Spoilers for Alien: Earth Episodes 1-3

I really want to like Alien: Earth, but I’ll admit, I’m struggling to get it. I might be going against the grain here. Its score on Rotten Tomatoes is currently very high, and some of those reviewers will, I assume, have seen the whole show. Perhaps it improves, but so far I’m underwhelmed.

It has potential. It’s full of creativity, and it’s (trying) to explore some interesting themes about the nature of humanity and corporate rule. The new alien ‘specimens’ that the show introduces (beyond the titular Xenomorph alien) are a particular standout; they’re pretty cool. But there’s something about the show generally that hasn’t clicked with me.

The show often seems, especially in episode 2, like two entirely different stories that have been awkwardly stitched together. One of those stories is about an alien loose on Earth within a crashed spaceship. The other is about the Lost Boys: a group of terminally ill children who’ve had their minds transferred into synthetic bodies by a corporation called Prodigy. They’re both interesting concepts and could both make for some great TV. But more work was needed to combine them.

A TV show that was solely about a group of dangerous alien creatures, lost in a collapsed and overcrowded apartment building, that multiple evil corporations were fighting over, could stand on its own. The addition of the Lost Boys arc only distracts from it.

Likewise, a show about evil trillionaires racing to become immortal with cyborgs, synths and the aforementioned hybrid Lost Boys could also be fascinating. In this context, the downed spaceship and alien roundup is the distraction.

I don’t doubt there’s a way to combine these concepts in a way that enhances both, but I don’t think the show has managed it. As it is, they’re just taking screen time from each other. The episodes aren’t long enough for both plots, and it ultimately leaves us with a host of characters we barely know and have no reason to care about.

Episode 3 is probably the best instalment so far and, notably, begins with a sudden resolution of the crashed apartment hunt, with the Xenomorph getting decapitated off-screen by the main character, who suffers only partial and temporary damage in the process (more on that later). A large portion of the episode is then spent developing the lost boys. In other words, it puts one of the storylines on hold (largely) whilst developing the other. And it’s all the better for it.

Now I don’t want to hate on the show, and I’m not giving up on it just yet. Episode 3 was a definite improvement over episode 2, and it will hopefully keep improving. But I do have my doubts. Even beyond the unrelated storylines, there are some glaring issues. Especially with the show’s horror credentials.

I’ve seen the show described as terrifying and a great horror, but I’m not sure I agree. There’s definitely gore, but it’s not scary. The opening scenes of episode 1 featured parts of a great horror movie (albeit one identical to the original Alien), but only had brief flashes of it. Episode 2, meanwhile, is just gore; the Xenomorph tears apart entire rooms of people (usually offscreen). There’s nothing scary about it, though. The characters who die are very clearly introduced for that sole purpose.

In the original Alien movie, Ripley is not initially the main character. The film makes sure to introduce the crew and then, one by one, kills them all off. Ripley is ultimately just the last survivor. It makes for a terrifying film in large part because we, A, know the characters and see their emotions and, B, know that any of them could die.

But Alien: Earth always precedes the gory scenes by introducing a new host of unnamed characters. The new characters, whom the audience has no connection to, are then killed whilst the protagonists survive. To my mind, the fact that the Xenomorph can only kill extras undermines any horror credentials and simultaneously highlights the protagonist’s plot armour.

In episode 3, they even have the Xenomorph throw a lead character across a room, which is always a sign that the creators want the villain/threat to seem like a danger to the character without actually being a danger to the character. Moreover, the fact that, due to the unrelated plots, we don’t even know the main characters very well, further undermines the fear factor. Why should we care?

The closest the show has come to horror, I think, was the two soldiers who got tied up and then killed by an alien bug. It was creepy and unsettling. Again, the new alien creatures and specimens are a highlight of the show. But that scene worked in part because it focused on the soldiers’ reactions, as they gradually realised what was happening.

On top of all that, the show has made the Alien itself into less of a threat; there are moments in which human technology is shown to negate it. In episode 2, for instance, the cyborg character captures the Xenomorph with a stun gun. It quickly escapes, to be sure, but only because some soldiers inadvertently released it. Later, as mentioned above, the main character decapitates it with a paper trimmer while suffering only temporary damage.

If the robots, cyborgs and synths can deal with the Xenomorphs so easily, and human weaponry is so effective, I’m not sure why the Xenomorphs are regarded as a massive problem by them. In the next episode, there will probably be more Xenomorphs loose on the high-tech island where Prodigy is based. But given they can’t escape the island, and there’s a ton of robots and synths available to catch them, it doesn’t seem like a high-stakes situation.

Regardless, those are my main issues with the show. I could also mention the baffling decisions of the self-proclaimed genius CEO of Prodigy, but I’m actually okay with that. I think his obvious incompetence is intentional and will play into the story.

I’m not trying to be overly negative here. I do want to like the show, and it may well improve. It does have some interesting ideas and concepts in play. But, so far, they haven’t come together, and the result is a slightly convoluted mess. Their unwillingness to kill off characters, meanwhile, undermines any fear factor the show might have had. Still, it’s not over yet.

-Dexter