Alien: Earth 1x02 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-09-16 18:47:45 +0000 UTC
Comments
Very nice build on Morrow's characterization that after he came off like a pure automaton last time, now we get to see him actually afraid of the prospect of fighting the xenomorph hand to hand even if he stands a better shot than a regular human. Babou Ceesay is getting a ton of attention for this show that he'll probably be able to parlay into bigger things, which I've been curious about seeing ever since Free Fire. With just about anything involving sports, I'm with Kirsh, I don't care about that. Literally the only reason I knew any baseball player names as a kid was from watching Seinfeld. So The Naked Gun is also all that I know Reggie Jackson for, and his posting that he'd finally killed the Queen was almost as good as the Wicked thing. After the third film, Jones is literally the only survivor of the first two. Add that to why so many people hated it.
Ryan
2025-09-16 21:05:32 +0000 UTCFigured you’d comment about Robert Redford; I snuck in my own little reference to what’s probably my favorite film of his in my own comment. Heard the news about Robert first thing this morning. I was sorry to hear about that, and Mom’s particularly saddened to hear about it. Did make the same note about Butch and Sundance in about two weeks. Still hate everyone’s lack of patience with shit anymore as I love just the first episode and letting that sit for a week. Alas. I had the understanding of Kavalier more or less right out the gate. Only seen, far as I know, Samuel in the Loch Henry episode of season six of Black Mirror, which is one of the more depressing episodes that I’ve seen, naturally I loved it. Makes for good demonstration with his range. Though his character here does skirt close to unbearable slog, the presumed promise of comeuppance where he’s screaming “ALL IS WEEEEELLLL!!!” does make the scenes with him tolerable and you appreciate the talent you highlight. Thought he was Scorpius in the incredibly poorly written fanfiction, er, I mean, uh, Cursed Child, but ok. He also was a young lad by the name of Will Shaxberd in The Sandman, so that’s two big projects he’s been in with now controversial authors, hoping his luck with that improves. Timothy is a big highlight with selling Kirsh’s growing frustration with the kids. His one line did get the good “I am NOT a merry man” level laugh from Jess which is always delightful to see. Just as delightful to see her react to the French Revolution scene. Of course, if the authorities want to know who killed them, it was Colonel Mustard, in the apartment, with the xenomorph fangs. (Is that a good Martin Mull reference crowbarred in? I’m behind on Arrested Development.) Hawley does have the unpredictability with killing characters, yet, as you note, you wouldn’t kill Joe before reuniting with Wendy, even so, the suspense is effectively well done, for reasons you spoke well of. The expanded showcasing differing species and variants is certainly a big draw for this. And that they see androids as equal prey does up the ante. Good note on the kid blurting out the secret which kills the waiting game so that we can now have more time to do something more unpredictable. Still mixed feelings about the Ice Age 4 of it all, though the job it does is done well. Heard other fans have been quite merciless. Again, tis weird, but my brother and I, as I said, swap so many memes about the younglings, so neither of us has much room to talk.
Thomas Corp
2025-09-16 20:56:31 +0000 UTCReiterating that I would love for you to continue reacting to this show, rudeness of the needle jumpscares aside, share the pain there. You say that you don’t mean to be a pessimist with your surmise that things would go terribly poorly, personally, seeing as this is the world of Alien, such a surmise isn’t the least understandable thing in the world. You keep asking the questions of “What IS that!?”. You mean, beyond terrifying? If you say so about the Arrested Development of it all. The lost boys are thrown into the deep end of the pool sans water wings. The kids are feeling like the kids at the beginning of Skeleton Crew: sheltered and completely out of their depth, leading to reckless and dumb decisions, yet they are showing early signs that they’re not stupid, and they’re sharper than given credit for. On Earth, we start to get the bit of a spotlight on Kavalier with his conversation with Miss Fisher, er, uh, Dame Sylvia, that was it. Of fucking course, he’s goddamn munching on an apple the whole scene so he comes across as even more of a gaping asshole than he already does. And later he holds his tablet with his feet, loved your reaction to that one. And he expresses the desire to share a conversation with someone smarter than him. (Frankly, I doubt that’d be a difficult task to achieve.) And he gets into the pissing contest with Yutani. The recurring thing of this franchise: Kavalier, Weyland, Yutani, Burke, they’re all the same. Countless people die, and they play fucking games. Shared thought of Yutani would anticipate Kavalier’s response and is probably unbothered as she knows that her company is in all the Alien films, whereas Kavalier’s, far as can be determined, is not. Adore your reaction to the murder spree with the rich fops, and their gruesome demise. Morrow steps in to recover the specimen but is interrupted. Love how he tried to warn the people. Like that you find him fascinating as Morrow and Eins are sharing the spot for favorite character in this. Love the continued deep dive into the sibling storyline with Wendy and Joe, complete with Wendy demonstrating some interesting abilities. Still think it’s an interesting choice with the Ice Age 4 of it all. As I saw Ryan commented, I’ve never seen that Ice Age film. Main reason I even recognize it is thirteen years ago when it came out, all the advertisements on the tv played the gag about facing fury more than the gag about the self-driving car coming with a black dude, but he kept getting pulled over in Men in Black II was featured in advertisements back when that came out. So, if there is some intended subtext, it’s over my head. Sweet to see Joe’s bond with his and Wendy’s dad with baseball via watching the historical reels. Curious if the historical reels contain the famous Reggie Jackson game where the Queen was in attendance as was famed Opera singer Enrico Pallazzo. Would also hope that in this universe, the 2016 World Series is preserved. Leads to the sibling reunion, we had roughly similar