TITLE: Alien: Earth
EPISODES: “Emergence”
DIRECTOR: Noah Hawley
NETWORK: FX & Hulu ($9.99 (USD) per month)
RELEASE DATE: September 23, 2025

The following review contains SPOILERS for episode 8. If you wish to see our spoiler review of episode 7, click here. If you haven’t watched Alien: Earth yet, we encourage you to bookmark this review and return after viewing.

Episode Synopsis:

If you wish to skip the detailed recap of “The Real Monsters” continue reading at the section marked “Analysis”.

The episode begins with a shot of Arthur lying dead on the beach while some crabs pick away at his fresh corpse. The Xenomorph that Wendy has studied and communicated with examines the body briefly before going on a jaunt around the island. Simultaneously, Dame Sylvia is at the children’s grave site laying down fresh flowers for each of the children. Wendy’s Xenomorph approaches Sylvia, but a security team shows up and pelts it with non-explosive-tipped bullets. Shortly after that, we see a montage of Wendy’s Xenomorph and the rampage it has run on the security forces around the island.

Atom Eins updates Boy Kavalier on the island’s status with regard to asset containment, evacuation and the likelihood of Weyland-Yutani military intervention. We see Joe and Morrow in a holding cell together, as well as the Lost Boys in a separate cell. Wendy begins a conversation with the others. Nibs compares their current lives to being ghosts. Wendy starts to rally the Lost Boys to revolt claiming that the humans should be afraid of the Hybrids. Wendy uses her technology interfacing ability to call through the camera to her Xenomorph companion, and she forces all of the island’s cameras to shut down.

While the Lost Boys begin to wreck havoc, Kirsh watches the newest Xenomorph in the secure lab. Boy Kavalier contacts Kirsh in order to form a plan. Kirsh tries to keep Boy Kavalier on track by telling him, “Don’t be mad, be smart,” and refers to Kavalier’s ADHD and lack of impulse control. As communication lines start to fuzz Boy Kavalier looks at the T. Ocellus and plans to, “Feed it someone weak to be safe.”

The Security squad returns Dame Sylvia to her office (that’s not how evacuation works). Dame Sylvia’s office starts playing back interviews with the kids before their procedure. While the Dame is being haunted, Joe wakes up Morrow in the holding cell. Morrow asks Joe about his lung, and how good it feels to be more than human. Morrow notes there is always a price to pay with any sort of body modification from the corporations.

The Security team with Rashidi and Siberian note that coms are down and decide to follow protocol and rally at the armory. Mysteriously an elevator opens even though no one called it. Once the team is in the elevator a self-destruct sequence countdown starts. As the security team panics, we see Smee counting down and Wendy watching them on a screen from the cell. Joe flashes back to his time as a medic and to exchanging letters with his sister, reflecting upon what he has lost. Wendy opens the cell door for Morrow and Joe. The pair set off on different paths. Joe says he wants to, “Save the ones I can,” and Morrow tells Joe he’s going to “Burn this place to the ground.”

Back in the secure lab Kirsh is working on something and Morrow attempts to sneak up on him. The two clash and Morrow gets the upper hand for a moment, slamming Kirsh onto a metal table. Morrow says he’ll reclaim what belongs to Yutani. The containment cage for the plant-like creature—D. Plumbicare—shatters. While struggling to function Kirsh trips Morrow and strangles him until he is unconscious.

Boy Kavalier makes his way to the holding cell with the Lost Boys and tries to intimidate them into complying. Wendy opens the door with a mental command through the network and invites Boy Kavalier to tell them a story. Boy Kavalier tells the Hybrids that when he was six years old, he created his first Synth and killed his abusive father. He then assumed the position of power in the Prodigy corporation.

Joe begins his search for Wendy by visiting her room, but he finds Atom Eins instead. Boy Kavalier goes on to tell the kid they’re simply floor models nothing more, and that they are ruining his plans. The Lost Boys state that they are people and do not belong to him. Nibs takes out the security guard and the Hybrids start stalking after Boy Kavalier. Wendy tells each of the Lost Boys their assignments: Nibs gets Dame Sylvia, Smee and Slightly get Kirsh, Wendy will find her brother and Curly handles the guards. Just before the scene ends Curly rejects her Hybrid name and opts to return to her human name, Jane.

Back in Wendy’s room Eins tries to strike another deal with Joe. Outside a thunderstorm begins. Nibs drops in on Dame Sylvia’s office from the ceiling and sneaks up on her. In the lab, Smee and Slightly find Kirsh. The two Lost Boys tie him up, disobeying his order to detain Morrow. While tying up Kirsh Morrow comes to and lets Slightly know that he didn’t hurt Ms. Singh. Slightly knocks him out.

Eins and Joe make their way to Boy Kavalier’s office, which has the container for the T.Ocellus lying open in the center of the floor. The possessed sheep bleats, and Joe turns around to stare it down. The T. Ocellus exits the sheep’s eye socket and immediately launches itself toward Joe. He quickly hides in the container on the floor. It sneaks in through via the feeding chamber, but Joe is able to skitter out of the chamber. Wendy bursts in through a window just in time, smacking away the T. Ocellus and faces off against Eins.

