In Episode 7 of Alien: Earth, things get violent in a hurry. “Emergence” is all about damage control in all corners of Neverland, as the aftermath of Isaac’s death and Arthur’s hugged face lead to sprint-to-the-finish energy in the season’s penultimate episode.
Spoilers for Episode 7 of Alien: Earth
At 41 minutes, “Emergence” is the shortest episode so far, and by a wide margin. It’s a full ten minutes shorter than Episode 3, giving one the impression that this is actually half a finale episode that was a little too long, so they split it in two. But the pace isn’t without reason, or the better way to say it might be that there’s no reason not to sprint.
One of the things that made last week's episode so good is how cleanly it wrapped up the stakes. After six episodes of table setting, the eggs are ready to hatch and the chests are ready to burst, so just get on with it.
Morrow’s plan to smuggle a xenomorph off the island by manipulating Slightly is well underway and absolutely wrecking the psyche of the poor kid. Opening the episode to find that he’s hidden Arthur and the facehugger under his bed, the only natural place for a child (which he very clearly is) to hide something they know will get them in trouble, is heartbreaking. Smee going along for the ride like a good best friend makes it even more impactful, and while Slightly’s fear through his journey with Arthur’s body is played just right, it’s the details – like Smee holding Arthur’s hand toward the end – that never let you forget what the Lost Boys really are.
But the real treat in “Emergence” is the return to form for H.R. Giger’s nightmare fuel. The xenomorph grown in Prodigy’s lab, now late-adolescent if not fully grown, is back and ready for its closeup, but it all starts with Wendy. The uncertainty she’s felt about Prodigy and the Boy Genius on Neverland has been clear each time anybody has asked her about it. When Joe first floats the idea to her of getting off the island, she responds with, “What if I like it here?”
But after seeing Isaac (fka Tootles) dead due to unsafe scientific pursuits, she makes up her mind in an instant. And it’s not her brother or her synthetic siblings that she turns to for support; it’s the xenomorph. That she’s willing to set the thing loose on the unsuspecting clean-up crew in the lab, directly bringing about their deaths, is a dark and sudden turn, even for a franchise built on acid blood and Man’s greed.
The best moment in the entire episode, however, is after the xeno takes out a batch of Yutani special forces (or whatever kind of forces they are), when it shares an almost tender How to Train Your Dragon moment with Wendy. She reaches out and wipes some of the blood off the xenomorph’s snout. Forehead? Front part? You know, above the teeth where it seems like eyes should be. The point is that Wendy is actively putting blood on her hands. While the bloodbath was unfolding in front of her, Wendy’s reaction was calm, seemingly satisfied with her decision to let the alien out; putting the blood on her hand shows she doesn’t regret it. Usually this trope presents as a Shakespearean “out damn spot” kind of freak-out, when a fit of rage or passion leads to violence, after which the perpetrator looks down, shocked to find the crimson metaphor for guilt. Here though, Wendy is saying, “Nope, I did that, and I’ll take some of the credit, please.”
But the episode title earns its meaning in the final showdown on the boat. “Emergence” is an episode full of characters moving into their final form. For Nibs, that form is of a total and complete psychopath. She’s a kid who’s been through unknowable trauma, completely unable to handle it and unequipped to value human life, as evidenced by when she crushes that dude’s jaw and rips the goopy tendons out of his throat. That was…well, it’s hard to look at. But for Wendy, she’s also emerging, but can’t yet entertain the subtlety that Joe, while very much on her team, might also not want his friends to die.
It’s a distinction that is difficult for kids to grasp; looking past the immediate consequences of your actions is very much a learned skill. It’s also been a few episodes since I’ve mentioned Sydney Chandler’s performance, but her screams at the end of this episode are equal parts angry and confused. It’s the perfect combination to head into, not only the finale next week, but this week’s…
Credit Roll Needle Drop Check-In
“Emergence” cuts to the credits to the beat of “Song for the Dead” by Queens of the Stone Age, from their 2002 album, Songs for the Deaf. It’s a grungy, repetitive track, one that sits at the base of your skull if you let it. It’s the rock version of nails on a chalkboard, but, I don’t know…cool? The chugging intro riff gives way to a slower verse, like it can’t make up its mind what kind of song it’s going to be.
Lyrically, “Song for the Dead” works perfectly for Wendy. The first section…
It's late enough to go drivin’
And see what's mine
Life's the study of dyin’
How to do it right
…is about her coming into her own, realizing what she deserves and what she’s capable of. In this episode, it’s that she deserves to be safe, and she’s capable of telling an alien to fuck up anybody standing in her way. It’s a powerful thing to realize something like this, and it’s a cocktail that might be getting Wendy a little drunk; Nibs certainly has.
But the next section of lyrics, for me, is more about Joe, or at least directed at Joe:
You're a holy roller
If you’re bettin' to lose
If you're hangin’ around
I'm holdin’ the noose
While Joe is trying to keep it together and mitigate the death around him, Wendy knows that’s not possible. We, the audience, also know that’s not going to work out because of the carnage that inevitably comes in the Alien franchise. If only we could warn him; ah well, that’s dramatic irony for you.
