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Did Alien: Earth episode 5 freak you out? Us too.
Alien: Earth's fifth episode may be called "In Space, No One…," but a more apt title might be "The USCSS Maginot and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."
That's because everything that can go wrong does go wrong in this episode, which reveals what happened to the crew of the Maginot before the spaceship crash landed on Earth. The answer, unsurprisingly, is nothing good, with everything from human sabotage and alien attacks playing a role in the Maginot's downfall.
The episode plays out like its own mini Alien movie, and I reacted as such while watching it: screaming, hiding my head in my hands, and letting the overall sense of dread wash over me. If you felt the same way, you've come to the right place! Here, in chronological order, are all the most WTF moments from Alien: Earth, episode 5.
When we learned Facehuggers were loose on the Maginot.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
The horrors begin right away, when Morrow (Babou Ceesay) learns that a fire on the USCSS Maginot has led to the release of Facehuggers. With that news, you might as well re-start that fire and burn the whole ship, because it's only a matter of time before you've got full-grown Xenomorphs running around.
When we saw the dead captain and his Facehugger.
The loose Facehuggers have already found hosts in Maginot Captain Dinsdale (Tanapol Chuksrida) and crew member Bronski (Max Rinehart). The Maginot crew took what they thought was a reasonable step in trying to cut the Facehugger off Captain Dinsdale, but they didn't account for the creature's acid blood. RIP to Captain Dinsdale, and RIP to squeamish viewers, who get an eyeful of Dinsdale's exposed, acid-burned esophagus.
When we learned the fire was sabotage.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
As if dealing with escaped aliens wasn't enough, Morrow and new captain Zaveri (Richa Moorjani) realize that the fire in containment may have been started by one of their own crew. So on top of Facehuggers, they now have to deal with a mutinous human who's sent the Maginot hurtling on a crash course with Earth. My stress levels? Already through the ceiling.
When Teng was creeping on Sullivan.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
While all of the alien chaos is going down, crew member Teng (Andy Yu) decides to creepily stare down at fellow crew member Sullivan (Victoria Masoma) while she's asleep in her cryopod. Alien: Earth already hinted at his bizarre obsession with her in its first episode, but watching his voyeurism in action is frankly just as skin-crawlingly awful as seeing a Facehugger latch onto its prey. You know the drill, Teng: Get a job, stay away from her.
When Alien: Earth hit us with a post-coital Facehugger jump scare.
While Zaveri watches over a Facehugged Bronski, she reminisces on the relationship they started while on the mission. (No one tell Weyland-Yutani!) That leads to a flashback of the two having sex, which culminates on a jump scare of the Facehugger on Bronski in the flashback. No thank you!
When Mother told Zaveri the cargo took priority over crew.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
As Zaveri assumes Dinsdale's captain duties, she confers with the Maginot's AI Mother about how to proceed. Zaveri understandably wants to prioritize the crew, asking for permission to destroy the cargo if the crew's lives are in danger. In response, Mother tells her to flip that and reverse it: The cargo is the priority, and the crew can choke on a Facehugger. It's a chilling reminder that the Maginot crew isn't just at the mercy of the aliens they've got onboard. They're also pawns of the greedy corporation that hired them, one that cares more about profit and power than any measly human lives.
When we learned Morrow's daughter is dead.
Credit: Kurt Iswarienko/FX
Much of "In Space, No One…" relies on the very pressing fear that "oh no, aliens are loose on the ship, run for your lives!" But in addition to that classic sci-fi terror, the episode also leans into the existential dread about human mortality that makes the Alien franchise tick. Here, that manifests itself in the form of the 65 years that the Maginot's crew is spending on their mission. Yes, they're in cryosleep for much of it, but you know who isn't? Their friends and family back home, who may never see them again.