While Wendy deals with Eins she kicks away the T.Ocellus from Joe once more. Wendy then uses her wireless interfacing ability to control Eins and freezes him in place. The T. Ocellus makes an escape into a hole in the floor. Joe tries to appeal to Wendy’s humanity and explain his situation, but Wendy doesn’t care and says that she likes the aliens because they’re honest. Joe tries again to appeal to her saying that humans are like food to the Xenomorphs, but Wendy knows that she isn’t. Wendy breaks down and admits that she doesn’t know what she is anymore. The two reconcile enough to continue on their war path, and on their way out Wendy knocks over Eins.

Boy Kavalier skips along while panicking and trying to find a way out. Wendy’s Xenomorph tails him into a foyer where it sneaks up on him. The siblings arrive at the same time as a security team, but Wendy gives the Xenomorph a quick command to take out their opposition. Siberian and Rashidi’s security squad made their to the secure lab where they find the Xenomorph that Wendy killed. Something sneaks around on the walls and ceiling just out of their view. Suddenly, the D. Plumbicare traps and kills Siberian. While being eaten, Siberian’s gun goes off which takes out a few of her teammates. Rashidi is the last man standing, and Curly pops up behind him, knocking him out.

We return to the beach once more to see Arthur’s corpse, and the T. Ocellus scrambles inside his left eye socket. All of the Lost Boys’ targets have been captured and brought to their former holding cell. Wendy has her Xenomorph as well as the second Xenomorph in tow. Slightly asks Wendy, “What do we do now?” Wendy replies “Now we rule.”

Analysis:

The Finale Episode of Alien: Earth was an odd ride. I think it left more plot threads open than I expected, and as a result I was left unsatisfied. I’m glad that we have an incredible foundation to move on from with a second season, but at the moment we don’t have anything confirmed. I definitely want more. That said, I think the general lack of finality prevented the show from ending on a high note. It has been fun to watch just how much these characters have grown. The Hybrids and Morrow are particular standouts for me, as anyone who has read my previous reviews knows well.

While this was a finale episode, it didn’t shy away from making some interesting reveals. Boy Kavalier let us in to his weird world in a big way. Finding out that Boy Kavalier killed his own father and took over Prodigy was very surprising. There are two other reveals for Boy Kavalier that were handled very differently. On the praise-worthy side of things is the fact that Atom Eins is not only a Synth, but likely the very same Synth that Boy Kavalier made kill his father. Looking back there were some moments that may have foreshadowed this, and I love how it played out. On the groan worthy end of the spectrum was the throw-away line about Boy Kavalier’s ADHD. Yes, it does explain some of his quirks and mannerisms, but the casual mention and the following line about impulse control didn’t sit well with me. Also it seems like his first name is literally just Boy, and it’s not a title. Evidence of this comes from Joe asking Wendy, “Where’s Boy” after their scrap with Eins.

For a show about aliens, a majority of the focus was on the Hybrids. Obviously they are the central critical plot, and the fun alien shenanigans happens around them. Even the final episode’s title nods to the fact that the Hybrids are “The Real Monsters”. It was nice to see some new additions to the weird fauna of the franchise. However, The Xenomorph held a lot of the spotlight, and the remaining four creatures had pretty minimal impact. The exception for this is the T. Ocellus, but even that didn’t really do much other than showcase it’s smarter than we expected. In an ideal world, the show would have had a few more episodes—or some longer runtime—to showcase the fun new creatures.

The finale had some fun moments, like the elevator self-destruct sequence or the fight between Kirsh and Morrow. But there are some things that kept it from being great—the security squad with Rashidi and Siberian, for example. The group first finds Dame Sylvia out in the wilderness during an active evacuation. Their first move after rescuing her is to bring her right back to the facility that’s being evacuated. At this point in the story, I would argue that Dame Sylvia is no longer essential personnel! After that, the squad notes that coms are down and state they are going to follow protocol, which means rallying at the armory. They then get in an elevator that opens on its own, and get tricked into thinking it’s going to self destruct. Not only is it wild to think that the elevator would have a self-destruct sequence, but there’s no fallout from that or even mention of it after it happens. Finally, their last moments are in the secure lab, which is not the rally point they said they were heading to. The whole group ended up dead or captured because the script said they should, rather than having anything interesting happen for Hermit’s comrades.

Final Score

All things considered, I was disappointed that this first season didn’t give closure for most of its ideas. There are some fantastic moments for the show overall, but I stand by the episodes holding their own weight. This episode let me down. I look forward to a potential season two, but I’m not sure that it could handle the the potential this season set up.

How did you feel about the finale episode of Alien: Earth season one? Let us know what you think! Share your reactions in the comments below or join the conversation on Boss Rush Network’s Discord, Facebook, and Twitter.

Featured Image: FX Networks