The Father Thing

The father thing is a reoccurring theme, not only in PK dick, but also in most peoples changing cognitive viewpoint as they grow out of childhood.

There reaches a point in our lives when we see our parents as others do. Just people trying to get on in a complicated world, with all the failings of human frailty. And yeah, its a scary time, and suddenly parents do seem like aliens, but that is to do with ourselves, not our parents. It is us that are changing not them.

The father thing is therefore not about aliens taking over people. That is a theme of other films such as body snatchers, which in itself is a metaphor for the worlds' tangled cold war relations at the time when it was written.

As a tv program the father is thing ok - really nothing special - as a representation of the actual story that it claims it is based on - it - to use common American teenage parlance - sucks.

You can't avoid having a « déjà-vu » feeling watching this episode; it's literally a mash-up of movies such as « The Body snatchers », « The Faculty » and the recent TV show « Stranger Things ». But it's not just a cheap rip-off; the SFX are good and the strange atmosphere is well set, and Greg Kinnear is great as usual. If anything it's a little short on time; 15 more minutes would have been nice in order to give some characters more run-time and backstory.

I get so tired of reading reviews by people who criticize this episode based purely on elements of plot. Yes, this episode is an example of a familiar story, and familiar stories tend to be a bit predictable.

I'm less interested in what the story is than I am interested in HOW it's being told. The acting in this episode is TERRIFIC. The lead child-actor does a very fine job. This is the first time I've seen him in anything, but he clearly has talent. Greg Kinnear, as usual, is understated and subtle in his performance. Lesser actors would probably have been over the top with the creepiness. For me, the lack of obviousness made the storytelling more effective. Mireille Enos also delivers a beautifully understated performance.

I enjoyed this latest entry in the Philip K Dick anthology series even if it was decidedly lighter in tone. This story of young American school-kid Charlie who discovers his beloved, baseball-loving dad has been replaced by a beetle-like alien invader which assumes the host's appearance and memories was like a vaguely Speilberg-ian take on "Home Alone". Convincing his initially reluctant school-chum and said friend's big bully of a brother to help him, they embark on a save-the-world mission in their own backyard as they track down the invading aliens to their incubation pods in a nearby forest.

Like I said, it's shot very much from young Charlie's Shane-like perspective, with lots of subjective camera work, forward tracking shots and low-angle set-ups, while the narrative is laced with the type of humour the likes of Bill and Ted were dispensing several years ago. I especially liked the simple but effective way the boys literally trampled down the alien threat once it became clear to them.

Greg Kinnear is the big name in this one, playing Charlie's dad, but the child actors steal the show in a fun and occasionally funny nod to those films from the 80's and 90's where time-travelling, alien-battling, meddling kids were saving the day.

This one is the real deal, friends, don't confuse this episode as a "mash-up" from other shows, because this one is based in the original short story from Philip K. Dick (hey, his name is in the show's title!) from 1954. If anything, other shows took ideas from these kind of stories.

I think it was a very good episode. And I'm enjoying a lot watching this show and seeing Mr. Dick's stories come to life (because he didn't just write _that blade runner_ book ;) ).