This episode was designed to give context to the events on the Maginot, and perhaps explain why Morrow appeared to be so cold and calculating. And boy, did we get a lot of context.
Let's start with Zaverni (Richa Moorjani) who we briefly saw in episode one during the crash sequence. Morrow callously locked her out of the Mother room and she was subsequently killed by the xenomorph. Here we learn a lot about her. First, she was acting Captain who froze after three of her crew members died in front of her. Two, she and Morrow were running not just from the xenomorph but from Mr. Eye as well. Three, she was grieving over her lover who was the first to die, because the cryopods were unable to stop the gestation of the xenomorph.
That's a lot of stuff to unpack and needed a full episode to explain it all. In retrospect I'm happy the show didn't try to put this episode first. None of the characters we meet here are ultimately relevant to the larger picture except for Morrow. Now the events of the crash are something we needed to see, because they provide important backstory for one of the central characters.
Surprise surprise, Morrow isn't the bad guy. Despite being laser focused on getting the alien specimens back to Waylan-Yutani, he's basically Ripley in this scenario. He's the voice of reason, the one trying to solve the problem and the biggest action hero. Sure, his actions at the end were kind of dickish, but if he had opened that door for Zaverni he might've died as well. It was a risk assessment and he was ultimately right, because the xenomorph blew through his welds in seconds. Zaverni didn't deserve to die like that, but the crew was doomed the moment Boy Kavalier made that deal with Petrovich.
Really, if you were to assign blame and 'evil' it would be to Petrovich and Boy Kavalier. Boy knew exactly what was on that ship when he sent in Wendy and the others. He just let all those people die to get his hands on the specimens, which isn't just shady and morally gray, it is outright mustache-twirling evil. He just topped Burke on the Burke scale of scummy corporate villains.
It is a bit of a mixed blessing for the rest of the crew who all died in their sleep. As for everyone that was awake, well, they all went through the ringer. The action starts with Morrow being woken up by Clem (Tom Moya), a well-meaning but clearly limited security underling who asks way too many questions. They walk in on doctor Rahim (Amir Boutrous) arguing with one of the scientists, Chibuzo (Karen Aldridge). They have two men on the table with facehuggers attached to them, and apparently the doctor miscalculated while trying to remove one from the captain, partially severing his neck.
This leaves Zaverni in charge, who is struggling because Bronski (Max Rinehart) is the other victim with a facehugger, the man she's been secretly sleeping with, which is against policy. Morrow doesn't really care, but does mention to her that she broke the rules and he can take over if necessary as chief of security. Which comes up later as an important plot point, not the sex but the order of rank.
Things are somewhat calm from that point, but little mistakes keep mounting up. Mostly Chibuzo who not only allowed the leeches to escape and lay their eggs in her water bottle, but didn't fully lock down Mr. Eye who also escaped. What happened next was probably inevitable, as our three known alien threats all started to act at once. The xenomorph did their usual routine with Bronski. Malachite (Jamie Bisping) drank from Chibuzo's water bottle and you can kind of imagine the consequences from there. Lastly Mr. Eye started to search for a host.
Meanwhile we learn a bit more about Morrow. Yes, he did have a daughter, Estelle. She was nineteen when she died in a fire. That was eight years into the mission, meaning he left her when she was eleven. From the scene we got of him interacting with her, it was clear she was his world and he went on the mission to give her the best life possible (including a free ride to college). All he got for his efforts was a message stating that her belongings were stored for his return in 53 years. No wonder Morrow is broken, he wasn't there to save his child.
There are a few things of note, namely the actions taken by Mr. Eye during those climatic final moments. First, during the initial moments with the leeches, it tried to warn Chibuzo what was happening. Secondly, while it did call on the xenomorph when threatened, it also actively fought the xenomorph and managed to hold its own after it took over Schmuel's (Michael Smiley) body. While incredibly creepy and invasive, I'm curious if it is actually malevolent. Which is yet another detail that proves this show is not what I expected, and that's a good thing.
Bits:
None of the main cast except for Morrow and Boy Kavalier appeared in this episode.
The song at the end was Smashing Pumpkins: "Cherub Rock." Hawley is clearly an alternative metalhead from the 90's and I approve of his choices.
According to IMDB the girl Teng was obsessed with is named Sullivan. I honestly couldn't find her name after searching for my first review of the season. She is played by Ukrainian actress Victoria Masoma; this is her first role listed.
While this felt a bit like a recreation of the original Alien to a degree, the characters and circumstances are completely different. It was also gorgeously shot and a clearly loving tribute to the original films.
Mr. Teng was set up to be this creepy robot, but ended up dying off screen. I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed.
The title of this episode is a direct reference to the marketing campaign for the first movie: "In space, no one can hear you scream."
Quotes:
Morrow: "Petrovich, right?"
Petrovitch: "It doesn't matter. You can't stop it."
Morrow: "Stop what? What did you do?"
Petrovitch: "They want their monsters. Here they come."
Zaverni: "We have a saboteur on board."
Malachite: "What's a saboteur? Is that a French word?"
Schmuel: "Bad Frenchman."
Malachite: "I thought we were going to be collecting, like, rocks and stuff. That's what it said on the paper: Biological Survey."
Schmuel: "No. No. Geology is the study of rocks and stuff. Biology is the study of animals."
Malachite: "Oh, shit. Really?"
Rahim: "Another victory for the enemy of reason."
Mr. Teng: "What does that mean?"
Rahim: "It means this space bug is proof of how stupid smart people can be. Smart enough to build ships capable of space travel, of splitting the atom and decoding the genome, but too stupid to realize you don't bring parasites home with you."
Clem: "What are you gonna do with your shares when you get back? Buy your wife something nice, I bet."
Schmuel: "Kid, when I left, my wife was thirty-one. She looks like my grandmother now. See, that's what they're paying you for. Not the work. It's sixty-five years of your life equals a quarter of a share."
This was a tense hour of horror and action that perfectly encapsulated what makes this franchise work. But ultimately it does boil down to one fact about humanity: We're idiots.
4 out of 4 Aliens Running Amok
Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.
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