Alien: Earth

Like many, I had really high hopes for a new take on the franchise. And elements of the show did live up to my expectations, albeit only to be deeply overshadowed by a mess of a plot, and characters that made no sense.

I enjoyed the glimpses we got into the world-building with the mega-corporations, I enjoyed the creativity put into the new alien species, and I even enjoyed the take on the immortality trope as presented in the show.

But despite my readiness to check my disbelief at the door, no amount of blind-eye turning could allow me to just accept the stupidity of the decisions made by characters, or the nonsense plot holes that achieved nothing that a little more thought and care in the writing could have.

All that being said, episode 5 was exceptional. That alone could've been rewritten as a standalone cinematic sequel to the original Alien and Aliens, and IMO would've been accepted as a worthy finale to the trilogy.

The entire show is like this: a bunch of teenagers fantasizing about suddenly gaining superpowers to handle all the adults they hate. One of them accidentally gets a vicious dog, she encourages the dog to bite and kill anyone who gets in her way, and finally sits on the roof declaring: "We rule."

Teenagers believe they have grenade in their hands makes them invincible, allowing them to act like adults but without the responsibilities or consequences of adult behavior.

Plain horrible writing.

This sucks, because I was really hoping this would be good. I mean I'm a huge Alien fan and I've even like the objectively lesser entries into the franchise but this... This is bad on a whole 'nother level.

Let's start with the dialogue. Everyone has to say what they're thinking or doing all the time. There's a moment in episode 7 when Smee (or whatever he's called) literally says to the camera "I only did x because I thought y!" And I facepalmed loud enough that my neighbors could hear it.

I'm not sitting on TikTok while watching the show, but the show is treating me like I am.

The characterizations here are also ridiculous. Nobody is consistent. Wendy changes motivations and intentions like 50 times throughout the season. People flip on a dime because the script needs them to. Hermit for example has a big problem with the alien killing soldiers... until the final episode when he's standing in the same room as the alien as it's killing three soldiers and doesn't even say a word. Doesn't even acknowledge that it's happening.

Also, plot armor. Everyone has it. Nobody dies. Nobody you care about at least. Why? I don't know. No idea. I mean we don't care about these characters at all so maybe the writers know that. The worst offender of this plot armor is once again... DING-DING-DING! Hermit. He survives a xenomorph encounter like three or four times in just the first two episodes. Which becomes more ridiculous the further into the show you get because the xenomorph can wipe out a room in like 1 second flat.

This show sucks. That's all there is to it. So disappointed in Noah Hawley and the crew. Did you guys even care about this at all?

The best part, and maybe one of the only grown up scene of the show so far, which is the story of the ship carring the monsters, is abruptly fast forwarded so they can get fast to the part they can play and be Disney kids.

They are super fast, they can jump from the moon, yeah yeah, action starts and I was surprised they didnt sit on the floor and cried.

It is kinda of fair their excuse to use kids because of the growing brain and so, but in a super future world where you have no clue a giant space ship is gonna hit your planet, and you have technology from a 90's future perspective gives me the impression that reasonability was not the priority, but rather extract money from every age group possible.

Aimed to please shareholders, not fans.

The renewal of Alien Earth for a second season is perhaps the most surprising plot twist of all, given the massive disappointment that was its first outing. While the series started with a tantalizing glimpse of potential, Season 1 ultimately crashed and burned under the weight of incoherent storytelling and a truly dreadful roster of characters.

The journey began promisingly. The pilot episode was "okay," but Episode 2 truly sparked interest, introducing fascinating new ideas and broadening the scope of the established Xenomorph universe. The series touched on compelling philosophical themes-exploring the nature of humanity, the role of the creatures, and the hubris of those who "played God" with the scenario. For a brief moment, it felt like Alien Earth was poised to deliver the intellectual horror the franchise has often chased.

Unfortunately, that promise dissolved quickly. By the time we reached the Season 1 finale (Episode 8), the struggle to find positive elements became overwhelming. The central, unforgivable sin of the season was a plot that simply stopped making sense. Events unfolded illogically, narrative threads were either poorly executed or dropped entirely, leaving the viewer more confused than engaged.

However, the greatest source of viewer frustration lay in the characters. Simply put, the show featured zero likable characters. Every person on screen seemed determined to be irritating, incompetent, or morally bankrupt. The true failure of the season, and perhaps its most frustrating oversight, was the narrative's refusal to deliver satisfying consequences. The characters one desperately wanted to see killed in a suitably horrific manner were, bafflingly, spared, leaving the audience with an emotionally hollow and dissatisfying resolution.

Alien Earth Season 1 ultimately delivered a bad end product. Despite a few interesting concepts in the early episodes, the season failed on fundamental levels: coherent plotting and character investment. While the show has a second chance, it will need a radical overhaul to make anyone care about the world or the fate of its inhabitants.

Verdict: D- (Disappointing and Disingenuous)