Spoilers Alien: Earth Spoiler Thread

[Ruin Explorer]

The cyborg with the hook hand, sorry I mean the blow torch.

Oooooh man how did I miss that. But yes there's another. Which begs the question, if the Xenomorph is metaphorically the "Bear", which alien is metaphorically the "Crocodile" and as such will eat him?

don't get why the Lost Boys and the Cyborgs should have that degree of super-strength/durability, which fits neither with the depiction of Ash nor with that of Bishop or call.

So I think there's potentially a very good reason for that, and the show actually explains at least part of it already.

Ash and Call are industrial/corporate-grade slave-androids. Designed to be mass-produced and sold at non-insane prices to industrial, military, corporate and so on consumers. There is literally no reason to make them any more capable than necessary to their jobs, because it'd just make them more expensive to produce. Like, all cars could have the performance of a Bugatti Veyron or a Rimac Nevera (the electric car equivalent thereof), but they don't because it make them impossibly expensive and who even needs that kind of performance?

Whereas The Lost Boys are explicitly ultra-expensive (they explain this more than once) and explicitly designed to far-superhuman (explain at length by Peter Pan Boy Kavalier) because he wants to be friends with superior beings (or so he says/thinks), and they're also designed to be the future bodies of the ultra-ultra-ultra-rich (currently they can only fit the minds of children, but the long-term goal is presumably, after they work out the kinks, they make a second gen who can upload people like Kavalier himself).

So that is easily explained, frankly, there's nothing confusing about that if you stop and think about it for a while - and I'm not criticising you for not doing that but the logic is obvious once you do.

Re: the cyborg, he's an elite Weyland-Yutani agent, designed seemingly specifically for combat/survival and as such as has probably had insane amounts of money spent on him, so similar logic applies. He may also have been a technological dead-end, or considered to be a failure/not worth the money, which might explain why we didn't see more like him later.

The more difficult question is how the creepy android from the ship (who I note we haven't seen again, and surely will, as we also haven't seen his body) and the cyborg were as fancy as they were given they presumably boarded the Maginot in 2055, and we're now in 2120, and technology seemingly didn't move on. But I can't rule out potential explanations for that (see the spoiler block in my earlier post). But the Lost Boys/Cyborg being wildly more capable than Ash/Call/etc. makes perfect sense when you think about their origins, purposes and costs.

We also don't know how durable the Lost Boys are. It could be that the first time one tries to fist-fight the Xenomorph it gets immediately ripped to pieces (look what the Xenomorph does to steel doors and concrete walls and the like). or manages to kill the Xenomorph but is immediately melted by the acid blood.

What I don’t understand is why Wendy is so much more advanced than the rest ?

I don't think she's more technologically advanced if that's the question.

But she has been an android for potentially months longer than the rest, and seems like she was already a more active and curious person than most of the rest, so probably has a better grasp on her abilities. She also has much more motivation to use them - the rest of them sort of just like to hang out - whereas she wants to stalk her big bro and so on. So I think it's all personality and experience.

Slightly explicitly says all the Lost Boys are super-fast and super-strong note, but clearly has a more reticent personality. Smee is just a chill dude who likes to hang around and make fart jokes. Nibs is terrified and wants to go home. Curly seems like a rules-follower/hall monitor but has the least defined personality so far. Toodles seems like possible psycho, we shall see.

I'm convinced that the whole bioweapons project simply got lost in between the red tape beween the two movies - it's the only logical explanation.

That seems pretty plausible.

Also given Earth is still there in Ripley's time (even in Aliens), and the Xenomorph etc. is still under wraps, one has to presume this show ends with some kind of nuclear or even anti-matter blast or similar. A bigger question is whether the Hybrids survived, and what happened to Prodigy and its technologies? Nothing good I suspect.

Also, why do they send in all of the Lost Boys? Why not Kirsh, Wendy and a few special forces? Why put all your precious eggs in one basket that might explode any minute?

