Spoilers follow for Alien: Earth through Episode 4, “Observation.”
After three episodes set (mostly) on the wreck of the Maginot, Alien: Earth slowed things down a bit back on Neverland, the home of the Prodigy corporation, for this week’s fourth episode. While there was lower-case “a” alien action, the omnipresent xenomorph was (mostly) off-screen for the fourth hour. And because of this – and at least four more aspects of the episode we can think of – “Observation” is a real litmus test for whether or not you should keep watching the FX and Hulu series.
Specifically, if you were on the fence about lore changes to the Alien franchise, or the whole idea of focusing on synth-human hybrids, or any parts of the show that weren’t based on designs by H.R. Giger, you might be feeling some reservations right now.
We get it! We hear you, like Wendy (Sydney Chandler) hearing the xenomorph’s chittering language (more on that in a second). So what we’ve done is broken down five potentially divisive plot points from the episode and given reasons why you should bail – and reasons why you should keep watching. Think of it as whether you should head to the escape pod, or stick your face juuuuust a little further over the alien egg to see what’s going on, nice and close.
Wendy Is Doctor Dolittle for Xenomorphs
We’ve gotten some hints about this in previous episodes, but this one confirms it: Wendy is not just hearing the xenomorphs, she’s able to understand their language. “They sound like… bugs rubbing their legs together,” she says. And by the end of the episode Wendy is speaking xenomorph and hanging out with a newborn, charming it like a snake.
Why you should bail: Hey! Xenomorphs don’t do that! While there’s never been a movie in the franchise that says xenomorphs can’t talk (or play basketball for that matter), the general implication has always been that while they’re pretty good about sneaking around humans so they can rip them apart, they’re mostly the perfect killer, and their interests include killing, killing, and killing, in that order. If there is one type of xenomorph that is more advanced, it is a Queen. But when James Cameron introduced the Queen in Aliens, the implication – which has borne its way through multiple movies in the franchise – is that the xenomorphs are more of a hive mind, with the Queen as the singular intelligence and the regular xenomorphs as drones.
But this sort of evolution of the xenomorph into singular beings with wants and needs diminishes the sheer terror of them as unstoppable killing machines. Not to mention, speech, even of the clicking variety, would be very tough given the xenomorph physiology. Their “lips” move a bit, but they have tiny heads inside of their mouths instead of tongues, and don’t have a lot of the facial movement necessary for actual language. Perhaps there is some sort of telepathy or pheromone communication going on between them, but it’s hard to imagine, based on decades of movies, that they’ve been talking out loud this whole time. If Alien: Earth has this much disrespect for decades of horror, what’s next, a xenomorph tea party? Harumph!
Why you should keep watching: Conversely, and we’ll be reiterating this a lot: We’re just getting started with this plotline. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered here, not least of which is how Wendy is the only hybrid who can communicate and hear the xenomorphs. There’s the question of their language, of course, and what it means, but this is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the franchise before – and that’s pretty exciting.
…Though actually, that’s not exactly true. In fact, this seems to, just on the surface, be a bit of a riff on how Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) interacted with the xenomorphs in Alien: Resurrection. There she was cloned with xenomorph DNA, specifically that of a Queen, and found that she was able to sense xenomorphs and had a mental bond with the Queen in particular. In addition, the Newborn the Queen birthed in Resurrection was capable of some human speech, though mostly of the “mama” variety. And now that we think about it, the half-xenomorph Ripley was very good at basketball.
So is the tech in Wendy somehow the same as what was used to clone Ripley-8 in Resurrection? Will Alien: Earth provide justice for one of the most maligned movies in the franchise? The only way you can find out is if you keep watching.
What Is This, The White Lotus 2120?
Moving the action from a ship to a tropical island is a big change not just for the TV series, but the Alien franchise in general. We’ve been on other planets before, but they’re usually desolate and hostile. On Neverland, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) stumble out of the jungle.
Why you should bail: Every Alien movie is built on different levels of claustrophobic tension, and characters hanging out in a tropical resort is not what we signed up for. Is it all beautiful? Sure. But slow shots of the beach, or close-ups of spiders and other assorted predators in the woods is more reminiscent of the HBO hit than anything Ridley Scott would have directed. And there’s a reason for that: The show was filmed in Thailand, just like the most recent season of The White Lotus. Heck, the shows even share an actor: Tayme Thapthimthong, who played Gaitok on The White Lotus, was Anant, one of the Prodigy search and rescue team members.
But the point here is that watching a bunch of synths hang out and eat computer chips flavored like ice cream on a beautiful body of water seems like a different show than the one we got in the first three episodes.
Why you should keep watching: Early in the episode, we hear a section from Peter Pan over shots of Neverland touting that the island in the story has adventure and danger around every corner. It is entirely possible that in between the gorgeous shots of wide open skies and lush jungles, we may discover that Prodigy’s Neverland has the same. And in fact, while it is big and open, and we even take a visit with Morrow (Babou Ceesay) to India at one point, at several moments in the episode characters point out they’re on an island. One that you can’t easily leave without the permission of the boy genius in charge.
