Episode 4 of Alien Earth was a bit different from what we have been getting so far, its titled "Observation" and that pretty much sums up what this episode was all about, everyone watching everyone else and trying to figure out who is playing what game, it turn out way better than any other episode so far and I hope the series just keeps climbing. Episode 4 is not action packed as previous episodes, this one slowed things down quite a bit, focusing more on the psychological stuff and character relationships rather than Xenomorphs running around killing people, there were moments where I was waiting for something big to happen but this episode was more about setting up pieces on the chess board for what I think will be some major problems later on, specially with the Lost Boys who are starting to go off rails and breaking direction or indirectly most of the rules, specially no external contact but lets face it Wendy started this party when she contact her brother, now she is different, she is special and thats started to create friction long time ago although she doesnt seem to be affected by this.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13623632/
- Platform: HULU
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The series starrts to explore more Wendy's abilities to communicate with the aliens, Boy Cavaliere was flipping and absolutely obsessed with this discovery and you can tell he thinks has found the key to everything he has been searching for, a superior species to talk to and revolutionize the era they living in. It would be just easier if she started to talk to the Xenomorphs but they didnt handle it this way, it was interesting they put some stones in the way to build up more drama and thats good, Wendy can actually make the same sounds that the Xenomorphs use to communicate and its not just some random noise, its happening across multiple frequencies which shows these creatures are way more advanced than anyone realized. The scene where she practices making these alien sounds was both fascinating and creepy as hell, watching everyone in the room get uncomfortable when she pulls it off perfectly. Boy Cavaliere gets so excited about this breakthrough that he basically dismisses everything else, including Curly who was trying so hard to be his favorite but now realizes she has zero chance against Wendys new abilities, he even put her down saying "yeah you can talk French but can you do this..." that was a low blow but thats reality too. Meanwhile Kirsh is watching all this unfold and you can tell hes planning something, Timothy Olyphant does this cold calculating thing so well that you know hes up to no good, the guy knows about Morrow manipulating Slightly and hes just letting it play out for reasons we dont fully understand yet, my first impression is that he will handle this in favor of Boy Cavaliere but Im not so sure of that, although after all Kirsh do follow orders.
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The whole subplot with the five corporations was probably my favorite part of the episode because it finally gives us some context about how this world actually works, turns out governments dont exist anymore and these five massive companies basically run everything now. Prodigy, Wyland Yutani, Threshold, Dynamic and Lynch have apparently fixed all the worlds problems by taking over, which sounds like corporate propaganda but its cool to see how they are expanding the Alien universe with this kind of world building. Joe explains how democracy used to be a thing where people voted for leaders but that didnt work out so these corporations stepped in, the way they present it makes it sound like a good thing but you know theres gotta be a dark side to all this control. They also made very clear that prodigy and Lynch were the new kids on the block, joining what used to be a thing of three main companies now to make it five, which suggests there might be some tension between the older and newer companies that could play out later in the series exploding into this war between humans and who knows where does all this Aliens, because its not Xenomorphs anymore, where do they all fit into this hole situation, I bet Boy Cavaliere will try to use them in their favor and until now the franchise have set the idea that Drones only caught humans to reproduce themself but what about their motives and thoughts? are they that agresive by nature or fear? can they actually come to a middle ground? Wendy is key to all this.
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The situation with Morrow and Slightly really ramped up in this episode and its getting pretty dark, Morrow is basically grooming this kid and using his family as leverage which is just sick and you already now poor Joe is going to turn out to be the sacrifice to end this situation, well potentially, there are not many humans among them. After Slightly gives away his real name and tells Morrow hes from Ghana, Morrow immediately starts threatening his mother and brother back home, now Slightly has no choice but to help him steal one of the eggs or his family gets hurt. The whole thing is handled really well because it shows how someone with bad intentions can manipulate children, even super intelligent hybrid kids who should know better, Slightly is scared and desperate and making terrible decisions because hes trying to protect the people he loves. What makes it even worse is that Kirsh knows exactly whats happening, hes been monitoring everything Slightly sees and hears but instead of stopping it hes just watching like its some kind of experiment, and its also stupid from Morrow not imagening this could happen, he is a cyborg himself and nows this kids are a new kind of synthetic, its the kind of details the series just miss sometimes but I guess its fine. The scene where Kirsh talks to Slightly about the three monkeys and asks if he would stop someone from doing something wrong was chilling because you realize Kirsh might be testing him or maybe even planning to use this situation for his own purposes.
The episode ends with probably the most disturbing scene so far, Wendy going down to visit Joes lung in the tank where the xenomorph embryo has grown into a chest burster and somehow she can communicate with it and even calm it down enough to pet it. This whole sequence was nightmare fuel but also fascinating because it suggests Wendy might be able to control these creatures, I have been thinking this hole time since episode two that she can become their Queen of Blades doing a reference to Star Craft, which could be game changing for the series moving forward. The chest burster breaking through the lung tissue was gross but also showed us exactly what happens inside someones chest when they get face hugged, which was educational in the most horrifying way possible. Xenomorphs seem to have chosen Wendy specifically as their communication link, theres gotta be a reason why shes the only one who can do this and I have a feeling the explanation is going to be wild. The way she hums to the creature like a lullaby before it emerges was both beautiful and terrifying, showing this weird motherly connection that definitely sets up some interesting possibilities for future episodes. Overall this episode felt like a setup piece rather than a payoff episode but it did a good job of moving characters into position for what I expect will be some major chaos coming soon, the psychological elements and world building kept me engaged even when the action slowed down.
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