<\/p>\n
Two recipients of high-tech, experimental second chances, Smee and Slightly, are bro-ing out over a handful of xenomorph eggs when they encounter Morrow, security officer of the crashed spaceship<\/a>, half of which is underground (a location Smee describes \u201ca dumbass place to put a spaceship\u201d). On top of being a fun sentence I get to write, it\u2019s a scene that instantly articulated what\u2019s so good about Noah Hawley\u2019s entire series.<\/p>\n Firstly, this scene, and this episode, push Morrow to the front in a more determined way, with Babou Ceesay letting a little bit of the madness bubbling under the cyborg\u2019s surface seep through. He\u2019s a terrifying<\/a> thing for the Lost Boys to encounter, but also, and this is the most important part of the scene, he\u2019s pretty cool.<\/p>\n Imagine being a preteen in a superhuman body, hanging out on a crashed spaceship with your new best friend, when a dude with a knife in his arm<\/a> comes at you, then leaves by leaping through a hole blown through the hull. How rad is that?!<\/p>\n The answer for anybody who\u2019s not been a preteen is, that\u2019s extremely<\/em> rad. The fact that Hawley and crew go out of their way to make sure that fascination stays on screen in Alien: Earth is part of why this story really works. The pure, simple relationship between Smee and Slightly on display here, from calling each other out for cussing, to the \u201cbro, check this out\u201d dynamic while they high kick over the xenomorph<\/a> eggs, is the beating heart of this show. It\u2019s not the most important thing going on plot-wise, not by a long shot, but little details like this are the difference between an uninteresting story and a textured and intriguing tale.<\/p>\n So yes, the xenomorphs look as cool as the familiar sets.<\/a> The filterless voices over their radio communications are also cool. There\u2019s even a split diopter shot (where figures in the foreground and background of a shot are both in focus at the same time) that\u2019s very<\/em> cool, but the best parts of this show can be seen when Morrow meets Smee and Slightly.<\/p>\n This is also why I was relieved to get out of the Maginot. Wendy and her brother Hermit have another close call with the xenomorph in a fight they barely win<\/a>, but this episode makes it clear that action stuff is not what we\u2019re here for. It\u2019s an utterly fine bit of action, but it\u2019s nowhere near as interesting as the questions being raised by these kids starting to find themselves. Curly puts herself in a competition to be Boy Kavelier\u2019s favorite, Nibs is clearly not handling her new life as a synthetic well and Tootles is overeager and determined to be a helpful scientist. And that\u2019s what this episode, very pointedly titled “Metamorphosis,” is about: moving their stories forward while setting their childishness against some truly harrowing moments lest we forget the Lost Boys were, until very recently, terminally ill children.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the episode introduces a little new lore to the franchise, while explicitly stating more. The tadpole stage of the xenomorph lifecycle makes its first appearance on screen, giving us a look at the gestational step between facehugger and chestburster<\/a>. It\u2019s a cute little thing that is apparently not too picky about lungs actually being in a person, or just floating in a jar being pumped artificially. That it\u2019s good with either is more evidence of just how sturdy and perfectly evolved for survival these creatures are.<\/p>\n Kirsh, in addition to being extra sassy in this episode, explicitly states that the eggs react to the presence of biological lifeforms. The franchise has gradually explained the perfect timing with which the eggs open around humans, from the blue light and fog<\/a> of the original, to Alien: Romulus<\/a>\u2019 contribution, but ultimately, these things stay scarier when they don\u2019t get explained. A space trucker should not<\/em> understand how these things work, so I honestly kind of dread whenever a proper scientist gets hold of one. Keeping the xenomorph shrouded in at least some mystery is better for all of us, which, speaking for myself, is why I honestly don\u2019t pay that much attention to the exposition.<\/p>\n I\u2019m here for the metal.<\/p>\nThe ‘bro, check this out’ high kicks over the xenomorph eggs, is the beating heart of this show.<\/h5>\n