I'm sorry have you seen the decision-making skills of certain billionaires in the real world?

Like, 10 years ago even, I'd have made the same objection.

But now? No. These people have proven that at least a good proportion of them are actively less sane than and more prone to bad decision-making than like, average people, presumably because of surrounding themselves with Yes Men, never having to worry about consequences ever again (except from other billionaires or similar), and having infinite access to... substances. There are at least two high-end billionaires right now basically operating on the "trailer park meth head" level of reasoning, because they don't have to worry about anything ever except their own egos and desires.

Will trillionaires be saner or less sane? Because I'm going with even less sane.

I mean Kirsh (I think, or Atom Ein) literally says "Let's not take all the Lost Boys", and gets overruled by Kavalier - a very "cavalier" action! < waggles eyebrows >

(Also I think Kavalier is essentially indulging his ego and building his self-image with his claims re: wanting to speak to a superior being - I don't think that's truly a major goal for him, it's more about how he wants to think about himself, as a sort of a humble spiritual yearner for divine wisdom . I think his actual underlying goal is to test the Lost Boy program out and be ready for a next generation where he gets to be one of them (after all, he sees himself as Peter Pan, leader of the Lost Boys, and didn't call any of them Peter), and if these ones all get trashed, oh well, he can make more. Sure Kirsh and Atom and so on will wince at the tens of billions lost, but it can be learned from.)

 

[wicked cool]

Here's my tentative thought on this- in the second episode, there is a conversation (with Boy Genius) where they refer to the fact that they have given her a supercomputer (he wants someone he can talk to, yada yada). It's not stated directly, but given what appears to be her defining and advanced abilities, I would say that-
a. She has more processing power (aka, a supercomputer? of some kind) than the others.
b. Based on the other scene, there are also guards in place that they lifted for her and haven't for the others (which is why she can go through security footage- but because she is so advanced, she already learned to hack the system).

Now, with that out of the way... my review!

Let me start with my overall review- I like it. I want to love it, but I haven't gotten there yet (full explanation below). But I definitely recommend it. Based on what I've seen, I think I might love it, but the first two episodes are very much "laying the groundwork" and setting the scene, and limited in scope (it's basically three areas- the Maginot, Neverland, and the Apartment Complex/Maginot). I assume it will be greatly expanded. If the whole series is just "aliens in an apartment complex," (which I assume is not the case) then I will be greatly disappointed.

I love Noah Hawley. I think that Legion is one of the inventive and underappreciated shows of the Prestige TV era. I think that Fargo is amazing, because it isn't a riff are a reboot of Fargo- it's really a riff on the Coen Brothers, and while different seasons have different strengths and weaknesses, I love them all. As soon as I heard he was doing A:E, I was all in.

So here's my very tentative thoughts, based just on the premiere (first two episodes).

I love the premise. I love the quick subversion of expectations (you start with the Maginot and the whole cast of characters which is so reminiscent of you know what, and ... welp, hope you didn't get attached to them).

I love the expansion of Alien lore that feels absolutely true to everything we've learned about this world... while also significantly broadening it. Too often, when lore is broadened it can feel like it's just retcons and things that don't make sense. Not here- it genuinely feels like we are learning more about corporate control, and Weyland Yutani, and the role of synths, while making the world feel so much bigger (five corporations, synths, cyborgs, and ... the new hybrids, etc.). The glimpses of future earth feel real and gritty, without grasping at tired urban noir Bladerunner tropes (but see below). The single alien feels incredibly dangerous, as it should be (and as repeatedly shown ... is). And the new aliens feel genuinely alien and frightening without overshadowing THE ALIEN.

