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Alien: Earths eyeball scares me way more than the Xenomorph

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Xenomorphs, I love you. However, after watching you in action in seven Alien films (plus two Alien vs. Predator films), I'm not terrified of you anymore.

Don't worry, I'll never get tired of your facehugging and chestbursting and all-around murder sprees. Whenever you're onscreen, I always marvel at your creature design and think, "That's rad as hell!" But abject terror at the sight of you is no longer on the table.

Noah Hawley's Alien prequel series, Alien: Earth, understands that its audience's familiarity with Xenomorphs will dim the aliens' fear factor a little bit. That's why it introduces the Xenomorph in all its glory just halfway through its first episode. After all, why bother shrouding in total secrecy an alien we already know and love?

Instead, Hawley brings four new parasitic aliens into the fray, including nasty blood ticks and the mysterious, plant-like D. Plumbicare. But there's one clear standout among the new crop of aliens, and it's none other than T. Ocellus, or as I like to call it, "the eyeball monster of my nightmares."

An eyeball with tentacles in "Alien: Earth."

I love it and I hate it.
Credit: Screenshot: FX

Looking like what you'd get if you gave an eyeball octopus tentacles, T. Ocellus is nothing short of an alien menace. In episode 2, a screen in the USCSS Maginot's lab describes its parasitic capabilities. Its tentacles dislodge other organisms' eyeballs and then take over neural pathways to the brain, turning its victims into puppets. In a neat twist, it can also change the appearance of its pupil and iris to match that of its host.

T. Ocellus' brain-hijacking ability alone has already led to its fair share of showstopping moments throughout Alien: Earth's first few episodes. In episode 2, it crawled its way out a cat's skull, traumatizing animal lovers everywhere in the process. It then shot itself at hybrid Nibs (Lily Newmark), attempting to take her on as a new host. Then, in episode 4, it burrowed into a poor sheep's head. Someone, please, stop its trail of carnage!

However, in episode 5, T. Ocellus truly breaks out — literally and figuratively. Literally because it stages a daring prison break, and figuratively because it cements its dominance over Alien: Earth's other new extraterrestrial baddies.

Episode 5 of Alien: Earth, titled, "In Space, No One…," is basically a mini Alien movie. It turns back the clock to reveal how everyone on the USCSS Maginot died before the spaceship crashed on Earth. Culprits include sabotage from crew member Petrovich (Enzo Cilenti), those pesky blood ticks, the Xenomorph, and of course, T. Ocellus.

T. Ocellus begins the episode in a specimen container. However, when it realizes its container hasn't been properly secured to the wall, it manages to use its own body as a slingshot to force the container away from the wall and onto the ground, where it shatters. The lab screen in episode 2 states that "the Ocellus has shown remarkable problem solving abilities at a near-human measure," and this is proof of that problem solving. Not only did T. Ocellus have to figure out how to leverage its own body to escape, it also had to recognize that the locking mechanism hadn't operated properly. On top of that, it helped distract Chibuzo (Karen Aldridge) earlier in the episode so the blood ticks could stage an escape of their own. Collaborative, tech-savvy, and resourceful — that's one seriously smart eyeball! I want it nowhere near me!

Once it's free in the Maginot, T. Ocellus finds its next target. We've seen it take on a cat and a sheep, gradually leveling up in host size. Episode 5 brings the horror of T. Ocellus to the next level by putting it in a human body, that of the Maginot's engineer Shmuel (Michael Smiley). The visual of T. Ocellus' too-big eyeball in Shmuel's head would be nightmare enough, but wouldn't you believe it, it gets worse! A tentacle slithers out of his nose. He lets out a droning scream that sounds like it could never come from a human's vocal cords. Then, he charges the remaining Maginot crew members with an unnatural, herky-jerky motion, a reflection of T. Ocellus puppeteering his body.

That sense of being an alien's puppet ties into the Alien franchise's larger themes of the horror of losing bodily autonomy. Weyland-Yutani robs its workers of decades of their lives on Earth, then deems then expendable in the face of collecting specimens. And of course, Xenomorphs force hosts to carry and "birth" their embryos, drawing a clear connection to pregnancy and childbirth. T. Ocellus follows in this tradition, although its targeting of the brain in particular conjures up fears around loss of cognition and bodily function as opposed to reproductive anxieties.

You'd think T. Ocellus taking over a human's body would be the end of its terrifying run in "In Space, No One…," but it doesn't stop there. As Shmuel, it attacks the Xenomorph, as if it's trying to make the alien of all aliens its next host. (It feels almost Predator-like in how it keeps trying to find a bigger, stronger body to conquer.) While it doesn't actually take over the Xenomorph's body (although in the future, I would like to see it), it still manages to give the Xenomorph a big scare.

Their skirmish points to two very different kinds of monstrous physicality. The Xenomorph is a tank, massive and almost unwieldy when compared to T. Ocellus. (Notably, all of the new aliens in Alien: Earth are smaller than the Xenomorph.) T. Ocellus, on the other hand, is far smaller and more slippery, adept at squeezing through cracks in your defenses. While I wouldn't want to face either of them, there's something viscerally terrifying about having a small tentacled creature launching itself at my eyeball, knowing that if it gets there, it's game over.

T. Ocellus has been growing more and more prominent over the course of Alien: Earth, but it's episode 5 where it truly shines as the star it was meant to be. You know how there are multiple blood ticks and Xenomorph eggs onboard the Maginot? It seems like there was only ever one T. Ocellus specimen onboard the ship. That's right: It's one of one, a true alien superstar. And while I will always consider the Xenomorphs to be the greatest movie monsters of all time, I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to pure scares in Alien: Earth, that demon eyeball's got them beat.

Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes premiering Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Hulu and FX.

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Hurdle hints and answers for September 24, 2025

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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.

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Five burning questions we have for Alien: Earth Season 2

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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?

Sandra Yi Sencindiver in "Alien: Earth."

Sandra Yi Sencindiver in "Alien: Earth."
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?

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."
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.

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Alien: Earths game-changing ending, explained

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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.

Alex Lawther, Sydney Chandler, and Lily Newmark in "Alien: Earth."

Alex Lawther, Sydney Chandler, and Lily Newmark in "Alien: Earth."
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.

Sydney Chandler and Alex Lawther in "Alien: Earth."

Sydney Chandler and Alex Lawther in "Alien: Earth."
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."

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."
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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