Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 8
"The Real Monsters"
Writers: Noah Hawley & Migizi Pensoneau
Director: Dana Gonzales
Cast: Sydney Chandler, Timothy Olyphant, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, Adarsh Gourav, Kit Young, David Rysdahl, Babou Ceesay, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diêm Camille, Adrian Edmondson
Grounded
"What did you do?"
Despite the goading drumbeat of "Song for the Dead" by Queens of the Stone Age, cooler heads have prevailed since last week's cliffhanger. Wendy resolved not to sic her xenomorph friend on Prodigy forces, though it likely would've made quick work of them. She felt so betrayed by Joe's intervention, she willingly surrendered. So much for escaping Neverland. Now the surviving hybrids, Nibs included, find themselves captive in a holding cell. Captive is perhaps wishful thinking on Kavalier's part. They're really just biding their time.
That leaves two xenomorphs in play: the newborn in Kirsh's possession and the adult doing stealthy murder tourism throughout the island. It pauses its gristly work long enough to pay its respects to Dr. Arthur Sylvia, whose ruptured corpse rests on the beach, subject to an inquisitive crab. You ever hear about carcinisation? It's this observation that several unrelated crustacean species have independently developed crab-like bodies. Nature keeps attempting to make new crabs. Interesting to see one here with the xenomorph, another so-called "perfect organism." They'd make for a pretty impressive combo, just saying.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dame Sylvia, likely unaware of her husband's fate, lays flowers at the children's graves. I think my assessment from last week was right; this little cemetery arrangement was all her idea. When she returns to her office, Wendy's locked down communications and, inspired by an existential conversation amongst the Lost Boys, decides to haunt their self-imposed mother figure electronically. The doctor struggles to shut out video of the children from before their procedures, but Wendy pushes them to every screen. They're not children or adults. They're ghosts.
Real Steel
It takes some soul searching and a push from kind-hearted Smee, but Wendy ultimately decides to forgive her brother. With a swipe of her hand, she unlocks the door to the cell holding Joe and Morrow. Someone thought it'd be a good idea to fit a metal housing over Morrow's Swiss Army Arm, which he simply uses as a cudgel to pummel their guard. He retrieves the key to free his arm from the housing and they continue on their way, Joe pleading to try for a no-kill stealth run. Morrow advises him to go save the kids because his plan is to burn the place to the ground.
The cyborg's first order of business is to fuck up Kirsh. He doesn't quite get the drop on his android nemesis though. Kirsh reels on him at the last second, firing on him and cracking one of the specimen tubes in the process. They brawl. Morrow suplexes him onto a table, breaking his back.
Kirsh dribbles milky synth blood as Morrow recalls the legend of John Henry. I dunno, man. John Henry had a hammer and perseverance. I think the hand that can turn into a welding torch complicates the analogy a bit. Kirsh seizes on the distraction of escaping aliens to wrestle Morrow into a sleeper hold. There's a ticking clock though. Morrow said Yutani forces are inbound.
Kavalier and Clank
The hybrids watch the Kirsh v. Morrow bout on a closed feed with little enthusiasm. That's when the boy genius rolls up with a woefully human body guard. The others aren't interested in story time, but Wendy pops the lock with a snap of her finger, eager to hear his bullshit.
Kavalier finally confirms his right hand man Atom Eins is an android, with the added implication that the boy genius created him — or some crude version of him — at the tender age of six to kill and replace his abusive father. His mistake is bringing up the topic of ownership. Calling the hybrids "floor models" doesn't go over well, and Nibs pounds the bodyguard into the floor. Wendy encourages Kavalier to run as the Lost Boys advance on the exit. He hurries off in his bare feet and the hybrids split off.
Slightly and Smee find Kirsh and Morrow bruised and broken in the lab. When Kirsh orders them to tie the cyborg up, they confine both of them.
Eins confronts Joe, coolly luring him to a meeting with the boss. Joe only follows in the hopes of finding his sister. Eins delivers him to the office where the sheep has been released from its enclosure. The Eye Midge decides it's time to move up in the world and dislodges itself from the animal, which immediately collapses. Fast fashion is such a problem, you guys. The alien propels itself at Joe, who hurries into the enclosure, closing himself inside. But the Eye Midge knows it can gain access through the feeding hatch. Joe scurries out, and the thing pulls a Spider-Man, slingshotting after him.
Luckily, Wendy arrives in time to prise it away from his face, hurling it into a wall. They're about to bludgeon it to death when Eins intervenes, tut-tutting the whole hybrid endeavor as folly. He has his orders though.
The android puts on an impressive show of strength, but since he's tied to the facility network, Wendy quickly subdues him through technomancy. He's essentially paralyzed, save for his wild eyes. I'm generally not one to complain about such things, but girl is OP. Jedi-like control over electronic systems and she can communicate with the xenomorph over what seems to be miles? If this were a game, some of this would have to be nerfed in the next patch. But is it cool? Yeah, it's pretty fucking cool.
The Eye Midge takes the opportunity to skedaddle.
Minor Threat
"I fucked up," says Joe. "I didn't know what else to do. It's complica—"
"Don't say complicated," says Wendy. "That is what powerless people say to make doing nothing okay. And I'm not powerless."
Joe's rent-a-cop friends run afoul of the plant-alien, which functions like a giant venus flytrap.
The Eye Midge somehow makes its way to the beach where Arthur's body awaits. Let's pretend it hitched a ride in the left eye socket of a boar or something. Or it did 200 of those slingshot moves through the jungle. Anyway, it does the ol' scoop-and-nestle and Arthur sits up with a new lease on life.
The siblings find Kavalier at the mercy of the xenomorph, who quickly dispatches with the armed guards running to protect him. He tries to make nice, but we're looking at a real reversal of fortunes here.
As Yutani aircraft descend on Neverland, Wendy surveys a familiar holding cell. Now it's filled with grown-ups. Kavalier, Eins, Kirsh, Morrow, and Dr. Sylvia are captives of the Lost Boys now.
"You've always been a man," she says of their self-proclaimed Peter Pan, grinding the myth into the ground. "A mean, angry little man. Who decided to hate everybody."
The two xenomorphs climb freely outside the cell. Slightly reports that a number of the other aliens are unaccounted for. It's no matter. They can't harm the hybrids.
"What do we do now," Curly/Jane asks.
"Now we rule." says Wendy.
Kavalier can only laugh in horrified amusement. Joe looks a little seasick.
Pearl Jam plays us out with "Animal." And that's season one in the can. I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting the vast majority of these characters to make it out of this episode. Maybe Wendy and Joe. So this was quite a surprise. I look forward to whatever the Eye Midge and his Noah Hawley-shaped host has in store for next season.
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