(episode review) - Alien: Earth- Episode 2

 

 

So, naturally, I went on to the second episode, wondering what was going to happen next. There is chaos in the streets, investigative work from medic Hermit, Wendy and the gang, and this episode follows Hermit and Wendy separately until they converge. Hermit is with his team trying to rescue people and do a little investigating to find out what is going on and if there are any survivors to help, and Wendy is on a quest of her own to get close to Hermit with her team, doing little to no investigating, but stumbling across alien species. Although telegraphed from the first episode, you ultimately know what is going to happen, and for some reason or another, an alien seems to be on its own quest to stalk, chase and capture someone (so it seems), for its own individual agenda. Not to mention Morrow, who seems to be the lone warrior on his own quest.


In this episode, we have more characters showcasing their individual personalities, more things going on and more aliens. I have caught myself making a face and it sticking, when it comes to some of the gruesome and disgusting moments, because yes, the Alien franchise is visual and they always get you in the feels, and I do not mean feelings of emotion. When watching an alien do something to a person, it always seems slow and methodical or very harsh and direct, you either squirm feeling very uncomfortable with what you are watching or you either jump in shock/horror in something you just watched that gave you an initial fright, either way, these are like hallmarks of the franchise and the intro to these aliens are interesting. I do wonder, going forward, I wonder how spin-offs will work if they keep up the great pace they have with this new series.

(episode review) - Alien: Earth- Episode 1

If I am allowed to be really honest with you, when I initially heard about Alien: Earth, I thought it was a stupid idea. The Alien franchise has always been great in space, where nobody can hear you scream, and it is claustrophobic as hell. There are a few people, there is one alien or many, and there is no outside help. With that said, I also thought, was it not the plan to keep the alien species, the Xenomorph, away from Earth, so...why Alien Earth? One more thing, if you are new here and have not read any of my reviews on the Alien franchise, like Alien Romulus, for example, I have stated before that the Alien franchise is one of my favourite franchises out there. Not all films are great, but it definitely was a return to form with the last film. So, trying not to come across bias at all, and I am sure I am going to fail, but this first episode was incredible.

The show starts off telling us about the different companies that are controlling Earth, and that they are all in a race to essentially control/run the universe. Humans interested in living forever, there are 3 types of additional "species" on the planet, Cyborgs, Sythetics and Hybrids. The first episode starts almost like-for-like as the original Alien movie. When I saw the dark skinned guy, I immediately thought of Yaphet Kotto as Dennis the technician. I felt like I could see the archetypes of specific characters (maybe not) from the original movie, but there was a spin here I did not expect. You get to meet a little girl named Marcy, and through the episode, you follow her and Morrow, whilst there are flashbacks of an attack by an alien or aliens. If I am honest, I was a little confused as to what was going on as I did think there were some flashbacks, but for the most part, the story seemed linear and it is to be believed (at lease for now anyway), that the Weyland Corp are vying for power from the other leading companies and sabotage seems to be the name of the game. The flashbacks are, maybe, what we do not see happen in the natural way the story is being told here.


The music, the sound design, the visuals and the special effects are all top-notch. Money has gone into this, and it stands out and looks stunning. I do not think I can stress enough that this episode felt like an Alien film but as a sidestep and continuation, meaning, it is not a film, it is a TV show, and this is the TV show branch of the franchise that has not dipped in quality nor storytelling OR any of the other things I previously mentioned. I am intrigued about the aliens and where the story is going to go, going forward, but I would be lying if I did not say I was more than intrigued and, in fact, looking forward to the following episodes. Also, I am not sure where we are with Cyborgs and Synthetics within the Alien franchise but I think Wynona Ryder's character in Alien: Resurrection is indeed a synthetic, so it does make me wonder if we saw any Hybrids or Cyborgs and if not, were they made extinct or are they "hiding" somewhere in the universe or still on Earth? So far, though, a cracking episode to get your sci-fi and Alien-loving taste buds watering for more.