Warning! Spoilers ahead for Alien: Earth season 1, episodes 1 and 2, “Neverland” and “Mr. October!“It feels like a lifetime since it was announced thatAlien: Earthwould bring theAlienfranchise to the small screen. In the time fans have spent waiting for the series premiere, expectations have risen, and the sci-fi genre has moved forward. However, I would expect nothing less from series creator Noah Hawley than the beautifully envisioned and deeply human take on a story with so much riding on its success.
Led by Sydney Chandler as Wendy,Alien: Earthinstantly benefits from its sprawling ensemble cast and the many familiar faces that populate it. However, like all the best additions to the speculative fiction genre,Alien: Earthreminds you not to get too attached to anyone. This isAlienafter all; the body count is high. Though there’s a sizable cast to get a handle on and a whole world to be discovered,Alien: Earthis never overwhelming. It’s brimming with potential and possibility.
The pilot, “Neverland,” splits its time between a deep space vessel and a mysterious island on Earth, letting the two threads of the story close in on each other, eventually crashing to get to the meat of the story. While the first episodes ofAlien: Eartharen’t perfect, and at times sag under the heavy weight of all the series must accomplish in a short time, it doesn’t take long to invest in the series.
Alien: Earth Crafts A Gorgeous & Immersive World, But Needs To Take Its Themes Further
The Potential For An Interrogative Story Is There, But Alien: Earth Needs To Push Itself As The Series Progresses
It’s always interesting to learn how a sci-fi series envisions the future, and the balance between the vintage, organic, decrepit, and sleek elements works together to create an Earth that’s foreign but recognizable.Alien: Earthdoesn’t waste any time connecting itself to the larger franchise. However, it uses the budget and notoriety afforded to a show within the oeuvre with purpose, painting itself as much more than another sci-fi survival narrative. The series wants to ask big questions and rise to the top of the science fiction pantheon, but only time will tell if it will.
The moral lessons and social commentary surrounding the four to five companies that control the world are remedial at best and hardly the scathing critique of capitalism they could be. However, the evils of corporations are more of a means to an end forAlien: Earthrather than its overarching thesis. It’s the next steps of evolution and the changing definition of what it means to be human that the series is circling, and the Xenomorph and its cannibalistic form of adaptation are a fitting metaphor for the show’s budding argument about what it means to play God.
This premise is embodied through Wendy, who becomes the first human to have her consciousness put into a synthetic body, swiftly followed by a group of other dying children who are “saved” by the young trillionaire, Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin). The series effectively plays up the juxtaposition between Wendy and her staunch belief that she’s still human, and Timothy Olyphant’s Kirsh, who is fully synthetic. Fortunately,Alien: Earthsuccessfully subverts the “born sexy yesterday” trope, never letting the audience forget that while these hybrids might have adult bodies, they are children inside.
“Neverland” is a brilliant pilot, toeing the line between necessary exposition and immersing us in a world that promises to deliver something new. This makes it easy to dive right into “Mr. October,” the season’s second installment, though the tension starts to fall by the end of the episode. There was too little build-up to the meeting between Wendy and her brother, Hermit (Alex Lawther), and their emotional reunion ultimately fell short.
While it’s important to anchor a series with the scope ofAlien: Earththrough these accessible interpersonal relationships, when the Xenomorph is on the loose, and I’m contemplating the long-term effects of turning a person into a machine, it’s hard for an underdeveloped brother-sister bond to hit home. However,Alien: Earthis just getting started, and for the amount of information the series had to convey in two episodes, I won’t be so easily swayed away from my enjoyment of the show.
Alien: Earth Promises A Strong Season With Its Gripping Debut Episodes
It Won’t Take Much Convincing To Ensure Fans Keep Tuning In To Alien: Earth
The groundwork has been successfully laid for a strong season, and even if I don’t fully believe Wendy and Hermit’s connection yet, I’m deeply invested in Wendy and the kind of “person” she’s going to be. The Boy Kavalier doubtlessly has a few more tricks up his sleeve and is playing a long game with his hybrids, who are instantly set up to be the only beings capable of taking on the Xenomorph.Alien: Earthhits us over the head with this foreshadowing, spending long moments discussing the invincibility of the bodies of Wendy and the Lost Boys.
However, this doesn’t make me less excited for the inevitable showdown. The action we’ve seen so far is reason enough to believe that the series is ready to use its set pieces and cohesive production design to deliver as much blood and guts as it does high-minded philosophical musings. There is some monologing about humanity and our purpose, butAlien: Earthknows itself and its audience well enough to strike a balance between the self-serious and the gory.Alien:Earthhas captured my attention, and all that’s left is to see how well it will hold it.
Alien: Earthepisodes 1 and 2 will be available to watch on FX and Hulu on August 12th at 8 PM EST, with new episodes airing weekly.
