‘Alien: Earth’ Episode 4 Recap – An Uncharacteristically Dull Chapter

I’ve been a bit sceptical of Alien: Earth hinging so much of its drama on the idea of kids in adult bodies, but Episode 4, “Observation”, makes me think it might have been in service of one thing in particular. It’s like Noah Hawley saw that cute “Can I pet that dawg?” video and thought to himself, “What if we did that with a chestburster?” And thus, we have what I assume is going to be this show’s most fundamental hook.

The problem isn’t that this is a bad idea – it’s actually quite a good one. It’s that the episode properly introducing the concept, which was admittedly briefly teased already, commits one of the worst sins any piece of media can: It’s boring. And I mean dangerously, egregiously dull, isolated both geographically and thematically to Prodigy’s island, which has morphed into essentially a daycare centre while all the kids lounge around to be studied. But it feels like the only thing being observed in “Observation” is us, seeing how long we can last without anything of consequence happening.

Alien: Earth is still full of neat details in Episode 4, including a nice moment when Wendy comes to after collapsing in the previous episode and realises her audio settings have been shut off to protect her against the leg-scratching noise of the alien embryo she has formed a psychic connection to. It’s easy to forget sometimes that these kids in adult bodies aren’t kids or adults – they’re robots. Products. Property of Prodigy. And that idea is sternly reinforced throughout this episode thanks to Boy being deeply awful at every opportunity, forcing Wendy to be tested further to explore her apparent connection to the aliens, which he never should have kept around in the first place.

Hermit is the only person who seems to realise what’s up. He’s the one who recognises that all the lifestyle conveniences of the Lost Boys are quietly sinister, that the idea of keeping someone “alive” only constitutes an altruistic gesture if they don’t become corporate property as a result, and that the secrecy of the project is ultimately both to the detriment of the kids and proof that the whole thing’s not necessarily what it’s being sold as. With this comes multiple on-the-nose reminders of the childlike thought processes of the Lost Boys; Wendy’s bedroom, festooned with crayon drawings and stuffed animals, and the fact that she considers a pinky promise to be a completely unassailable contract.

But Boy knows he has Hermit under his control, both because of the lung thing and because, since Wendy is owned by Prodigy, any reticence on Hermit’s part means that he can be disallowed any contact with his sister. The sibling relationship gives him leverage over both parties, a way to keep Hermit in Prodigy’s employ and Wendy communicating with the Xenomorphs. He truly is awful, and I sincerely hope he dies soon.

I feel sure that someone will, at least. The only victim in “Observation” is a sheep, which is absolutely ransacked by that octopus-eyeball thing, which isn’t exactly ideal because I’d like to see that copious visual effects budget being spent on eviscerating characters we don’t like, not innocent animals. But such is progress in a corporatised future. If they can rub your shampoo in rabbits’ eyes to make sure it won’t give you dandruff, the sheep don’t stand a chance.

Our main hope for taking Prodigy down is Slightly, of all people, who is still being used as an unwitting inside man by Morrow, which Kirsh suspects but can’t prove. We mustn’t make the mistake of assuming that Morrow’s anti-Prodigy stance makes him a good guy, though, because the way he’s treating Slightly is pretty deplorable. I’m not sure this is supposed to function as a commentary on giving too much personal information away to strangers on the internet, but it works as one. Any kids who get too chatty on Roblox could stand to watch Alien: Earth, though, given the sheep scene, maybe not.

I do like that Slightly’s way of dealing with this is to become even more child-like, demanding that, since Wendy is allowed to see her brother, all of the Lost Boys should be able to see their loved ones. His ulterior motive pertains to trying to procure Morrow a Xeno egg, but I also feel that he probably does sense the inherent unfairness, since a child would think that. It’s deliberately idiosyncratic, as is Nibs being “pregnant”, which would seem ridiculous if this weren’t an Alien story, since unusual pregnancies are basically their whole thing. Either way, Nibs, like Slightly but for different reasons, is worth keeping an eye on. I suspect Prodigy’s downfall, if it comes, will come from within, and Boy’s greatest enemies are not his corporate rivals, but the products whose humanity he thinks he has safely stripped away.

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