Case in point is Morrow's young daughter, who died just a few years into the mission. How in the world was Morrow able to go on with the mission, knowing she was gone on Earth? How can any of the crew members go through with something similar? Yes, they're getting paid, but as engineer Shmuel (Michael Smiley) makes clear to engineer's mate Malachite (Jamie Bisping), what they're earning is nothing compared to what Weyland-Yutani is getting: their lives.
When the Chestburster got loose.
The Maginot crew make what seems like a solid decision to place Bronski, Facehugger and all, in cryo in the hopes of preserving him and the specimen. But of course, not even cryo can stop the Xenomorph. It bursts from the pod (and Bronski's chest, naturally), leaving a bloody mess and shifting the Maginot's alien crisis into high gear. Alien fans, I think we've seen this film before.
When the blood tick laid its tadpoles in Chibuzo's water.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
Oh, you thought Xenomorphs were the only aliens the Maginot had to worry about? How foolish! How naive! Why, there are four other alien specimens onboard, and two of them are about to make the crew's nightmares even worse.
First up is the blood tick, which mounts a daring escape from its case and then lays a bunch of tadpoles in science officer Chibuzo's (Karen Aldridge) water canteen. The sequence is a terrifying showcase of how smart these aliens are, but it also serves as a handy lab safety PSA. Never leave open food and water containers out in your lab! You never know what creature will see your yummy snacks and drinks as a breeding ground.
When T. Ocellus made its grand escape.
Eyeball-octopus hybrid T. Ocellus doesn't want the blood ticks to have all the escape fun! So when Chibuzo doesn't securely lock its container away, it takes advantage of her error and escapes. (Side note: Chibuzo please review your lab safety protocols, I beg you.) That means the Maginot has not one, not two, but three alien species out and about. Oh, and that pesky mutineer. When it rains, it pours, right?
When Malachite drank the tick tadpoles.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
Things are about to get very bad for poor Malachite, who chugs down Chibuzo's tick-infested water after eating a too-spicy meal. Everything about this scene is an automatic "hell no," especially the sight of the tadpoles swimming around in Chibuzo's canteen. Don't mind me, I'll just be obsessively checking every glass or bottle of water I drink for tadpoles from now on.
When Malachite started vomiting blood.
What happens when you drink blood tick tadpoles? You vomit up a deluge of blood, of course! Now that that knowledge is out of the way, can we please get Malachite some medical attention? (And can we get me a glass of calming, non-tadpole-infested tea?)
When we learned Boy Kavalier was behind the crash all along.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
While the aliens are turning the Maginot into their bloody playground, Morrow is busy playing his own personal game of Among Us to find the Maginot saboteur. Turns out, it was crew member Petrovich (Enzo Cilenti), who's been pretending to be in stasis but is really hijacking the ship. But he wasn't working alone. Video messages reveal that he was in contact with Prodigy CEO Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), who tasked him with crashing the ship in Prodigy territory so Kavalier could steal the specimens onboard. What would Petrovich get in return? A hybrid body, just like Wendy's (Sydney Chandler). There's just one problem: Only child minds can make the jump to those bodies, so there's no way Kavalier ever planned on following through on his promise. Sucks for Petrovich, but come on, even I can see that "crash your spaceship into Earth for me, then you'll maybe get a robot body" is a raw deal.
The reveal re-contextualizes the entirety of Alien: Earth up to this point: The crash was no accident, and Kavalier's been in control the entire time. But how long has he been plotting this, and how did he find out about the specimens?
When we saw the ticks in Malachite's body.
When Wendy and the Lost Boys investigated the crashed Maginot, they saw the corpses of the crew, including Malachite's innards. "In Space, No One…" revisits that grisly scene and reveals how it came to be. Not only do we see the ticks chowing down on Malachite's organs (ultra-gross!), we also learn they release a poisoned gas when threatened, which spells the end for Chibuzo and medical officer Rahim (Amir Boutros). Look, we knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch.
When Petrovich delivered the hardest line of the series.
Sometimes, I pause Alien: Earth to freak out about all the alien nastiness going down onscreen. Other times, I pause and rewind to take in a damn good line. In this episode, that honor goes to Petrovich's dying words: "They want their monsters. Here they come."
