I am a slavering franchise fan, down to having played the video games and tabletop RPG, read the comics and novels, watched all the behind-the-scenes, director’s cuts, assembly cuts, etc, and still own action figures. The idea of a television show based on the franchise seemed questionable, but the talent behind it, Noah Hawley has never disappointed. So I withheld judgement although each trailer and snippet stoked my anticipation. The RPG, Isolation and Romulus gave me fresh hope for the IP, so once Alien: Earth dropped, it became my weekly mandatory viewing.
This started strong and stayed that way for about five of its eight episodes. Not that there aren’t justified complaints throughout. It suffers from many of the Alien franchise's hallmark issues. Supposedly smart people doing dumb things: check. In fact, there are several moments where it is lampshaded and deliberate. Weird pacing? Yes. Pretentious ambition? Oh absolutely. The writing definitely aspires for bigger themes than it can deliver. Sci-fi questions about the nature of consciousness, corporate malfeasance, the exploitation of the natural world? Yup. Body horror and slimy things? Doubly, nay triply checked. These are not the problem.
Humans are the problem. This also extends to Cyborgs and Hybrids, which the show defines through opening scrawl. Synthetics seem to actually get the best representation. Timothy Olyphant gives what might be my favorite performance of last year, each movement and mannerism measured and maximized for optimal delivery. There’s so much happening behind his polite exterior that this performance is worth the price of admission alone.
Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are hit or miss. The premise of sticking a child's consciousness into an artificial body is a fascinating one, and the actors do a credible job in playing it, but the Peter Pan motif wears quickly. It is also one of the points that stretches credulity to breaking. The idea of letting super-powered children simply wander around unsupervised does seem like a glaring oversight. The supposedly boy-genius character is annoying to the point of frustration, not just to viewers but to every other character in the series.
The worst the series has to offer is bad writing and convoluted motivations; the best thing the series has to offer is stepping away from the Xenomorph and introducing new species. And here the series absolutely does not disappoint, introducing four additional creepy things that each has their own immediate place and presence in the universe going forward. T. Ocellus needs to be a plush toy immediately. If Disney had any sense, they would be pumping those out like Baby Yoda merch.
Lore purists might rail against changes to the universe, but considering the franchise lows, this seems a nitpick. The alien itself suffers quite a bit in this series, from strange design choices to an absolute lack of dignity. It retains a lot of the ‘man in a suit’ movement and feel, and is not as dynamic as we’ve seen in other media. It looks far more rubbery than the sleek and sexy biomechanical nightmare Giger introduced. By the end, the Xenomorph is treated like a pet as the writing takes a nosedive. The best characters are short-changed, the worst are given more screen time, the payoff for the big questions never arrives, and the season ends on multiple cliffhangers.
Whether or not the series can redeem itself in a second season remains to be seen. I will tune in, but with tempered expectations and the hope that much of what’s been presented is setup for something better.