Alien: Earth is currently the highest rated Alien franchise release in history and yes, that includes both the original Alien and Aliens, both of which are some of the most classic sci-fi films ever.
I may have agreed with that in the first few episodes of Alien: Earth, or even halfway through the season. But by the end there, I really think things went off the rails, and that happened because of one character in particular. I think you can guess.
I was a little surprised to see that the hybrids were in bodies that would have almost comically super strength, though with the tech inside them, that makes a certain amount of sense. Only Wendy, and later Nibs, ever really used that strength, but eventually, things went well beyond that.
Wendy is “special” for reasons that are never remotely explained. She’s the first hybrid, sure, but it’s not clear why she’s so much different or more powerful than the others. Maybe she’s just come into her powers more quickly (again, almost none of the others even use their strength), but by the end we have:
- Wendy being able to control the entire network on the island, including all security systems and cameras.
- That extending to Wendy even being able to control Boy K’s “father” synth, making him freeze or do what she wants, because he’s on the network.
- But early on she’s also able to push herself off network to communicate with her brother, briefly, indicating that ability could extend beyond that.
- Then there’s her connection with at least one xenomorph, turning the most terrifying, central beast of the franchise into her personal attack dog.
That last bit is the most frustrating one, as there’s nothing really even close to an explanation for that ability this season. There’s nothing about being a hybrid at baseline that suggests that alone would allow this to happen. It’s also not as simple as her intelligence figuring out their language, as it’s not just that, it is total control over the xenomorph. Controlling technology on the network is one thing, and albeit overpowered, makes some amount of sense, I suppose, but this? It’s frustrating.
This just removes stakes from the entire story. The most absurd moment is Wendy just hanging out in the cell with her friends when we see her able to snap and just open it at will. When you have a character this powerful, where do you even go from here? The reference I always use in this situation goes all the way back to Peter Petrelli in Heroes, a character who was able to absorb and amass every power of every person he came across to the point where he was so ridiculously overpowered the show had to fix the script so he lost that ability. Will that happen to Wendy? I don’t know, but I’m not sure I want to see another season led by an immortal, all-powerful being with seemingly no weak points, except perhaps her love for her brother. That’s going to get boring quickly.
I have few problems with the rest of the show. I will forgive security idiocy with the monsters because at least that made for fun scenes. Since the xenomorph was relegated to Wendy’s pet, the acid flies, giant hungry flower and especially the eyeball monster were far more interesting. To me, the hero of the story is now the eyeball monster who has found a corpse to possess and maybe talk now! But Wendy? I’m kind of over her, given what she became.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.