Hearing that as the aliens rain down terror upon the Maginot? Chills. Chills, I say! Now back to our regularly scheduled panic about aliens.
When the Xenomorph attacked Zaveri.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
"In Space, No One…" has been a collection of the Xenomorph's greatest hits, from Facehugger attacks to the full-grown Xenomorph hiding in air ducts and drooling on its next victims. It's frightening, but it's stuff we've seen before in the Alien franchise, which is why T. Ocellus and the blood ticks' antics bring a fresh layer of horror to the show.
Still, I'm human. I tensed way the hell up when Zaveri finally came face to face with the Xenomorph. Between losing her lover and all her crew mates, she's already gone through the worst day of her life. Couldn't we at least end the episode with her getting a spa trip or something? No, she has to get mauled? Bummer.
When T. Ocellus zombified Shmuel.
Throughout Alien: Earth, we've watched T. Ocellus invade a cat body and a sheep body. Here, it levels up again, taking over a human host. The results are predictably terrifying, conjuring up a primal fear over bodily control as T. Ocellus puppets Shmuel's body. I'll be thinking of his herky-jerky movements (and the sight of a tentacle slithering out of his nose) for a long, long time.
When T. Ocellus fought the Xenomorph.
"In Space, No One…" closes out with an alien beatdown for the ages. In one corner, we've got the Xenomorph. You know it, you love it, you don't want to come within 100 feet of it.
In the other corner, we've got T. Ocellus in Shmuel's body. It's far smaller and a newcomer to the Alien franchise, but it's already making a gloppy splash.
Wouldn't you know it, T. Ocellus gives the Xenomorph a run for its money. First, it charges the Xenomorph as Shmuel. Then, once Xenomorph makes quick work of Shmuel's pesky human body, T. Ocellus attacks the Xenomorph with nothing but its bare tentacles. And wouldn't you know it, this teeny tiny eyeball actually manages to scare the tank that is the Xenomorph! I didn't know that was possible, but now, I can't get the idea out of my head: Will T. Ocellus end up in a Xenomorph body at some point? If so, I fear Earth is done for. As if I needed another nightmare after this episode!
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes premiering Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Hulu and FX.
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
To creep around.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
SNEAK
Hurdle Word 2 hint
A long-legged bird.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
STORK
Hurdle Word 3 hint
To throw.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
CHUCK
Hurdle Word 4 hint
More accurate.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
TRUER
Final Hurdle hint
They show when one smiles.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
TEETH
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
This summer, FX's Alien: Earth latched onto my brain like a Facehugger latches onto a new host.
Now, with the release of the show's Season 1 finale, you'd think that Facehugger would drop off and leave me be. You'd be wrong! Instead, the Season 1 finale leaves viewers with some major questions we'll be puzzling over until the show's potential return.
Here are the five biggest questions we have for Alien: Earth Season 2.
What does a Neverland run by hybrids look like?
Season 1 of Alien: Earth ends with the group of hybrids known as the Lost Boys in total control over the Neverland research facility. They've imprisoned Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), Morrow (Babou Ceesay), Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), and Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson). Now, with the adults out of the way, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) declares it's time for the hybrids to "rule."
But what will their rule entail? Will they stay on Neverland, or will they try to extend their authority to the rest of the world? Will they remain fast allies, or will they turn against one another and go full Lord of the Flies on their new island kingdom?
How will Weyland-Yutani and Alien: Earth's other corporations react to Boy Kavalier's plight?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
By the end of Alien: Earth Season 1, Weyland-Yutani is closing in on Neverland in order to take back the specimens Boy Kavalier stole. But will Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) change tack when she realizes her rival is being held captive? Will she leave the island alone or try to stage a hostile takeover? Perhaps her priorities will change entirely, shifting from trying to capture the alien specimens to trying to perfect Boy Kavalier's revolutionary hybrid tech. Either way, her looming presence does not bode well for the newly independent hybrids.
