Alien: Earth has endeavored to expand the Alien franchise’s lore into a compelling TV prequel series – and seems to be succeeding at it in a big way. However, the first two episodes of the show focused on world-building, as well as the new technological wonders and biological terrors fans are being introduced to; in Episode 3, showrunner Noah Hawley brought the focus right back to the core lore of the franchise: the xenomorphs. And, not surprisingly, Hawley found a way to take a part of xenomorph lore fans have never gotten to experience onscreen and use it to give us a whole new set of nightmares to deal with.
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Alien: Earth Reveals The First Inside Look At Xenomorph Infection
In Alien: Earth Episode 3 “Metamorphosis”, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and her brother, Private Hermit (Alex Lawther) find themselves cornered by a xenomorph drone and have to battle it to the death. Both man and hybrid end up severely injured, but ultimately victorious in killing the beast; however, the loss of the potential bio-weapon discovery of the century doesn’t sit well with Prodigy corporation owner, Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin).
Back at Prodigy’s Neverland research facility, Boy has his synthetic assistant Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) secretly engineer the “birth” of a new xenomorph, using the materials on hand. They take Hermit’s injured lung and store it in a vial of liquid, keeping it functioning through life support; next, Kirsh and some of the hybrids surgically remove a facehugger from an egg, restrain it, and remove the xenomorph embryo from the parasite. That’s where Alien: Earth delivers a milestone first for the franchise.
Xenomorph Larvae Are Alive (And Vicious)
The biggest (and still best) trick that Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) plays is getting the viewer to relax before delivering one of the biggest scares in the history of cinema. The facehugger that leaps onto the face of executive officer Kane (John Hurt) sparked all sorts of dread; when Kane miraculously recovers, and the parasite is found dead, all seems safe and well again – that is until the Chestburster pops out of the man’s chest in the middle of dinner, and the true terror of Alien begins. Since then, the series has shown us numerous cases of doomed victims being taken down and infected by facehuggers – but only Alien: Earth provides an insider look at the process.
By having Hermit’s lung suspended in a liquid-filled vial, it’s easy for Kirsh and the Lost Boys to observe the xenomorph larva extracted from the facehugger. As the larva hits the liquid, it comes alive, swimming like a small tadpole. When it senses a live organ nearby, it makes a shark-like swerve and attacks, burrowing itself inside the folds of flesh, where it will gestate and grow.
For longtime Alien fans, this scene is a milestone: it confirms that a xenomorph is consciously aware and parasitically feral even at the larva stage of its existence. It also makes the entire facehugger process more disturbing, knowing that the first parasite doesn’t fully implant the larva, but instead shoots out a second parasitic organism, which eats its way into your body, before eventually breaking back out. Thank god you sleep through most of it.
Alien: Earth is streaming on FX-Hulu.
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