Next, based on his work in Fargo and what I've seen here, I'd argue that Hawley isn't just riffing on Alien (although he obviously is!). He's riffing on Ridley Scott. Sure, he's using all of our Alien knowledge to engage us (and, of course, to subvert those expectations... again, love the Maginot setup). But you'd have to be dead, dumb, and blind to not notice that he's also riffing on that other Ridley Scott movie. From the opening crawl (Corporations are battling for control through ... Synths (non-humans), Cyborgs (humans with machine supplements), and Hybrids (synths with a human consciousness) to ... well, what, um Timothy Synthyphant (great hair!) is literally telling us (humans are food, bruh), this series looks like it's really going to be examining the themes of the other Ridley Scott movie in the Alien universe.

Which I am totally down for. In other words .... the conversation between Dr. Mom and Boy Genius- I think that is really a preview of the thematic weight of the series. Or, put another way, even if Wendy has all the memories of the Medic's sister, is she really his sister?

Or maybe not. Maybe it will just be more aliens chomping on stuff.


The biggest drawback? I'd have to say that while I think the visuals and editing have been perfectly fine, and sometimes excellent, nothing in the first two episodes strikes me as having that true flair that I associate with the projects of Noah Hawley. The closest was probably the Peter Pan visual for the transfer. My high expectations keep me from loving it, and I don't know if it can deliver on what it's laying down - it's going to be hard to continue striking a balance between horror, action, and exploration of consciousness and role of humanity - but I am optimistic and enjoyed the first two episodes.

It would be a wow moment if they faked the memories
Wendy is smarter but also appears to have more courage and based on the sword combat ability. Curious if the others will get the super human reflexes as well

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It would be a wow moment if they faked the memories

That's not it. It's not faked the memory. Go back to the conversation between Dr. Mom and Boy Genius (as well as the earlier argument between Dr. Mom and Timothy Synthyphant (about the protocols). What does it mean to be a human? Just because Wendy has Marcy's memories ... does that make her Marcy? Does that make her human? What does it mean if you put an 11 year old child's memories in a synth... a synth that has artificial emotions that can be dialled up and down?

In other words, it's not about faking the memories. It's about whether the "protocols" allow the hybrid to continue progressing in the same way ... in a human way. Is Wendy Marcy? Or is Wendy just a synth that happens to have Marcy's memories? What, if anything, is the difference?

Something tells me that this will matter.

Wendy is smarter but also appears to have more courage and based on the sword combat ability. Curious if the others will get the super human reflexes as well

I believe that they all have the same synth bodies (capabilities) AFAIK. I think it's an open question as to whether Wendy has enhanced mental capacities (the supercomputer) and the other Lost Boys do not, or if they simply have taken down Wendy's guard.

Also, I don't think they have clarified how long they had Wendy (training, etc.) before they transferred the other Lost Boys. It appears that Medic was much younger when Wendy was terminal and taken. So I think it's been years since the transfer. I may be wrong on that. But if that's the case, they may have been working with Wendy for a while (at least a year, and maybe several) prior to the other Lost Boys, so it would make sense why she is so much more developed- see also, she's the big sister, is seen in her own room with all its features while the others are always hanging out together and playing, etc.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It would be a wow moment if they faked the memories
Wendy is smarter but also appears to have more courage and based on the sword combat ability. Curious if the others will get the super human reflexes as well

I wouldn't assume Wendy has any knowledge of how to sword-fight beyond what you'd expect from a twelve-year-old kid.

Like, you were a kid, right? You might well have picked up a sword if you were going on what you saw as an "adventure" when you were 12, right? I might have. Did either of us actually know how to sword-fight? I sure didn't!

She is superhumanly fast and strong though so I suspect anything on the wrong end of the sword may be unhappy, even if she uses it sloppily.

She definitely has more courage, that's right, but that was true before she became an android too - I think it's part of why Kavalier picked her as the first. Imagine if Nibs had been the first! I think she might have managed to convince some of the kids to just die instead of being uploaded!

Curious if the others will get the super human reflexes as well

Nibs moved extremely fast to block the evil octopus heading for her face and Smee moved fast to find a box and successfully slam it down over the octopus once she hurled it away so I suspect they have them, just a question of whether they've practiced using them, or are motivated to use them.