Warning! Spoilers ahead for Alien: Earth season 1, episode 3, “Metamorphosis!”
Alien: Earthepisode 3, “Metamorphosis,” doesn’t waste a second before throwing us right back into the heat of the action. After leaving off on the cliffhanger of Hermit being snatched by the Xenomorph and Wendy diving after them, the episode wraps up the loose ends of the two-part premiere, paving the way for the thrust of the season. The crash, arrival of the Xenomorph on Earth, and creation of the Lost Boys were thrilling inciting incidents, but “Metamorphosis” seesAlien: Earthtake its first steps toward its future.
Alien: Earthepisodes 1 and 2were a strong extended premiere for the new addition to the franchise, and the series has already accomplished a lot in terms of exposition and world-building. While the story’s world is intriguing enough to make these structural necessities exciting, “Metamorphosis” gets to take a breath and let the audience sit with the characters and their motivations. Additionally, the Xenomorph might be the most familiar species hidden away in the Boy Kavalier’s island bunker, but there are plenty of new creatures and characters that could surprise us asAlien: Earthasserts its TV identity.
Alien: Earth Invests In Its Ensemble Cast In “Metamorphosis”
While Engaging With What The Xenomorph’s Arrival Will Mean
I appreciated that the Wendy-Hermit arc was given some breathing room. I like watching Chandler, and the emotional bond between the siblings will likely play a pivotal role in Wendy’s evolving identity as a human and her inevitable conflict with the Boy Kavalier. However, spending the majority of episode 3 learning more about our ensemble simultaneously gives us a much-needed break in the gory tension and opens the door for me to invest in the wider world.
Moving away from the massive set piece of the crashed spaceship,Alien: Earthreturns to the no less impressive and sprawling sets of the Prodigy island, Neverland. One thing that will never get old is the sheer scale, budget, and resources allocated to the series, as it dazzles us with every aspect of its production value. It might feel a little silly to praise the score when there’s so much plot to dissect, but without the top-notch music and gorgeous visual language, it wouldn’t be the same.
Alien: Earthnavigates the classic episode 3 slump by maintaining the momentum through the culmination of Wendy’s battle with the Xenomorph. After this, it feels like a relief to dig into the psyches of the Lost Boys and get to see the Boy Kavalier’s intellectual greed in action. Samuel Blenkin successfully walks the line between charisma and repulsiveness as the Boy Kavalier, and it helps that the character is the vessel for some ofAlien: Earth’s best one-liners.
However, without Blenkin’s delivery, the monologues about the imagination and potential of children and their genius could get a little self-serious. When it comes to the children, “Metamorphosis” takes us through the different ways the Lost Boys are handling their transitions, from Nibs getting on the on-ramp for a mental breakdown to Curly’s thrilled anticipation of heralding the next phase of human evolution. Erana James' Curly was a standout this week, proving to be the most interesting of the hybrids.
Wendy might be our emotional anchor, but this means she’ll constantly be toeing the line of protagonist syndrome. Her desperate desire to find her brother and do good serves an important narrative purpose, but I can already feel myself growing tired of this. However, the confusing but intriguing bond she appears to share with the Xenomorphs might yet save Wendy’s character from being too one-note. How Hermit will grapple with the lasting effects of his sister’s transformation isn’t part of the episode but it’s certainly just around the corner.
Alien: Earthhas easily distinguished itself from the movies and is exploring the potential of the synthetic versus Xenomorph conflict effectively. But even with this twist, we can see the end of this story from a mile away; this is one of the few flaws in theAlien franchise. Humans will throw caution to the wind and feed their own egos at their peril, and the Xenomorph will escape. Or, at least, this is what the story is circling. Only time will tell howAlien: Earthwill find new ways to surprise us, and I’m fairly confident it will.
Alien: Earth Continues Posing Questions, But I Trust The Show To Provide Satisfying Answers
There’s A Lot To Unpack In Alien: Earth, But The World Makes It Easy To Care About The Story
What I’m most interested in as we transition to the meat of the action is similar to the questions Curly poses to the Boy Kavalier: What’s special about Wendy? Yes, she’s the first of the batch, and it’s likely that the Boy put some extra-special features inside her that we’re not yet privy to, but why can she hear the Xenomorphs better than anyone? What connection to the aliens could be visceral enough to short-circuit the carefully crafted wires of her brain? Additionally, what, other than plot armor, was saving Hermit when the alien took him?
Thus far, I’m less plagued by these questions than excited to discover howAlien: Earthwill answer them. My concerns about the series' trajectory aren’t overwhelming, and as we get attached to the characters and their arcs, I’m ready and willing to see how the show will further connect the many plot threads it’s woven, all packed with potential.Alien: Earthremains as ambitious as ever throughout the new installment, and plants the seeds for plenty more Xenomorph action to come, as the humans make the same mistakes they always have and always will.
Alien: Earthairs weekly each Tuesday at 8 PM EST on FX and Hulu.