So in fact, this show laudably has something in common with The White Lotus: The beautiful locales and relaxing atmosphere belie the real danger lurking underneath. In this case, sure, that includes the multiple invasive species that Prodigy has coopted from Weyland-Yutani. But there’s a real goosebumps on the back of your neck feel when you realize how tightly wound everyone is at Prodigy. The alien eggs are a gun on the mantlepiece, and they’re about to go off at any moment. This isn’t a vacation; it’s the calm before the storm.
All Due Respect, But What’s Up with the Pregnant Robot?
We’ve already got a bit of a lore tweak thanks to the inclusion of cyborgs in the universe, as well as hybrids. But alongside Wendy hearing and talking to the xenomorph, as detailed above, we’ve also got a plotline about how… Nibs (Lily Newmark) is pregnant?
Why you should bail: Overall you could sort of blast past the ethically tricky idea of putting kid brains in adult bodies, despite Wendy’s comments in the pilot about her boobs being weird. But in this week’s episode, Nibs declares she’s pregnant, which alarms and disturbs Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), as it should. And then Morrow is manipulating Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) by threatening to kill his mother and brother.
But it’s Arthur (David Rhysdal) who addresses the elephant in the room, telling his wife (surprise???) Dame Sylvia the following: “I mean, if we did this wrong, best case we have a bunch of AIs running around, thinking that they’re human. Worst case? We killed six kids.”
Show creator Noah Hawley already caused a fair bit of controversy due to a rape scene in FX’s Legion. This is a different scenario, but maybe it’s best to hop off the show before it goes really wrong with some potentially dicey material.
Why you should keep watching: Wait, why are you blasting past the ethically tricky ideas? That’s what drama is all about! Let’s address these points one by one, starting with Nibs thinking she’s pregnant. This is clearly (we’re shown as much) tied into the trauma of the horrible octopus eyeball monster attacking her on the Maginot. Kids play being pregnant all the time, and the Alien series almost exclusively has been about birthing trauma. Who is to say Nibs isn’t pregnant somehow; or alternately dealing with the shocking transition from childhood to adulthood with the stark realization that she will never actually grow up by imagining she’s pregnant. In a sense, there is a child inside of her adult body: That’s her.
As for Morrow manipulating Slightly, well, Morrow’s a bad guy, and his calm, deep rumble of a voice echoing in Slightly’s head emphasizes that. Also, Slightly has 24 hours to deliver an alien-infected human, so his mom and bros should be a-okay, that never goes horribly wrong.
But the biggest point is what Arthur says: Are these kids dead? In the series premiere, Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) asked Wendy if she wanted to see a magic trick before she transitioned into her new body, so without explanation the show sort of waved away any questions of what was actually happening here. But as Arthur points out, and later Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson) tosses over to Hermit (Alex Lawther)... They don’t know whether the hybrids walking around actually are the kids’ consciousness in a synth body, or just something that walks and talks like the kids would. They created their own sort of monster, perhaps, and we’re just getting started understanding how dark this show might go.
And to wrap things up, back when Legion did have David (Dan Stevens) rape Syd (Rachel Keller) and then erase her short-term memory, there were serious consequences for that as a huge turning point for the series. It wasn’t forgotten or let go just because it was upsetting to watch. While it’s TBD how well it will all be handled here, this show is challenging viewers in different ways than they expect beyond “is it ethical to poke that goop on the floor until it kills me?” Let’s get uncomfortable, folks.
The Xenomorph Is Barely in This Episode!
After three episodes where the xenomorph showed up a surprising amount of times, ripping to shreds everything from a search and rescue crew to a French revolution-era cosplay party, this episode barely contained the xenomorph at all. In fact, we got more time with The Eye than the title character!
Why you should bail: Does The Eye seem cool and gross? Sure. The scene where it rips out a sheep’s eyeball and subs itself in is extremely cringe-worthy. But we’re not here to watch The Eye: Earth, this is Alien: Earth, and we want The Alien. A cute little snake version of the xenomorph getting charmed by Wendy won’t cut it, either.
Why you should keep watching: So, all due respect but the xenomorph is often barely on screen. In the original, it’s only on screen for three minutes and 36 seconds out of the entire one hour and 57-minute run time. There are eight whole hours of Alien: Earth, so it can take a little break for one of them – particularly given the carnage we witnessed in the previous three hours.
This Aggression Towards the Snuggie Will Not Stand, Man.
While talking to Hermit about whether Wendy and company are actual hybrids or just advanced AIs, Eins explains that the hybrids are products, and if it turns out that Prodigy hasn’t really invented immortality, it’s “the difference between a trillion-dollar business, and a blanket with sleeves.”
“A what?” asks Hermit.
”An invention no one wanted,” Eins says.
Eins is clearly referring to either the Slanket, which was developed by Gary Clegg in 1988, or more likely the more popular Snuggie, which was introduced in 2008.
Why you should bail: An invention nobody wanted? Nobody wanted the Snuggie, Eins? By 2017 it had sold over 30 million blankets with sleeves and made over $500 million. Sure, that’s not the trillions Boy Kavalier has made, but get out of here with that “an invention no one wanted” malarkey.
Why you should keep watching: Actually, the “why you should bail” section makes some pretty good arguments. Why bother with a show that will slander an iconic American product like the Snuggie? It’s like a facehugger, but for the rest of your body.
