Alien: Earth 1x05 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-10-07 18:40:58 +0000 UTC
Comments
Can see how this could have easily been the first episode, and good observations as to how it works much better here. Rather lovely the extra whipped cream and chocolate sauce is. I’d be interested to hear how the writing process went with this backstory. Hawley has fun with the expectations here as much as he has fun with the Fargo/Coen Brothers plots and characters. Interesting reveal of Morrow trying to keep the crew safe, whilst still having the Ash elements of prioritizing the cargo, even saying that the cat matters not. How dare he. (Love the Plan 9 quote which I’ve been brainstorming when to sneak it in when we get closer to the reaction to the film.) And having Richa in this, you think she’ll be like Indira in the Ripley role, and the expectations are subverted. I still defend her some in that the situation is that terrifying. And in all fairness, there are like five different variables all working against her, so even if she was more on the ball, it could very easily have been the same outcome, albeit with maybe a few lives saved. We do start with the Red Dwarf of it all, before revealing that Kane did get off (comparatively) light as from the looks of it, the outcome is bad enough that the torture done to him by Richard Burton seems benign. See, with the song, I didn’t even think Fallout as my mind just goes straight to Strangelove. Maybe that’s just me. Repeating that I heard Hawley said about T. Ocellus was working with the ticks, and I do like it’s vague enough to allow what seems to be the more popular option. See we agree on the jackass that refuses to listen to a woman in charge. He probably chattered away in the past about what his definition of what a wife should be, thus triggering Zaveri something fierce. I do sort of take his point about the food, but if he’s going to act like a complete waste of skin, dude gets what was coming to him. You’re right about how the show counts on us to remember about the hybrids, thus Boy Kavalier’s promise, we know is an empty one. Makes his face even more punchable. They had the good misdirect with Teng. Fantastically horrifying moment when we see that Shmuel changed his name to Abby Normal, and that amazing fight scene. Like we’re saying, it’s a rare treat to see the xenomorph genuinely put off by something, and I like how T. Ocellus has the moment realizing that its usual method of attack proves ineffective against the xenomorph. Great words in saying about the suspense with the doomed characters, (Though I can see Shmuel chiming in, “Hey! I didn’t even eat the mousse!” at some point.) Hawley did very good work here.
Thomas Corp
2025-10-08 00:01:17 +0000 UTCStarting off topic just because I know you'd be into this: The new Ed Gein show on Netflix has a lot of problems, but one thing it nails is casting Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock, who despite not looking much like him perfectly nails the voice and is absolutely up to playing both his showman side and the darker things he gets up to. This also makes him the second person to play both Hitchcock and Truman Capote, which I guess shows they have more in common than you'd think. Well, Boy Kavalier is definitely the kind of guy who'd say he's doing everything for "the future," even if he doesn't mean it in quite the same way. And as someone who hated the plot setup of Predator Badlands from the moment it was announced, the new trailer actually has me fully onboard (of course, it helps that this is still the same guy who did the last two movies).
Ryan
2025-10-07 23:25:15 +0000 UTCTechnically, I guess this could have been the first episode, but then you run the risk of a lot of people assuming this was all the show had to offer, and never bothering to check back to see the much newer and more interesting stuff it has to explore. So it fits much better here, pretty much saying "If you've made it this far, we assume you're totally on board for everything we've been doing, so here's some more whipped cream for your sundae. Please enjoy." Hawley is clearly having a blast messing with the expectations he knows we all have from having seen Alien, none more so than how contrary to what our brief glimpse of this story in the pilot led us to believe, Morrow genuinely did his absolute best to save the whole crew, and it's not his fault that almost all of them are such idiots that his efforts were pointless. I'm surprised he refrained from ever just shouting "Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!" (that's in honor of the new poll winner). And of course that includes Hawley being well aware that those of us who followed him from Fargo will be expecting Richa Moorjani to always be on the ball and competent at everything she does, so it just adds to the twist that she's as over her head as all the others and really isn't ready for the leadership role. The episode wastes no time just throwing us right into things, with the computer blaring "Emergency, emergency, there's an emergency going on. It's still going on." And already we've lost someone as we get to see how lucky Kane was (for a certain value of the word) that his crew started with the legs. And thanks for the random use of the Ink Blots, but I'm already plenty hyped for the return of Fallout, thank you. Very thankful the teasing of the doctor taking a bite of the tick in her sandwich only lasted a few seconds, as the other thing they get up to is much nastier anyway. Hawley said the T. Ocellus was working with them and distracting her, but I'll join the fans who say it's much more interesting if this highly intelligent creature was playing both sides and trying to alert her to it. And I'll join Thomas in my surprise that you liked Malachite so much. The jackass refuses to listen to a woman in charge, he can take what he gets from it. Another bit the show nicely doesn't bother to explain to us and just trusts we'll get it, with just how much of an asshole Boy Kavalier is by turning this guy with the promise of a robot body, not bothering to tell him it only works with children. Not that it ends up mattering much anyway, and it's pretty neat to see these two actors fight after they were both in Free Fire. Another neat subversion of expectations that Teng isn't a robot, or the saboteur, just a totally random creep, because sometimes those just happen. And nice of the show to realize the best part of a character like this is always seeing them snap like a twig and scream. Leading into what seems to have settled into the most iconic scene of the show, starting with Shmuel turning around and saying "You take the blonde and I'll take the one in the turban." It's simultaneously scary, funny, and cool to see a regular human body put up such a good fight against a xenomorph through pure feral ferocity, and that just increases when the T. Ocellus instinctively jumps at the place that eyes should be, which even through it doesn't work clearly has the xenomorph good and freaked out that something would attack it in this particular way. As you noted at the start, the big challenge of this episode was keeping our interest despite knowing the whole time that all these people ate the salmon mousse, and it perfectly pulls that off and makes us care about them however much we don't want to. It was no surprise to see Hawley personally directed it, and it easily earns its place among the top entries of the entire franchise.
