Debris Episode 5 Earthshine Review-Scroobius Pip Is The Villain This Show Needs

Debris Episode 5 brought the resurgence of Influx, and more secrets than the new partners can bear. Trust is essential, even if it is tenuous. Things are finally heating up courtesy of a whole lot of deception.

Debris has lacked urgency. It’s a valid complaint about the show billed as a creeper, but who keeps sacrificing thrills for tears. It is a surprisingly heartfelt series full of feels but lacking many key elements needed to make us worry about what is really happening. A creepy cold open brought the house down on all the supposition that Debris couldn’t be tense. Debris Episode 5 was everything fans had been craving and more. It’s no surprise Influx played a prominent role in this episode. The puzzle box is finally opening, and the shadowy group is at the center of it all.

The little sci-fi show with a heart has been criticized for being too much feeling and not enough science. It isn’t nearly as creepy as Fringe or X-Files, but a lot more sensitive than most series get the chance to be, especially in the early days. It’s more Arrival or Contact than Alien. At times Debris even looked like a half-baked Arrival even if it sounded like Alien. At the end of the episode, Brian even quotes a similar Alien tagline. He tells Finola they are taking the Anson Ash somewhere “where no one can hear him scream.” It’s a terrifying line made even scarier considering the Ash doesn’t look too worried.

The two partners continue to be the lifeblood of the series. Brian and Finola represent the yin and yang that is common with a lot of great sci-fi series. The Moulder and Scully and the Olivia and Peter of Debris are Brian and Finola. These two characters are not stylized stereotypes. There is nuance to their personalities. Brian is the more practical of the two, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t agonize over his decisions. Finola might be emotional, but she is capable of being very cutthroat when it suits her. Riann Steele and Jonathan Tucker are an interesting duo because they both encompass so much of each other’s traits. They are more similar than they realize, and that makes them different from the usual opposites attract scenario we are fed.

For now, the delicate respect and trust they had developed are strained. Brian or Finola don’t trust each other. Neither trust the two countries involved either. They have good reason to doubt. Finola’s own country is lying to her, and she knows it, courtesy of the delightful introduction of MI-6 agent Brill who fans will recognize from Fringe, The Vampire Diaries, and Supernatural. He is billed as a recurring character, so we will see more of this duplicitous agent with secrets to spill. Brill is already dropping major clues. He told Finola she can’t trust Ferris and her father is not a clone.

This time the threat is much larger and not set in a tiny town. Real wormholes are being opened in big cities. New Jersey, Boston, and now Manhattan are the proving grounds for whatever experiment Influx is conducting. Not only are they creating wormholes, but they are also tracking what happens to the survivors. Something fundamental in their DNA is likely changed, and as Influx gets better at using the debris, they are learning more about the people caught up in the effects. What their endgame is, we don’t know, but giant wormholes are enough to concern everyone.

In the end, the mission was successful. Malorie and Brian stopped the debris from making a wormhole, and Scroobius Pip’s Anton Ash was captured. He is in the custody of Maddox and the Americans but for how long? The enigmatic leader of Influx is almost clairvoyant at times. How does he know so much about Finola and her family? Is her father a captor or a willing participant in Influx? He’s not saying now and likely won’t anytime soon. For now, it’s enough that Pip is a fantastically mysterious villain. He commands every scene he is in.

There is a sense of dread to Debris Episode 5 that has been missing. Influx and Finola’s Dad’s story is integral to the series. It will live and die by the ability for this mystery to be compelling. I’m intrigued by the idea that these are free radical terrorists that want to free the tech. If that is really what they are doing, I can’t wait to watch more. It makes the baddies more relevant to today’s climate. They aren’t just power-hungry authoritarians out to make a buck or rule the world but misguided altruists. That is a more compelling storyline the series could and should build on. Find all our Debris footage here.

Stray Wreckage:

• Is Maddox’s interest in the debris partly personal. Could the artifacts help the boy? I wouldn’t hate to see a plot beat similar to Syfy’s underrated Eureka.
• Finola and her sister Dee Dee sang and danced along to Porque te vas. The song is an odd choice for the girls to dance to. It translates to “Why are you leaving.” Obvious forecasting lets us know this sad song foretold a lie to come. The song is about the pain of parting and abandonment. The sister’s father didn’t die. It’s looking more and more likely, he chose to leave. The question now is, what have you been doing since you left, and how does Anson know what song they were thinking about?
• Why is Ferris lying about Finola’s father? Are they trying to spare her feelings, or did something go very wrong and caused the scientist to become disillusioned? Maybe MI-6 drove him into Influx’s arms?