'Alien: Earth' Is Surprisingly Cinematic, a Bit Gross and a Whole Lot of Awesome

CNET

2 days ago

If you ask me, it's a great time to be an Alien fan. Last year's Alien: Romulus offered a fun, nostalgic taste of what made the Alien movies so iconic. It was the perfect appetizer for what's coming next.
Of course, I am speaking about Alien: Earth.
It's been about five years since FX officially announced the Noah Hawley project and, now, with the show just days away from premiering (the first two episodes drop on Tuesday, Aug. 12, on Hulu, FX and Disney Plus), I am here to squash your worries. Alien: Earth is good.
In fact, it's pretty epic. Heck, I'd go so far as to say it's the best Alien story I've seen since James Cameron put Sigourney Weaver in a power loader back in 1986.
Needless to say, I have a lot to say about the eight episodes I've seen -- and I'm going to do so as spoiler-free as possible. Still, if you want to avoid any details about the show, I advise you to tread lightly.
Read more: Hulu to Fully Combine With Disney Plus and Expand Globally: What We Know
FX Networks
Alien: Earth does something no other installment of the franchise has dared to do: It puts the majority of the story on Earth. The year is 2120, just two years before Ellen Ripley's (Weaver) fight for survival takes place on the Nostromo.
In this world, five tech corporations govern the people: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. Up until now, we've only heard of Weyland-Yutani. Adding the other companies to the mix and exploring their political conflicts and fight for power opens up the story and broadens things a bit from the usual monster-versus-innocent-crew-members formula we've come to expect from an Alien story.
Timothy Olyphant plays an aging synthetic named Kirsh in Alien: Earth.
FX Networks
The Xenomorph is still very much the focal point of the series, don't get me wrong. However, Alien: Earth introduces a few new concepts to the mix: Cyborgs (humans augmented with machine parts), hybrids (synthetic bodies controlled by human consciousness) and a collection of insidious space insects that add new horrors besides the face-hugging variety.
You can't really replicate the initial shock that audiences felt after watching Alien for the first time. Sure, a chest-bursting sequence in an Alien movie can be unsettling to watch. But these gruesome scenes are expected and have become formulaic. Hawley knows this and that's why he and his team brought an assortment of creepy-crawlies to the mix.
The result is gross and gory; the inclusion of these space bugs delivers a collection of body horror sequences that left me, more than once, shouting in disgust at the TV. That's high praise coming from me.
Babou Ceesay plays Morrow, a cyborg security officer employed by Weyland-Yutani in Alien: Earth.
FX Networks
Building an original world such as this is only as enthralling as the characters who populate it and the talent slate really delivers the emotional stakes on all accounts. While Timothy Olyphant is the biggest name on the call sheet, each of the main players -- Sydney Chandler (who plays Wendy), Alex Lawther (who plays Hermit), Samuel Blenkin (who plays Boy Kavalier) and Babou Ceesay (who plays Morrow) -- delivers tenfold.
Audiences have never seen Olyphant play a character like the synthetic Kirsh. He's enigmatic in his stillness and leaves you regularly guessing whose side he is on. As wonderful as he is, it's Chandler who carries the show. Wendy is the emotional entry point for the audience and probably the most complex of all the characters.
She is also an advanced synthetic human infused with the consciousness of a child. Her youthful discovery of the world around her bumps up against her newfound responsibility to Prodigy, the company in charge of her synth existence. She strives to reconcile her human identity of the past while trying to make sense of her technological one of the present. Yeesh, talk about an identity crisis.
The Alien franchise has regularly pondered whether humanity deserves to survive. The series asks the same question, whether it's in the face of the alien invaders or the corporatations bending the understanding of what it even means to be human.
Sydney Chandler stars as Wendy, an experimental synth, in Alien: Earth.
FX Networks
Transhumanism, mortality, corporate control and the perils of unchecked technological advancements are some of the heady themes explored here. As big as some of these creative swings get, you shouldn't worry: aliens are still killing people.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Stylistically, Alien: Earth regularly references the first two Alien movies. That said, there is ample room to create something new and explore uncharted ground in the process. And the show does just that. The result is a program that is grand in scope, and while familiar visuals and aesthetics are featured throughout, Alien: Earth is delightfully different.
This brings me to the Xenomorph. I'm not sure how practical the effects are in reference to the iconic creature (it's clear in some scenes that there's a person inside of a costume), but there are shots featured throughout the show that present the monster in a unique perspective, unlike anything I've seen before. And instead of waiting multiple episodes before the big bad is revealed, it's set loose in the pilot episode.
Through his TV work with Fargo and Legion, Noah Hawley has established a tone and flavor for his projects, and that offbeat energy can most definitely be found here. His fingerprints are all over this show (he even makes an on-screen cameo), and this is mostly a good thing.
That said, if I were to really nitpick, it'd be the slow-burn pacing featured throughout the season that I'd take issue with. Still, that's a minor flaw to me, which is totally made up for with every banging needle drop that closes out each episode.
It's probably evident that I am a huge Alien fan. I get the references and smile every time I see a style note or referential homage. That said, the show is surprisingly low on Easter eggs, which is great. It respects and honors what came before it without getting lost in the minutiae. Alien: Earth has equal appeal to newbies who have never seen an Alien movie and die-hard franchise fanatics like myself.
Sydney Chandler plays Wendy in FX's Alien: Earth on Hulu.
FX Networks
I can honestly say this series is unlike anything I've seen in the Alien universe. It's familiar while also being new; it's different without being destructive to the lore. Alien fans have trudged through one disappointing movie after another to get here. Alien: Earth is a win, and I'm ecstatic. You could even say my chest is bursting with joy. It only took four decades to get here. I guess good things really do come to those who wait.