Alien: Earth Season 1 Episode 1 “Neverland” is a bit too slow for a season premiere. It has some of the same beats that we’ve come to know and love from the Alien franchise. You’ve got the working class just trying to make it through the day with corporations dictating everything. You’ve also got the cyborg having no problem with the humans dying if it means honoring the corporation. And you’ve got set design, outfits, and music that knows looks and feels familiar. And even then, I was bored in “Neverland.”
A lot of me being bored with Alien: Earth Season 1 Episode 1 “Neverland” had to do with the introduction. I was under the impression that we would go directly into this crash landing on Earth. Instead we got to see a small window into the crew of the USCSS Maginot. And it felt like we were on the cusp of something before flashbacks of horror wrapped up everything and they were all gone.
MORE: Where does Alien: Earth fall in the timeline?
Maybe that was the purpose of this introduction. A way to show how unforgiving space and these aliens are. And it was a way to show how corporations will always choose profit over human life even though they depend on it to have power in the first place. Nevertheless, I felt like something was ripped away from me so brutally just as I was starting to get into the show.
The only thing that saves this season premiere is Wendy, played by Sydney Chandler.
Wendy’s nothing like I expected, the mind of a child in a hybrid synthetic. This allows us to see a synthetic in a brand new light. We’ve seen desperation for others’ approval, following orders, or losing their synthetic minds because they want to create. But never have we seen a synthetic that is full of hope and light in the way that Wendy is. And the fact that we don’t see synthetics of this kind in the future of Alien means that that light was crushed. Or I can assume so.
I will also admit I was really intrigued by the alien lifeforms on the Maginot. You’ve got the classic facehugger and xenomorph creating all sorts of trouble. Been there, done that. But the real intrigue came when we were introduced to these bugs that thrive off of blood and quadruple their size while killing their victim. And we also got to see this bug-eyed octopus sort of thing. We’re not sure what it does yet. But it’s going to be disturbing just like those insects were.
The actual aliens part of Alien: Earth had me locked in just as much as Wendy did and they were the reason why I hit play for Episode 2. But I still feel like Alien: Earth was bogged down by too much world building that didn’t trust its audience to know what Alien is in the first place. If we’re watching, you would think there would be trust.
If you take the aliens out of the equation, Alien: Earth is a tale as old as time, and one we keep coming back to because of how frustratingly easy it is to relate to in 2025. Corporations sacrifice human life to gain a little bit more money and a little bit more power. But we’ve never seen it through a lens quite like this with the thing they’re willing to sacrifice people for actually turns around and tears everyone apart on Earth. And that I appreciate.
So, go forth xenomorph baddie and all the rest of the aliens on the Maginot. Destroy and give me something more worth watching because I too am tired of the corporate rule. But while you’re out there doing your thing, spare Wendy. She’s about to go on the quintessential journey of humans creating something powerful, giving it a soul, and wondering why it doesn’t play nice.
MORE: Watched the next episode? Read our review of Alien: Earth Season 1 Episode 2 “Mr. October.”
Additional thoughts about Alien: Earth Season 1 Episode 1 “Neverland”:
- Really love to see Timothy Olyphant with this white hair. You can truly pull off anything, can’t you?
- Sydney Chandler aka Wendy is really balancing a character grounded in innocence and bravery and a hint of foolishness that only comes with wanting your old life back while embracing the new one
- Is anyone else really concerned about the hybrid synthetics? They’re only children and they’re being sent to the inside of a spaceship with terrifying monsters?! That’s not going to go well.
- So just to make sure I got it: cyborgs are cybernetically enhanced humans, synthetics are artificially intelligent beings, and hybrids are synthetic beings downloaded with human consciousness
- Okay got it.
Alien: Earth is available on FX and Hulu with new episodes dropping on Tuesdays at 8pm ET.
