of scientist Justin Falls (Harris). Together, they might just be able to save his home planet — and our own.
"The Man Who Fell to Earth" is a taut sci-fi thriller that is also a compelling fish out of water story.
The Man Who Fell to Earth takes place over 40 years after the film, yet it does a tremendous job unpacking the fallout of its events. It teases out dangling plot threads and continues Newton's story, with the character appearing increasingly jaded throughout. Nighy takes over nicely for Bowie, and in a nod to the original Newton actor, all the episodes are named after Bowie songs.
As much as The Man Who Fell to Earth pays tribute to the original, it is able to stand on its own. Even if you have no knowledge of the film, the show will guide you through what you need to know. More than anything, it uses its source material as a springboard to launch a new story, one that centers Faraday and Justin.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Naomie Harris are out of this world
The partnership between Faraday and Justin is the core of The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Ejiofor and Harris do stellar work, both together and alone.
Ejiofor has the difficult task of playing an alien learning to behave like a human. His stilted speech and wide-eyed wonder pair perfectly with his uncertain body language. It's clear that for Faraday, this new body and new human customs are bizarre, but they're necessary for him to complete his mission.
The fish out of water elements of The Man Who Fell to Earth elicit a lot of comic relief — chaos ensues when someone tells Faraday that yelling and saying "fuck" will help him get what he wants — but Ejiofor is careful not to lean too hard into the absurdity. His transformations from episode to episode as Faraday learns more about humans are just subtle enough, and a constant reminder of the smooth-talking tech god we know he'll eventually become.
As Justin, Harris is Faraday's human point of contact, and while she might not get to do as much Big Alien Acting as Ejiofor, her performance is just as excellent. She's the grounding presence, the person who acts as an audience surrogate when faced with Faraday. Harris plays Justin like a tightly wound spring. She's the primary caretaker for her father, Josiah (Clarke Peters), and her daughter, Molly (Annelle Olaleye), and the sole breadwinner. Any disturbance to their life could have catastrophic consequences, which is why Faraday's presence is so upsetting and confusing to her.
However, Justin is also a brilliant scientist, and she knows that helping Faraday may lead to scientific discoveries that could make the world better for her family, especially for Molly. Harris masters the tension between Justin's worry and excitement, especially as the show continues to peel back the layers of her past.
A cautionary sci-fi tale
Faraday's planet is not the only one at stake. As he bleakly tells Justin, the scales have already tipped towards making Earth unliveable. Climate change and its effects are present throughout The Man Who Fell to Earth, either in explicit discussions between Faraday and Harris or in shots of oil fields and Faraday guzzling water. These remind us of the looming (fictional and real-life) ecological disaster we face and hammer home the fact that the fight to save Anthea is also the fight to save Earth.
While Faraday and Harris are set in their mission, not everyone is willing to help them achieve it. Corporate greed over valuable new technology proves to be a problem, as does a C.I.A. agent (Jimmi Simpson) tasked with hunting Faraday down. Despite Justin's help, it's hard for Faraday to have any faith in humanity, especially given how they treated Newton.
But it's not all doom and gloom. The Man Who Fell to Earth is still hopeful, presenting a world where redemption is possible. It's just one that Justin and Faraday will have to fight extremely hard for as the series unfolds.
The Man Who Fell to Earth premiers April 24 at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime.
