The Proof is Out There Season 4 Episode 15 Review
‘The Proof is Out There’ returns, with season 4 episode 15 showing audiences even more phenomena that on fist glance defies logical explanation, but once the experts have had a look, it’s something that isn’t unnatural. The set of issues that Tony Harris has picked out for the audience includes a supposed UFO sighting, a fish without a head, and a Virgin Mary statue that supposedly cries.
The first instance the show follows is the UFO sighting, which supposedly took place in 1979. As with last week’s episode, the experts do suggest some plausible sounding theories, but all of them get rejected, with no conclusion reached. It’s similarly frustrating too, as the issue is just dragged up again with no answer. While the show says it’s a genuine UFO, it’s important to remember that it just means unidentified flying object, not conclusive proof of aliens. The real conclusion reached is “we don’t know, but wanted to spark theories of aliens.”
The next issue is the case of crying Virgin Mary statues, all of which have a perfectly logical explanation for, given by Docter Ed Hope. It is a bit confusing why he’s the chosen expert, as he’s a medical doctor and not someone who would likely be knowledgeable about statues, though he gives sound reasoning for what’s happening. The show also gives equal weight to Hope’s logical explanation and a far more less logical one given by Catholic miracle researcher Michael O’Neill, leading to an equally illogical verdict of this possibly being a miracle. It’s not quite lying to the audience as the caveat of possible is added, but it’s close.
The next instance looks at a near miss that a Space X rocket and craft had with a small object, and thankfully, a sane conclusion is drawn, that rocket debris nearly castrophically impacted a craft with humans in it. The episode does initally posit alien scout craft, again to draw in clicks and views, especially as the full clip isn’t show until later on, but eventually after entertaining this notion, Harris’ experts bring their solutions back down to Earth, though Harris himself wants to leave some room for doubt, saying he’s uncertain which piece of the rocket it was. This is hardly surprising, given the quality of the video, the darkness of the piece, and the fact that Harris isn’t an engineer.
The zombie fish section again shows how willing Harris is willing to entertain ludicrous theories to explain the videos he gets. The answer to the phenomena is even given near the start of the section, where Harris mentions that chickens can live without their heads. Turns out Harris is too chicken himself to suggest that other animals (like this fish) might be able to do that too. Just because the idea that this is somehow a zombie has gained traction on the Internet, doesn’t mean it’s true. That alone should mean it’s not to be repeated anywhere serious, like Harris claims to be. Thankfully, his experts debunk wild claims of zombies and steer Harris and the audience into more rational waters.
The next segment on a weird lightbeam at least has speculation more rooted in reality, with the idea that it might be some kind of directed energy weapon from a military power. This segment might even educate audience members on what the military is doing, which is by no means a bad thing. This is responsible speculation, and what the show should be doing more of. After this, the true answer is revealed, and it’s a crown flash, a natural phenomenon that happens when conditions were right. And they were just here as an expert explains. This is again actually quite informative, showing the potential for educational means the sow has when experts are well-chosen and speculation isn’t absurd.
The segement on screaming trees does admittedly start off as seemingly absurd, but the explanation that plants do indeed make noise is bound to be news to the audience, so again something that starts off sounding implausible, but starts to make more sense as the explanation goes on. Unfortunately, the noise captured isn’t one made by plants, it’s made by fauna, specifically an elk.
Finally, Harris takes a look at a blind man who’s learnt to paint the world around him, despite having never seen it. It’s something far more down to Earth for this show, with no wild theories of divine intervention of anything else at play, just a simple question of how. And audiences are told how, in what’s a pleasant and wholesome section, again showing show educational value.
Overall this episode is disappointing. While some of the stories do hold some educational value, most of them indulge in conspiracy baiting the audience, which is the very worst of what this show can be. The educational content isn’t enough to outweigh this. Audiences need to tread carefully when watching to what’s being said, as it fully believing some of what’s shown might actually be dangerous.
