Vague Visages’ Alien: Earth review (season 1, episodes 3, 4 and 5) contains minor spoilers. Noah Hawley’s FX on Hulu series features Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther and Essie Davis. Check out the VV home page for more TV criticism, reviews and essays.

After five episodes down the rabbit hole in Alien: Earth season 1, the revelations continue at full force. Siblings reunite, there are tribal schisms and a most poignant riddle resounds: do synthetics dream of cybernetic friends? For the uninitiated, Alien: Earth season 1 ponders beyond the ritualistic Xenomorphic fanfare. And as director Noah Hawley retools the rule, it’s time to ask if the tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream” still aligns itself with the 46-year-old franchise. Or is the series creator raising the stakes? While gruesome scenes are prominent in Alien: Earth season 1, Hawley trades some of the visual and visceral horror of yesterday for the cerebral — that of a “ghost in the machine.” 

Not missing a beat, the ghoulish presence of Cream’s “Strange Brew” persists as Alien: Earth episode 3, “Metamorphosis,” reaffirms that despite the immortality of Wendy (Sydney Chandler), death yields towards no man and comes in many forms, Xenomorph or otherwise. As damage of the USCSS Maginot begins to give way, Morrow (Babou Ceesay) poses a riddle to Slightly (Adarsh Gourav): “When is a machine not a machine?” This delivers quite a blow and sets off a series of reverberations. Soon after, each of the “Lost Boys” unequivocally loses that most precious identifier of all — their innocence. Beyond the existential looking glass, Alien: Earth episode 4, “Observation,” redirects viewers to the primary enigma at hand. Wendy, the adolescent synthetic, is now evolving to be the sole communication conduit with the Xenomorph. Her existence and experiences are a warning to anyone who attempts to enter this undiscovered country. Slightly’s road to self-discovery hits a road bump or two, and so both Morrow and Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) set their sights on the naïve lad, each with questionable intent. Morrow has a bone to pick with Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and will use anyone and anything to achieve his ends. In the world of Alien: Earth, jumping from a fragile human body to that of an indestructible synthetic isn’t a flex — just an invention to the higher rungs of the food chain of life, with the biggest beast of all being Kirsh. The robotic leopard reminds Slightly of the phrase “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.” The allegories don’t stop there as Nibbs (Lily Newmark) finds an “escape” in miraculum nativitati, and by the end of the episode, allusions to The Last Supper are in full effect with a Judas (or two).

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Hawley employs non-linear storytelling and shifts gears with Alien: Earth episode 5, “In Space, No One…” This chapter effectively serves as a-day-in-the-life story as the series explores the final days of the USCSS Maginot, its crew and the inner workings of Morrow’s pathos and CSI methodology. In terms of rhythm and pacing, episode 5 functions as a franchise mini movie — almost a complete recreation of the conditions and dilemmas of Alien (1979). Now, however, there is the added caveat of reimagining various character scenarios and rearranging the tempo of the original franchise movie. The Alien: Earth episode “In Space, No One…” is no doubt a fan favorite in the making. 

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Hawley is dead set at providing the best possible reinterpretation of the Alien franchise, particularly during a period when Prometheus (2012) killed all Millennial interest and Alien: Romulus (2024) serves as a functional trip down memory lane. Alien: Earth’s writers view their middle act as the best possible time to leap into all the conundrums surrounding mid-21^st technology, and they do so in way that feels topical via  grounded character conversations, with Morrow representing the best example. Ceesay consistently steals the show with the intense focus of his character’s actions and dialogue, as Morrow is a conduit of life lessons. One lesson is that technology isn’t just an addiction, but that a hi-tech culture (corporate or otherwise) ultimately dampens our empathetic traits. On a primal level, Hawley created a misunderstood but morally bankrupt “avenger” akin to that of The Phantom of the Opera (1910) or The Man in the Iron Mask (1847). The literal allusions don’t stop there, as there are loose references to the likes of Mutiny on the Bounty (1932) and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1623). The ethical quarrels between both scientists and the “Lost Boys” serve as solid bridges to real-life debates, between technophiles and traditionalists alike. For good measure, Hawley stirs in a little bit of Chaos Theory, `à la the Netflix series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (2024-). It appears that Hawley mapped Alien: Earth methodically, though the FX on Hulu series often feels worlds apart from writer Dan O’ Bannon’s original source material. It’s not always clear where exactly to take the beast next. 

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In the original lore, the “Alien,” aka Xenomorph, wasn’t a deity made from goo, nor a giant bug queen that laid eggs and wasn’t given the same rule set as velociraptors. It’s an “entity” — evil incarnate. Hawley’s vision splinters from this, as Alien: Earth episode 4 proposes to let bygones be bygones. In this regard, Chandler as Wendy becomes the franchise’s Gaia, (Sigourney Weaver previously served as a stand-in for Athena, goddess of wisdom and reason). But in the coming episodes, the protagonist may regret not heeding Ripley’s warning and nuking the place from orbit. 

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Alien: Earth season 1 incorporates Syd Mead’s fine eye for building around and within key set locations. Its environments are extensions of the characters and themes. Prodigy City, the island and, by extension, the USCSS Maginot, are fine representations, but lack that final level of polish. Alien: Earth’s areas are deficient in strong layouts, including the animal holding stations, as seen on Boy Kavalier’s island and the USCSS Maginot. In contrast, viewers can always distinguish each floor or subarea of the USCSS Nostromo in the original Alien. Another fault of Alien: Earth episode 5 is showing the villain in full light. Leaving nothing to the imagination diminishes trepidation.

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Much in the same way that Boy Kavalier gets a rush of informational inspiration from watching his subjects and the world from the safety of his glass video devices, audiences can believe that they will also receive a blast of meditative reflection from watching Alien: Earth. The FX on Hulu series provides a framework for processing contemporary news stories, including the founding of Mach Industries by 21-year-old Ethan Thornton. All in all, science fiction shows with societal debates are good, but — like Boy Kavalier — I am waiting to be “wowed.”

Peter Bell (@PeterGBell25) is a 2016 Master of Arts – Film Studies graduate of Columbia University School of Arts in New York City. His interests include film history, film theory and film criticism. Ever since watching TCM as a child, Peter has had a passion for film, always trying to add greater context to film for others. His favorite films include Chinatown, Blade Runner, Lawrence of Arabia, A Shot in the Dark and Inception. Peter believes movie theaters are still the optimal forum for film viewing, discussion and discovering fresh perspectives on culture.

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