Weyland-Yutani isn't the only other major corporation on the board in Alien: Earth, though. There are three other corporations we haven't truly met yet: Dynamic, Lynch, and Threshold. Could they be joining the party in Alien: Earth's future?
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What's next for the loose orchid and eyeball aliens?
While the Xenomorph may be under Wendy's control, there are still several alien threats running wild on the island. In the Season 1 finale, the orchid alien (aka D. Plumbicare) revealed that it could turn into a floating, octopus-like creature and got loose in Neverland. I would not want to be walking around the island with that out there, that's for sure.
But that's not all: Alien: Earth's breakout star, the eyeball alien T. Ocellus, found a new host in the corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). We've seen T. Ocellus take over a cat corpse and a human body, but now we get to see it go full zombie mode in what might be Alien: Earth's coolest development yet. But what's T. Ocellus's plan while in Arthur's body? Will it try to find a new, stronger host in, say, a hybrid? (And what would that look like?) Will it finally have a conversation with its biggest fan, Boy Kavalier? And how in the world will Dame react when she sees her beloved husband with a massive new eyeball and a burst-open chest? Bring on the zombie shenanigans!
Will the Xenomorph continue serving Wendy, or will it rebel?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
For now, Wendy and her Xenomorph seem pretty tight. But what happens if the Xenomorph goes through a rebellious teenage phase and decides it doesn't want to serve its human mother figure anymore? Could the hybrids lose their grip on Neverland if the apex predator at their disposal decides to turn on them?
Wendy's Xenomorph also isn't the only Xenomorph on the island. There's also the specimen that burst out of Arthur's chest. As it grows, will it become territorial with Wendy's Xenomorph, or will it join the hybrid-Xeno family and view Wendy as its queen? If so, what are the odds Wendy tries to build a whole Xenomorph army?
How will Alien: Earth tie back to Alien?
The question hanging over any prequel is "how will this tie back to the original?" and with Alien: Earth, that question is especially pressing, given that it takes place two years before the events of Alien. By that point, there are no mentions of hybrid technology, nor are there any mentions of them in the sequels. So what will happen to the hybrids between then and now to render them obsolete? It's a daunting question, but it's one that Alien: Earth will certainly have to contend with as it closes in on the original films.
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
After eight episodes of terrifying new creatures, Alien homages, and existential questions about the future of humanity, Alien: Earth Season 1 has come to a close. And what a close it was.
The finale, titled "The Real Monsters," flips the power dynamic that's been in place for the entire season. By the end of the episode, the hybrid Lost Boys, led by Wendy (Sydney Chandler), have gained total control over their keepers, including Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis). This power shift has been in the cards since Alien: Earth's first episode, but how do we get here? Let's break it down.
Alien: Earth's hybrids finally realize how strong they are.
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
From the first moment Alien: Earth introduces Wendy in her super-strong, super-fast, super-durable hybrid body, it's clear that she and her fellow Lost Boys could absolutely wreck Prodigy's Neverland security team if they wanted to. That idea doesn't cross their minds, though. Instead, the Lost Boys are still children in consciousness, and they believe Neverland to be a safe paradise for them.
However, this idea erodes over the course of Alien: Earth's first season, as the Lost Boys lose confidence in the people they've been told to trust. They're endangered and experimented on. Nibs' (Lily Newmark) traumatic memories were manipulated. Isaac (Kit Young) died while tending to the alien specimens. Morrow (Babou Ceesay) threatened to kill Slightly's (Adarsh Gourav) family. Each horrifying incident wears away at the Lost Boys' childlike innocence, turning the idyllic Neverland into a hell on Earth.
