Alien: Earth - Episode 5 (In Space, No One…) 

Rating: 5 out of 5

NOAH Hawley’s Alien: Earth has lived up to my expectations both as a long-term Alien fan and a devotee of Hawley’s work on Fargo.

It’s fiercely intelligent, suitably icky and pays respectful homage to the franchise at its best (Alien and Aliens), while also taking it in different new directions.

I love all the theological debates surrounding The Lost Boys and Kirsch (Timothy Olyphant) over property, morality and humanity, which play more towards the ideology of another Ridley Scott classic (Blade Runner), with elements of films like Ex_Machina.

I also love the decision to revisit the early terror of Scott’s original Alien by both playing to the strengths of the xenomorphs and the face huggers, while also bringing in a new set of monsters to disgust and terrify.

With episode 5, Hawley doubled down and went for broke with that last part. Having teased the fate of the USCSS Maginot in the opening moments of the series, he now reverts back to show what actually happened - and the result is a white knuckle ride that evokes fond memories of the movie, while finding new ways to kill people in gruesome fashion.

What was known was that the only surviving crew member was Morrow (Babou Ceesay), the lone gun representative of Weyland-Yutani, who is currently seeking a way to recover his lost monsters.

Here, we get to see his back story, including how his daughter died suddenly in a house fire, aged just 19, while he was away. He therefore becomes a man with nothing to lose, imbued with a tragic back story that lends him a humanity that had previously been missing. An intriguing character suddenly became really fascinating, even sympathetic.

But the ruthlessness that has always been evident was also in abundance as, first, he took it upon himself to find a saboteur aboard the ship, responsible for sabotaging the Maginot and killing the captain - a death that, in turn, also enabled Morrow to assume control of the ship.

The subsequent investigation led to the reveal of one of the show’s best twists - that the saboteur, Petrovich (Enzo Cilenti), was acting on behalf of Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin): thereby the monsters were always heading for Prodigy rather than Weyland-Yutani.

Morrow eventually despatched Petrovich with suitably cold-blooded relish - but his actions didn’t come in time to spare the ship (or its crew) from its grisly fate. Rather, despite his best (and professional) efforts, the combined efforts of the corporate sabotage and the ineptitude of certain other crew members made the escape of the monsters virtually inevitable.

And here’s where the ick factor really comes in.

If a rampaging xenomorph isn’t bad enough (or thrilling in the way that Hawley uses POV shots, overhead dribbling and close-up mouth opening terror), we also got to see the capability of some of Alien: Earth’s newest beasties in memorably grotesque fashion.

In one of the episode’s most genuinely unsettling, nerve-shredding moments, we get to watch inept science officer Chibuzo (Karen Aldridge) working with the bloodsucking tick bugs while The Eye (Trypanohyncha Ocellus, or T. Ocellus for short) sits in a glass containment vessel nearby. It’s an ominous, grim sequence - as the ticks fashion an escape from their jar, and infect Chibuzo’s flask with babies, just waiting to be accidentally consumed. The Eye, meanwhile, either attempts to warn her…. or distract her.

It’s a scene that serves to underline The Eye’s place as one of the most interesting creations in the show - combining a unique identity with a really well concealed agenda. Is The Eye a manipulator? It’s certainly patient. Even deadly.

But in a later, perhaps even more surprising development, it assumes control of engineer Schmuel (Michael Smiley) and confronts a fully grown Xenomorph, engaging in a ferocious and far from one-sided battle that eventually kills Schmuel but leaves the alien in some difficulty - even though The Eye’s attempt to turn the xenomorph into its new host fails because of the alien’s lack of eyes.

The xenomorph itself does seem wary of its foe, possibly hinting at a previous rivalry? Again, fascinating questions and ideas that Hawley may or may not answer.

Again, though, there was an ambiguity to The Eye’s actions as, before confronting the xenomorph, he also saved Zaverni, the ship’s second captain, delaying her own fateful encounter with the alien. Where Morrow deserted her in her hour of need; The Eye seemed to save her. But why? Why not use her to effect its own escape rather than engage the seemingly bigger beast?

It’s in moments like this that Alien: Earth so successfully combines tricks of Alien films old with bold swings of its own; swings that, thus far, reap big rewards.

It brings that point of difference and achieves what Hawley set out to: recreating that sense of dread and what could possibly happen next that made Scott’s original so ghastly for first-time audiences.

That ghastliness continued throughout: the aforementioned flask, for instance, that Chibuzo so recklessly allowed to become contaminated with baby larvae, resurfaces at a meeting called by Morrow to inform the crew of the presence of the saboteur, eventually being consumed by second engineer Malachite (Jamie Bisping).

The will they/won’t they build up to who actually takes the drink is a masterclass in tension building; each time a character reaches for the flask, you experience a sharp intake of breath. Once consumed, that tension becomes unbearable. How will the parasites manifest themselves and reveal themselves? How sick will it make us feel?

That dread is akin to first watching John Hurt’s demise. You just know it will be nasty.

And sure enough, not long after, Malachite is overcome by stomach cramps, begins convulsing and then vomits copious amounts of blood. He’s taken to a medical lab, where he is operated on, exposing the parasites all over his organs. When the medics attempt to remove them, they omit a deadly defensive gas which also kills everyone in the room… prompting Morrow to enact safety protocols and burn the whole room.

It’s another classic sequence in an episode filled with them; but what dazzles is the way Hawley gleefully and effortlessly riffs between paying homage and charting his own path. Fans out to lap up the references, while still being unsettled enough to be on the edge of their seats.

Episode 5 had a little of everything. In bringing the horror, it didn’t compromise the intelligence or the character building. The ship’s crew, while expendable even within the context of the show’s own trajectory, were still comprised of memorable characters. In Morrow, meanwhile, an already enigmatic villain became even more complicated.

In Space, No One Can… added depth, tragedy, grief and continued to ask questions of its viewers. It also delivered big on the action, quite possibly delivering a mini movie to rival the heights of both Scott and James Cameron’s franchise defining first two movies. In short, it was its own masterpiece that left you salivating, xenomorph-style, for more.