reactions, especially when we reveal that it’s a shame about Slightly having a slightly serious problem with keeping tight lipped, secret-wise. Don’t blame Joe for not believing right away. The scene strikes the strong emotional chord as it did for you. We concur that we would both employ the strategy that Joe did. My brother and I have shit like that with Mom and Dad both. Not so much specific things said like how Wendy and Joe have here, rather stories, specific memories connected to things that only either of us would know about. Shame about his plot armor diminishing. Funny you should yell at the characters putting their faces too close to the eggs as a few Alien cast members observe the same with the stupidity, yet they are delighted to do the scene as they’re ecstatic about it. Now to one of THE MOST important things to talk about: The cat. Knew you’d have a reaction to the scene with the cat. Screaming at that though you were, you handled it better than I did as I saw red, yelling, “You MOTHER!!! FUCKERS!!!!” I suppose it serves as a balance to the dog scene in Alien3, (still not seen the film, but in looking the film up on doesthedogdie out of curiosity about what was in it that makes you NEVER watch it again, the description about the dog did make me say, “...Oh.” upon reading,) so we’re even on that one. And the pressure’s off, unless there are more cats to come, which you note they fare better generally in this universe, so it would bode well for future cats in this show. (We say hopefully.) As you reiterate: Cats are supposed to end up being SAFE in the world of Alien; it’s the FUCKING RULE, GODDAMN IT!!! And of course, there’s your sheer delight in seeing the xenomorph have the day. You keep stating about it sounding bizarre about being obsessed with the xenomorph fun. I say again, my love and passion, as you know, for the villains, the Sith holding especially strong love. Do you REALLY think, Jess, that I’m going to terribly mind all that much you living for the xenomorph festivities? It puts you on edge. I’m nervous. And it takes a lot to scare me; I love the sensation. Likewise, no worries about laughing over Kirsh’s over blunt line deliveries. Both the blunt lines, and especially the xenomorph fun, you offered the apologies for the laugh and giggles, Jess, do not apologize for that. You fucking giggle. Fucking giggle. Fucking enjoy this. This is fun! This reaction was fun, sharing this show with you is fun, and I just hope the fun continues. Meantime, thanks for the terrific reaction, Jess.
Thomas Corp
2025-09-16 20:34:39 +0000 UTCI have to start totally off topic, since we lost the legendary Robert Redford today, and that's going to add a whole new subtext to starting next month with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Another one where I just feel privileged to have spent so long living at the same time. These two episodes were aired back to back, and it's pretty easy to understand why, given that a sizable portion of the fanbase would probably be impatient to get to some actual xenomorph action if they had to wait a week after the pilot. It also means we immediately get a much better understanding of Boy Kavalier, and I remember some people liveblogging complained that they couldn't take that name seriously, but then they hit his scenes here which make clear you're absolutely not supposed to do that with anything about him. Samuel Blenkin perfectly embodies everything people hate about wunderkind tech bros, while still being fun enough to watch that his scenes aren't just an unbearable slog waiting for his comeuppance that they could have been in the wrong hands. It's clear he genuinely doesn't see anything wrong with telling someone to their face he can't have an intelligent conversation with them, which is kind of worse than the alternative. You can also add him to the list of Harry Potter actors who now want nothing to do with it, since he was the original Harry in The Cursed Child. Great as it always is to see Olyphant, I was kind of wondering through the first episode what exactly drew him to this role, and then it all clicked into place as we see him get steadily more annoyed at having to corral a bunch of literal children, which has long been his acting comfort zone. No surprise that his blunt "I don't care about that" got you so much, and suddenly I want to hear what you know would be his killer delivery of "I am not a merry man." Although, "It looks like flora but may be fauna"? Someone hasn't seen Farscape. The French Revolution party is inevitably a highlight of any reaction to the show, and resulted in this particular xenomorph being named by the fans as Guillotine, or just Gil. Though given your repeated response to it revealing itself, maybe it should be Gene Parmesan. I was also very impressed how little Hermit's repeatedly surviving encounters with it bugged me, seeing as we all know that even as big a fan of surprise deaths and messing with narrative expectations as Noah Hawley wouldn't do all this buildup just to quickly kill him off before he meets his sister again. The secret ingredient is that it's not just a simple animal and likes to sadistically play with its food, which gives just enough leeway for him to either put some barrier between them or get quote-unquote saved by the killer cyborg. I'm very surprised it took this long for one of these to get the idea that there are probably a lot of species out there besides xenomorphs that we are in no way equipped to occupy the same space with, and what those might be. And it was no surprise that the one officially named T. Ocellus but typically just called The Eye became the most popular thing about the show, as what immediately makes it stand out among the rest of franchise and even most other things you've ever seen. And immediately getting confirmation that it sees androids as equal prey just ups the danger and intrigue even more. "That was a lot of bad things," certainly. With Hawley having two fewer episodes to work with here than he typically does, I'm sure it came as a huge relief that the main heroes being a bunch of kids meant he could plausibly write one of them as just mindlessly blurting out any secret he hears. We all knew this is where the story was heading, so why not just immediately get there so you have more time to do something more unpredictable? The Ice Age thing is still pretty weird, but it does its job so that even someone relatively unfamiliar with the series like me can get what they're doing with it.
Ryan
2025-09-16 20:20:30 +0000 UTC
