The Xenomorph is the star of the present in Alien: Earth, however after catching episode 4, “Remark,” I am beginning to assume the eyeball-octopus monster may be an even bigger menace than anybody realizes.
After we first encountered the creepy little creature — formally often called trypanohyncha ocellus, or Species 64 — it was innocently floating in its containment unit on the USCSS Maginot in episode 1. By the point Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) and his group of adolescent android assistants, The Misplaced Boys, stumbled throughout it, it had escaped containment and burrowed its method into the cranium of a lifeless cat, changing the poor factor’s eyeball and hijacking its nervous system. In “Remark,” it did the identical factor to a sheep in considered one of Prodigy’s labs, and had a fairly unsettling stare-down with everybody’s least-favorite eternally barefoot trillionaire, Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin).
The foreshadowing appears clear: That factor’s gonna find yourself crawling into the Prodigy CEO’s cranium in some unspecified time in the future within the most likely not-too-distant future. However as of episode 4, the people aren’t who I am frightened about.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for Alien: Earth episode 4.]
From what we have seen to this point, it is fairly clear that facehuggers, chestbursters, Xenomorphs, these bizarre blood-sucking ticks, and that odd, plant-like factor Kirsh discovered hanging out within the Maginot’s wreckage are, for essentially the most half, solely interested by creatures manufactured from flesh and blood. Even in episode 3’s massive Xenomorph vs. Wendy (Sydney Chandler) struggle, the alien largely appeared interested by her human brother — Wendy was simply getting in its method.
By the tip of episode 3, Kirsh had caught onto this, and properly declared the lab at present housing the Xenomorph eggs as a synths-only zone, eradicating Boy Kavalier from the room for his personal security. In “Remark,” Kirsch gently caresses a kind of eggs, and it does not reply. By the tip of the episode, Wendy is casually snake-charming a chestburster, petting it like a home cat. The message is evident: Synthetics are comparatively secure, people usually are not.
However this does not essentially apply to t. ocellus. When The Misplaced Boys first encountered it on the Maginot, it instantly deserted its feline host and went straight for nervous redhead Nibs (Lily Newmark), who managed to flee the encounter bodily unscathed, however has been having flashbacks ever since, and is now inexplicably satisfied that she is pregnant. However Nibs is artificial, and she or he wasn’t doing something to impress the creature, which had already discovered a bunch. So why on Earth did it go after her?
Picture: Patrick Brown/FX
“Remark” appears to counsel that not like the opposite creatures from the alien homeworld, t. ocellus is one thing distinctive. My concept? It does not feed on flesh and blood. It feeds on intelligence. Which suggests none of Prodigy’s synthetics or hybrids are actually secure. If something, they’re in additional hazard than their non-synthetic counterparts, as they will obtain large quantities of data into their brains, permitting them to be taught new languages and grasp troublesome scientific topics with ease.
So for example, Tootles (Equipment Younger), who just lately re-christened himself Isaac, after Sir Isaac Newton, is probably going in a great quantity of hazard given his ever-growing psychological library of scientific information, and the truth that he works with Kirsh in shut proximity to Prodigy’s numerous extraterrestrial check topics.
In case you’re questioning how feeding on intelligence would even work, nicely, so am I. However notes taken by the Maginot scientists who had been learning the creature earlier than their ship crashed make it clear that this creature is to not be trifled with. In line with the Maginot’s science staff, t. ocellus shows “outstanding problem-solving expertise at near-human measure,” so it is actually attainable it might be taught to feed from an artificial host, and its instant want to climb into Nibs’ cranium appears to counsel it is completely able to doing precisely that.
T. ocellus’ existence can also clarify one thing about Xenomorphs themselves. Within the authentic 1979 film Alien, the Xenomorph is depicted as having small, seemingly empty eye sockets. In subsequent movies, Xenomorphs seem to haven’t any eye sockets by any means, though they’re proven to have some type of sight. Since Xenomorphs and t. ocellus share a house planet, maybe Xenomorphs advanced this manner on objective. They’re recognized to be very clever creatures, which might ostensibly make them a super host for t. ocellus. But when they’re capable of co-exist peacefully with the eyeball-invalding alien, it might be as a result of they do not have eyeballs which can be simply scooped out, they usually bleed caustic acid — two protection mechanisms that most likely make making an attempt to hijack them troublesome and even unimaginable for t. ocellus.
Regardless, one factor is fairly clear: Wendy’s artificial physique and bizarre, Parseltongue-esque capability to duplicate Xenomorph speech could preserve her secure from the Alien franchise’s massive dangerous, however she and the remainder of The Misplaced Boys are most likely t. ocellus’ excellent prey.
As satisfying (and scary) as it will be to see Species 64 scoop out considered one of Boy Kavalier’s eyeballs and puppeteer his physique, the considered it hijacking the mind of a extremely smart, extraordinarily robust, nigh-indestructible hybrid who can transfer on the velocity of sunshine is what’s actually retaining me up at evening.
The eight-episode debut season of Alien: Earth premiered on FX and Hulu on Aug 12. Additional episodes roll out on Tuesdays by means of Sept. 9.
