Earth’ Wasted The Xeno, Eye Midge, And Timothy Olyphant

It’s been weeks since the finale of “Alien: Earth,” the first TV show in the series’ long franchise, and, unfortunately, it might just be the last. Although the eight-episode series ends on a massive cliffhanger, FX has yet to announce whether the show has been renewed for a second season, leaving the fate of the characters in limbo. Series creator Noah Hawley definitely took a gamble with the ending, almost daring Disney to cancel the series right before the Neverland facility is invaded by Weyland-Yutani’s troops. Unfortunately, the season one finale was the weakest of all the episodes, potentially wrapping up the series on a sour note and ruining any possibility of a rematch.

Love it or hate it, the show at least started out with an interesting premise: putting the minds of terminally ill children in synthetic bodies. Throughout the series, it seems that the facility is woefully unprepared to deal with the consequences of their experiment, which culminates in their first creation, Wendy, and her fellow “Lost Boys” taking over the facility with her pet Xenomorph. And that’s where things get a bit dicey.

Wendy, from the start, seemed to have unexpected powers that left even the scientists who created her scratching their heads. She was able to communicate with her brother, Joe Hermit, through a screen and later seemed to be able to control everything on the island, even Boy Kavalier’s first synthetic, Atom. Between that and her ability to whistle commands to her pet Xenomorph and have it kill at her command, it seems that there is very little anyone could do to stop her.

Of course, we have seen in previous episodes that the hybrids are not completely indestructible. Wendy herself almost took a fatal hit to the head, taking out a Xenomorph in the third episode. Tootles/Isaac met his end after walking into a cell with synthetic-eating flies (more on that later). Leading up to the finale, Nibs was seemingly killed with what appears to be a pulse rifle. However, she pops up again in the finale with a new shirt and looking totally fine.

Although Hawley has hinted that Wendy’s pet might soon turn against her, the audience never actually sees any indication that the Xenomorph might rebel. Likewise, while Wendy might meet her match when she is unable to stop Weyland-Yutani forces, the series stops there. If there is a force out there that can stop Wendy at this point, the audience never sees it, and that’s a shame. Instead of any sort of weakness, we get Wendy triumphantly announcing that the inmates are now running the asylum, and the curtain closes without any real ramifications.

For an “Alien” property, the body count in the finale is surprisingly low, unless, of course, you count the nameless soldiers or Hermit’s friends, who had very little screen time to make an impression anyway. The problem with this is simple: the characters that should have died due to their own ignorance… don’t.

Arthur Sylvia’s demise was disappointing but predictable, given that he was the only one who really seemed to care for the children. Dame Sylvia, however, made the most questionable decision of maybe the entire show when she decided to erase Nib’s memory and drop her back in her bed without telling anyone, especially not the other hybrids, what she did. A simple, “Hey, Nibs was sick, she had some corrupted code, so we had to wipe it, and that unfortunately erased some of her memories,” might have played a lot better than Nibs waking up to Wendy and having them argue for a few moments about what’s “wrong” with her. This seems to be the breaking moment for Wendy, who decides that they aren’t safe on the island after all.

That decision is reinforced when she walks into the lab to find Tootles killed by “science,” as Kirsh says, proving that the hybrids are not totally indestructible. Tootles’ death has caused a great deal of controversy due to the manner in which it occurred. To put it simply, Kirsh asked Tootles to feed the aliens in the lab. When he asks if Curly is with him, implying that he wants her to tag along, Tootles insists on going by himself in order to prove himself to Kirsh.

However, when he yanks one of the feeding doors too hard, it breaks. Instead of calling Kirsh and asking what he should do, he, with the mind of a child, opens up the door and walks into the room to place the food on the floor. The sheep, taken over by the eye midge, bangs on the glass. Tootles stumbles, startled, and the door shuts and locks behind him. The flies then proceed to spray Tootles with acid before eating him.