Ironically, these incidents only increase the Lost Boys' feelings of powerlessness, even though they're the most powerful beings on Prodigy's remote island. But it's also in one of those scenes of powerlessness — when Prodigy forces corner Nibs, Wendy, and her brother Joe aka Hermit (Alex Lawther) on their escape boat in episode 7 — that the Lost Boys begin to realize their power. Nibs fully rips a soldier's jaw off, leaving Hermit to shoot (but not kill) her. Here, a horrified Wendy learns two things. First: Humans, including her brother, are terrified of the hybrids. Second: They have good reason to be. The hybrids are extremely dangerous. So why not embrace that?
That's the realization Wendy comes to in Alien: Earth's Season 1 finale. "All this time, we've been afraid of them," she tells the Lost Boys as they sit trapped in a Neverland cage. "But I think they should be afraid of us."
The Peter Pan allegories come to a head in the Alien: Earth Season 1 finale.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
Embracing the Neverland staffers' fear of them is the final stage in the Lost Boys' loss of their childish innocence. Or, in terms of Boy Kavalier's relentless Peter Pan references, this is them finally "growing up." However, that's exactly what the Prodigy founder and the rest of Neverland don't want to happen. As Wendy puts it, "We're all in this cell because we can't be kids anymore, but they won't let us be adults."
Nibs has another suggestion for what they are, one that's especially fitting after seeing the graves of their dead human bodies. "We're all ghosts," she says.
So what do these ghosts do? They turn Neverland into a haunted house, with Wendy using her in-built connection to the facility to manipulate video feeds, elevators, and doors to terrify every last soldier and scientist. Of course, having a Xenomorph at your beck and call helps too.
The entire episode serves as both a liberation for the Lost Boys and an identity crisis for Wendy, otherwise known by her human name, Marcy. She tells her brother, "I don't know what I am. I'm not a child. I'm not a grown-up. I'm not Marcy. I'm not Wendy. And I can't be what everyone wants me to be."
(Earlier in the season, Joe even questions whether Wendy truly holds his sister's consciousness, yet another blow to one of the pillars of Wendy's identity.)
Wendy's statement reflects the binaries in the world of Alien: Earth. Child and adult. Human and synthetic. Hybrids exist somewhere in between, blurring boundaries and creating a new kind of personhood. Wendy and the Lost Boys have spent the entire series having not just new names but entirely new identities imposed on them by exterior forces. Now, they get to make their own. Fellow hybrid Curly (Erana James) embraces her former name, Jane, as Wendy reminds each of the Lost Boys of theirs — a move the late Isaac, formerly Tootles, only enjoyed for an afternoon.
Wendy's identity crisis also explains her affinity for the Maginot aliens, whom she considers "honest." These creatures are wholly themselves, unlike liars such as Boy Kavalier. As Wendy points out, he considers himself Peter Pan, but he was never truly a boy. He was always a "mean, angry little man," just like his abusive father. Ouch. I'm not sure he'll be picking up a copy of Peter Pan any time soon after that.
"Now we rule."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
"The Real Monsters" ends with Wendy and the Lost Boys holding all of the authority figures in their lives hostage in the same cage they were formerly incarcerated in, prompting Wendy's declaration that, "now, we rule." Even Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), their Prodigy synth senior, and Morrow, their cyborg antagonist, now answer to them.
The hybrids finally taking control is undoubtedly worthy of Alien: Earth's last hard-rocking needle drop. But it's certainly not the end of the Lost Boys' story. After all, the Weyland-Yutani forces are still encroaching on the island with numerous Prodigy forces still left, hinting at more conflict ahead. Plus, the alien orchid is loose, and T. Ocellus has found a new host in the chestburst corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). That's a lot of threats for these still-young hybrids to deal with. How will they be able to fight off their enemies and learn how to rule their island?
That question of what it will look like for hybrids to "rule" hints at an intriguing new literary reference point for a possible Alien: Earth Season 2. If Season 1 was the Lost Boys growing up in the style of Peter Pan, then Season 2 might just see them learning to survive on an island in the vein of Lord of the Flies. With that in mind, who's Piggy, who's Ralph, and will the Xenomorph's head somehow wind up on the end of a pointy stick?
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
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