Well after three more episodes I think it is time to update my review. That said, the jury is still out on this one. I’ve never come across a series I find so much to both love and hate about at once. That’s not to say it’s all extreme one way or the other, there is a lot of “Meh” to go about too. It is frankly all over the place. So let’s go over the Good, the bad and the Meh first and then’ll I’ll give you a score per episode.
Everybody Loves Eyeball Squid
No, that’s not a new sitcom, though I would probably watch it. We’re starting with the good and top of that list is Eyeball Squid. By far the coolest of the new species introduced in this show and one that could probably have worked in it’s own movie. Probably not it’s own TV series, but I could definitely see (pun not intended) it working for a movie. The creature is mysterious, creepy as hell and totally original. Of course where there is mystery there is room for disappointment. But so far, so good. The other new aliens, while not interesting enough for their own movie are also positives. We finally saw the bug-fly things in action in episode 6 and so the only creature not to have done anything of note is the plant pod. I’m sure it’s time will come.
Timothy Olliphant and Babou Ceesay continue to be the stand out actors. In episode five we learn more information about Morrow (Ceesay), which humanizes him somewhat. He continues to be a solid antagonist though. Olliphant’s Kirsh also continues to play the stealth antagonist. His goals are still no clearer and mostly he just reminds me of Michael Fassbender’s “David” in Prometheus/Covenant. That is a rogue android with his own agenda and no real care for humanity. Of course he could end up to simply be part of a scheme of one corporation boss or another, but I think he is more likely rogue. Adrian Edmondson is doing quite well as a secondary antagonist too. Small role, but he plays it well. Vyvyan has come a long way since the Young Ones.
A Xenomorph May Be Involved
So, let’s talk about the negatives and with this series its biggest issue is the continued massive dump from orbit the show keeps doing on to Ellen Ripley and the movie “Aliens”. The first movie is a little more protected since all that matters for that one is that the crew (Ash aside) are oblivious to the creatures. In Aliens however a team of space marines take Ripley along as the “Expert” on these unknown creatures. They take her because she’s the only person that has encountered them before. The Marines have no knowledge of these creatures and are woefully unprepared for what they are walking in to. Many people prefer Aliens to the original movie (I love both, but generally prefer the first). It’s objectively one of the best sequels ever made.
In Aliens, Gorman says the word “Xenomorph” as a general way of saying “Alien species”. He was informing the marines that they may be facing an alien life form of some kind. He wasn’t saying this specific, well known species. Since this was a cool word and not one that you’d hear in other franchises, fans started to use it to refer to the creatures themselves. Some because they didn’t understand the scene, others just for convenience (Since “Alien” doesn’t really narrow down what you are talking about). But now, in Alien: Earth they have twice deliberately used the word “Xenomorph” to refer to this specific species. It’s bad enough that it reveals a strange familiarity with them, but it also totally recontextualizes that scene in Aliens.
Why Is This A Prequel?
The problem goes beyond just the name, it also goes to the context. Ripley was meant to be the expert on these creatures and yet now thanks to this being a prequel her inclusions seems like a sick joke. Already Weyland-Yutani had a huge amount of information on the creatures. Now they even named it and when Gorman mentions the name in Aliens, he’s talking about a specific species and the space marines all seem to know exactly what he’s talking about. The series shows tactics and weapons designed to deal with the creatures and yet the marines head in spraying bullets in a way that was always destined to get them them covered in acid. Even if all the characters on this island die, Weyland-Yutani will still have their information. Man, space marines are morons.
So, why is this a prequel? So far I haven’t seen a single thing that means this show needed to be set before Alien. Almost all of these problems go away if it is a sequel instead of a prequel. Adopting the fan name for the creature is still dumb, but it doesn’t break past movies. If they introduced the black goo then at least it would make some sense as a prequel to Alien: Romulus, but then that shouldn’t have been a prequel either! Anyway, that aside my main complaint is how everyone is stupid. So much of this plot relies on stupidity to happen. It’s not a deal breaker for a horror series, but it is annoying.
Enough With The Peter Pan Stuff!
On to the Meh. I’m so very bored with the constant Peter Pan references. One of the characters themselves drew attention to how the analogy doesn’t even make sense in the first place since Kavalier is giving children adult bodies and expecting them to act like adults. This is the opposite to “Never growing up”. It’s something so dumb and obvious that the dumb characters in the show actually call it out. But it is relentless and it plays into another aspect of the show and that is it’s tendency to slow right down to a crawl for little to no benefit.
Another problem is I still don’t like either of the protagonists or really any of the characters at all. I appreciate Morrow and Kirsh, but they are antagonists, so I don’t actually like them. I don’t even appreciate Kavalier. To be fair some antagonists are there to make you want to see them get killed later on and I’m pretty sure the shoe fits here. But you are supposed to like the good guys. Joe has no agency outside of his sister and apparently little personality. Wendy meanwhile is that mixture of nativity and confidence that just makes you want to see them choke on their own hubris. It’s not endearing. The rest of the hybrid children are just as bad and this has been a constant since episode one.
Episode 4 – Do You See What Eye See
This was the episode that made Eyeball Squid everyone’s favourite. It didn’t even need to do a whole lot, but it was so well done it made the episode. The rest was a mixture of interesting and stupid. It did give me some theories about the hybrid androids having some kind of relationship with the black goo, but since that hasn’t been shown or talked about in this show (And is divisive with fans anyway), I’m probably way off. In the end the answer to how Wendy is communicating with the Aliens may just end up being “Because the plot needed that to happen”. We will see. This was a decent episode. 6/10
Episode 5 – A Prequel’s Prequel
I am already annoyed by the series being a prequel. So when I realized this episode was a prequel to that prequel, I wasn’t impressed. We get to see the events that lead to the ship crash on earth. We already know there will only be one survivor so the stakes here do not exist. Fortunately though the episode excelled in it’s execution. I mentioned in my previous review I was a big fan of the set design for the space ship and said it was a shame we didn’t see more of it. Here we did and it’s largely a stand alone Alien movie. Though one with a known outcome. The reason for holding this episode back was for one reveal about why the ship crashed. Barely seemed worth it, but the truth is this was the best episode yet. 7/10
Episode 6 – A Bad Day in the Lab
And then we are back to the main story and I can’t help but feel disappointed by it. This was another mostly slow episode that really hit us around the face with Peter Pan nonsense while very little happened. However, when it did happen it was pretty cool and went some way to redeeming the episode. We finally get to see the sixth alien species and it didn’t disappoint. Not as cool as Eyeball Squid, but who is? There was good here including a scene between Oliphant and Ceesay, but it wasn’t really enough for me to call this a good episode. 5.5/10
Conclusion – Marginal Improvement
So the good news is overall these three episodes have raised my average score (Slightly) and I am swaying more to the positive with the show. If this wasn’t a prequel I may even have been up to a 7/10 by now. However, the characters being idiots and the “Good” guys being unlikable would have held it from landing much higher. It is a prequel though and so it does still run a wrecking ball through the franchise. Still, the atmosphere is good, the creatures are fun and there is enough of interest here to have me speculating.
I’m also glad the obvious “Bloke in a suit” movement of the Alien in episode one and two hasn’t been repeated, so visually the show is improving too. If you haven’t watched the series yet, I think I can call it a cautious recommendation now. I’m raising the score to 6.5/10. Technically the average is only just over 6/10 but I feel a 6.5 is fair. We have two more episodes to go, so I’ll check in with you again when it is all over. A bad or good ending will make or break this series, so there is everything still to play for.
You must be logged in to post a comment.