‘Alien: Earth’ was the best thing I streamed this week
‘Alien: Earth’ was the best thing I streamed this week
The series is dark, gory, and its social commentary is all-too-relevant to modern issues, despite its futuristic setting.
It’s hard for any TV series to live up to pre-release hype, and if that show is set in an established franchise, it becomes all the more difficult. That means the deck was double-stacked against “Alien: Earth,” which dropped its first two episodes on Tuesday, Aug. 12. Despite the disadvantage, in my view the show more than lived up to the lofty expectations set by word-of-mouth before its release; in fact, “Alien: Earth” was my favorite stream of the week.
“Alien: Earth” is set in the year 2120, on an Earth that has been split between five major companies. The planet is populated by humans, as well as cybernetically enhanced people called cyborgs, and artificially intelligent synthetic beings called Synths. New on the scene are Hybrids, beings created by Prodigy Corporation that carry human consciousness inside synthetic bodies.
These hybrids are a brand-new experiment in immortality, and the program transfers the consciousness of terminally ill children into powerful, advanced, and adult synthetic bodies. But as Prodigy grapples with the success of its program to transfer human consciousness into artificial bodies, a Weyland-Yutani deep space vessel crashes into the company’s capital city — and as you can probably guess, that ship is filled with fearsome creatures captured in the vessel’s 65-year mission.
I absolutely loved the first two episodes of “Alien: Earth.” Showrunner Noah Hawley knows how to immerse viewers immediately in the “Alien” cinematic universe, with visual and sound-effect callbacks aplenty. One thing I always appreciated about the “Alien” franchise was the gritty, less-than-idealistic look at the future of humanity that is all too rare in another of my favorite sci-fi franchises, “Star Trek.”
Watch a trailer for ‘Alien: Earth’:
As per usual with Hawley’s shows, however, it’s the characters that are truly compelling for me in “Alien: Earth.” At the heart of the show is the group of hybrids created by Prodigy and its wealthy, ambivalent CEO Boy Kavalier, who reveals he made this leap in technology in the name of having someone intelligent to talk to, as opposed to making the effort in the name of advancing mankind.
These hybrids are led by Wendy (Sydney Chandler), the first hybrid to have her consciousness transferred. Although they’re in adult bodies, the hybrids are still mentally children, and use adolescent speech and behavior to continually remind the audience of this fact. When the hybrids are sent to the crash site to help rescue survivors, their childlike banter and joking constantly remind viewers of their youth, and the sheer tragedy involved in sending such naive beings into an emergency by their creator just to see if they can do it.
The series doesn’t hand things to its audience, either. Its themes are embedded in philosophical conversations between the hybrids and their esoteric leader Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), a Synth who chides them when they show fear that they are no longer human. “Alien: Earth” forces viewers to pay attention not just to the words being spoken, but the meaningful glances between characters, requiring the performances to be absolutely spot-on — which I’m happy to report, they are.
All throughout the first two episodes, the show’s commentary on unfettered capitalism is difficult to ignore. That’s by design, of course; the “Alien” movies have always shared the theme of humanity being cast aside in favor of gain by corporations, and I’m glad to see that theme is front-and-center in the series.
It must be pointed out that the show looks absolutely gorgeous, as well. Hawley and his fellow directors choose their shots with care, and the set decoration and costumes are completely immersive, helping transport the viewer into the future in a way that could have been pulled off very clumsily by a lesser crew.
Of course, no “Alien” project would be complete without the gore. “Alien: Earth” doesn’t pull any punches in this regard, but even these scenes are woven with symbolism; for example, in the second episode, a wealthy group of partiers are disemboweled by the classic Xenomorph who refuse to leave a structurally compromised building, convinced that if there was a real problem, the Prodigy CEO himself would tell them to evacuate.
The deft commentary, incredible acting, and elite showrunning on display in “Alien: Earth” make the show not just one of my favorite streams of the week, but of the entire year. Viewers can stream new episodes of the show each week on Hulu on Tuesday evenings, or catch it on FX at 8 p.m. ET on the same day.
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