There are two problems that fans have with this scene. Although Tootles is a child, it seems hard to believe that he would just walk into the room with the alien creatures instead of opening up the door just a tad and sliding the food through the crack with his foot. The second is that Kirsh is apparently watching from the monitors the entire time. Although it’s questionable if he could have reacted in time to save Tootles, he definitely could have saved Arthur from his face-hugging fate, as the audience watches Kirsh close the door to the alien egg room remotely from his console.

Arthur getting facehugged was seemingly part of Kirsh’s plan to lure Morrow out in the open and get a new Xenomorph at the same time. Having been fired from his position due to his refusal to erase Nib’s mind, Atom wastes no time telling him that he’ll be shot for trespassing if he refuses to leave, so it’s no surprise that Kirsh views the scientist as expendable at this point.

But it still seems that Tootles’ death and Dame Sylvia’s decision not to even mention Nib’s mind wipe to anyone else is where the plot starts to fall apart. Leading up to the finale, Kirsh, played flawlessly by Timothy Olyphant, has the most intrigue by far, as fans debated whether or not he was actually a double agent for another corporation.

While many expected this to be revealed in the finale, things took a tragic turn when audiences finally got the showdown between the fully synthetic Kirsh and the cyborg, Morrow, also played beautifully by Babou Ceesay. The way they play off each other in the few scenes they have together is by far the highlight of the show, and, as expected, it ends in an all-out brawl in Kirsh’s lab.

Unfortunately, both are given far too little to do in what may very well be the show’s last episode. After Morrow breaks Kirsh’s back, Kirsh manages to get the cyborg in a chokehold and seemingly knocks him out. Unfortunately, in this state, the Lost Boys have no problem tying him and throwing him in a cage like a broken toy, along with Morrow, Dame Sylvia, and Boy Kavalier. For a character that seemed to be playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers, it was a disappointing end to a character that deserved much better.

Kirsh was not only given the most intrigue as a character, but also the best lines. The smug delivery of “Finders keepers” when he captures Morrow and the second Xenomorph is only bested by the way he scolds Tootles to “Look with your eyes” on the crashed ship. Timothy Olyphant manages to seamlessly slip into the role of a synthetic that should be emotionless, while still conveying disdain for those around him in every scene. With his bleached hair (and eyebrows!), Kirsh might rank up there as one of the most fan-favorite synthetics in the franchise just based on appearance and witty one-liners alone.

Although the show has yet to be renewed at the time of this writing, there is hope on the horizon. Kirsh, Morrow, and, of course, the eye midge, have emerged as fan-favorite characters, with fans desperate to see their rivalry play out on screen. Should the series be renewed for another season, Hawley needs to give Kirsh more to do. Fortunately, Olyphant has proven time and time again that he is a capable actor and seems more than up for the task of taking on a larger role in the franchise.

The criticisms surrounding Wendy and her “pet” Xenomorph can also be quickly patched up. If the Xenomorph turns on her, how long will it be until the Lost Boys start to question her authority and turn on her next? Being captured by Weyland-Yutani’s forces might actually be the best thing for the show. Wendy can control the systems in Neverland, but Weyland-Yutani’s computers might not be so easy to hack.

A second season will also give time to develop the new breakout character: the eye midge, also known as T-Ocellus. So far, all we know about this squishy little creature is that it is highly intelligent, knows Pi, and can make its host sh-t on command. And, if the finale proved anything, it can also take quite a hit. In the finale, it not only takes a beating, but it still has time to slither away and crawl all the way down to the beach, where it somehow reanimates Arthur’s lifeless corpse. Whether or not he can take the decaying body all the way up to the island facility without being taken out by the Xeno is another matter entirely, but it will be quite a shock to Dame Sylvia if it does.

The first season is out now, leaving Disney with a difficult decision. Should they cut their losses and axe the show with an unsatisfactory ending or continue with a second season, addressing concerns about the domestication of the series’ main alien?

It’s not too late to turn the ship around, but considering the way the money flows these days, Disney might just decide to take off and nuke the entire site from orbit, removing the TV show from the equation to try to maintain the integrity of the IP.

And then it’s game over, man. Game over.