Ryan
2025-10-07 23:16:56 +0000 UTCReiterating once again that yes, tis probably weird to be excited to see such gruesome horror, yet I have no room to talk, nor judge. Great to see the excitement that we finally get the flashback episode, which yeah, this is contrary to your usual reputation, flashback episode-wise. They wasted no time diving right into it, like you said. This does feel like one is watching an Alien film this episode, yes. A riot of a fucking episode as perfectly described. They do a very effective job when, as you note, we already know the crew will die, yet one is on the edge of the seat, particularly as there is still the suspense of how the deaths will occur. Kumi was very determined to make sure the cargo would survive, didn’t seem to give much of a shit over anyone else. We both had the “How dare you!” remark when Kumi said the cat didn’t matter. I yelled, “Leave the cat out of it! What did the cat do to you!? You fucking retract that bit about the cat!!” We are thankfully sans gruesome cat scene in this episode, and we are both grateful for that. Nice that the episode addresses the five-decade old ponderance: How it never occurs to anyone that if the creatures are able to withstand the cold vacuum of space that freezing them won’t do shit. Meaning Kane would have been fucked either way, hence the “Oh, fuck.” outcome that you mention. Like your assessment of the crew, and how it is a recurring thing among this franchise. There is the consistent thing of the characters having the human responses and vulnerabilities when dealing with the xenomorphs. Here, a different dynamic for Alien: A very jaded and desensitized group. Has all the zeal of retail workers during the Christmas season. You were nicer to the kid than I was, as I found him to be an insufferable fucking idiot. You liked him, and it’s sweet. Poor guy sealed his doom by eating, then guzzling the water. He should have gone with the soup. Shmuel is probably my favorite of the crew. Michael Smiley gave him the great energy of trying to just do his job as best he could, and notably, he’s one of the only ones who never makes any major mistakes. Can I just say, I like how you did not shit on Zaveri as I’ve been seeing a lot of people do. Richa was great at showing the very human fear, and how that fucks with people. Zaveri’s already stressed out beyond belief in trying to pay off the one hundred-and-ninety-two-thousand-dollar debt. Throw the xenomorph shit and other species shenanigans on top of that, hard to blame her freezing up as she did. Give her credit, she tried her best. And hard to blame her for not wanting the sabotage news to spread. Shared response to the incompetence or sabotage line. We both assess that incompetence was a plausible theory in this scenario. The neatness of it all as Kumi notes with the exact systems going kaput is too suspect. No surprise that you don’t vibe with Teng. Get a big smile over your reaction to Mother being in a touchy mood. You express your appreciation for how well-shot this show is. You’ll love Fargo in that respect. It’s interesting you should ask if the T. Ocellus was trying to warn about the ticks, as several fans have the same idea. Hawley says that the intent was to provide distractions, though it is nicely vague enough for the idea to be possible. Eventually, Kumi uncovers the truth. You see the traitor was Mustache Man, as you called him, and you yell, “Damn it, Bob!!” in response. Man did have a great final line. Hate for Boy Kavalier grows, and I got pissed off that we see him as I was very much enjoying the reprieve from him. You also just have the question of his motivations, asking, “Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can’t already afford?” Loved your words on the xenomorph not going with the “pow” to use the technical term. The xenomorph wants to play with its food. Leads to the hell of a fight where you have the good eye about the xenomorph having no eyes, loved all your reactions there. Rather unique experience when the xenomorph essentially asks T. Ocellus “What the hell are you?” and T. Ocellus seems to respond, “What the hell are YOU?” Bringing us up to speed as Kumi reports to Yutani. Rather refreshing how her plan A is trying the legal approach, yet is allowing Kumi to have all he needs for plan B. And Kumi expresses the desire to kill Boy Kavalier. Please, by all means, go for it. Talking briefly about you sharing the theories. You mention the conspiracy theory that Yutani deliberately arranged the crash to fuck with Prodigy. My thought, (which is moot, as we see the idea did not come to pass,) it seems too wasteful for Weyland-Yutani, even by their standard. You still wouldn’t put it past them to pull such shit, so the idea is certainly a possible one that I can see you entertained. Funny how you talk yourself out of the other idea. Thank you for such a sublime reaction, Jess.
Thomas Corp
2025-10-07 20:33:41 +0000 UTC
