Alien: Earth 1.05
Sep. 4th, 2025 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakNo sooner did I finish with episodes 1-4 that episode 5 got dropped. I’m currently travelling (for work, not fun) and only intermittently online, but I did have the chance to watch it.
So when the pilot kept the information about the spaceship Maginot and its crew to a minimum, I thought, good economic storytelling, we’re all just assuming it basically is an “The Nostromo, but there’s no Ripley and Ash instead of Ripley is the last survivor of the crew” AU that happened to that ship. The glimpses of Morrow looking stone cold Ash style while a dark haired woman was trying to get on to the bridge he had sealed off just seemed to hint into that direction.
Now, with the fifth episode which is basically a giant flashback to what happened with the Maginot, it turns out not to be the case, though it’s still, among other things, a clever remix of Ridley Scott’s Alien. (And I do mean specifically the first movie, not the second: there is the crew getting out of cryo sleep with its space trucker vibe who are working colleagues annoying each other, not quippy Marines as in Cameron’s Aliens, there’s Mother the ship’s computer revealing the priority is the cargo and the crew is expendable, the facehugger(s) on the first crew member(s) to die, etc., and again as opposed to Cameron’s sequel, big guns are not part of the solution.) Because while Morrow’s role on board the Maginot at first glance does conform to Ash’s on the Nostromo - he’s a cyborg, Ash was a Synth, they’re both company men who know the absolute priority is the cargo, not the crew from the get go - his narrative role is actually, drumroll…. Ripley’s. He’s the pov character, he’s the one solving the mystery, he’s the one who left a kid daughter back home who is dead by the time he makes it back to earth, he’s the last survivor, yes, but not because a la Ash he deceived the rest of the crew about the danger they were in; he was remarkably up front about all of that. Because, like Ripley, he was smarter than the rest. And did follow safety procedures even if that meant letting other crew members die. Let’s not forget Ripley in the original movie makes herself unpopular with the rest of the crew by being both smart and ruthless enough to insist on not letting an exposed to the Alien fellow crew members back on board. (In fact, this is the very first individual action distinguishing her from the rest of the crew in the original movie. At this point, to an unspoiled audience, she could have been the villain.)
Like the crew of the Nostromo, the crew of the Maginot isn’t an endearing bunch, they’re making massive mistakes, and not concerned with exploration but with making it home so they can get their promised bonuses. Very realistic in the ultra capitalist oligarchic world they live in, and within this show a big difference to both the kids/synths and the human rescue workers like Joe. It doesn’t mean you don’t flinch as they’re taken off the board one after the other, In this remix not just by the Xenomorph but the new arrivals like T-Ocellius who in fact proves itself to be a contender for “creepiest alien” yet again when invading the head of the engineer. And it’s noteworthy that Morrow despite having the “who sabotaged the ship?” Investigation And “keep the collected alien species alive” priorities does try to keep them alive when he can. (Again, big difference to Ash who didn’t bother even when he could have.)
The other big reveal of the episode is that the cash of the Maginot in Prodigy territory was indeed no accident but the result of deliberate sabotage as part of a corporate war, with Boy Kavalier paying for it. This not only explains why he insisted on sending his precious synth prototypes to the crash site but gives Morrow’s determination to get to Neverland another layer. It’s not just that he has to get the Aliens back because there is nothing else left of his life. Methinks he also wants revenge on Boy Kavalier. I’m all for it, Morrow, but could we avoid the slaughter of the Synth kids and Joe while you’re doing that?
In conclusion, another superb episode.
So when the pilot kept the information about the spaceship Maginot and its crew to a minimum, I thought, good economic storytelling, we’re all just assuming it basically is an “The Nostromo, but there’s no Ripley and Ash instead of Ripley is the last survivor of the crew” AU that happened to that ship. The glimpses of Morrow looking stone cold Ash style while a dark haired woman was trying to get on to the bridge he had sealed off just seemed to hint into that direction.
Now, with the fifth episode which is basically a giant flashback to what happened with the Maginot, it turns out not to be the case, though it’s still, among other things, a clever remix of Ridley Scott’s Alien. (And I do mean specifically the first movie, not the second: there is the crew getting out of cryo sleep with its space trucker vibe who are working colleagues annoying each other, not quippy Marines as in Cameron’s Aliens, there’s Mother the ship’s computer revealing the priority is the cargo and the crew is expendable, the facehugger(s) on the first crew member(s) to die, etc., and again as opposed to Cameron’s sequel, big guns are not part of the solution.) Because while Morrow’s role on board the Maginot at first glance does conform to Ash’s on the Nostromo - he’s a cyborg, Ash was a Synth, they’re both company men who know the absolute priority is the cargo, not the crew from the get go - his narrative role is actually, drumroll…. Ripley’s. He’s the pov character, he’s the one solving the mystery, he’s the one who left a kid daughter back home who is dead by the time he makes it back to earth, he’s the last survivor, yes, but not because a la Ash he deceived the rest of the crew about the danger they were in; he was remarkably up front about all of that. Because, like Ripley, he was smarter than the rest. And did follow safety procedures even if that meant letting other crew members die. Let’s not forget Ripley in the original movie makes herself unpopular with the rest of the crew by being both smart and ruthless enough to insist on not letting an exposed to the Alien fellow crew members back on board. (In fact, this is the very first individual action distinguishing her from the rest of the crew in the original movie. At this point, to an unspoiled audience, she could have been the villain.)
Like the crew of the Nostromo, the crew of the Maginot isn’t an endearing bunch, they’re making massive mistakes, and not concerned with exploration but with making it home so they can get their promised bonuses. Very realistic in the ultra capitalist oligarchic world they live in, and within this show a big difference to both the kids/synths and the human rescue workers like Joe. It doesn’t mean you don’t flinch as they’re taken off the board one after the other, In this remix not just by the Xenomorph but the new arrivals like T-Ocellius who in fact proves itself to be a contender for “creepiest alien” yet again when invading the head of the engineer. And it’s noteworthy that Morrow despite having the “who sabotaged the ship?” Investigation And “keep the collected alien species alive” priorities does try to keep them alive when he can. (Again, big difference to Ash who didn’t bother even when he could have.)
The other big reveal of the episode is that the cash of the Maginot in Prodigy territory was indeed no accident but the result of deliberate sabotage as part of a corporate war, with Boy Kavalier paying for it. This not only explains why he insisted on sending his precious synth prototypes to the crash site but gives Morrow’s determination to get to Neverland another layer. It’s not just that he has to get the Aliens back because there is nothing else left of his life. Methinks he also wants revenge on Boy Kavalier. I’m all for it, Morrow, but could we avoid the slaughter of the Synth kids and Joe while you’re doing that?
In conclusion, another superb episode.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-05 05:18 am (UTC)I love T. Ocellus so much. It's both horrifying and weirdly endearing. The moment when it attacked the xenomorph was was badass and also kind of hilarious, like a squirrel going after a man.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-05 09:25 am (UTC)No, Ten wasn’t a synth, just a creep; hence the xenomorth eviscarating him. (I think xenomorphs so far have only gone after synths if the synths have directly attacked it, and even then they’re uninterested in the remains of synths - the unorganic nature does make a difference.)
I can’t decide whether I want Morrow to kill Boy Kavalier or whether I want one of the aliens to do it, preferably T. Ocelllus. You?
no subject
Date: 2025-09-05 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-05 10:54 pm (UTC)Although my partner and I have been calling it "Eyeballtopus"